Dads and Daughters ..

December 15, 2012
Ellen Canty - shopping

Now what will I get ?

I found myself standing in a packed MAC concession store in Brown Thomas while my fabulous daughter went through nearly every shade of make-up, lipstick and eye shadow in the store!

This was the week before Christmas and our little tradition is that we head into town together, grab a coffee and then we go shopping for Christmas presents for her – to be honest the biggest present is the time that we put aside for just the two of us.

Last year’s shopping expedition took forever and knocked the stuffing out of both of us as we wandered from shop to shop crumbling  under the stress of too much choice and not enough budget!!

This year I think she learned from the stress of the previous year’s experience and had her heart set on one place …the MAC store!

It’s awkward being a guy in those scenarios..the store was packed full of women browsing, sampling, gazing in mirrors and soaking up the advice of eager but patient assistants. The girls stare at you as if you just shouldn’t be taking up some of their valuable floor space and the odd one will give you a friendly and sympathetic smile.

I stand aside while Ellen does her shopping. While I am waiting I see my beloved Liverpool conceding 3 against Aston Villa at home – thanks twitter …aghhh!

Eventually (to be honest it was quicker than I had feared) she settles on what she wants and Dad gets the nod ….credit card time!

Ellen Canty - coffee

Rest !

Phew …we have a nice lunch and she has to go back to the MAC store again …for a few more bits – I admit it, I just don’t get it (a buddy Phil Moore tells me on Twitter @philleonono that I’m not supposed to get it!).

Before we head home …we head for a cuppa and a glass of vino.

Daughters …you just gotta love them.

Merry Christmas Ellen, I had a great day ..love ya

Dad x

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Posted in Family, Parenting | 8 Comments »

Thierry Henry and the Tender

December 12, 2012
Thiery Henry Goal v Ireland

Farce?

Remember that feeling after Thierry Henry handled the ball and everyone saw it..

We all knew when we got just 4 days notice for this tender that the whole process was stacked against us..

How in the name of God can you turn around a decent plan in just 4 days? – this request was challenging and it was designed to work against everyone except who was lined up to get it, probably who had the contract already?

This was the third year when this contract was out for “tender”.

Year 1 – we put what we felt was a really good plan together – we put huge effort into the proposal. In any normal pitch situation we will be invited in for a briefing where we can probe the client, get an understanding of the issues and put a decent plan together. In a tender situation you don’t have this opportunity.

We weren’t even invited to present …hmmm, that’s unusual – the plan we submitted was really strong and priced competitively. Maybe the other plans were so much better that we didn’t even deserve the opportunity to present?

Year 2  – let’s dig even deeper. Our plan was really strong, priced competitively and once again we didn’t even get a chance to present. Hmmm.. that’s unusual, were we that far off the pace again? I was surprised so this time I carefully monitored the event and the media coverage to see what “magic” was delivered to the event that we were not able to provide – to be honest it seemed to be more of the same as every other year, no new ideas and more of the same formula repeated.

Ok ….this time, lets request a meeting in advance of the tender process so we can meet the team and have that opportunity to get a proper debrief. This meeting went well and we seemed to actually address all of their key issues in our previous plan – there was no point pointing that out! It was clear from this briefing meeting that the whole project had gone stale and needed a shake-up. We stated clearly that we wanted a fair crack of the whip this year.

Year 3 – We get four days notice, and they are operating to a tight budget …hmmm, that’s unfair and the launch date is nearly here.

Let’s make a choice – do we bow out (making it easy for whoever) and not accept the challenge or do we drop what we are working on, dig deep and ask the team to put everything into turning around a plan within the few days? Let’s go for it..this is a contract for a project we really wanted to work on.

We put everything into this plan, give a great price well within the stated tight budget and sure enough we get the “Dear John” letter and  once again not even the opportunity to present.

Was our plan that inferior?

I’m not bragging but when Fuzion get a fair crack of the whip we win more than our share of accounts – here we weren’t even worthy of a “look-in”. We are really busy, we have grown our business winning lots of great new contracts from Irish and international clients but this is a particular one that we were determined wanted to win.

