Bondy Consulting

Published: Bondy Consulting

Published: Bondy Consulting

Heidi Grant Halvorson today argues in her Harvard Business Review blog that successful people are not simply born that way as is often assumed; conversely, their success can be largely attributed to things they do.

Heidi shares with us nine top things successful people do differently:

1.     Get specific when setting goals for yourself – knowing exactly what you want to achieve keeps you motivated until you get there

2.     Seize the moment to act on your goals – grab hold of opportunities before they slip through your fingers

3.     Know exactly how far you have left to go. Achieving your goals requires honest and regular monitoring of your progress

4.     Be a realistic optimist. Believing in your ability to succeed is enormously helpful for creating and sustaining your motivation, but whatever you do, don’t underestimate how difficult it will be to reach your goal

5.     Focus on getting better rather than being good – many of us believe that our intelligence, our personality, and our physical attributes are fixed but in fact attributes of all kinds are profoundly malleable

6.     Have grit. Grit is a willingness to commit to long-term goals, and to persist in the face of difficultly; people who lack it generally believe that they just don’t have the innate abilities successful people have – shake of this mentality and you are one step closer to grittiness!

7.     Build your willpower – the more you use it the stronger it will get

8.     Don’t tempt fate, most notably by taking on too much at once and making a goal harder to reach than it already is

9.     Focus on what you will do, not what you won’t do. For example, replace your bad habits with good ones rather than dwelling on the bad habits themselves 

Published: Bondy Consulting

Published: Bondy Consulting

Finding exceptional talent is a challenge for most businesses, but a new book by George Anders gives some helpful guidelines.  ‘The Rare Find: spotting exceptional talent before everyone else does’ and discussed in this month’s Management Today, highlights the importance of:

• Taking time on the search criteria, avoid generic must haves and focus on what the role really requires – a short, well focussed list of attributes is far more likely to pay off

• Testing people on their feet by creating a challenging scenario which requires potential candidates to think fast and under pressure.  Those who can juggle imaginary competing forces in their minds and come up with a workable resolution are more likely to make the right calls in everyday business

• Keeping your eyes open for strengths that you have always admired but never enjoyed…don’t just look for a junior copy of yourself

• Delving deep as opposed to gliding when interviewing – only by staying with one topic and asking more detailed questions does a clear sense of someone’s character and track record emerge

• Listening both as an interviewer and potential candidate.  Aggressive listeners gain authority by being incredibly attentive to other people.  The gestures, pauses and inflections often hint at something beyond the words being said…as the saying goes in Washington  - the most important thing a man has to tell you is what he is not telling you

The Rare Find: spotting exceptional talent before everyone else does is published by Penguin.

Published: Bondy Consulting

In the latest edition of the Harvard Business Review Chris Zook and James Allen reveal how when it comes to business, using a simple formula can enable corporations to create new and lasting marketplace differentiation.

Differentiation, according to Zook and Allen, is the ‘essence of strategy’ and the ‘prime source of competitive advantage’ - you earn money not just by performing a valuable task but by being different from your competitors, and better serving your core customers. Replicating your greatest success means deeply understanding the root causes of that success, maintaining a 360 degree view of how they could be adapted, and ensuring that the entire organisation internalises the strategy and the differentiation on which they are built.

Here are six actions to consider:

1. Make sure that you and your management team agree on what differentiates your business now and in the future
2. Assess whether the front line of your organisation agrees with what you come up with
3. Write your strategy on a page, or even on an index card – the most simple and succinct strategies are often the most effective
4. Conduct a post-mortem of your twenty most recent growth investments and initiatives, in order to understand what made them work and how they can be replicated
5. Translate your strategy into a few non-negotiables to be utilised time and time again
6. Review how you monitor the most important health indicators of your core business and its differentiators, both for short term adjustment and for long term investment in new capabilities

Published: Bondy Consulting

Published: Bondy Consulting

Bondy Consulting has been appointed by BuyaPowa (http://www.buyapowa.com), founded by Gideon Lask, former Managing Director at HMV.com and Senior Vice President of e-commerce at Universal Music Group.

