We Could Be Heroes

When my mobile buzzed on Sunday afternoon, I wasn’t expecting to see the news that greeted me on the text.  Wales manager Gary Speed had been found dead, it was a shock. 

Even more shocking was the circumstances in which the former Leeds, Everton, Newcastle and Bolton midfielder had died.  Although Speed was never one of ‘my players’, he was a player who garnered respect even from opposition fans.  Not flashy, just a good honest pro with no little ability.  The kind of player that would give you a consistently great performance every week.  He was a hero to so many, and his recent Wales record had given a whole national cause for optimism.  Gary Speed as Wales manager just seemed to fit.

He was, on the surface, a person who had it all.  The successful career, the money garnered from his Premiership playing days, the gorgeous wife and kids, and a new managerial career that was just taking off.  Yet, the perfect life wasn’t so much for Speed, he was obviously suffering in silence, I’m not sure how else you could explain it. 

It is so often the way for men in particular to suffer in relative silence when something isn’t right.  Sometimes, the more successful you are, the harder it gets to admit to such feelings.  Often the loneliest place to be is surrounded by friends and family, it becomes a battle within yourself to try and balance the basic human need to be physically part of a group with a feeling that you are better alone.

As someone who does suffer, it is an incident that makes you think.  The men in our lives are so often our ‘heroes’ whether they want to be or not.  I think it is this basis which can make it so difficult for a man, especially a man like Gary Speed, to seek help.  Our Dads, Granddads, Uncles, footballers, rugby players, businessmen, firemen, soldiers, policemen all look and feel to us like heroes.  I remember when I was in the primary school playground ‘being Gary Lineker’ or ‘Frankie Bunn’, and my Dad could do anything (though he wasn’t bigger than your dad obviously).  Though I’m older than almost all of the Oldham team these days, I can still be heard every Saturday praising another ‘hero’ on the pitch, it is ingrained.  Surrounded by that kind of pressure (loving pressure but pressure none the less) it is not surprising that so many men find it difficult to admit they can’t cope.  Particularly when on the surface they have no need for help.  Indeed, it is often suggested that we should just ‘pull ourselves together’ or ‘get over it’.  Often that isn’t easy.

I met a psychologist once who told me that so often it is the most successful people who are the most vunerable.  I’m not suggesting that I am successful by any means, but what the chap was trying to say was that often we create circumstances where to ask for help with such a problem becomes impossible to us. 

So much of this is down to unhappiness with us, whatever the material rewards have brought.  Being happy within ourselves and being true to ourselves is ultimately the best way to be content with life.  It sounds so easy to say, but for so many people, men and women, it is a concept that the pace of modern life will never ‘allow’ them to achieve.

So whatever really happened to Gary Speed I hope that it will make all those other heroes out there realise that sometimes being happy with ourselves is the biggest battle we face.

From 3-3 to 3-3, 3 things for Paul Dickov to learn from

Like two perfectly formed book ends there was certain symmetry about Oldham’s 3-3 draw with Carlisle United at the weekend.  Not just in the final score, but with another 3-3 draw 46 league games ago.  Both finished 3-3, both saw late, late equalisers from the opposition and perhaps most tellingly both had seen Oldham race into 3-0 leads playing some of their best football of the season.

One thing Oldham manager, ex-Manchester City striker, Paul Dickov will be hoping is that the two results book-end a poor conventional season of results.  In the 46 games between the 3-3 draw with Exeter City at Boundary Park last November, and the 3-3 draw with Carlisle, Dickov oversaw a period of relatively poor results and football littered with defensive errors and goal-less attackers.  This contrasts hugely with what had gone before when Dickovs’ side started last season in such a fashion they were quickly nicknamed Galadickovs, including previously shot-shy midfielder, Dean Furman scoring the Football League goal of the season, also nominated one of the European goals of the season.

In between these two games, Oldham have gone from Galadickovs at the top of League One  earning over 1.7 points per game, scoring 1.4 goals per game to just avoiding relegation at the end of last season and starting this one as the model of mid-table mediocrity (win 2, lose 2, draw 2).  The overall record for the 46 games in between would have Oldham on 51 points from 46 games, possibly (just) enough to stay up in a conventional League One season (though 51 points hasn’t been enough in the past).

So what can we learn from Dickov’s tenure so far...here’s my own 3-3 draw, 3 positives v 3 improvements.

3 For

Scouting and Signing
Dickov and his scouts have proved they can pick a player.  He’s also shown he has a very useful list of contacts currently in some big clubs.  Some good loan signings last season Oumare Tounkare, Aidy White, Jason Lowe, Cedric Evina (turned to permanent) all unknowns who performed very well last season until the lack of quality replacements took there toll on the youngsters .  He’s continued to show the touch this season with the signings of Smith, Diamond, Simpson, Clarke and Kuqi.  All better known, but all have fitted in well to Dickovs system showing he’s certainly done his homework.  His signing failures have been few and far between. 

