Born this way: 5 MBA lessons from Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga is a music and business phenomenon.  Simply fabulous electro pop and dance music.  Strategy, marketing, finance, HR, operations, social media and so on, all rolled into one.  Setting aside all the controversy over her music, fashion and so on, what might an MBA graduate learn from Lady Gaga about her approach to business?  Before we start, in case you have not caught up with Lady Gaga, take a look at her ‘Edge of Glory’ video, with lyrics inspired by the death of her grandfather:

Share your thoughts on your favourite Lady Gaga song / performance by making a comment on this blog.  Since she is a controversial figure, if you cannot stand her, it would also be interesting to know why.

Here are five MBA lessons that you can learn from Lady Gaga:

1. I personally love Lady Gaga’s music but it is not completely new.  Her music springs from 80’s and 90’s electro-pop and dance music, drawing upon a range of influences, such as Bowie, Queen, Elton John, Madonna, Britney Spears and Michael Jackson.  I’d add Prince to the list as I’m sure she has been influenced by the Purple Genius.  Many people are creatures of habit in terms of their musical tastes (see my post on AC/DC for more on this) and this makes Lady Gaga’s music a very acceptable diet for consumers, young and old.

MBA lesson # 1.   Innovate within the familiar range of the customer’s expectation for maximum early impact.  Build on that for long term sustainability.

2. If Lady Gaga’s music is in the familiar range, the presentation certainly is not.  Or is it?  Sure, people are shocked to see Lady Gaga attacked during her performance and then die in a pool of fake blood.  But, remember Alice Cooper’s electric chair executions and Madonna’s on stage masturbation scenes for ‘Like a Virgin’ on her ‘Blond Ambition’ tour?  We have been here before.  The difference that Lady Gaga brings is that she has learned from all of these people and improved the packaging and presentation of the theatrical elements that accompany her music.  Top business thinkers such as Tom Peters have written about becoming a learning organisation, which, broadly speaking is an organisation that learns from its customers, staff, partners and so on. That learning can be simple, such as “How can we do what we do better?” It can also be more fundamental, such as ” How can we start over?”  Unlike some businesses, Lady Gaga has actually taken notice of Tom’s wisdom on learning organisations.

MBA lesson # 2.   Stand on the shoulders of giants if you want to innovate.  Be a genuine learning organisation if you want to stay in business for the long term.

3. Lady Gaga has succeeded in an age where society is questioning the profit imperative of corporations and celebrities.  How has she done this?  By cleverly combining the profit and purpose ambition as Daniel Pink, author of ‘A Whole New Mind’ points out.  Gaga combines exceedingly clever cross branding (music, fashion, headphones and so on) with a number of social and humanitarian causes such as the Haiti earthquake, the Japanese Tsunami and various AIDS / HIV causes.  This has enabled her to withstand a number of public relations crises when others would have crumbled.

MBA lesson # 3.   Combine your social responsibility agenda with your business plan in a seamless way.  Execute your plans with meticulous detail.

4. Lady Gaga has a shrewd approach to HR Strategy – partnering with evergreen stars such as Madonna, Elton John and Cher.   This gives her access to a much wider market for her music and legitimises her brand across generations.

MBA lesson # 4.   Use partnerships and joint ventures to enlarge your market share in ways that benefit all the stakeholders.  Choose your partners wisely and in ways that provide genuine win-win benefits.

5. Lady Gaga has captured the hearts, minds, souls and bank balances of several generations through the clever use of social media, in ways that major corporations can only dream of.   She has given her fans control of social media such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and so on.  They have a shared identity (little monsters) and Gaga has allowed her fanbase to operate a ‘market pull’ approach to affiliation instead of using traditional ‘push’ approaches to marketing.

MBA lesson # 5.   Understand that social media is social and the powerful imperative of the word YOU in social media.   People like social media to interact with their own lives and values.

