Thinking outside the cloud – a new tourism angle for Queensland

Queensland is one state that leverages its weather to the hilt – and the fact is the ‘Sunshine State’ earns its reputation. The odd thing is that in the past week I’ve spent in the Gold Coast experiencing the warm, humid and often wet weather it has occured to me that Queensland might be missing a massive tourism angle.

And that angle is ‘rain’. Now this might seem a little bit out of the box and, given that parts of Queensland has started to experience lots of rain at a time when some of its core target market for tourism have been experiening ‘none’, perhaps its time that the Sunshine State started to embrace the abundant rainfall as a reason why people in Melbourne or Adelaide should come to Queensland for a holiday.

‘Experience Rain and make a real holiday of it’. Hey, its just an idea and perhaps the Sunshine State could benefit from thinking outside the clouds!

Using Foresight Thinking to Enhance the Productivity of Nations

Mar 8, 2018

As Nations look to develop their understanding of Productivity and more effective planning, National Productivity Councils are often the first point of call for Governments looking for ideas. The Asia Productivity Organisation has been running since 1961 helping its member countries develop more effective approaches. I’ve just spent a week in Tokyo helping a group…

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Saving the Polar Ice Caps

Aug 16, 2017

Okay I admit that on the first take this idea might sound a little crazy. I reminded myself however of that saying that ‘all great ideas must at first sound crazy to the existing paradigm…’ or some such thing. You might know who said it (please send me an email if you do). So I…

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To Manage Your Expectations, First You Need to Know What They Are

Jan 27, 2017

We all use words that tell us about the results that were achieved and whether our expectations were met, missed or exceeded. Surprised? Disappointed? Delighted? The only way you can experience these emotions and others like them, is to have an expectation in mind. And the ONLY way you can teach your organisation to learn…

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There’s No such Thing as a Normal Future

Dec 8, 2016

The last couple of months have been hectic to say the least, with a myriad of client engagements across an array of industry sectors. And as you can see from the list below one thing is clear: EVERYONE wants to understand what is shaping their future and how they might be able to influence that…

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I’m nominating 2016 as The International Year for Consumer Fightback

Nov 19, 2016

Those of you that have been tracking this website for a while will know that towards the end of each year, I nominate the following year’s area of focus. For instance I declared that 2015 would be the International Year of Battery Technology, and as the news stories, product research and renewables push shows, it…

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Planning Tips for Local Government Agencies

Sep 21, 2016

I’ll be helping to kick off the Local Government Corporate Planners Conference in a couple of weeks, offering some thoughts about emerging issues for Councils and an approach to planning that should alleviate some issues for them. You can find details in   this link to the conference program which is being held at Citadines…

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Why Donations Won’t Fix the Plight of Australian Farmers

Aug 14, 2016

The immediate needs of farming families are obvious. Feed to keep stock alive, someway of holding onto their farms under the stand-over tactics of some banks, and Rain. Donations can fix the immediate short term to an extent but they cannot fix the long term trajectory. That requires difficult conversations and an acceptance of the…

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The Four Phases of an Adaptable, Resilient and Sustainable Organisation

Jul 14, 2016

There are four phases of thinking that every organisation MUST have available to them if they plan to be resilient to challenges, adaptable to changing circumstances and able to sustain themselves over time. The Phases are Strategic; Operational; Execution; and Evolution. If you miss any one of them or underplay an area, sooner or later…

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A Fork in the Road for the National Party

Mar 9, 2016

Life is full of interesting and not so interesting choices. Some seemingly mundane or innocuous choices turn out to be life makers (and breakers). Occasionally the noisy intensive choices turn out to be little more than a passing zephyr carrying dust. The National Party in Australia have just been presented with a ‘Fork in The…

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A Common Mistake That Kills Your Ability to Achieve

Feb 23, 2016

It probably does not get much simpler than this – no MBA required, no advanced training needed. And rather than give you the ‘mistake’ I’ll just give you the solution which is this: NEVER mistake the positiveness of Your Intent… with the ACTIONS you have taken! You cannot improve if you convince yourself that ‘good…

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