BLAB's New Year's resolutions

I am currently away from tiny Malta having a 1-week long break. There is so much more to revisit before the end of the year, but it'll be done in 2009. Before closing off the 2008 BLAB chapter I'd like to recommend the 'Top 50 Have-Yous' as a good start to some reasonable and useful new year's resolutions. I stumbled upon the free download on the Tom Peters website. The document is only 5 pages long and contains 50 questions in my opinion any team player, at the top or very bottom should question. Tom defines them as “practical stuff,” which is more important to the short- and long-term health of the enterprise, tiny or enormous.

My favorite of them all is the following:
44. Have you in the last … two hours … stopped by someone’s (two-levels “down”)
office-workspace for 5 minutes to ask “What do you think?” about an issue that
arose at a more or less just completed meeting? (And then stuck around for 10 or
so minutes to listen—and visibly taken notes.)

Locally, we could be more open to sharing ideas, whether or not they fall within or outside our primary area of responsibility. Sharing may end up in having your idea 'stolen' by some other guy in the office, but more often, discussion leads to a clearer picture of where we want to get to. To some extent, it is worth risking giving away your idea because the benefits out weigh the risks.

I hope, this BLAB, and others which should follow in 09, provide a discussion starter for many other ideas which we have stocked safely in our brain.

Best wishes for 2009.

Christ.mas

With all the new dots (.coms, .nets, .mts, etc.) we've seen in 2008 it's worthy to wish you all a happy Christ.mas. The dot makes the name even more meaningful!

Some more blogs should follow before the big 09 starts reading BLAB!

Vodafone showcases myIdeas initiative at University

Over the past year Vodafone has been working on an initiative which allows the man in the street, be it student or not, a Vodafone employee (like me) or not, to propose any ideas which they want. Vodafone will in return assist the idea originators to implement their ideas if the Innovation Committee deems the ideas successful. more info: http://www.vodafone.com.mt/page/whoarewe_myideas.html

20 Million for Industry...A blessing in a downturn?

Malta Enterprise has been entrusted by the Managing Authority for Structural Funds as an Intermediate Body responsible for administering six European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Grant Schemes. The Schemes focus on: tapping new international markets, encouraging start-up initiatives which have been around for less than 3 years, providing incentives for the introduction of innovations in SMEs, improvement in Environmental Performance, investment in e-Business solutions and grants for R&D initiatives.

Sounds like a big blessing in a lot of economic negativity, crisis and downturn. All this also goes in line with what Vodafone is doing about innovation (more about this in my next post)

Read more at 20millionforindustry.com

Quick blab: Competitor Intelligence

It has been almost a month since we blabbed in this space and a lot has been happening in our personal lives and the local market. Some things which I hope to be blabbing about soon:

The recent NSO news releases about Use of Internet and Communications
Some new names in print: Style (on Sunday), Phase
and some interesting initiatives online: blog.com.mt, youall.com.mt, superstoremalta.com

Finally, I will tomorrow exchange some of my thoughts on Competitor Analysis and Intelligence at the University of Malta. More about this later.