Paul Taylor

Latest Writing

  • Net Zero and The Law of Horse Manure

    Net Zero and The Law of Horse Manure

    Catastrophic predictions that spell dark days for humanity are nothing new. The Times predicted in 1894 that in 50 years time, every street in London would be buried under nine feet of horse manure. It was the crisis of all crises. There was, to be fair, some evidence for this. As urban populations rapidly increased… Read more

  • The Gravitational Pull Of Business As Usual

    The Gravitational Pull Of Business As Usual

    The interior secrets of black holes are guarded by a one-way light-trapping boundary called the event horizon. This horizon is the point, according to NASA, that the gravitational influence of the black hole becomes so intense that not even light is fast enough to escape it. A very different horizon exists in many organisations, except… Read more

  • A Revolution in Care Requires a Revolution in Thinking

    It would appear that a revolution is required in our thinking of older people as a ‘demographic time bomb’, ‘burden’, ‘bed blockers’ and an economic liability all of which engender ageist attitudes. We’ need to recognise the contribution of older people in the workplace, supporting families, friends, neighbours and society. We also need to radically… Read more

  • It’s our job to give customers a story to tell, not tell it for them…

    “Guinness is lovely but it will always be the same, a (delicious) black and white drink – simple and unchanging. Subway do nice sandwiches. Lego make little bricks. The work of housing associations, councils, the NHS and other government departments is about our lives: it’s dramatic, it makes a difference to the way we live… Read more

  • Lessons in Customer Experience from Apple

    Apple has a clearly defined mission of creating products that are “insanely great.”   Simply stating that ambition achieves little.  It is Apple’s commitment to its values, such as integrated architecture and clean design (even on the inside of the device where no one will see it), that defines its products in the marketplace.  … Read more

  • How your culture can promote innovation

    “Organisational culture is the sum of values and rituals, which serve as ‘glue’ to integrate the members of the organisation.” – Richard Perrin I spent a wonderful day in Belfast this week with a group of Housing Organisations. It was refreshing as I got to talk not about tech and social media – but of leadership… Read more

  • We need less talk about innovation and more about mediocrity

      “The only way to get mediocre is one step at a time. But you don’t have to settle. It’s a choice you get to make every day.” – Seth Godin In my last post I named innovation as the most overused word of 2014. It’s consistently misapplied to things that really aren’t innovative at… Read more

  • 20 Signs You’re Probably Not Working For A Social Business 

    If innovation is the most overused word of 2014 , then “social business” must be the most misappropriated term. Every other organisation I come across is claiming to be one. But what does it mean to be a social business? Altimeter Group defines it as: “The deep integration of social media and social methodologies into the… Read more