A first-of-its-kind community for shoppers to use their collective buying power to demand the same bulk-buy discounts previously only enjoyed by retailers, BuyaPowa is set to transform retailing as we know it.

BuyaPowa uses the power of a new form of shopping called co-buying – the act of bringing together customers into a single transaction so they can get trade discounts not available to the end consumer. It is also the first e-commerce model that genuinely incentivises buyers to recruit other buyers, because the price of the product keeps dropping as more people choose it. What’s more, the buyer who brings in the most other buyers gets their product for free. 

The launch of BuyaPowa is a timely disruption of the traditional buying model, putting the power back into the hands of consumers by bringing them together using social technologies like Facebook and Twitter to get better prices on the products they want.

BuyaPowa is launching with a focus on three main product categories – consumer technology, parenting and beauty, but many other categories are in the pipeline.  Co-buys will be sourced directly by it or as a result of demand shown by the BuyaPowa community. Members can nominate products they want to co-buy, as well as voting on others selected by the rest of the community. Once enough interest is shown, BuyaPowa will immediately talk to manufacturers, brands and retailers on behalf of the community to negotiate a co-buy deal. 

BuyaPowa has already established co-buying relationships with brands, manufacturers, distributors and online communities and offers an exciting opportunity for PR and marketing companies to include a BuyaPowa co-buy opportunity in their campaigns to build deeper relationships with consumers and create all important brand advocates.  The co-buy can be embedded within a brand’s Facebook page or directly within their website, or indeed within the communities, blogs, or forums with whom the brand already work or advertises with.

Gideon Lask comments:  “We are delighted to be working with Bondy Consulting who came highly recommended. Bondy offers a unique combination of senior thinking across corporate, consumer and digital and they have worked with both start ups and big clients so understand where we are coming from.”  

Jessica Bondy, founder of Bondy Consulting says: "We are incredibly excited to be working with BuyaPowa  and were had at hello when the whole concept was explained.  Co-buying is the future of e-commerce and it is great to be involved in something so innovative and game-changing.”  

Published: Bondy Consulting

Published: Bondy Consulting

Published: Bondy Consulting

Published: Bondy Consulting

Published: Bondy Consulting

In his latest instalment in the Harvard Business Review blog, Peter Bregman (a strategic adviser to CEOs and leadership teams) enlightens us on how to ‘be prepared to be unprepared’– an insightful and timely analysis, given the events that have unfolded with News International the last week. He says: ‘We live and lead in a world of imperfect information, guaranteed surprises, and unpredictable occurrences. Storms are waiting to happen. Trying to predict their arrival is futile. Trying to eradicate their risks is fantasy. And, even though we may have planned meticulously, believing that we're prepared for whatever the future will bring is folly. The most successful people are able to navigate ambiguity - becoming comfortable acting in the face of the unanticipated is a huge asset.’

Peter Bregman’s three steps about how to handle the unexpected:

1. Stop the boat. If momentum is driving you to make a decision quickly, take a moment to pause. Do what we so rarely give ourselves an opportunity to do: think. If you're in a meeting, take a bathroom break. In your office, get up and take a walk.

2. Assess your actual options. Don't waste time wishing things were different or trying to force-fit your previous plan to the new, unforeseen situation. Start with a blank slate - think about the outcome you want given the new situation, the information you have at hand, and the resources available. Then lay out your options.

3. Sail. Based on your new assessment, make a decision, and commit. Even if the decision isn't ideal, even if it's not giving you everything you hoped for originally, accept that it's the best under the circumstances and move forward without hesitation.

Published: Bondy Consulting

A vision statement is not a strategy and business leaders need to wake up to this fact to truly deliver, according to business school professor Richard Rumelt and author of Good Strategy/Bad Strategy.  Discussed in an article by Carly Chynoweth in this week’s Sunday Times, Rumelt argues that identifying obstacles and working out how to deal with them is strategy, deciding to ‘grow you business by 50%’ is not strategy, as is the ‘fluffy covering ‘that many people include in vision statements such as the bank that said ‘our fundamental strategy is one of customer centric intermediation’. Rumelt says “pull off the covering and you have the superficial statement that ‘our bank’s fundamental strategy is being a bank.”

