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

  • Digital by Design: Making the connected organisation more human

    I must get at least four or five emails every day offering me help becoming digital by default. Every single one gets deleted. Not because I don’t need help , but because they talk of cost savings and efficiency rather than beautifully intuitive service design or of creating a rewarding customer experience. Don’t believe me?… Read more

  • Lessons In Social Business (via Vietnam)

    6am December 29th , Con Son, Con Dao Islands I’m woken by the crackle of a public address system. It’s the Communist Party giving their twice daily update of the official state news. Welcome to Vietnam. I walk outside. The early rising vietnamese are up and about. Getting ready for school. Heading to work on scooters.… Read more

  • 3 Things We Should Learn From Benefits Street

    Apart from the unfortunate title, Benefits Street is pretty good. Having seen the first two episodes I genuinely can’t understand what the fuss is about. It’s a great piece of commercial television (think – My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding) that’s designed to shock. And , boy , have we fallen for it. Primetime TV + Benefits… Read more

  • The Value of Critical Friends – Guest Post from @ShirleyAyres

    Only 17% of companies identify their social and digital strategy as “mature” – Brian Solis , The State of Social Business This is a guest post from a Super Connector. Shirley Ayres is one of those people who have taken advantage of digital to develop a new way of working – uniting like minded people… Read more

  • How social helps us cross organisational borders

     Social is no longer just about collaboration; it’s about unlocking the engines of collective knowledge, differentiated expertise and rapid learning across the whole organisation.  (In 2014) we’ll see workplaces and marketplaces fusing together like never before; enterprises will be thinking and acting differently in the context of social – Andrew Grill , Social Business in 2014 This… Read more

  • Don’t Listen To Your Sector: Be More Weird

    Had a bit of drama over the past week. I’ll recap it for you as quickly as possible – as most readers of this blog don’t work in the same sector as I do. Essentially Mick Kent, my CEO, wrote a challenging piece setting out why we have embarked upon a different service vision. Bromford are celebrating 50… Read more