Defence Academy of the UK tagged posts

October 13, 2014,  Thought Leadership  No comments

Actively valuing diversity and managing inclusion is the hallmark of a successful global organisation – irrespective of its size or whether it’s commercial, voluntary or part of Government.

Diversity matters because in order for such organisations to reach levels of world-class performance, they must embrace a wide range of attitudes, values, beliefs, perceptions and behaviours and not just of those that are employed by them but also those that are shared by the communities that they seek to serve.

Research on both sides of the Atlantic tends to show that social inclusion in the way described isn’t a libertarian ideal but actually makes good business sense.

I was remind...

March 28, 2014,  Guru in a Bottle, News, Public Relations practice  No comments

The war of words continues as Russia is finding itself increasingly isolated by the NATO Alliance and is already seeking stronger ties with leaders of the BRIC nations where it may feel it gets fairer hearing over its annexation of Crimea.

Certainly monitoring the news reports here in the UK you’re left with a distinct impression that the Cold War and the imminent isolation of Russia is just around the corner. Russia may have got what it wanted but it’s losing the PR war.

A good example of what I mean is illustrated by the attack Russia faced at the UN Security Council on Wednesday 19 March when US Ambassador Samantha Powers called the Great Bear a “thief”...

July 4, 2013,  Guru in a Bottle  No comments

In my 20-year plus career within journalism, public relations, marketing and social media I’ve been very fortunate to have worked with some of the most successful global organisations in the world including Andersen Consulting (Accenture), Disney,  BBC,  The Scout Association, Shell, Ferrari, the International Cricket Council and the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom.

Very often it’s been my job to train chief executives on how best to put across their messages to audiences ranging from several hundred employees and millions of TV viewers.

Whilst all of these communication skills are very important – what we aren’t taught either at school or indeed when we work wit...