A strategy defines a problem, offers a solution and creates a set of objectives that are within reach. A vision sets out reality as you would like it to be, a strategy deals with reality as it is.  

Rumelt believes that people have forgotten that running an organisation takes more than just charismatic leadership and managing people. “The third leg of management is the design and constant improvement of work processes and getting things done. People tend to let that slip nowadays,” he says.

Published: Bondy Consulting

The recent issue of the Harvard Business Review examines the art of extreme productivity. Robert Pozen outlines six principles which are key to getting more done...and what makes Robert Pozen qualified to offer such advice? He’s been a top executive at two mutual fund giants. He’s also been an attorney, a government official, a law school professor, and a prolific author. And he has often been several of those things at once.

Principle one – Know your comparative advantage
Try not to only focus on what you do best. You are more likely to succeed if you look around and gauge how you can be most useful to the company as a whole.

Principle two – It’s not the time you spend but the results you produce
In a crisis it may be necessary to burn the midnight oil, but the ambitious have a tendency to stay late every night. It is important to measure success by the results you produce, not the number of hours you log. Find a healthy work/life balance.

Principle three – Think first, read or write second
The key to faster and more effective reading is more rigorous thinking in advance. Before putting pen to paper always know exactly what your conclusion will say.

Principle four – Prepare your plan, but be ready to change it
Be prepared to revise your to-do list and reset your priorities. Try to keep at least one hour free each day in which to respond to unexpected developments.

Principle five – Let others own their space
Encourage all participants in a project to agree on the deliverables and to set their own timetables; under this principle every employee in a large company is viewed as the owner of a small business.

Principle six – Keep things short and simple
This principle refers to every aspect of work life, from meetings to your morning routine; wasted time and effort are the ultimate productivity killers.

Published: Bondy Consulting

Attitude is worth more than skills according to a new book – Put your mindset to work: The one asset you really need to win and keep the job you love.  Written up in an article by management writer Carly Chynoweth in this week’s Sunday Times, it echoes a belief that Bondy holds true when recruiting its talent.  “ Lists of excellent grades are one thing, but the real edge for a potential candidate to be considered is having that extra special something that shows they think, use their initiative to tackle challenges and go the extra mile to achieve results,” says founder Jessica Bondy.

The book’s authors James Reed and Paul Stoltz talk about having the ‘3G’ mindset – global, gritty and good.  Global refers to people’s openness to new experiences and ideas and their ability to make connections.  Grit refers to determination, tenacity and resilience.  It also drives characteristics such as commitment, accountability and performance.  Good refers to ethics and integrity, kindness, respect, compassion and humility.

Tests for ‘3G’ are being developed.  Hopefully they will become a critical assessment tool in businesses going forward.  Communication recruitment could certainly benefit.

Published: Bondy Consulting Ltd

Bondy Consulting has been hailed as the best small consultancy – scooping the prestigious award for Outstanding Small Consultancy of the Year at the CIPR Excellence Awards 2011.  It was also named finalist for the Corporate and Business Communications for its campaign for Thomson Airways and the launch of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

According to the CIPR judges, “Bondy Consulting is an excellent example of a dynamic small consultancy. Under the strong and passionate leadership of Jessica Bondy, the consultancy understands its target audience and is just as comfortable pitching to the FT as mummy bloggers. The Company has a strong financial base and invests heavily in building client relations and the development of its staff. The team consistently demonstrates excellent results for its clients and has a clear vision for the future.”

Since setting up three years ago, Bondy has won a total of six awards for exceptional consultancy practice.  It won the CIPR Excellence Award for Outstanding Small Consultancy of the Year in 2009, was a PR Week Award finalist for New Consultancy of the Year PR in 2009 and a finalist for the 2010 Outstanding Small Consultancy of the Year CIPR Excellence Award.