Football

Some of the football Oldham has played has been the best since Joe Royle’s legends graced Boundary Park.  High tempo, high pressure games built very much in the image of Dickov, but allied to some beautiful passing is the hallmark of Dickovs side at its best.  He admitted early in his tenure that he had been advised from some very experienced heads that 4-4-2 was the best way to get out of League One, and he has stuck fairly rigidly to this.  However, with players such as Chris Taylor, Fillipe Morais and even youngster David Mellor he has the ability to flex the formation during the game.  He’s also not averse to sending the big centre half up front when chasing a goal.

PR

Dickov has brought the polish of a man brought up in the goldfish bowl that the Premier League has become.  He exudes natural enthusiasm, is clear and concise in his interviews and, despite understandably relying on a few clichés and regular phrases, his honesty whilst still backing his players is clear.  So too his willingness to help promote the club, and get the players involved in promotion and PR, all crucial at League One level where a ‘big name’ like Dickov in a town like Oldham can make a real difference.  PR may sound like an insignificant point to raise, but with fans as sceptical as Oldham’s can be, it makes a refreshing change from what has gone before.

3 Against

Half Time / Full Time

Dickov’s playing style was, let’s say, combative.  Ok, scrub that, it was an all-out assault every time he took to the field.  Non-stop from the 1^st minute until the last, which makes one of his sides biggest failings all the more surprising. 

Since he took the reins, Oldham have developed the disturbing habit of regularly conceding goals in the 5 minutes either side of half time and in the last few crucial minutes of games.  Games the side have been in total control of have swung entirely on a goal just before/after half time.  Even more worrying is the sheer number of goals conceded in the second half of games, with around 60% of goals conceded throughout Dickov’s tenure happening in the second period.  For a side that on the surface seems extremely fit, this trend is difficult to explain.  It does point to a certain lack of concentration, but is it something more?  Just what happens in the Oldham dressing room at half time?

Experience

Dickov’s backroom staff should be complemented on the way they have helped create a team that plays the way it does at it’s best.  Former Leicester City and Bolton centre back Gerry Taggart as Dickov’s assistant brings the defensive experience to complement the striking experience of the manager, and they obviously get on extremely well.  However, what does strike many Oldham fans is the lack of management experience in the coaching team.  Certainly Dickov has admitted himself on more than one occasion that he has got substitutions and tactical changes wrong.

Perhaps some experience around the coaching team, maybe even a Joe Royle type figure would aid Dickovs development.  I’m not advocating a change to the coaching staff, merely the addition of some experience, even just in the form of an advisor which could enhance the team.  Almost in the same vain that the likes of Brian Horton, Lennie Lawrence and Gerry Francis have aided the managers they’ve worked with.  A strong man like Paul Dickov will do things his way, and quite rightly, but adding that experienced voice may just make that crucial difference at key times. 

Set Pieces

Set pieces play such a key part in any game both offensively and defensively that there isn’t a single manager worth his salt that doesn’t put the training hours into perfecting them.  Dickov is no exception.  However, Oldham have suffered almost the perfect ‘negative’ storm over the Dickovs tenure, regularly conceding from set pieces and never scoring from them themselves.

It isn’t an area that Dickov and his team aren’t aware of, and is regularly mentioned by Gerry Taggart in his musings, but still the problem persists.  Certainly this specific problem was a consideration in some of the pre-season signings this summer with height and experience brought in.  However, set pieces are all about concentration and ‘switching on’ quicker than the opposition (see the earlier section on Half Time/Full Time).  It is getting this right that can make a massive difference for Paul Dickov’s side.

3-3

I’ve been hugely impressed with the way Paul Dickov has gone about the job over the past season.  His command of the role and the way he has the side playing has been a joy to watch at times, particularly after many years of stagnation in League One.  As an Oldham fan I’m hoping Paul can stick around for a few more years yet and finally give this old club a reason to smile once again.

Strictly Business

As an amateur Ballroom and Latin sprawler, the return of Strictly Come Dancing to Saturday night TV serves two purposes for me. 

Firstly, it gives me the complete confirmation that I will never make it pro, and secondly just how much works goes into the 1 min and 30 seconds of performance we see on our screens.  Good, bad or Widdecombe, there is no hiding when the various celebs get their sequins and fake tans on and strut like they’ve never strutted before (apart from Robbie Savage who always had a strut that wound up opposition fans).

But Strictly Come Dancing gives us 5 business lessons that we can all learn from:

Dedication, that’s what you need

The celebs on Strictly eat, sleep and breathe (sometimes very heavily) dancing.  They have to; there is just no getting away from the intense period of time that is the show.  Last series we saw Matt Baker training in farmers fields and cow sheds whilst on location doing his day job of Countryfile.  This series Chelsee Healey is spending 8 hours a day filming Waterloo Road and then heading straight to the training room for 3 hours of intense dance. 

Whatever your opinion on TV work being ‘real’ or not, the celebs are dedicating every minute they have to the competition.  As with any business, if you are dedicated to that business, giving your all and every minute you have it will show.

