October 2009 - Fellow

  • Stealth mode is for fighter jets, not start-ups

    One of the biggest differences I've encountered since returning back to Scotland, is the prevalence of "stealthy" operating. Yet in Boston, Silicon Valley and indeed Cambridge, UK., everything is much more out in the open as entrepreneurs...
  • Trolls

    Seth Godin writes a daily blog column each and every day. Most of them related to business growth and entrepreneurial ideas. Most are insightful, some a little funny, but all certainly stimulate some thought. Today's is about how to handle critics...
  • Leadership on the "dark side"

    It's been a bit of a relentless round of networking, job applications and interviewing of late. But with halloween coming up (got your costume for the party yet?), I thought I'd pause to reflect on that age old interview question "so tell...
  • Personal Pipelines and Accretive Growth

    I have a couple of trains of thought to share today... I am in the process of seeking a source of income to pay the mortgage next year after the Fellowship is over and my savings are depleted. I seem to expend a lot of energy on this process, meeting...
  • The Spirit of Success

    Last weekend Isobel and I travelled to Skye to celebrate our first wedding anniversary. Alongside the walks, Talisker and food, we visited Columba 1400, an inspirational social enterprise located in Staffin. Columba 1400’s core purpose is “to...
  • If this is the answer...what is the question?

    Some of you will be familiar with this question from watching Mock the Week - one of my favourite rounds. Incidentally, worth searching for the Frankie Boyle podcast (available through iTunes) of him rehearsing for the show - just one episode so far,...
  • How do innovators think?

    Found this cool article from HBS which asks " What makes visionary entrepreneurs such as Apple's Steve Jobs, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Ebay's Pierre Omidyar and Meg Whitman, and P&G's A.G. Lafley tick?". It definitely made me...
  • Inspired

    Five good reasons for optimism - nay, enthusiasm, or even inspiration, that have passed through my attention in the last 24 hours. 1) Our banks may be facing hard times, but the UK is still the worlds top financial center . I was talking to someone in...
  • Irn-Bru - the secret is out!!

    Charlie can keep his Chocolate Factory and I’ll take the Irn-Bru factory (HQ) in Cumbernauld any day! Ok, I don’t know what the secret ingredient is, that was just a hook so I could tell you more about my day of indulgence with the company...
  • There's a magic in the air....

    This is the first line of a Silencer's song - "There's a magic in the air, and I can feel it" - and it just about sums up the electricity in the air I feel around the penultimate stage of this Fellowship journey. All the Fellows are...
  • Stasis

    sta·sis (stā'sĭs, stās'ĭs) n. pl. sta·ses (stā'sēz, stās'ēz) A condition of balance among various forces; motionlessness: "Language is a primary element of culture, and stasis in the arts is tantamount to death"...
  • Thanks David!

    Hi, A big thanks to David Bowie of Aircraft Medical and Chairman of the Fellowship Advisory board for meeting with a few of us yesterday for lunch. We all commented on how those intimate sessions often deliver most strongly on value and yesterday's...