Entrepreneurs in London

The great Professor Eddie Obeng and the brilliant Professor Stephen Brown alongside some other bloke with a red hankie and Chicago GSB tie!

I have a confession to make - every now and again I enjoy going to London and forcing myself to take a commuter tube ride with millions of other people - all that pushing and prodding and heat and people sneezing on you...the faint aroma of BO...fantastic! No seriously it is...because I get a swift reminder of how lucky we are to live in Wales and avoid such daily trauma!


OK - so spent most of yesterday with the people at Fresh Business Thinking at an event called 'Entrepreneurs in London' which was at times good and at times not so good - such are these events - I'll probably tell you more as the weeks pass on that one - but I did get involved in some tele whilst I was there. Speaking of which - thanks to all of those viewers who send email messages (ranging from the very nice to the downright insulting :-)) about my 'performance' on the news on Wednesday night. There I was doing a bit for the radio about the Hoover situation and the next thing I know I'm having makeup and a live camera thrust at me...and they wanted some sensible words too!! All good fun except I wish it were about better economic news than job losses in some of our poorest communities. But at times like this we need enterprise so lets all push for tax breaks for entrepreneurial activity and a further push on the banking sector to get off its collective backside and get the credit flowing again...


Phew -


As you will see above a picture from the LeadOn event - hosted by the University last week. Tonight I'm off to the Welsh Woman of the Year Awards in Cardiff - no - I'm not up for an award! I'm going in my capacity as a board member of Young Enterprise - who I have been a supporter of for many years and I would encourage anyone in the business community to likewise support (drop me an email if you would like more info) - so a full report by next week.


Finlay on the matter of London - there is only one saving grace about a trip to the smoke - that it offers a chance to drop into Selfridges and people watch, enjoy a coffee and experience customer service like a Lord!


JHD

Stephen Brown at LeadOn 2008

Morning all,

Just a swift follow up on the LeadOn conference held at the University of Wales, Newport yesterday. A very impressive programme of speakers and some top quality networking opportunities. As Chair of the CIM in Wales I was pleased to continue our sponsorship of the event...but...of course most pleased to have persuaded Professor Stephen Brown from Ulster University to undertake one of the workshops. Well as you will know if you were there not so much as a workshop as a masterclass performance. How does he do that?

In my summation of his sessions I mentioned that he has been a large influence on my thinking for many years and somewhat a stimuli for the 'Agent Squirrel' approach to marketing literature. I also suggested that attendees seek out his books via Amazon...I of course suggest any one do this as they are thought provoking and brilliantly written. I have - along with Jackie Harris been listing the 'Marketing Code' as essential reading for most of our Marketing courses for some time we will shortly be adding 'Agents and Dealers' to that list - these may at first appear to be somewhat at odds to a university course as they are readable, affordable,have a story and engage the reader - they also make you think on many marketing levels!

So my sincere thanks to Stephen for his presence and insight - check his web pages out for more info on books and thoughts: http://www.sfxbrown.com/

During the day I undertook a few 'pit lane interviews' - this is what Martin Brundle does at the F1 races...( I guess that's actually DID as ITV no longer cover the F1 circus!) I did it at the event yesterday and the results will be on line very soon - my thanks to Phil Mansell 'my' camera man for the day.

Chat soon,

JHD

True Taste Awards 2008

Some events are just a must to attend - so was it this week on Thursday when the very nice people - and in particular my old friend Roger Pride - at Visit Wales (www.visitwales.com) invited me to the True Taste Awards Dinner at the Vale Hotel.

The event was attended by in excess of 400 guests and I had the pleasure of dining next to Mary Ann Gilchrist who just happens to be one of the few women ever to earn a Michelin Star for her food and currently chef patron at the wonderful Carlton Riverside - restaurant with rooms - in Llanwrtyd Wells, Powys. (http://www.carltonrestaurant.co.uk/) the pic above is from her site and I would recommend a call before visiting - it gets pretty booked for obvious reasons - but another good excuse nonetheless to visit Mid Wales this winter!

For me the highlight was the confectionery and puddings awards - and we diners were treated to some samples - my table had the ...now... award winning Gower Cottage Brownies - made by Kate Jenkins (above) go on buy some for Christmas! (www.gowercottagebrownies.co.uk)

What a joy to be able to yet again celebrate some excellent Welsh companies - taking on the world and much larger firms and proving that it's quality that matters to consumers!

JHD

Agent Squirrel - Business Intelligence Agent – ‘The Supremacy of Marketing’ Part 6

Squirrel – The Business – November 08

Agent Squirrel - Business Intelligence Agent – ‘The Supremacy of Marketing’ Part 6

Washington DC can be sweltering in the summer months. It’s a heat that really does bake the pavements…so that long into the evening you can still feel the temperature rising from somewhere below your knees. It’s a heat that ensures that nearly all buildings have air con and air con that’s turned up high…or is that low? Either way the August heat was slowly baking the capital city and a certain agent Squirrel.

Washington, thought Squirrel, as he made his way to meet his contacts, is a very European city. George town would not be out of place in many of our older settlements – it’s rather like the parts of Dublin – not the new bit of Dublin but the quiet leafy suburban neighbourhoods found along the road towards Blackrock.