I’m sure there are many more MBA lessons to be drawn from Lady Gaga.  Please send your thoughts in as contributions to this blog, which will be included in a sequel.  In the meanwhile, here is Lady Gaga’s fantastic piece of post-modern pop music ‘Poker Face’.

p.s. My new book ‘Punk Rock People Management – A no-nonsense guide to hiring, inspiring and firing staff’ is available on Amazon KINDLE or for FREE as a download.  Please contact me directly here or via the Punk Rock People Management webpage for your copy.

Poker Face

A Day in the Life: Four powerful Rock’n'Roll business networking lessons

Some say that networking does not lead to results for them although I find that face to face and social networking does work.   Having just read Ellie Becker’s great post on this subject (who I met on Twitter), it occurred to me that I should write a short post on ‘a day in the life’ of my networking in London.  Before that, I must play the fantastic Beatles song of the same name – a rare live studio version:

7.16 am Woke up, fell out of bed, dragged a comb across my head …. Well actually, I did my e-mails for the day and phone calls as well ….

11.29 am Arrived at the HQ of Premier Christian Radio in London.  I had been invited for a bacon roll and coffee with no particular agenda.  On arrival, the marketing director said “Would you mind running a 90 minute creative thinking session for our people to help us formulate our next public fundraising campaign?  We have no money but will try to think of some way to thank you if it goes well”.  I said yes, assuming that he was talking about something for another occasion, to which he replied “Wait here, I’ll get them in”.  The session started 2 minutes later!  Much of my work is pre-planned and it was therefore refreshing to be asked to do a live session with no warning.  I’m pleased to say that the session went so well that Premier have offered to write me some PR and broadcast it widely.

Networking lesson # 1: Remain open and receptive to surprises.

1.37 pm Onwards to Lloyds of London for a coaching session / exchange with Alex, who works as a change agent there.  Nothing Rock’n’Roll about that I hear you say?  Well, Alex is also a talented singer with suburban blues band Bastedo, having had recording / writing contracts with Sony.  Turns out that Premier Christian Radio want to record a version of the Aretha Franklin song R.E.S.P.E.C.T for their campaign.  Alex is a follower of Premier and an extremely talented singer / songwriter.  Who would have thought of that piece of serendipity?

Networking lesson # 2: Make connections between seemingly unrelated things.

3.34 pm Arrived at the offices of Pricespective to meet someone who I last met on my 1^st day at work 35 years ago.  How did we reconnect?  Linkedin.  I think we will end up doing a number of things to our mutual advantage, some of them social (my friend has also turned into an author) and some of them business related.  Upon leaving his offices, I noticed a door in the Foyer marked ‘music room’.  I asked the guy at the desk what this was about and it turned out that the law firm in the building has a rock band, which he is part of.  Cards and book details were exchanged immediately.  I can’t wait to hear the Lawyers rock!

Networking lesson # 3:  Open all your senses and be curious.

5.23 pm Arrived at the offices of The Halcyon Galley to meet with their Finance Director, another long lost connection, found again via Linkedin.  Turns out that he is also interested in coaching and we’ve agreed to share our collective knowledge, skill and experience in the area via my master NLP practitioner.  He is also on the lookout to provide free coaching sessions to help him complete his coaching diploma.  Write to me here if you are interested?   Some strategy work may be in the offing as a result of our random reconnection.  It also turns out that the Halcyon may be interested in getting involved with The London Mapping Festival – A celebration of all things geographical and IT from now until the end of 2012.

10.28 pm Got home!

Networking lesson # 4:  Get up early, get home late, discover business!

Networking works, both face to face and online, but you have to work at it.  It just occurred to me that my post on my pub meeting with Bernie Torme, guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne and Ian Gillan also has a networking theme.  Contact me if you would like to make your networking work better for you.

Coming up next - 5 MBA Lessons from Lady Gaga - sign up to the blog to get a weekly notification or to get your free copy of my new book Punk Rock People Management.

A no-nonsense guide to Human Relations

Finally, I know this really has nothing much to do with the post, but I just found Jeff Beck playing the Beatles song ‘A Day in the Life’ in his inimitable style with the brilliant Tal Wilkenfield, so I will leave you with this.  Especially for my network contact and friend Jason Bell of Datasentiment, bass player extraordinaire.

