Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Strategic Directions

With 2 successful conferences behind me, I went on vacation to Germany: we had so much fun seeing friends and family.

Coming back, I was fortunate to have several interesting projects brought to me. This attests to the effectiveness of my primary business development activity: deliver great work and invariably more interesting work results (so far, so good).

Over the last 2 months I have been working on projects as varied as branding-related research for the Stem Cell Network, a Nokia for Business marketing project, focus groups testing NAC Orchestra programming under consideration, developing a 5-year plan for NAC Music Education program evaluation and editorial work on defining 10 new thematics for Canadian Geographic's Canadian Atlas Online Phase 3 (based on the 3 volumes of the Historical Atlas of Canada).

As I am observing politics, the economy and 'nature at work' in Canada and the US in particular, I am wondering about the new strategic moves that will be required both in my own and in my clients' businesses. I know diversity of skills and continually honing my capabilities are important to my success - I already have a minimal environmental footprint in terms of my business. For my clients the answers will run the full gambit of business strategy: from investing in customer experience to attracting and keeping the right talent, from creating new products to becoming more effective and savvy communicators.