Creative enterprises can use the ICEDRIPS checklist to identify opportunities and threats in a fast-changing world. All businesses and organisations operate in a changing world and are subject to forces which are more powerful than they are, and which are beyond their control. Just as a ship at sea is subject to powerful natural forces …
Tag: intellectual property rights
The ‘E-Myth’
Michael E Gerber, in his book on the E-Myth (E-Myth Revisited), points out that there is a fundamental difference between knowing a technical skill or trade (eg as a designer, mechanic, chef) and running a business based on that skill (a design agency, a workshop or a restaurant). Many would-be entrepreneurs who break away from …
The Long Tail
The Long Tail refers to the statistical phenomenon that represents the ‘trivial many’ of the Pareto Principle or ’80:20 Rule’ (see the “95:5 Rule“). Businesses operating in the physical world need to concentrate resources on the ‘important few’, ie the top 20% or even the top 5% that provide the bulk of sales or profits …
Level 5 Leadership
The best leaders are not always ‘charismatic’. “Level 5 leaders channel their ego needs away from themselves and into the larger goal of building a great company. It’s not that Level 5 leaders have no ego or self-interest. Indeed, they are incredibly ambitious – but their ambition is first and foremost for the institution, not …
Say No to customers
Paradoxically, great art lies in what the painter chooses to leave out as much as what s/he decides to put in. Similarly, the art of business strategy is not just about deciding what you are going to do; just as important is deciding what you are not going to do. Having a ‘must not do’ …
‘Lateral-Thinking’ Leadership
The most effective leaders learn from other industries and sectors. “Most [executives] think they are in touch with the outside world if they play golf with the vice-president of another company in the same industry.” – Professor Peter Drucker. Management Guru. (Financial Times. London. 16 November 2004.) Research commissioned by the UK Government’s Department of …
Protecting – and profiting from – your Intellectual Property
How do you protect your creative works? And importantly – how do you generate income streams from your intellectual property? Creative people are rightly concerned about being ripped off, so we need to know more about how to protect our works by understanding and using intellectual property rights (IPR) such as copyright, trade marks, patents …
Selling hope, wrapped up in t-shirts
Cassandra Postema and Dong Shing Chiu (pictured) are in the business of selling hope, wrapped up in t-shirts called ‘Hope Tees’. Their Hong Kong creative enterprise is called ‘Dialog’ because it embodies an exchange of conversations between marginalised Asian textile craft wisdom and modern western design. The result is an attractive and fun range of …
What are you selling, really?
If you’re a creative business or cultural enterprise, you are selling goods or services to customers, whether it’s graphic design, fashion, architecture, music, crafts, theatre, film or books. But what are you selling, really? Or to put it another way, what is it that the customer is really buying from you? It’s often the case …
Don’t Advertise! Let your customers do the plogging
Advertising is so last century! Advertising doesn’t work any more. Instead, customers talk – like never before. continue to full article… Download article (PDF, 92KB) Download let_your_customers_do_the_plogging. David Parrish. T-Shirts and Suits. 240407.pdf