Monsters of Rock – Bernie Torme

Last night I had the great pleasure of spending an evening in the pub with Bernie Torme, lead guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne, Dee Snider of Twisted Sister and Ian Gillan of Deep Purple. We have a superb event coming up with Bernie soon – Take a look at Monsters of Rock Business and some of Bernie’s work:

As well as his high profile work with these monsters of rock, Bernie is a talented songwriter and recording artist.  As well as a good chat about Prince, Bill Nelson, Gary Moore and other musicians, we spent some time exploring music – business parallels:

1. How the creative process works in music and how that translates into businesses looking to innovate as a source of long term advantage – from songwriting to inventive business thinking.  We explored this issue at a global science conference with the Pfizer a while back.

2. How working with rock stars with massive egos has a parallel lesson for people attempting to lead creative / precocious people in intelligent / artistic businesses.  This was a key discussion item at London Business School’s strategy summit recently.

3. Improvisation and creativity in music and business – Bernie’s life has been about adding amazing guitar work to polish other star’s performances.  He works largely intuitively to do this.  How can you tap into a natural intuitive flow?  How do organisations such as Google, Imperial College and 3M encourage ‘intuition to order’?

4. Presentation, performance and impact – You have only one chance to make a great first impression on stage with Ozzy!   See picture below.

Master of the universe

5. Dealing with conflict and trouble at work – Rock’n'Roll is an excellent arena for learning such skills.  Some of Bernie’s stories here are x-rated and outside the scope of a public view!

6. Parallel lessons from the music business for business leaders – contracts, money, changes of plans and so on.  I have had personal experience of ‘Rock’n'Roll accounting’ having sponsored a world tour with cult punk rocker John Otway and lost my shirt on the enterprise.

These days Bernie divides his time between his recording studios and work with his band GMT.  He is also available for business events and conferences where representatives of your business get to interview him on a range of topics.  Bernie also provides cameo performances of his work if an ‘aftershow’ element is required at a conference or event.

On stage Bernie is a mighty force to be reckoned with.  Yet, in the pub, he is a thoughtful raconteur with fantastic insights and stories about the crazy world of rock’n'roll.  Contact me here or via MUSICAL EXPERIENCES if you would like to book him for an Academy of Rock experience!

Finally, here’s Bernie playing a solo with his band GMT:

Cool friend – Phil Hawthorn – The Business Cook

It may not be Rock’n’Roll to be a cook, or is it?  Well, I must say how much I admire the leadership coach and trainer Phil Hawthorn, who synthesises his ideas about business with cooking, actually preparing food while he speaks at corporate conferences and events.  He is also the author of Can Men Cook, a saucy look at gender stereotypes and cooking which rocks!  I interviewed Phil about his views on cooking, music and life.

So, what is your unique difference Phil?

I have built a fun little business linking cooking to order, leadership and teamwork.  A lot of the time I will work helping teams and their leaders to work more effectively together.  This is where the theory and practice of organisational life come together.  I’m especially good at just getting people to talk – which is a god start for fixing problems.  At the other extreme, I have run cookery demonstrations at The Ideal Home show and other places, and appeared on ITV’s competition “Britain’s Best Dish”.  I mix the two in presentations on management teams and cooking!  Here’s a clip from Britain’s Best Dish:

If music be the food of love.  What’s the link?

Shakespeare. Next question?  Seriously, both food and music feed the soul. They are ultimately involved in being creative, making something new, making the thought processes a bit different, a bit of relaxation and making people happy.  This isn’t a bad set of aims for organisations too, I feel.  Much recent research has shown that the happier an organisation is, the more successful it is.  Simple but true.  Perhaps Lord Sugar should read more of this stuff! (I loved your blog on The Apprentice, btw).

Have you got an example of a company you worked with using this approach?

