Why Doesn’t Motivation Work?

This is a question I was asked recently by someone in local government.  ‘How come some people travel two thousand miles in search of a job, while others won’t even get on a bus?’
It is a question that deserves consideration – and I believe that the answer lies in both hope and fear.
With hope, travel [...]

Smile and Move – A Call to Positive Action

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Enterprise = Power x Self Interest

I have written about this formulation before, that enterprise is a factor of power and self interest.  It is still working for me and bearing fruits.
I was attracted to this video from Demos that provides some useful insights into, and questions around, the nature of power.

So what do you think?
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Starting with People not Enterprise Targets

Many programmes designed to promote more enterprising cultures make the same mistake.
Because they are funded to create business starts and VAT registrations they use this as their starting point.  They lose track of the fact that they are being funded specifically because the communities that they serve have had a historically low level of start [...]

Why Do I Work In Enterprise?

‘We pass through this world but once.
Few tragedies can be more extensive than the stunting of life,
Few injustices deeper than the denial of an opportunity to strive,
Or even to hope,
By a limit imposed from without, but falsely identified as lying within.’
Stephen Jay Gould
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John Hegley – Enterprise Poet!

The Price of Art in Luton
On the bridge approaching the railway,
the man was begging.
I said draw me a dog
and I’ll give you a quid.
So I gave him some paper
and he did.
And I said, there you go, mate,
you can make money out of art!
Will you sign it?
As I handed him the one pound thirty-odd
I had in [...]

Wasting the Web in Enterprise Support

There is so much great on-line training for people who wish to start, or are thinking about starting, or are looking to develop and existing business.  I wonder why we don’t encourage our clients to make more use of it.  (Could it be because we are too focused on bums on OUR seats and hits [...]

Recovery, regeneration and renewal: back to the past?

Recovery, regeneration, renewal, renaissance.
What is it with the ‘Re’ prefix in the economic development business?
‘Re’  indicates a sense of reversal, going back to the original place, a sense of ‘undoing’.
Recover -”to regain health or strength” – “to get (anything) back“
Regenerate -”make over, generate again,”
Renew – “to resume, revive – to bring back vitality“
Renaissance – “to [...]

New Start, ACT, NfEA and the State of Business Support

New Start Magazine have published an article about the recent NfEA conference to launch ACT – a new network for enterprise support professionals.  It certainly got my juices flowing.  Below are my comments submitted in response to the original article.
I am glad the launch of ACT went well.
When I was invited to become a supplier [...]