While we pretend to be following guidelines and giving everyone a “fair” chance a lot of this appears to be window dressing and the usual suspects normally end up getting these contracts, because they always have ..this right must earned fairly.

How was that for a rant !!

Must make a cuppa, forget about Thierry and put my head down .. I have way too much to do!

A late addition to the blog post compliments of Brendan Palmer – this is a great YouTube clip

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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Posted in Ireland, Irish Politics, Politics | 13 Comments »

Is that your best shot?

December 8, 2012
Ghost Estate

Creative Solutions?

Is that your best shot?

I’m not sure about you but I felt a huge sense of the inevitable about this years budget – it was a huge nothing, not in terms of what will be taken from the “easy suspects” , which is wrecking our domestic economy but it was a nothing in terms of the “solutions” , initiatives, incentives to try to revitalise and generate growth in areas that badly need it.

I was deliberately ignoring all the “headlines” on budget day but I did manage to accidentally tune into Michael Noonan being interviewed on the radio – he was declaring it a budget “for” SME’s and designed to help jobs and growth..

That was interesting – I eagerly started looking for some of the budget detail. I am a little confused as to what is in place to make it a budget for SME’s and for generating jobs and growth. Nothing!

Our government who admittedly have  a really tough job in a tough economic climate had a lot of time to work and prepare for this budget – considering the job creation issues and the huge challenge with sectors of our economy it was a huge nothing.

This budget was lazy and unimaginative, it did nothing to stimulate our economy and most significantly it did nothing to restore confidence or any spark that would encourage you to drive on and start “making things happen”.

What is sure is that the budget won’t beat us and we will drive on and create our own future … As I have said to our own team “F**k the budget“.

Is that your best shot?  Unfortunately, it probably was …..

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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Posted in Ireland, Irish Economy, Irish Politics, Taxation, Uncategorized | 10 Comments »

Last work day before Christmas..

November 30, 2012

turning off lightsYou know that feeling on the last work day of the year  – you’ve worked hard and you are finishing off those last few bits before you shut off your computer, tun off the lights and head home for a well earned break after a tough slog of a year.

With a few weeks left in the year it’s natural to start easing off, it’s job nearly done and after all everyone is thinking about Christmas – we find ourselves switching down the gears and cruising till the end of year ….

STOP!! ….there’s good business still to be done, get onto people’s radar now, for next year so you can hit the ground running when it comes to January – picture how good you will feel turning off those lights after a productive few weeks –  now you can really go and enjoy your Christmas Break ..

Make the list of what you want to achieve before the break kicks in and get cracking!

Lights out ..

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion are a Marketing and PR firm with offices in Cork and Dublin

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Posted in Marketing, Motivation, Positivity | 13 Comments »

The Widow, her two coins and the 2012 Budget

November 24, 2012

The Widow's two coinsI found myself in church recently (it happens very rarely!) as part of the Hugh O’Flaherty Memorial weekend and the very contemporary Papal Nuncio to Ireland, Archbishop Charles John Brown from the US presided over a special mass in honour of Hugh O’Flaherty, Ireland’s World War 2 Hero.

I thought the gospel (bear with me guys, this is going somewhere…) was very relevant with our Budget coming up soon –

Mark 12 – The Widow’s Offering

Jesus sat down near the collection box in the Temple and watched as the crowds dropped in their money. Many rich people put in large amounts. Then a poor widow came and dropped in two small coins.

Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has given more than all the others who are making contributions. For they gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on.”

In the budget our bunch need to make sure they grab the nettle and take what is required from those who can afford it and where there is genuine excess they need to cut it out and please, don’t expect to take the two coins from the widow and all of those like her.

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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Posted in Irish Economy, Irish Politics | 9 Comments »

A Train Journey and My Top 10 LinkedIn Tips

November 21, 2012
Train Journey

Anyone I know here?

Imagine sitting on a 3 hour train journey and across from you and next to you there are other business people that you don’t know. Other than some pleasantries you arrive at your destination and there has been virtually no communication between any of you.

It happens to all of us and for me this reminds me of how most of us are using LinkedIn – we are there but not really communicating with anyone!

