Ideas are like buses, none around for ages and then five show up at once! There's nothing worse than staring at a blank page, pen in hand and radio silence between your ears and this is exactly why the Ode team have created the ultimate playlist to get those crearive juices flowing.

We've all been there - the business is going in a new direction and you need to collectively think of ideas to support this, or maybe you have a client demanding a fresh approach and so a time and date are set; it's brainstorming time. You and the team sit in a room armed with pens and paper but the ideas just aren't flowing...

The Big Pivot: Innovation for the Unpredictable, Expensive, and Digital World of Pharmaceutical and Health

Based on his new book, The Big Pivot, Andrew Winston, a globally recognized speaker and business strategy expert, lays out a new vision for business in fundamentally changed world.  Some critical mega-trends are changing “business as usual”: deep demographic shifts, resource constraints (that raise prices for nearly every input into the economy), climate change and extreme weather, and, most importantly, radical transparency driven by big data and new technologies that connect us all – consumers and retailers can now ask and answer a range of questions about every product, where it came from, who made it, and how big an impact it has on the world.

The Big Pivot: Product and Service Innovation for an Unpredictable, Expensive and Connected World

Based on his new book, The Big Pivot, Andrew Winston, a globally recognized speaker and business strategy expert, lays out a new vision for business in a fundamentally changed world.  Some critical mega-trends are changing “business as usual”: deep demographic shifts, resource constraints (that raise prices for nearly every input into the economy), and, most importantly, radical transparency driven by big data and new technologies that connect us all – consumers and retailers can now ask and answer a range of questions about every product, where it came from, who made it, and how big an impact it has on the world.

In the face of climate change, resource constraints, and transparency, the most successful companies will specifically pursue resilience. It is resilience that will see them capitalising on the opportunities regardless of the challenges up ahead; whether that be exploding populations, disruptive technologies, natural disasters, resource shortages - the business that puts the strategies for success in place today will remain unbreakable when the rest of the corporate world crumbles.

It's about that time again! Time for us to start planning our next showcase! But before we do, we want to make sure that these events are still helpful to you and so we've put together this short survey, so we can make sure our next event achieves everything you want it to and more.

After the craziness of the IASB event in New Orleans I wanted to send you a personal message with some key takeaways and ideas from my keynote!

You've just come back from an awesome few days at IASB2015 and the emails have sure piled up! You've got all this inspiration and ideas for your clients and the last thing you want to do is go hunting for the information you need to get the job done.

The battle for business may be being fought in boardrooms, but it’s being won at dinner tables, and the brands, organisations & people that have the competitive edge are the ones that know the secret to turning their clients into walking, talking advertisements.

The battle for business may be being fought in boardrooms, but it’s being won at dinner tables, and the brands, organisations & people that have the competitive edge are the ones that know the secret to turning their clients into walking, talking advertisements.

1) Create Real Collaboration

Real collaboration requires that no one is afraid to say what they think, or engage in heated debate to sell their opinion. Too many teams are bound my un-speakable topics, fear of stupid questions, or domination of strong personalities over the introverts. Take steps to make sure that everyone is comfortable speaking up and defending their stance.

2) Set the Rules of Behaviour

Above all else, the one thing that stops managers holding people accountable to behaviours is that they don’t make those behaviours clear. By setting the team’s rules of behaviour, we make expectations clear and set boundaries around what is acceptable. To do this effectively, see number (1) above.

3) Be Consistent

The key to any change is consistency. If you want people to focus on goals and execute the high impact behaviours, you need to talk about them, review them and measure the ALL THE TIME. This is the only way that people see that these things are important.

One of the greatest ways to boost the performance of any team is to create unambiguous clarity. Clarity isn’t merely crystallising a message and letting everyone know what it is. Clarity is about people really understanding what is most important. What goals are compelling. What behaviours are acceptable and necessary. And what they need to do for high performance.

True clarity is elusive for most teams. They need ownership, and a commitment to upholding team goals and values. This is a difficult task, but anyone can do it if they focus on some really simple things.

To download the Chapter on clarity from Tony’s book, Jack and the Team that Couldn’t See, click here.