It really pains me to be writing this post, but I demand great customer service - and I'll be damned if I don't do every thing in my power to get it. Without wanting to sound arrogant, I am fortunate enough to travel a lot for business... A LOTTTTT! I have been fortunate enough to reach well above my projected tier on British Airways this year, without any chance of making further progress. Therefore, when a short notice trip to NYC came up last week, I thought I might as well try getting some extra po...
Last night I took part in my first table tennis session at a North London sports centre, along with a number of the people associated with the Gold Challenge, known as "The Torchbearers". I didn't know quite what to expect, but knew that this was going to be first of two sessions required to attain the minimum standard required by the challenge rules to get my first certificate - and the next session is already scheduled in for next Tuesday evening.I have to admit that I've had several opportunities to j...
What a busy year it's been so far. I've just noticed this is my first update in almost 10 months, a fact that can only be down to the hectic schedule that I've given myself after I started a new company earlier this year - more to follow on that one shortly.Today I thought I'd share with you that I've signed up for the Gold Challenge, a sports charity event, where I aim to try out 10 different Olympic and Paralympic sports before the end of 2012. At the same time I will be raising money for Action for Ch...
Last night I was fortunate enough to be invited along to a sake tasting at the London restaurant Kyashii. I've always enjoyed a cup of sake whenever I've had a meal at a Japanese restaurant, but cannot profess to be an expert on it. I've always felt a cold sweat start to develop on the back of my neck when presented with the sake list and trying to make a choice for a group of diners - and the inevitable question is: "Would you like it hot or cold?". Last night I learnt quite a few things about sake and ...
Well, it does become an issue when people have no clue how to fill out a form online because nobody has bothered to check the copy on the form... Tonight I was about to book a car rental through the British Airways/Avis web site and I got the form below. I'm somehow guessing that it won't be very useful inputting my Executive Club member number 8 times!!!
I'm not the type of person to say "I told you so!" and this blog post is merely an update on some of the earlier predictions I've made about both Google and Apple.1) Back in early January 2010, I wrote a blog post about why Google were bound to fail with their marketing of the Nexus One Android-based phone. Today the Wall Street Journal carried a blog post about the end of the line for the Nexus One, barely 6 months after its launch. No matter what kind of spin, Google (Ticker: GOOG) try to put on it, it...
The last few months have been more than a little bit crazy with several intense work projects, 3 trips to the US in 5 weeks (and an extra 5 days stuck in Boston due to the volcanic ash cloud). At the same time, I've also encountered some great companies and one, which I am about to embark on a personal vendetta against. Stay tuned for all of this over the next few days as I start to share everything from restaurant tips, to great companies to work for and why you should never even consider buying anythin...
As an independent consultant, I'm not the one to go for lavish travel expenditure on the company... as I'm actually the one who's footing the bill personally. I have several friends who work for big corporations and will pretty much throw their toys out of the pram if, for whatever reason, the travel policies are suddenly changed and they are no longer allowed the perks of lie-flat beds in Club World or even, God forbid, British Airways First (BTW. Note to marketing team - you haven't done SEO for either...
Over the last two months I've been busy travelling the world and managed to take in Provence, Copenhagen, Bangkok, Hong Kong and New York - and within the next few weeks I'll be heading off to both Washington D.C. and Boston. I've won a new contract for a global consumer electronics company and am busy doing consultancy for a leading retailer in the Nordics, as well as helping four start-ups so busy times indeed. However, I have also managed to find some time to do a bit of business networking and, perha...
All of the world's financial analysts and journalists seem to be wetting themselves with excitement at the rumoured release of a new iSlate (or iPad, depending on who you choose to listen to) "tablet PC" from Apple on next Wednesday, the 27th of January (two days after they report quarterly earnings, which should see them come out well ahead of consensus estimates). According to one survey, even consumers are getting (somewhat) interested in it, equal to that of when Apple started selling PCs based on an...
