The Customer Management Myth
Our view on Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is unambiguous. For us it is all about getting the right product, to the right customer, at the right time, via…
Time for a Change?
Like individuals, organizations change continuously, reacting to developments in their markets and to the arrival and departure of key people. In a large company,…
Risk Versus Reward
Trying to avoid all risk in business is the same as trying to avoid all opportunity. Simply reacting to risk, meanwhile, is just crisis management: shutting the…
The Data Dilemma
The strategic impact on companies of the exponential technological rate of change is both extensive and fundamental. How can you plan properly in an environment…
Why Your Boss Is Wrong About You
As the performance review season comes to its usually unsatisfactory conclusion for many, we thought we would share our thoughts on why many performance review systems…
Behavioural Science?
Conventional wisdom amongst those running organizations would agree that there is value in good service. An abundance of literature exists supporting the notion…
Engaging Conversations
Organizations care about employee engagement because the facts would suggest that it directly impacts their bottom line. Don’t believe us? Well recent and consistent…
Vive Le Tour
As the Tour de France grinds its way through the mountains in the second week we were considering it as a metaphor for life, for business life and for our careers.…
Moments of Truth
Customers have never had higher expectations – or been more empowered than they are today. How you respond to, and take care of, your customers across all of their…
Coping with Complexity
The general view on complexity is that it is a bad thing and that simplification will bring value by removing unnecessary costs. Here at Optimize we are Lean Practitioners…
Me, Myself and I
In business, the secret to effectively leading collaboration with others is finding a middle ground between too much and too little team think, where leaders encourage,…
Wood for the Trees
A famous line from Alice in Wonderland is “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there” and here at Optimize we think it’s pretty…
Pudding Politics
As the festive season’s ultimate celebration looms large in the form of the mighty Christmas dinner we would like to provide a few paragraphs to honour the Christmas…
Same Old, Same Old…
We often hear the term ‘innovation’ being used in organizations and generally used appropriately as people recognize that within business, innovation is key.…
Nudge, Nudge, Wink, Wink
One of the founding fathers of “nudge” theory has been awarded the 2017 Nobel prize for economics. Richard Thaler co-wrote a bestselling book on the nudge concept…
There's No 'I' in Team
….but of course if you look closely you will find the word ‘me’. Here at Zeitgeist we do a lot of work with building high performing teams and of course many…
An Excessive Need to be Me
Few things can discredit a leader faster than being perceived as phony. Sometimes, leaders will say what they don’t believe or they sugarcoat the truth so people…
Cyber Sense
DEF CON is the catchy title of a security conference held in Las Vegas every year and unlike other security conferences, DEF CON is more for those on the bleeding…
Life in the Fast Lane
Lord Mountbatten is quoted as stating that “The primary factor in a successful attack is speed” and the reality is that the current frontier of business success…
Having to Pay the Piper
A topic that consistently seems to be discussed is that of executive pay particularly when there are still recessionary pressures and the government bail outs are…