second thoughts

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MUSIC AND BONES

10 MISSTEPS TO A VIDEO

Paul Rutherford

Dec 16, 2019
3 min

10 MISSTEPS TO A VIDEO

You can learn a lot from unsolicited promos on social media. Especially what to avoid... Here are the 10 MISSTEPS to making a video that no-one will want to view (unless as a warning lesson): MISSTEP 1. Put the CEO on screen immediately. If you have a handy stained-glass window (see video below), tilt the camera so the boss looks beatific, framed by a halo. Here's the opening pitch: "We’re living in a world of tremendous change; MISSTEP 2. Scare your potential customer. Here-

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GM 1 SZ 97

Paul Rutherford

Nov 25, 2019
3 min

GM 1 SZ 97

Alfa Aid is an Alfa Romeo sales and post-sales garage based less than ten minutes from where I live. Adrian, the owner, started the business in 1993. Now, after more than two decades, he’s ready for his biggest step. Alfa Aid's first General Manager starts today. After years of riding the ups and downs of a commercial roller coaster - of sometimes taking lesser rewards to keep his people on board - Adrian is finally letting go. He has been through multiple cycles in the motor

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CARPET BOMBING

Paul Rutherford

Jun 24, 2019
4 min

CARPET BOMBING

(It was early 1980s: I had my marketing degree, and a new job at an agency. Not long after my first day, I met Larry - a new client who was adding a security hardware business to his growing portfolio. I asked him how he started…) Larry’s first venture was selling carpets. His office was a back bedroom at home, his logistics operation was a white van. He gave the impression that he ran a big company because his wife answered calls by saying “this is reception”, and he had t

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THE GREAT JOB TITLE CHASE #6

Paul Rutherford

Apr 15, 2019
4 min

THE GREAT JOB TITLE CHASE #6

This series of ‘TGJTC’ blogposts was originally prompted by an email signed by the Chief Deputy Auditor. Not Deputy Chief (the second in line) but Chief Deputy. I imagine that there were more than one ‘Chief’ at that level too, just to keep everyone on their toes. TGJTC #1 started with my General Manager role, which was a misnomer at best. I’ll come back to that in a moment. Subsequent postings about VP, CMO, Director and Partner tried to give each some context, definition an

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AIN'T NOBODY HERE BUT US CHICKENS

Paul Rutherford

Feb 18, 2019
2 min

AIN'T NOBODY HERE BUT US CHICKENS

William Muir has known more plucked poultry than you've had hot dinners. As professor of Animal Sciences at Purdue Agricultural University, he's an expert in breeding and genetics. Not that he always roosted on the lofty perches of Rhode Island Reds and Plymouth Rocks. His studies started with flour beetles. Specifically, Muir examined the beetles' evolution in an (artificial) environment of very little food. Those who survived did so at the expense of others: they grew faste

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UBER CERTAINTY

Rory Sutherland

Feb 11, 2019
2 min

UBER CERTAINTY

Excerpt #4 from an interview with Rory Sutherland, published in Edge.org. Sutherland is Executive Creative Director and Vice-Chairman at OgilvyOne, a subset of 'madmen' Ogilvy & Mather, which in turn is a subset of WPP. OgilvyOne calls itself 'The Customer Agency', part advertising, part direct marketing, part of something else - 'The Thing for Which We Have No Name'. 'The single best thing the London Underground did in terms of improving passenger satisfaction per pound spen

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HOMO ECONOMICUS

Rory Sutherland

Feb 4, 2019
2 min

HOMO ECONOMICUS

Excerpt #3 from an interview with Rory Sutherland, published in Edge.org. Sutherland is Executive Creative Director and Vice-Chairman at OgilvyOne, a subset of 'madmen' Ogilvy & Mather, which in turn is a subset of WPP. OgilvyOne calls itself 'The Customer Agency', part advertising, part direct marketing, part of something else - 'The Thing for Which We Have No Name'. 'In the commercial world it's not in the interests of consumers to be rational. If you imagine a world of rat

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STOCHASTIC TINKERING

Rory Sutherland

Jan 28, 2019
2 min

STOCHASTIC TINKERING

Excerpt #2 from an interview with Rory Sutherland, published in Edge.org. Sutherland is Executive Creative Director and Vice-Chairman at OgilvyOne, a subset of 'madmen' Ogilvy & Mather, which in turn is a subset of WPP. OgilvyOne calls itself 'The Customer Agency', part advertising, part direct marketing, part of something else - 'The Thing for Which We Have No Name'. 'It is true of quite a lot of progress in human life that businesses, in their blundering way, sometimes disc