But like most US cities and of course this being the Capital of cites it has a ‘downtown’. Europeans may well be put off by the name given to this district, mused a contemplative Squirrel as he strode away from the red brick of Georgetown towards the beige of the financial district of Foggy Bottom at the upper end of Pennsylvania avenue NW…but ‘down town’ was the business district – once home to merchant bankers and hedge fund traders and soon to be the hunting ground for Squirrels!

There is one feature of Washington that never ceased to amuse Squirrel – that the city planners maintained that it was to be a relatively low-rise city; no structure was allowed to be built higher than the Washington Monument – it was also a very green city and full of native squirrels. Which would mean that if applied to London no building would be taller than Nelson’s Column, in Cardiff this would be thus translated as no taller than that nice statue of Gareth Edwards in St. David’s Centre!

Squirrel was making his way towards the RV point that Preacher had text him some 12 hours ago before he left Aberdeen. It was just after 6.00am local time and due to the oncoming and ferocious mid morning heat most people were making their way to the office whilst it was still cool enough to do so without breaking out into a self induced shower of sweat. Some, more energetic were cycling or running to work which was bordering on suicidal – given that the average height of an SUV in this city was in danger of causing offence to city planners.

His destination was the Corner Bakery Store at 1801 Pennsylvania and the corner of 18th.

One block north Squirrel slowed and stepped into a shaded doorway of an insurance firm. From here he could see diagonally across the street to the store. As the name suggested it was on the corner, the south east corner – a busy intersection – but the sidewalks in this part of town were wide…a reflection of the wealth and success of many of the firms located here thought Squirrel ironically catching the highly polished name plate of his vantage point: AIG.

Anyhow the sidewalk doubled up as an overspill seating area for the bakery. Squirrel took in the aluminium tables and chairs…about – no – exactly 6 tables, around which was placed one of those fabric barriers you find in banks and post offices. The store looked neat. It carried the colours a bakery should be: corn yellow and coffee brown, with pull out shades and two sidewalk chalkboards.

Squirrel liked American breakfasts and the corner bakeries that served them – the people were always nice too, even at 6.00am. The breakfasts were more than adequate to set you up for the day and you were always guaranteed great coffee and free top ups…you could also spot a bakery at about 200 yards and in a country that drove rather than walked – that was just about adequate stopping distance!

Location and great customer service are the key in most things retail. He had a soft spot for this bakery – he always liked it and made a real effort to have at least one breakfast here whenever he was in town visiting ‘friends’ over in neighbouring Virginia.

What Squirrel noticed next made him smile – his contacts had arrived. Ambling down the sidewalk from the southern end of 18th Street, and three abreast (Squirrel made a note about the width of the sidewalk being more than he had calculated!) came his opposite numbers from the US. Although these guys were still on the right side of the marketing line.

They were clearly led by the short bald man in the middle. He was 62 years old and still wore silk Hawaiian shirts to the office! Bob Black was a son of Chicago, tough and always grumpy but now nearing retirement and as a marketing professor he was mellowing a little but was still sharp…he was also Squirrel’s adopted uncle.

To his left was a middle aged man in his 50’s, he wore the standard uniform of a US military man in casuals: chinos, blue shirt, dark blue blazer, stripy tie – Squirrel noticed that today Major Vince Armstrong wore the WestPoint academy tie! To Bob’s right and just in the shadow of the bakery shading was a guy about the same age as Bob, but dressed in blue jeans and off white sneakers, topped with a ‘grateful dead’ T shirt – very much a hangover from the drop out years: Vance Packard was a brilliant new media marketing strategist – not that you would know.

All three entered the bakery and Squirrel caught sight of them heading for the counter, Vince scanning the interior for trouble and Squirrels – which today could be one of the same.

Then Squirrel saw what he was looking for. Well he saw four things in an instance.

Firstly the blacked out Chrysler Voyager (why are they always black thought Squirrel – may as well just put an ad on the side!) pulling up on the street opposite.

Then the sun reflected on something in a window of an office above the bakery, almost immediately Squirrel noticed out of the corner of his left eye a flash of dust rising from the wall he was leaning against.

The next thing he saw was the inside of the AIG building – he was not going to stand around all day and be shot at after all – not even with a silenced rifle in the hands of a sporting marksman…for this was a marksman…otherwise there would be yet another DC squirrel to clean up and no chase!

To be continued…

Jonathan H Deacon wears red socks and is a thought leader at the Newport Business School

Sorry for the delay...

If only there were 28 hours in a day!
Awards - that's what I was going to tell you about...

A great night was had for Business School alumni at the 5 Counties Business Awards held at the Celtic Manor on the 24th. NBS are proud sponsors of the Entrepreneur of the year award and this year (because I was at another dinner!) Jackie Harris awarded one of the most deserved EoY awards.
This year we celebrated the work and achievements of Peter Lewis of IAC. Peter has been a post grad student of mine on several occasions and a successful one at that ( MBA, MA Marketing, CIM) - not bad for an engineer!!
He is also one of the most modest people I know and one that truly believes in investing in the skills and education of himself and his people. A very kind man who behind the scenes does all sorts of good things for the City of Newport. Well done Peter.

Then last week I was asked to MC an annual dinner that IAC host. I was able to announce that IAC had also won Wales Exporter of the year and Company of the year...brilliant for IAC, Peter and the team and brilliant for the City!

We were also delighted to note that NBS alumni: Adam Price (SEO Sitebuilder) and Paul Gray (Furniture Finders) were also shortlisted for the EoY award.

I have failed to find a photo of the event thus far - but as soon as I have one I'll post it.

JHD