‘Anyone can make the simple complicated. Creativity is making the complicated simple.’ – Charles Mingus I remember an exchange, several years ago now, between my boss and the CEO of one of our biggest clients. The CEO was questioning our … Continue reading
After 15 or 20 minutes spent reading the comments under the op-ed pieces in my local online newspapers I am surprised that there are any unsolved problems left in the world. There are just so many experts out there. And … Continue reading
One of my former bosses used to reckon that the basis of a good team was competence, confidence, and commitment. By competence he meant that each individual team member must be competent to execute the skills and exercise the judgements … Continue reading
Although I was once a pretty decent tennis player, I have always thought that the game suffers from being too simple. I have similar feelings about golf. Whack, whack, whack, from the tee to the hole, and then on to … Continue reading
I once heard the humorist Frank Muir describe classical music as ‘the kind of music that you keep hoping will turn into a tune.’ I often feel the same way about the utterances of some politicians. If I listen long … Continue reading
In what now seems like another life, I used to write copy for a number of internationally advertised brands and products. One of my favourite products in the early days was Volkswagen – in particular, the ‘ugly duckling’ that was … Continue reading
A friend of ours reckons that he has yet to meet a man who does not consider himself to be a better than average driver and a better than average lover. I sometimes feel that my own experience of would-be … Continue reading
‘Grammar is a piano I play by ear.’ – Joan Didion Every now and then I seem to get into a discussion – OK, an argument – with one of the many self-appointed members of the language police. ‘You must … Continue reading
Back in pre-email days, Dean Acheson observed that ‘most memos are written not to inform the reader but to protect the writer’. I was reminded of this last month when I received a missive from a service supplier. It was … Continue reading
Back in the days when all good ‘newspapermen’ carried a stenographers’ pad, several sharp pencils, and an Olivetti Lettera 32 portable typewriter, one of my cousins spent her days asking who, what, where, when, and why, and writing up the … Continue reading