A team from The Environment Agency, would you believe?  The team worked on day one learning about Rhododendron clearance, and then met up to cook a communal dinner.  They had to create the menu, do the shopping and work to a budget.  I was tasked with making a gallon (literally) of custard.  What a lot of stirring!  Food of love?  Yes, calm, content and smiling.  What better way to team build?

Another event was at a Business School for their MBA Alumni a while back.  Their leader said of it:   “If you think you have seen everything then think again. The principles of management are presented in a very entertaining, professional and unique way”.

What about music?  What music do you love?

I’m of an age where I grew up in Glam Rock – T.Rex, Bolan, David Bowie, Squeeze.  I love female singers (Kate Bush, Madonna, and Lady Gaga).  Really enjoyed Florence and the Machine, but still hark back to rock – Led Zeppelin and anything with a blues feel really.  Bach and Mozart haven’t passed me by either…

This, of course gives me the perfect excuse to play some T.REX

And The Beatles.  I am from Liverpool so have an affection.  I love the creative juice that flowed from Lennon and McCartney being friends and enemies.  Love, hate, Yin, Yang.  And that created some of the most beautiful harmonies and dichotomies in the world of music.  And I love some classical masterpieces that have created love and hate.  Elgar’s cello concerto, for example.  No-one dared do it after ‘brave’ (yes, she was) Jacqueline Dupree defined it in the repertoire.  Until Natalie Klien became BBC Young Musician of The Year (XXX?) when no-one dared to perform it.  How sad!  Natalie won by a unanimous heartfelt and emotional mile.  But she didn’t record it until 2009.  We saw her performing it in the Albert Hall in 2010.  And it was better than both the Dupree renditions.

Where can we find out more?

We have a new website called The Two Cooks, delivering exceptional corporate events and keynote speeches that blend business, music and cooking.  Check my personal website out at Can Men Cook.

Another one bites the dust – The sad loss of Amy Winehouse

Just got back from work today to find out that Amy Winehouse has died.  Lest we forget too soon what a great talent Ms Winehouse was:

One of the big downsides of Rock’n'Roll is the plain fact that some people cope better than others with fame and all its demands on them.  Sadly, Amy Winehouse will go down in history alongside a long line of those who could only cope with the use of recreational drugs. Janis Joplin, Tommy Bolin, John Bonham, Elvis Presley, Keith Moon, Jimi Hendrix, Phil Lynott, Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison, Sid Vicious etc. Will we ever learn that the drugs don’t work?  I’m afraid I don’t think so. Unfortunately this lesson applies just as much to business as it does Rock’n'Roll.  It underlines the importance of finding better coping strategies for pressure and fame than sex, drugs and rock’n'roll.

So, spare a moment to recall the great talent that sprung from this addictive personality:

Amy Winehouse RIP 23 July 2011 aged just 27 – this seems to be a very dangerous age for rock stars Brian Jones, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Kurt Cobain all left this mortal coil at 27

Bemoaning the blues

Following on from my piece on the business blues I just had to post this fantastic piece of blues satire that was sent to me from Clarksdale MA

Blues Singer’s Woman Permitted To Tell Her Side

MS–Ida Mae Dobbs, longtime woman of Willie “Skipbone” Jackson, called a press conference Tuesday to respond to charges levied against her by the legendary Delta blues singer. Ida Mae Dobbs, woman of blues singer Willie “Skipbone” Jackson

“Despite what Mr. Jackson would have you believe, I am not an evil-hearted woman who will not let him be,” Dobbs told reporters. “I repeat: I am not an evil-hearted woman who will not let him be. To the contrary, my lovin’ is so sweet, it tastes just like the apple off the tree.”

Dobbs, accused of causing Jackson pain and breaking his heart by calling out another man’s name, categorically denied treating him in a low-down manner.

“He says he sends for his baby, but I don’t come around,” Dobbs, a brownskin woman, said. “He says he sends for his baby, but I don’t come around. Well, the truth is, I do come, but he is out messing with every gal in town.”

During the press conference, Dobbs also disputed an Aug. 27 statement made by Jackson, who compared her to a dresser because someone is always going through her drawers.

