by Stuart Cross | Oct 18, 2019 | Business Rocks
Last week, Sir James Dyson announced that he was scrapping his company’s electric car project. His decision was criticized in the media and described as a ‘humbling U-turn.’ I disagree. Yes, the decision represented a U-turn, but it was far from...
by Stuart Cross | Oct 4, 2019 | Business Rocks
Our eldest son is due to sit his A-Levels next summer. He’s previously crammed for his exams, but that approach is proving less successful over time. As a result, I’m trying to help him to create a daily routine of learning. For example, he’s...
by Stuart Cross | Sep 27, 2019 | Business Rocks
This is the 200th edition of Business Rocks, which I launched five years ago (following 150 editions of a previous newsletter called Friday Focus). We have a little over 1,000 subscribers (plus those who read it through social media) to Business Rocks – up from...
by Stuart Cross | Sep 20, 2019 | Business Rocks
Where do you go to find best practice? Companies can spend £000s on research to benchmark how they stack up against their competitors and other non-competing businesses. And yet the variation in excellence within an organization can vastly exceed the variations...
by Stuart Cross | Sep 13, 2019 | Business Rocks
I led a strategy meeting with a client this week, reviewing the firm’s current strategy and setting a new over-arching direction. At one point, as the executive team were settling on a particular choice of strategy – to broaden its focus from healthcare to...
by Stuart Cross | Sep 6, 2019 | Business Rocks
Many of my coaching clients complain that they don’t have ‘thinking time’. They struggle to set aside – and keep set aside! – time in their diary for developing new ideas. They moan that they’re just too busy with urgent issues to...
by Stuart Cross | Aug 30, 2019 | Business Rocks
The summer recess is ending for all businesses and it’s back to business as usual. At Westminster, however, the temperature continues to rise as Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, prorogues Parliament (a new word for my vocabulary!). As ever, I’m not...
by Stuart Cross | Aug 2, 2019 | Business Rocks
This week’s focus: One of the biggest things I’ve learned as a football coach is the importance of transitions. These are the points when one team wins possession of the ball from the other. For the team who has just lost the ball, this is a dangerous...
by Stuart Cross | Jul 26, 2019 | Business Rocks
I’ve been working with a consumer brands business where the management team are struggling to decide on the best route to growth. They’re not short of ideas, but they cannot find an effective way to choose between their long list of potential initiatives....
by Stuart Cross | Jul 12, 2019 | Business Rocks
This week’s focus: Instant solutions and quick wins get all the attention. We seem to crave silver bullets, magic pills and overnight successes both in business and life. These successes are great when they happen. I remember during my time at Boots, for...
by Stuart Cross | Jun 28, 2019 | Business Rocks
As you read this, I will (hopefully!) be recovering from an operation to remove a rather large kidney stone. The stone has built up over the years and even though the warning signs were there – I occasionally suffered from pain, particularly when I was...
by Stuart Cross | Jun 21, 2019 | Business Rocks
This week’s focus: When you have leaking pipes in your home, there are a couple of things you can do about it. First, you could call out a plumber to fix the leak, or, second, you could simply place a bucket under the leak, collect the water and empty it every...
by Stuart Cross | Jun 14, 2019 | Business Rocks
Are you an accelerator or a brake? A car needs both an accelerator and a brake. Without an accelerator, you will never move forward, but without a brake, you will quickly find yourself out of control. Similarly, organisations need to have access to both accelerators...
by Stuart Cross | May 31, 2019 | Business Rocks
This week’s focus: I don’t need to remind my UK-based readers that the country took part in last week’s European Parliamentary elections. As the results came in they were immediately used by each of the main parties to support their own particular views on...
by Stuart Cross | May 24, 2019 | Business Rocks
A digital native is a person that has grown up in the digital age. Conversely, a digital immigrant is someone who has become familiar with these systems as an adult. And, like adults who move to a new country and master a new language, digital immigrants tend to...
by Stuart Cross | May 17, 2019 | Business Rocks
This week’s focus: I’ve been in many strategy meetings where executives say something like, “We need to kill the competition.” There seems to be an innate desire to do away with competitors so that it makes your life easier. That desire is wrong. A lack of...
by Stuart Cross | May 10, 2019 | Business Rocks
Finney, our cocker spaniel, loves to play fetch on his long, energetic walks. I’ve noticed that he sets off to chase the ball before it’s even been thrown. He has a slight glance as to where I’m planning to launch the ball, but then runs away...
by Stuart Cross | May 6, 2019 | Business Rocks
Earlier this week, one Conservative minister reportedly commented that the UK government was trapped in a “Brexit vortex of s**t!” The language might be a little crude, but the metaphor is clear: the government cannot do anything except suffer...
by Stuart Cross | Apr 26, 2019 | Business Rocks
Successful athletes understand the critical importance of great coaching. I cannot think of a leading sports star who does not have at least one dedicated coach. But why do these men and women continue to turn to coaches, even when they are already so great at what...
by Stuart Cross | Apr 19, 2019 | Business Rocks
It took a matter of minutes for a small fire at Notre Dame cathedral to turn into a raging inferno that destroyed the iconic, 850-year old building. Since the fire was put out, over €600 million has been pledged to fund Notre Dame’s re-building. More funds will...