LinkedIn is probably the most powerful business social media platform. If used correctly it is a terrific way to make good quality connections and it can be the best and quickest of all the social media platforms to generate awareness for you and your business.

My Top 10 Tips for getting the most from LinkedIn are:

  1. Use a great photo that captures what you are all about
  2. Complete your profile properly, taking care that you write an inviting bio for readers and use the standard industry terms to describe your areas of speciality (e.g. Social Media Consultant)
  3. Request personal recommendations from satisfied clients and co-workers (even better write some for others – it will earn you lots of brownie points!)
  4. Maximise your contacts by using the using the facility whereby LinkedIn will check your own email database against those in its database
  5. Only invite people to connect that you know, have interacted with or have a good reason for justifying a connection request
  6. Try not to ignore a connection request – as long as it is not a competitor accept requests as it can help to boost your awareness
  7. Always peep at the “people who you may know” suggestions – LinkedIn is very clever and often the suggested connections can be very relevant
  8. Try to post a status update at least once a day
  9. Join relevant groups and participate proactively – comment on posts of interest to you and the very best way to boost your awareness is to start your own discussions. Using your own blog posts as discussion “starters” is very powerful
  10. THANK & be nice is my very biggest tip – It’s really important that you respect who you interact with on LinkedIn. Thank people who connect with you, personalise your invitations to connect and think about being helpful before you try to start selling. Try and stay as positive as possible.

If people like and trust you and understand what you do, they will be more likely to want to do business with you or recommend you to someone else.

The train is pulling in ..hope you made a few new connections!

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion with offices in Dublin and Cork offer Social Media Consultancy and Training Services

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Posted in LinkedIn, Marketing, Social Media | 14 Comments »

Are you having meetings about meetings?

November 12, 2012
Meetings about Meetings

Another meeting ….

I remember sitting in a senior managers meeting getting all stressed out worrying about sales performance – the trend, annualised was worth a fortune to the company but I seemed to be the only one at the meeting getting all worked up!

Why was no one else getting as bothered as I was? They all seemed to be focused on some other issue that just didn’t seem as important to me. Let’s arrange a meeting to discuss this before our next meeting .. Oh my God!

This was Guinness, this was big business and it was management at the very highest level where the stakes were huge – what was I missing?

I had joined from a subsidiary company of Guinness in Cork called Deasy’s – we manufactured our own (quite profitable) soft drinks and distributed beer and soft drinks from the major manufacturers including Guinness. I had moved from the role of Financial Controller to General Manager, I had a lot of autonomy and now I found myself working in St.James Gate for Guinness as part of a large team.

My practical, work hard, do the (what I thought was) right thing, straight forward, no nonsense approach just didn’t seem to be cutting it at this level – in truth, I was struggling and getting very frustrated. I was starting to learn about the concept of meetings about meetings about meetings for the first time and it was driving me bonkers!!

The other thing I started to learn about was life in a large organisation and corporate “politics” and how these high stake personal power games were played out – as I said I was struggling with my very limited tool kit. At this stage in my career I needed to learn other skills to survive and thrive.

One of my big questions was how could these huge organisations succeed with such high stakes where potentially destructive personal politics could dominate and interfere with good constructive, positive work on an ongoing basis?

After three years of working with Guinness I figured out that “Success” happens in big organisations when “agendas” align.

A Senior Manager has a list of items that if he or she achieves them they will make them look good and advance their “personal” journey in the organisation. The Business has a list of items that are a priority and if these are achieved it will be successful. When the managers list and the business list align you get magic and progress is made – often this may not happen enough!

For a long time I thought that a corporate career was for me – I discovered I was wrong! Guinness was a great place to work, I made great friends in my time there, I learnt a huge amount but ultimately meetings about meetings was not for me ..

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion are a Marketing and PR firm with offices in Dublin and Cork

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Posted in Motivation, Personal development, Teamwork | 11 Comments »

Chasing “Your” Dreams

November 11, 2012
Chasing Dreams

Chase “your” dreams

A few months ago I found myself having a coffee in town on a Saturday morning chatting with an old school buddy who I hadn’t see in thirty years. We had connected on LinkedIn and it was as if those thirty years had disappeared in a flash.

