When it comes to convention centres, it pays to think ahead

The New Zealand International Convention Centre has been announced in Auckland. In 2010, my campaign team proposed a convention centre for Miramar Wharf, which would include a technology complex, in a format that could have been licensed to other countries, earning royalties for the Wellington business that came up with the idea. The location was […]

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Volkswagen is a case for critical thinking, not blind following

Here’s an article from Autoblog that combines several of the themes I enjoy writing about: cars, leadership, management and education.    I’ve already hinted at this on my Facebook fan page, where I seem to post some of the pithy things these days. I sometimes try to avoid blogging about the same thing—a lot of […]

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Thinking to the future as Lucire turns 15

I’ve written so many editorials about Lucire’s history for our various anniversaries that now we’ve turned 15, I feel like I’d just be going over old ground. Again. I’d do it maybe for the 20th or 21st, but the story has been told online and in print many times.    But 15 is a bit […]

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Global experience trumps education—Anna Tavis, Brown Brothers Harriman

Every now and then, the Harvard Business Review comes up with some gems. This video, from Anna Tavis, head of talent and development at Brown Brothers Harriman, says that global experience is more important than education if you wish to be successful in business.    She also hints at the importance of differentiation, which I […]

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Small is beautiful, whether it’s a company or a country

My friend Summer Rayne Oakes at Source4Style put me on to an article in The Guardian by Ilaria Pasquinelli, on how small firms drive innovation. If the fashion industry is to survive, she says, it must team up with the small players where innovation takes place, thanks to the visionaries who drive those firms.   […]

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A farewell to Sir Paul Callaghan, and the next step for our innovators

When I attended Sir Paul Callaghan’s talk at the Wellington Town Hall last September, I felt vindicated. Here was a man who was much better qualified than me to talk about economic development, effectively endorsing the policies I ran on in 2010. But not being political, he was a great deal more persuasive. Since then, […]

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Optimism marks out the Indian decade

Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication I’ve had a wonderful time in Pune and Mumbai, two cities to which I had wanted to go for some years. Like some New Agers say: be careful what you put out into the universe. It can come true.    My main reason for going was to address the […]

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Source4Style launches today, seeking to revolutionize the business of fashion

[Cross-posted] Summer Rayne Oakes and Benita Singh’s Cartier award-winning venture, Source4Style, which helps designers source sustainable fabric through a well designed, transparent website, launches its second version today. Lucire has the low-down in the main part of the site, and this story forms part of some of our next 2012 print and other non-web editions. […]

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Occupy, the brand

VBlessNYC, under Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic It was in the fourth quarter of the year that Occupy became a brand. Just capitalize it, and everyone knows what you mean. The original geographical indicator of Wall Street disappeared—to be fair, it began disappearing when similar protests began happening across the United States and then, the world—but I’ve […]

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The Murdoch apology does not let us off the hook

Above is Rupert Murdoch’s apology for the actions of the News of the World, to run in the UK in the wake of the resignations of Rebekah Brooks and Les Hinton.    They’re great words, and they’re straight out of the PR 101 playbook.    Some might say they’re a trifle too late, as was […]

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