“My drawers have not been gone through by any man but Willie “Skipbone” Jackson,” Dobbs said. “Neither Slim McGee nor Melvin Brown has ever been in my drawers. Nor has Sonny ‘Spoonthumb’ Perkins, nor any of those other no-good jokers down by the railroad tracks. My policy has always been to keep my drawers closed to everyone but Mr. Jackson, as I am his woman and would never treat him so unkind.”

In addition to denying Jackson’s drawer-opening allegations, Dobbs disputed charges of unrestricted sweet-potato-pie distribution, insisting that her pie is available only to Jackson.

“I do not give out my sweet potato pie arbitrarily, as I am not the sort of no-good doney who engages in such objectionable behavior,” Dobbs told reporters. “Only one man can taste my sweet potato pie, and I believe I have made it perfectly clear who that man is.” Dobbs noted that the same policy applies to her biscuits, which may be buttered only by Jackson.

While most of the accusations levied against Dobbs relate to her running around town with other men, she does face one far more serious charge, attempted homicide. On May 5, 1998, Jackson was rushed to the hospital and narrowly escaped death after ingesting nearly five ounces of gasoline. Jackson claimed that Dobbs tried to murder him, serving him a glass of the toxic fuel when he requested water. Dobbs dismissed the episode as “an accident.”

Dobbs, a short-dress, big-legged woman from Coahoma County, said it is not she but Jackson who should be forced to defend himself. According to Dobbs, Jackson frequently has devilment on his mind, staying up until all hours of the night rolling dice and drinking smokestack lightning.

“Six nights out of seven, he goes off and gets his swerve on while I sit at home by myself. Then he comes knocking on my door at 4 a.m., expecting me to rock him until his back no longer has any bone,” Dobbs said. “Is that any way for a man to treat his woman? I don’t want to, but if he keeps doing me wrong like this, I am going to take my lovin’ and give it to another man.”

Added Dobbs: “Skipbone Jackson is going to be the death of me.”

Blues death

Dobbs said that until she receives an apology from Jackson and a full retraction of all accusations, he will not be given any grinding.

“Mr. Jackson says that I stay out all night and that I’m not talking right. He says he has rambling on his mind as a result of my treating him so unkind. He says I want every downtown man I meet and says they shouldn’t even let me on the street,” Dobbs said. “Well, I refuse to allow my name to be dragged through the mud like this any longer. Unless my man puts an end to these unfair attacks on my character, I will neither rock nor roll him to the break of dawn. I am through with his low-down ways.”

To finish us off, here’s a bit of classic blues satire from the Blues Brothers.  I myself have experienced having bottles thrown at me at punk rock gigs, supporting skinhead bands, although there was no wire netting!  This is far worse than anything that can happen in a business seminar.  The worst that can happen is getting 5 out of 10 on the happy sheet!

That’s entertainment? – The Apprentice, Real Business and Real Leadership

Although it may seem churlish to say this, I must admit that I despair at the BBC TV series ‘The Apprentice’.  This is not because of its entertainment value, but because it seems that many people believe that the programme is both educational and a reality show, in that it offers us a window into real business practice.  In particular it sends out a message to young people that, to succeed in business, you need to swear a lot, be untrustworthy, wear a designer suit and fake deference to authority by mouthing the words ‘Lord Sugar’ at every possible opportunity etc.   It is not a world of business which I recognise through over 30 years of experience on a worldwide basis.  In particular the often quoted qualities of entrepreneurs, such as spirit, desire and drive are artificially exaggerated by the TV setting and the use of extrovert personalities in the main.  Not all entrepreneurs choose such corrosive tactics to sell their ideas and on this occasion, the winner was perhaps the person who did not demonstrate narcissism etc.  But why all the macho aggression from the men and women on the show generally? Are we supposed to be impressed?  Check out the number of times that Alan Sugar swears in this mashup by the infamous Cassette Boy:

Of course, we must not forget that The Apprentice is just entertainment, but it provides a message that leaders need to be arrogant, self obsessed, rude, negative and emotionally bankrupt to succeed in business.  It’s a pity that the BBC don’t choose to put reality on reality TV.  I guess it would not be half as enjoyable to see people trying to collaborate, listening intently, giving people a chance to explain themselves and so on.  As a replacement for wrestling on Saturday afternoons, The Apprentice is a good slapstick verbal equivalent, but frankly, and to quote Shania Twain ‘That Don’t Impress Me Much’.

