By Clemens Rettich, on January 11th, 2012 
Thinking from the back of the envelope…
Sometimes It’s Not Enough to be Unique
Sometimes the value we offer just doesn’t match a need in our market or community. As the common wisdom once went, “There’s no selling coal in Newcastle.” They’ve already got lots, thank you!
We call that a market without white space. It’s all filled with lots of shapes and colours already, and doesn’t need any more.
It’s also a sponge. When a sponge is full, shy of wringing it out, nothing you can do is going to make room for more. Changing up your . . . → Read More: Find a New Sponge
By Clemens Rettich, on December 23rd, 2011 
Comet Lovejoy – Lester Barnes
Prima Facie
Mistaken or not, how easy to see that over 2000 years ago 3 royal scholars/astrologers/scientists would have been compelled to see what such a vision pointed to.
In a world of an imploding America, and Arab Spring that still cracks hearts and sidewalks, and a Europe at the edge of its biggest challenge since the second world war, how does one not seek a guiding star?
Verso
The great unifying visions of the human race have lead to so much suffering. Having found our star, or our interpretation of that star’s . . . → Read More: We Could Use an Orient Star
By Clemens Rettich, on December 20th, 2011 
Lend me your ears
When Shakespeare penned the words “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears…” in Julius Caesar he did his share to perpetuate the tradition that confuses great oratory with great communication. That tradition has done more to damage our understanding of good communication than almost anything else.
Check out Google. Enter the search term “communication”, and click on the “Images” search tab. Count the number of ears that are featured as opposed to mouths, megaphones, speakers, etc. We say “I’m all ears…” but you wouldn’t know it from the walk we walk. It’s all talk! It . . . → Read More: The Ears Have It
By Clemens Rettich, on December 15th, 2011 
I don’t want a balanced life. I want an aligned life.
You want the wheels on your car aligned. When the wheels are even a little bit out of alignment, the ride is uncomfortable, the wear on tires and other parts goes up, and the vehicle works less efficiently. When the wheels are critically out of alignment the ride is unbearable, and your safety is at risk.
When things that matter in your business and your life are not in alignment:
there is conflict and discomfort; you, or your business, use more energy than you need to, and . . . → Read More: The One Thing That Matters: Alignment
By Clemens Rettich, on November 24th, 2011 
There is in the human soul a desire for reproducibility. Not reproduction, (we have that for sure!), but a need to reproduce things, perfectly and repeatably.
Traditional MBA programs are built on that desire; on the belief that the behaviours that constitute good management can be learned and repeated in any context. Those programs suggest, by making management a discipline, that if you get the basic skills down, you can manage a retail business or a bank or a restaurant, each with equal success.
The trouble is, it just isn’t true. But it seems that the desire to create . . . → Read More: A System or A Symphony?
By Clemens Rettich, on November 15th, 2011 
What are you selling?
If nothing, then you are not in business. If only commodities, then you won’t be in business for long.
“But wait,” you say “I am a service provider. I don’t sell commodities. So I guess I’m safe.”
Sorry. A service alone is still a commodity. In the brave new world of social business, anything is a commodity to the extent to which it is a) a transaction that consists only of the exchange of a good or service for money, and b) reproducible in every important way.
So a service which is repeated over . . . → Read More: The Social Market: Relationships, Stories, and Desire
By Clemens Rettich, on November 10th, 2011 
Information theory. Physics. Classical music & jazz. Monastic orders. The sciences of the brain and cognition. Statistics and probability.
Business Fundamentals.
Rules.
Each of these disciplines have rules at the heart of them.
So why do I find myself constantly going back there to think and act out of the box? Isn’t getting out of the box, out of the rut, all about breaking the old rules?
No. This is a complete failure of insight. We are not boxed by rules. We are boxed by habits, instincts, and unexamined emotions. One prejudice creates a prison of a box more . . . → Read More: Back to the Middle to Get Outside
By Clemens Rettich, on November 8th, 2011 
Ideas are easy. Consistency is hard.
I think that one of the reasons I return to that epigram so often is because of my music training. The business world has much to learn from the musical world.
In music we keep going back to the fundamentals over and over again. You keep practicing all the time. Inspiration and creativity matter, but if you are a professional, it is your chops that really matter. No one expects to get it right the first time. You make mistakes, but you keep practicing until you don’t make mistakes any more. Yes originality . . . → Read More: Play it Again. And Again. And Again.
By Clemens Rettich, on November 1st, 2011 
We all procrastinate. But most of us are not procrastinators.
When was the last time you put off eating that ice cream because it was too much bother? How about finding all kinds of excuses not to cash in that cheque for 10K.
No?
How many of us pack the car in a flurry to hit the road and get to that fishing or camping spot before everyone else? Gardeners getting lost for hours in their gardens? Those of us who love to cook, unwinding in our kitchens, cooking 4-course meals?
Where are the procrastinators?
Every time I work . . . → Read More: There are No Procrastinators
By Clemens Rettich, on October 21st, 2011 
<Start Devil’s Advocacy>Caveat lector.
I hate the term time management.
You can’t manage time. The word manage has the Latin word for hand (manus) buried in it. So you get the sense of something you can get you hands on, manipulate, adjust, turn, alter, carve, or julienne. And you can’t do a single one of those things with time.
We all get a chunk of it doled out in the light, and a chunk in the dark. Some of us use clocks that divide those experiences into hours. 24 of them. And we all get the same chunks. Depending . . . → Read More: Why Time Management Is a Phrase That Should Burn
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