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Have we forgotten how to listen?

14th May 2018 in /by

Professional Marketing for PM Forum members magazine has just published an article by Luan de Burgh entitled ‘Have we forgotten how to listen?’ Please see here to read the article.

Saying Sorry Like You Mean It

10th May 2018 in /by

Saying sorry doesn’t come easily to most people. It’s a word that so often gets stuck in the throat of politicians and business people, and you don’t even want to ask for a lawyer’s opinion on the matter! Why don’t we like to say sorry? None of us get it right all of the time […]

Does Sport Need More Personality?

30th April 2018 in /by

Professional sport in the Twenty First century owes almost as much to business as it does to feats of sporting prowess. These days successful sports stars are global commodities that can be traded for exorbitant fees, their marketable image just as significant as their silky skills or athletic attributes. As such the rise of the […]

Brexit: EU Negotiators Roll Up Sleeves

16th April 2018 in /by

The clock is ticking… One year and counting until Britain leaves the EU. Recently I focused on the prominent figures representing the UK in the next round of negotiations. This week I am taking a look at the key characters on the European side of the divide. In the UK we have a rich tradition […]

Sit Down and Learn from a Stand Up

9th April 2018 in /by

“If you don’t do  stand-up… don’t do stand-up.” When giving a presentation, using humour is good. It can create a connection with an audience, warm up the atmosphere and – dare I say it – introduce an element of fun to proceedings.  Imagine that! However, I am always surprised at how people (many of whom […]

With Great Powerpoint Comes Great Responsibility

26th March 2018 in /by

Are you a big Powerpoint fan? Many of us are these days. The presentation tool has been around since 1987 and is said to be used by 500 million users worldwide – for the most part very badly. I have lost count of the number of badly prepared Powerpoint sessions I have endured wondering just […]

Three Brexiteers, One Year to Impact

20th March 2018 in /by

A year from now we will be standing on the edge. Depending on your point of view this will be a springboard or a precipice, as Britain officially severs its ties with the European Union albeit with a handful of bungee chord caveats to slow the leap. I think I speak for the nation when […]

Time to Review your Body Language?

12th March 2018 in /by

Donald Trump likes to race to the front but doesn’t handle silences so well. Vladimir Putin is often on the back foot while listening but grows as he speaks. Richard Branson likes to fist bump instead of handshake and Mark Zuckerberg will often mimic those he is speaking to. Do you have a signature body […]

Death by Autocue

5th March 2018 in /by

An ability to stare down the barrel of a camera, or hold eye contact with a crowd while delivering a long and perfectly flawless speech is an enviable skill to have.  It is also a skill that most of us don’t naturally possess! The autocue may not count as one of man’s greatest adventures, but […]

The Quirky Side of Doing Business With the British

26th February 2018 in /by

One of the less obvious rewards of travelling is catching a glimpse of your own culture through the prism of other nationalities’ perception. For many in business here in the UK, a placement abroad is an expected part of the job and with that comes some form of cultural training relevant to the destination. Imagine […]

An Appreciation of Yodeling

19th February 2018 in /by

When was the last time you yodeled? In our super shiny digital age this pastime has been consigned as a relic of a prehistoric, and rather naff, era in history when fun was defined by methods of cheap (ergo free) entertainment. However, fun it was, and across the world, between the 1920s – 1940s, have […]

Is it a Question of Courtesy?

12th February 2018 in /by

Courtesy as a word is on the decline. I know this thanks to the latest Google gizmo (or perhaps I have only just discovered it) that charts the usage of the word in language. Apparently it peaked somewhere in the 1950s and has been on the slide since then. Of course this was always the […]

Have We Forgotten How to Listen?

5th February 2018 in /by

It wasn’t all that long ago that if one accidentally nudged the CapsLk key AND WROTE SOMETHING before realising, one would tut, delete and start again. Nowadays however it’s often more common to apologise for ‘shouting’ (followed by the ubiquitous LOL). We shout a lot these days. But we seem to have forgotten how to […]

How not to be skewered by hubris in a pitch

29th January 2018 in /by

Did you know that, given the chance, a goldfish will eat itself to death because it doesn’t know when to stop? A more commonly known fact is that a goldfish has a 9 second attention span (unless of course you are continuously shovelling fish flakes into the bowl). If you’ve finished the last paragraph your […]

How to find your natural voice

22nd January 2018 in /by

Nigel Farage has been in the headlines again. In fact, he has been on the front page thanks to his Brexit opinions and new found belief that we should have a second referendum on the topic. Perhaps the real significance of this story is that a radio show host, who no longer has anything to […]