Published: Bondy Consulting

Bondy Consulting has achieved a staggering 95.79% in its formal PRCA audit – the PRCA Consultancy Management Standard assessment. The high score in this internationally recognised audit for quality standards in client service delivery, client and internal management, and communication is testament to the excellent levels of client support that Bondy adheres to.

Francis Ingham, director general of the PRCA says: ‘As the globe shrinks, it becomes more important than ever that we set standards for international activity. The Consultancy Management Standard does exactly that; it was developed specifically to ensure that PRCA members have the systems and structures in place to meet and exceed clients’ expectations.’

Published: Bondy Consulting

Kallo: Appointed Bondy to drive UK presence

The food company claims that nearly a fifth of UK consumers regularly stock their cupboards with one of its brands, which includes Kallo Rice Cakes and Just Bouillon stock cubes.

Bondy won the account following a pitch process and begins working on the account with immediate effect.

Bondy will be working on an integrated campaign including consumer and trade PR for both the Kallo brand and its product range which features rice cakes and stock cubes.

The agency will be working on Kallo Foods with creative agency Work Club, which was appointed in December 2010.

Kallo created the rice cake market when it began as a family business in 1984. Its products are sold in all major food retailers and feature widely in health food stores.

Published: Bondy Consulting

Published: Bondy Consulting

Bondy Consulting and TUI’s in-house team, today announced that leading holiday company First Choice (part of TUI UK & Ireland), will become the UK’s first mainstream holiday company to offer 100% of its hotel and resorts on an All Inclusive basis – including flights, in-resort transfers, hotel accommodation, three meals a day and unlimited local drinks as standard.

Launching in Summer 2012, but available to book from this May (2011) at www.firstchoice.co.uk, First Choice’s new All Inclusive offering has been created in direct response to the needs of today’s consumers who want more control over their holiday spend, and the growing demand for All Inclusive holidays. According to latest research from Mintel, in five years (2004-2009) the All Inclusive holiday market has grown by 32% and currently accounts for 65% of First Choice sales.

Coverage has included BBC Breakfast News (with a piece every half hour on the hour), Today, Sky News, You & Yours, Radio 5 Live, Heart, LBC, Galaxy, The Sun, Daily Star, Metro, Telegraph Online, Mail Online (x2), BBC Online (x2), Independent Online, Mirror Online and 30+ radio interviews to name a few.

Published: Bondy Consulting

Bondy Consulting has been named as finalist in two categories in the 2011 CIPR Excellence Award – Outstanding Small Consultancy of the Year and for Corporate and Business Communications for its campaign for Thomson Airways – building its reputation as a leader and innovator in aviation.

The winners will be announced in Summer 2011.   

Founded in 2008, Bondy has won the CIPR Excellence Award for Outstanding Small Consultancy of the Year in 2009, was a PR Week Award finalist for New Consultancy of the Year PR in 2009 and was a finalist for the 2010 Outstanding Small Consultancy of the Year CIPR Excellence Award.

Published: Bondy Consulting

In the recent issue of the Harvard Business Review (March 2011), Dorie Clark, CEO of a leading US consulting firm who advises fortune 500 companies, offers five steps that she believes are key to reinventing yourself in the business market place. As she says, ‘people reinvent themselves all the time – to take on a new challenge, shift into more meaningful work, or rebut perceptions that have hindered their career progress.’

Your path may make perfect sense to you, but how can you persuade others to embrace your new brand – and take you seriously? The writer outlines five key steps to ensure successful rebranding:

1. Define your destination
A poorly thought out plan will only cause all parties to feel confused. Spend time researching your new path – you are sure to find confidence in knowing exactly what skills you will need.

2. Leverage your points of difference
Define your unique selling proposition and use it. Use individual characteristics to your advantage even if they are not obviously relevant to your work.

3. Develop a narrative
How does your past fit into your present? Be able to answer this question coherently; share positive reasons for the transition and others will see your change as strength as opposed to a weakness or an abandonment of your past.