I hope my kids don’t grow up thinking that this is the best that UK Business has to offer the world.  I’m going to kick my Amstrad now!

You're fired !

p.s. in a footnote, I must express my surprise that, on this occasion, Tom, the least pushy person appears to have won.  There is hope!

What are your views about the Apprentice and the leadership qualities demonstrated by Lord Sugar?  Post your thoughts on this blog.

Three top Rock’n’Roll business tips – From Abba to Queen and Bananarama

As part of an occasional series of blogs, I will bring you some great tips on business, extrapolated from the lyrics of great rock and pop songs, sometimes wildy so!  There are many more examples in the book ‘Sex, Leadership and Rock’n’Roll’, acclaimed by Tom Peters.  Today’s Rock’n’Roll Business tips focus on the area of interpersonal relationships.

Rock'n'Roll Wisdom mixed with top business thinking

Let’s start with 70’s Swedish glam classicists Abba with their song ‘Knowing me, knowing you aha’.

In my Rock’n’Roll world, this innocent phrase is an allusion to the concept of ‘emotional intelligence’, as Daniel Goleman puts it.  I’d put EI more plainly as:

‘Living inside your own head AND outside it’

Great leaders / musicians are able to do BOTH i.e. they exhibit personal mastery whilst maintaning a connection with those around them.  Bad leaders / musicians often live inside their own heads, not noticing their impact on others.  Let’s have your thoughts in the comments on ways in which you can develop the systematic habit of inner and outer awareness?

From Freddie Mercury, we get the evergreen hit ‘The Great Pretender’.  What business wisdom can we read into these three words?  Well, it reminds me of the issues of leadership style and authenticity.  Leadership requires us to be a master of style.  Dictator, salesperson, facilitator, confidant, comedian, entertainer, counsellor and so on.  Importantly, you should know your own range so that you don’t have to end up ‘faking it’.  Lou Reed wisely observed “I do me better than anyone else” on the question of authenticity.  What do you consider the practical business implications of Mercury’s cover to be?

Finally, in the world of interpersonal relationships, the ‘how’ is often much more important than the ‘what’.  In other words, the journey is more important than the destination.  It’s what Bananarama sang about in their hit ‘It ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it (that’s what gets results)’.  A seemingly trivial point, but one with massive impact if you need to get results through others or influence people to change.   Please share your tips on how you place value on the ‘how’ when working with others in the comments to this blog.

For fun, what might be the ‘hidden business message’ in this song by Abba?

Share your answers on the blog comments and I will award a copy of Sex, Leadership and Rock’n'Roll to the most strange and wonderful one.  Entries close on 31 July 2011.

For more Rock’n’Roll tips visit The Academy of Rock website and click on ‘ROCK WISDOM’ on the front page.  Join the blog to receive regular updates on business mixed with ideas from the world of music.

Growing me, Growing you, aha

We explored the GROW model a while back in this blog, especially the issue of getting clients focused on goal and checking where they are in respect of this.  In this blog I want to focus on the ‘options’ part of the model.  In other words, the creative / expansive thinking stage of the process, where new ideas are considered for their own value without initial concern for their practicality.

