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

  • Break Your Own Rules

    I had a couple of great little customer service experiences recently that I’d like to share. On both occasions the employee admitted breaking the rules.  They had done something that I , the customer , thought was great service. But it was against the practices or policies as applied by their own managers. See what you Read more

  • Social Media: A Trust Thing

    I’m lucky. I’m part of an organisation where everyone has access to social media. Anyone can set up a Facebook or Twitter account. Anyone can blog. Without restriction. No Policy. One Rule – “If you wouldn’t say it out loud in the cafe area – don’t put it on social media.” So it’s shocking to Read more

  • Disrupt your Industry. Or be Disrupted.

    A customer called us recently. His call was answered really quickly. A repair was needed to his home. His problem was diagnosed with just a couple of questions. He was given a time and date for the repair. He was told it would be in two weeks time  – a part was needed that wasn’t in stock. Read more

  • Young People are not the problem. But Employers often are.

    The other day I was sitting with my colleague , James Walsh , and a Recruitment Consultant – talking about the difficulties of employing young people.  And how employers , and outdated recruitment practices,  are all too often part of the problem. Unintelligible jobs descriptions. Never giving candidates any feedback. Lack of mentoring. The insistence on applying 20th Read more

  • Is expecting a contribution to community such a bad thing?

    Yesterday ,on the  Guardian Housing Network , I asked whether it’s right that a Housing Association should expect a resident to make some sort of contribution to the community they move into. That we expect , as the default position , that everyone makes 5% extra effort to help their new community be the best it Read more

  • Listen to customers. But don’t feel you have to do what they say…..

    “Do your customers agree with what you are proposing?” was one of the questions our Board asked me this week. My response went something like this: “I don’t know. We’ve listened to what they have told us. We’ve observed how they find things difficult to use. And then we’ve tried to create something they will Read more