I always thought he was “sound”, one of the good guys and in truth not a whole pile had changed – both of us had done a lot of living in between but we were essentially the same two school mates – we had a good laugh recalling stories about our teachers and football matches we had played in. I had a photo of our “winning” team in some school tournament and there we were the two of us in our red kit!

Both of us have done well in our varied careers and he was in the early stages of a new online project – by the end of the conversation he asked if I wanted to come on board with the project utilising our expertise on some type of a shareholding arrangement. In a few years the plan was to sell the business and we would all make good money. Hmmm ….sounded good.

After this me met a few times and got down to business and delved into the nitty gritty of his project and our involvement in it.

While his project was really interesting to my surprise I found myself not being as enthusiastic as he was about it. Why was this I was asking myself?

Like every great “driver” he was pushing me for our plans and input. I did this of course but I discovered his project wasn’t my No.1 priority. My clients and our own projects motivate me and this project just wasn’t having the impact that I was expecting.

It wasn’t a client and it wasn’t “my” project.

My buddy needs more than 1,000% from me and everyone else involved in the project for it to be a success. I realise this more than anyone.

Before we damaged our friendship we gracefully concluded our arrangement and that was cool with both of us. We’ll meet again for coffee soon – probably in about another 30 years!

It’s important that we spend our time chasing our own dreams.

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion are a Marketing and PR firm with offices in Dublin and Cork

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Posted in Business Start Ups, Motivation, Personal development | 11 Comments »

Could you wish for any more for your kids?

November 7, 2012

I just spotted this post on my son’s Facebook page – could you wish for any more?

Brendan Canty - Feel Good Lost

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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Posted in Parenting, Personal development | Leave a Comment »

Erin, Ciara and Cyber Bullying

November 1, 2012

Teenage DiscoI remember being 13 – it was one of the years I enjoyed most in my life!

I was hanging around with a cool gang, I was discovering Deep Purple, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin, I played football day and night – it was a time when we were gaining independence but without  too much responsibility and the “big” school exams were still  a few years away.

And of course there were the girls, the first disco’s (Highfield Rugby Club) …life was great!

Erin Gallagher - victim of cyber bullyingHow could the age of 13 end up being so different for Erin Gallagher in 2012?

I struggle to get my head around how she felt and how social media, something I enjoy so much could play a part in making her so miserable that she took a decision to end her beautiful life.

Just like Ciara Pugsley a few weeks earlier, taking her own life was her best solution to cope with what she was going through.

Social Media?

Of course social media isn’t to blame.

However social media unfortunately provides bullies (let’s face it – they have always existed) with more ammo, with a thicker skin and the ability to bully from a distance and often with a degree of anonymity.

This is why we have a responsibility to step up to the mark and go further than ever before to make sure that bullying is highlighted and that the bullies are stopped and exposed.

Parents & teachers

It’s no longer enough that we can plead ignorance and dismiss Facebook and the other social media platforms as being something for the young folk.

It’s no longer enough to ban our children from using the platforms – they will anyhow.

To protect our vulnerable children we need to jump in ourselves, learn and understand how these powerful and very useful social media platforms work, discover the risks and plan so that these can be managed and minimised.

Lead the way

We owe it to our kids to show them how to:

  • Set up their personal accounts properly
  • Maintain their privacy settings
  • Connect with “friends” safely
  • Think about what they post
  • Post appropriately
  • Spot and deal with inappropriate behaviour
  • “Unfriend” and Block certain users
  • Report Bullying

All of the functionality and procedures are in place to make this possible – learn about them.

Please download our “Safebook” poster , which is a simple aid for parents and teachers to help promote the responsible and safe use of Social Media and assist them in a bullying or inappropriate situation.

If our child is drowning they must know how to help themselves and must know when to ask for help.

Ciara Pugsley - victim of cyber bullyingWe owe it to the memory of Erin and Ciara, their parents, friends and families to take responsibility and help to make our exciting new world a great place for every 13 year old.

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion provide Social Media Training and Consultancy in Cork and Dublin

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Posted in Bullying, Facebook, Parenting, Social Media | 15 Comments »

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