What we most need in such circumstances are a series of ‘better brainstorming’ tools to help your client escape from habitual thought patterns and genuinely consider novel strategies to achieving their goals.  Having taught on the flagship MBA programme Creativity, Innovation and Change for 12 years, I have been exposed to just about every creative thinking tool on the planet.  When we are coaching, we need a small subset of these that can be done on a 1:1 basis and which are mainly verbal-linguistic in nature, as we are usually doing coaching in this mode.  Here’s two of my favourites which work when a client is stuck or when they need more radical ideas than are currently being considered:

Reversal

In situations where people find it hard to produce ideas, the technique of reversal can be used to overcome the blockage.  Typically, reversal produces wilder ideas than conventional brainstorming.  Once you are fixed on a goal, ask your client to find ways NOT to achieve the goal. For example, if the goal were ‘In how many ways may we improve the image of the department in the eyes of key customers?’, one reversal would be ‘In how many ways might we seriously damage our reputation with key customers that would lead to a long term memory of the department as worst in class?’  Once you have generated some wild reversals, examine them to see if they can be re-reversed to produce new ideas for the goal.  This does not mean adding the word ‘not’, but a creative reversal of the idea.  Continue to do this until ideas that are both novel and practical emerge.

Superheroes

The technique requires you to adopt the persona of a superhero.  In this context this could be someone with ‘relevant’ qualities e.g. an expert problem solver or creative genius, or just any old hero, e.g. a superstar, fictional hero, or icon of some sort.  It matters not who you pick apart from the fact that you will be comfortable ‘being them for a few minutes’.  In the superhero role, ask your client to generate a number of ideas without concern for their practical value from the mind of their chosen hero.  You may have to ‘scale them back’ in a second phase to ensure the exaggerations become more practical etc.

There are many more techniques to improve the efficiency of brainstorming, some of which are outlined in our books ‘Best Practice Creativity’,  ‘Sex, Leadership and Rock’n’Roll’ and in our latest publication ‘Punk Rock People Management’, which is available for FREE – just mail us with PUNK in the title.

Sex, Leadership and Rock'n'Roll - business excellence plus music! - Click on the picture to find the book on Amazon - acclaimed by Tom Peters

We deliver 1:1 and group coaching sessions as part of the work he does to move clients from innovative thought to profitable action on a worldwide basis.  If you would like fuller explanations of the techniques mentioned in this article or to talk to him directly about applications of creative thinking in business, please contact Peter directly at peter@humdyn.co.uk and he will provide you with the full ‘recipes’.

One day in heaven – One small step for children

Peter Cook leads the after dinner keynote musical experience: Sex, Customer Service and Rock'n'Roll

I had the privilege of sharing the stage recently with Heather Small, lead singer of M-People, as the before and after dinner speakers / performers at the Customer Service Training Network (CSTN) Awards.   As well as being a mighty fine singer, Heather works for Barnardo’s and a number of charities.  She gave an impassioned speech about the work of the charity, encapsulated in the words of her song ‘What have you done today to make you feel proud?’

This also provided us with the challenge of ‘follow that’, since we had the slot afterwards to fill.  Just as well that I took our ‘secret ingredient’ in the form of Sam Laming.  Sam has two great passions, extreme sports and playing original music from Ukraine on his 32 stringed Bandura.   Here is Sam pictured up Ben Nevis, having hauled the heavy instrument to the top of the peak.  Imagine the reaction of 600 corporate executives when we arrived with the instrument at the Sofitel Hotel in Heathrow.

Sam Laming on Ben Nevis with Bandura

During the keynote, I discussed service excellence from several perspectives, dwelling on the work of Tom Peters and First Direct’s approach to banking which puts the p word (personal) back into personal banking.  We then turned to the question of personal mastery and unleashed Sam’s Ukrainian folk songs on the unsuspecting audience of 600 people.   Watch Sam’s live rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody, played on a ukelele.

So, in their completely different ways, Heather Small and Sam demonstrated personal excellence at the awards ceremony.  I was indeed proud to have been there alongside them. Creativity, a willingness to exceed personal boundaries and not being afraid to surprise others are all qualities of excellence and the event was an exemplar of this.  All thanks to Don Hales for inviting us to speak and perform at the awards.  We are delivering another event for the CSTN soon entitled ‘Myths and Riffs of Leadership’.

'Like a virgin' - A delegate experiencing stage fright during the 'Customer Service Blues'