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APPALLING ECONOMICS

Rory Sutherland

Jan 21, 2019
2 min

APPALLING ECONOMICS

Excerpt #1 from an interview with Rory Sutherland, published in Edge.org. Sutherland is Executive Creative Director and Vice-Chairman at OgilvyOne, a subset of 'madmen' Ogilvy & Mather, which in turn is a subset of WPP. OgilvyOne calls itself 'The Customer Agency', part advertising, part direct marketing, part of something else - 'The Thing for Which We Have No Name'. 'The problem—in terms of understanding human behavior, and I go even further, in understanding economics: Why

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STARTING OVER IN 1984

GREEN GAMES' OPM

Paul Rutherford

Nov 28, 2018
5 min

GREEN GAMES' OPM

February 1994. Lillehammer: The first Winter Olympic Games to be held in a different year from the Summer Games. And after being involved for 30 years, Xerox finally became a full TOP Partner. A TOP participant, without discretionary budget. Olympic sponsorship is an expensive, complex commitment. And getting value from participation is not guaranteed. There are two factors that play against you. Factor #1: the multiple tiers of deep pockets. At Lillehammer, there were three

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CLUB AND COUNTRY

EN GARDE!

Paul Rutherford

Apr 30, 2018
2 min

EN GARDE!

As I walked through a shopping mall earlier this week, a young woman sitting at her sales display called me across the concourse: "Do you know what we're doing here today?" Such a bizzare enquiry. Even now, I have no idea what she was pitching; I can remember a display of Victorian-style pharmaceutical drawers, and bottles set on the top, I think. As I close my eyes and try to recall, the display is a blur. Her question is more vivid. "Do you know what we're doing here today?

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BUBBLES AND THE BLONDE

Paul Rutherford

Jan 20, 2018
6 min

BUBBLES AND THE BLONDE

40 Books in 2018 Susan Cain QUIET 333pp Penguin Books At a schoolfriend’s 16th birthday, the attempted catch was ‘Bubbles’, an exceptionally curvy, lively girl who seemed to connect with everyone. Especially boys. I sat with her on the sofa, making her laugh with my mid-teen jokes. To keep the atmosphere (and my chances) moving positively, I went to the kitchen to fetch a drink. I was only away for 30 seconds, but when I returned ‘Bubbles’ had gone. Even at that age, I could

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FALLACIES AND FOLLY

Paul Rutherford

Jan 13, 2018
8 min

FALLACIES AND FOLLY

40 Books in 2018 Stuart Sutherland IRRATIONALITY – THE ENEMY WITHIN 336pp Pinter and Martin Let’s start with a question: “Are there more words ending in ‘ing’ than ending in ‘-n-‘?” Quickly; give me an answer. Those two sentences represent the beginning and end of Stuart Sutherland’s cult book. Spine-broken, cover-torn copies used to resell for £100 before being reprinted in 2013, the 21st anniversary of its first edition. The central premise is straightforward: to expose the

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READ. REFLECT. WRITE. REPEAT.

Paul Rutherford

Jan 4, 2018
4 min

READ. REFLECT. WRITE. REPEAT.

Boxing Day 2017. Our home was full of people - as the Christmas holiday should be – and between courses five and six of the never-ending buffet, my son’s partner asked me to tell her my favourite gift of the year, and the one thing I was most likely to pass on to someone else. “Unexpected theatre tickets were very welcome; I’m looking forward to both trips,” I said. “And don’t think I’m ungrateful, but I have been over-supplied by chocolate and biscuits.” Fortunately, she and

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ACTIVE LISTENING

Kenneth Iverson

Oct 16, 2017
1 min

ACTIVE LISTENING

Excerpt from 'Plain Talk: Lessons from a Business Maverick' by Kenneth Iverson, credited with transforming Nucor Steel from a nearly bankrupt company in the 1960s into the largest and most successful steelmaker in the United States. Japanese symbol for listening Listening is among the scarcest of all human skills, in and out of management. Listening requires concentration, skill, patience, and a lot of practice. But such practice is a very sound investment of the developing m

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TRUST AND LOYALTY

Kenneth Iverson

Oct 9, 2017
1 min

TRUST AND LOYALTY

Excerpt from 'Plain Talk: Lessons from a Business Maverick' by Kenneth Iverson, credited with transforming Nucor Steel from a nearly bankrupt company in the 1960s into the largest and most successful steelmaker in the United States. Earning Employees’ Trust and Loyalty "Far too many managers have no clue how their employees feel or even what their people’s work lives are like, day to day. "Employees pick up on this lack of insight in a heartbeat, and that realization taints e

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