Posted by Andrew Cooper on August 1, 2008
Some ducks refusing to stand in a row.
I’m thinking of publishing extracts from my Consultantese/English Dictionary as a part-work. Readers can assemble their own personalised version by copying and pasting the separate entries into a single document. Alternatively you can just email me and I’ll send you a copy.
Here are two non-random entries from the current edition of the dictionary.
Ducks: feathered animals which live partly on water, used by
consultants in the phrase ‘Getting Your Ducks In A Row’.
If anyone has succeeded in getting real ducks to stand in
a row, we’d very much like to hear from them.
Jumping Your Fences One At A Time: an expression
used by consultants when they tell clients what to do
during the ‘implementation phase’. This can usefully be
combined with the phrase Getting Your Ducks In A Row to
produce the more graphic Getting Your Ducks To Jump Their
Fences One At A Time.
I’m currently attempting to get a number of interestingly interconnected ducks to jump their final fences so that they can gallop down the home straight and emerge into the light of day before feeding on some low hanging fruit. As we management consultants might say.
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Posted by Andrew Cooper on August 1, 2008
As a result of a fascinating discussion today with Roger Croft, from this company, I’ve decided to move into retail.
It’s something I’ve always wanted to do with the Mindworks material. The current version of the Mindworks Approach is based on 11 years of practical experience with thousands of users from large and small organisations and also some budding entrepreneurs. A ‘starter pack’ version of the full Mindworks Box (see the products and services tab) is, I think, well suited to the retail market and users will be able to buy additional material online. I’m also going to offer blog-based mini websites to purchasers so that they can record their ideas and insights as they work through the process and, if they wish, make their thinking available to others.
The process around which the Mindworks Approach is based can be – and has been – used by individuals and families to think about ways of improving their lives, This is an aspect of its use I’m particularly hoping to address via a retail offering, backed up by a collection of websites aimed at developing a community of users.
Of course, I have no idea whether it will actually sell but Roger came up with the brilliant idea of testing the market at …. well see if you can guess before scrolling down…
A clue
… an actual market! Hurrah! (Maybe that clue was a bit too obvious). There are a number of farmers’ markets in the area which would be ideal, assuming they’ll let me have a stall. So, that’s the plan. I’ll also offer the Mindworks Starter Pack online : check back by the end of this weekend for details or set up Bloglines if you haven’t already (see the ‘changes’ tab) and it will tell you when I make an annoucement.
My aim is to sell if for less than £20.00, which means purchasers will have a choice between a starter pack at less than £20.00 or the whole works, a full Mindworks Box and 10 hours of online one-to-one coaching, for £1500.00. Various intermediate options will be available.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: consultancy, innovation, marketing, mindworks approach, retail, thinking | 1 Comment »