4. Reintroduce yourself
Reintroducing yourself to your existing network is harder than making new contacts. You must strategically re-educate your friends and family – publically promote your new interests and abilities, for example by getting involved with relevant local projects. Concomitantly, make sure all your digital media channels such as Facebook and your website are coherent with your narrative.

5. Prove your worth
Every artist has an oeuvre and it is no different in the business world – publish and promote your track record.

With a dramatic change in the way we receive experience and pay for music, businesses are waking up to the benefits of developing a specific music strategy to help engage more closely with their customers and build their brands.

Music industry expert Michael Conn, who is transforming the role music plays in business, shared his insights at a Bondy Breakfast this month. He has developed music strategies for a variety of clients including Coca Cola, Apple, Ford, Virgin, Hyatt and Gillette.

 According to Michael:

 The music industry is re-structuring the way it develops talent and reaches its market, and this opens up fresh opportunities for brands to engage music as part of their Experiential strategy. The fact that music penetrates many parts of life and we experience it in countless places - from travel to retail experiences - means all sectors can look at the potential for involvement in different ways.

 It might seem on the face of it that this is nothing new; many brands have had a relationship with music in one way or another. However, traditional methods of brand and music engagement have become challenged and there is a demand for originality. Being simply ‘associated’ with music just isn’t enough.  Innovation in marketing has become a necessity in order to differentiate. Thus, what was once a field of background music, brand/band partnerships, and celebrity endorsements is becoming a fruitful ground for creativity that sees real value added to brands. It’s now time to think beyond these traditional approaches to harness this power in new and innovative ways.

 Here are my Top Tips:

1. Music is more than a sonic logo for your brand - think of it as a communication tool
2. “Alternative strategies aren’t a novelty. They’re all we’ve got left” Seth Godwin
3. Consider music as part of your core marketing strategy
4. Explore new ways to engage with the music industry
5. “Recognition of the value in the point of access to music is the single most important development in the music business” IFPI 2009
6. Beware of brand/band tie-ins - a band is a brand with it’s own agenda
7. Work with an independent expert who can navigate through rights issues and and conflicting agendas
8. Be consistent with the musical identity of your brand throughout all uses and all media

Published: Bondy Consulting

Bondy launches FIRST Harden’s guide to ‘Eating out with babies and toddlers’ for leading organic baby food, Plum

The first Harden’s guide to the UK’s top baby and toddler friendly restaurants, cafes and chains has been launched this week by Bondy Consulting. Created with the help of leading baby food Plum and parenting website gurgle.com, the handy guide to 1,000 plus different venues nationwide is every parent’s secret weapon in the battle to find a place to eat that will keep the whole family happy.

Based on the feedback from more than 8,000 regular restaurant going consumers it gives the most accurate perspective on what it’s like to eat out with children. And for those that find eating out with young children the ultimate test in survival, the guide also includes top tips from people really in the know – Plum’s 25,000 mums up and down the country.

Research undertaken among Plum Mums nationwide illustrates how badly the new guide is needed, with 92% saying they sometimes struggle to find a baby or toddler friendly restaurant when they’re out and about.

Plum founder and mum of three Susie Willis said: “Whether out in the park, holidaying in Cornwall or lunching in London, our Plum list of unique venues is the must-know for savvy parents.”

The guide is available at £6.99 from Plum’s website (www.plum-baby.co.uk), and an iPhone App is planned for later in the year so that parents can access all of the guide’s reviews while they are on the move.

The ‘Plum Editor’s Pick’ of top 10 special and unique places to dine out with a baby or toddler:

For glamour: The Wolseley, London
For the view: Tate Gallery, St Ives
By the sea: Porthgwidden Beach Café, St Ives
Most eco-friendly: River Cottage Canteen, Axminster
Hotel: Evesham Hotel, Evesham
Pub: Three Fishes, Whalley Range
Coffee shop: 9 Bar Café, Brighton
Park Café: The Girona Restaurant at the Ulster Museum, Belfast
Farm Café: Riverford Field Kitchen, Devon
Visitor attraction: Brief Encounter at the National Railway Museum, York