Last week the NASA astronaut Ron Garan, and the great Muhammad Yunus addressed the Global Social Business Summit. They conveyed a similar message, but from totally different perspectives. Ron Garan is one of those elite who have seen the planet from the outside, and as with several of his peers, the experience had a transformationalContinue reading “Leadership for our fragile oasis”
Author Archives: Peter Bruce-iri
Stakeholder engagement pays – indirect benefits
With the new year looming, smart companies are considering their development options for the coming year. The smartest will be looking to further develop their engagement capacity. In an earlier post, we looked at the direct benefits of engagement. Here is a sample of some of the indirect benefits of engagement for each of theContinue reading “Stakeholder engagement pays – indirect benefits”
Pepsico, Ethiopia and chickpeas – a win-win-win
Pepsico are engaging with partners and the Ethiopian Government in an initiative to improve chickpea production. Chickpeas are an ideal crop – they grow well in Ethiopia, the have great nutritional values, including high protein and, being a legume, help build soil fertility. Chickpeas – image credit and history of human use The plight ofContinue reading “Pepsico, Ethiopia and chickpeas – a win-win-win”
Stakeholder engagement pays – a silver bullet?
Effective stakeholder engagement contributes both directly and indirectly to the bottom line. This post provides a sample of some proven benefits of stakeholder engagement for the major stakeholder groups. What is exciting, is that the generic communication skills at the heart of engagement are effective in diverse stakeholder settings. Surely engagement capability has to beContinue reading “Stakeholder engagement pays – a silver bullet?”
Engagement and change: part 2 – lean thinking
This post by guest blogger Alex Twigg is the second part of a two-part post. Much of the change in workplaces over the last few decades has been predicated on notions of economic efficiency and have been known variously as “downsizing”, “rightsizing”, “outsourcing” and more recently as “mergers and acquisitions” – and as the KotterContinue reading “Engagement and change: part 2 – lean thinking”
Employee engagement and change – part one
When thinking about employee engagement I am struck by the how similar the employee engagement scores are from around the English speaking world. The results are all similarly low – around the 25 – 30 % mark. And it seems little really changes year after year. The costs of low engagement and ineffective change management David McLeod,Continue reading “Employee engagement and change – part one”
Engaging a nation: lessons from the Rugby World Cup
In 2005, when New Zealand won hosting rights for the 2011 Rugby World Cup the negotiators had promised the event would be supported by a stadium of 4½ million – New Zealand’s population. They were confident – rugby is embedded into New Zealand culture and for many New Zealanders it is an integral part ofContinue reading “Engaging a nation: lessons from the Rugby World Cup”
Engagement and the value chain
A quiet revolution is underway that is transforming business practice. For years we talked about the supply chain. Companies can do good and enhance profitability by converting their supply chains to value chains. To keep it really simple, I believe the key difference between these chains is that various parts of the supply chain seekContinue reading “Engagement and the value chain”
Staff engagement and the failure of HR
The Human Resource (HR) function has a fatal flaw in its very conception. It is a flaw that limits the ability of HR to foster better staff engagement. It is the inherently schizophrenic nature of the role – in that it has two typically contradictory functions, controlling the employment contract on the one hand, andContinue reading “Staff engagement and the failure of HR”
Engaging stories: Fairtrade cotton
I mostly drink Fairtrade coffee, sometimes eat Fairtrade chocolate, but must confess, I don’t wear Fairtrade cotton. That will change now that I am reading Harriet Lamb’s Fighting the Banana Wars and Other Fairtrade Battles. Struggling to stay above the poverty line Harriet Lamb tells of cotton grower’s subsistence existence in Africa, where cotton supportsContinue reading “Engaging stories: Fairtrade cotton”
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