Hard Work Pays off

When you are in business, it’s hard work that pays off.  Put the hours in both in your business and on your business and you’ll succeed.  Most entrepreneurs will take 16 hour work days as the norm, especially in the early days of a business, working all hours to ensure they are producing, selling, marketing and accounting.  It’s non-stop. 

At Strictly, it’s completely the same, put the hours in to learn not just the dance, but the technique and you’ll get the kind of marks that put you top of the leaderboard.  Take Harry Judd for example, the McFly drummer currently tops the training hours leaderboard and waltzed off with the first 10 of the series. 

Putting the hours and hard work in to your business is the way to get results, it’s just a pity we can’t all be accompanied by Harry or Aliona to make the time a little easier.

Know your limits

Let’s face it you wouldn’t ask Audley Harrison to perform a backflip.  Equally, asking Anita Dobson to lift Robin Windsor probably wouldn’t be the wisest decision either.  The professional dancers will put the dance choreography together to show off the best skills of the celeb.  They know exactly when is best to let them jive on their own and when it’s best just to slap them in a harness and hope for the best. 
Similarly it is crucial when you are running a business to recognise what you are good at, and what you aren’t so good at.  We aren’t superhuman as much as we like to think,  therefore getting help and support in for the bits that you aren’t so good at (or don’t want to do) will only help you and the business in the long run. 

Knowing your limits is the best way to push your business to the next level and often crystallises new appointments.

Sell the Dance

So many times celebs in Strictly Come Dancing will ‘nail’ all the steps.  Technically they’ll get to the end of the 90 seconds with the routine complete, yet something just won’t look right to us viewers or the judges.  Selling the dance be it Rhumba or Waltz is key to getting to the very top.  It is equally the case in business, you must ‘sell’ yourself and the business if you want to succeed.

Selling yourself, promoting the business is what can make the crucial difference between a sevennnnnn or a nine.  Without this essential part you are left with a technically great business that no-one gets or perhaps even knows about.  Selling is the key to success.

If you stumble, keep going

Sometimes the funniest Strictly moments are  those when it all goes wrong, and yet the celeb keeps going.  Pamela Stephenson last year nearly spun into the 3^rd row of the audience but kept going with a smile as big as ever.  This series Nancy Dell’Olio came to blows with a feather boa that wasn’t prepared to let her go, whilst Lulu completely forgot her steps in week one and carried on regardless.  The key with all of them was the celebs knew there was no hiding place they could do only one thing, carry on.

Running a business is no different, making mistakes is part of becoming an entrepreneur.  Some eminent entrepreneurs such a Richard Branson will tell you it is an essential part.  The key with these trips or mistakes is to keep going.  Dust yourself off and get back in the game.  There is no hiding place when you are in charge, you just have to keep going as best you can.  People will understand, and as long as you don’t keep making the same mistakes, it will only do you good in the long run.

Perhaps it’s time to get the glitter spray and fake tan out now, I’m feeling like a Quickstep.

Hip to be Square Apprentice Series 7 Episode 7

Never let it be said that the Apprentice is all about the youngsters. These candidates fundamentally understand just how to engage with the old market, just as much as their own peers.


Who am I kidding, the ‘cream of UK business talent’ pulled a shocker of choices in this weeks task which was to create a brand new Freemium magazine and pitch to three of the countries largest media buying organisations to secure advertising revenue. In terms of the creative and pitching process it is one that I am very familiar with, and one thing I’ll always be an advocate of is not suppressing creative ideas. It is amazing sometime just where a seemingly weird idea (believe me some of them have been) will take you. Fundamentally however the key is to focus on the message and, more importantly, the market you are trying to reach.

This is the one and only reason why Natasha, yeah, led her team to a victory, yeah, even if yeah, her project manager skills yeah, had all the quality yeah of a pitch delivered word for word yeah in the way she talked yeah…grrrr I’ve irritated myself just writing it!

Her refusal to take the feedback from Tom, Helen and the group of burly if very well-behaved on camera student rugby players almost let her down. As did the out-dated Loaded-esq final product. But the fact that the largest media buyer had a client base that suited such a publication secured victory. Of course the fact that they understood the need to be flexible on the rate card cost helped massively.

Jedi Jim or Darth Norn Iron as he is now known missed this, which was as amazing as it was cringeworthy. How a supposed Sales expert got it so wrong says more about Jim’s real skills than his mouth would ever betray. Even without any clever TV editing any sales person worth their salt would’ve seen the change in atmosphere as Darth Norn told the media buyer that he wouldn’t negotiate on the rate card, not once but three times. He was lucky not to be hopping into the nearest TIE fighter, but it’s only a matter of time.

I can’t believe I’ve got this far into the article without any mention of the words ‘Hip’ and ‘Replacement’. I think that it’s because on some unconscious level I still can’t work out one thing…why!

Throughout Glenn’s one-man creative storm he got so carried away with comedy ‘old-people’ terms that he’d lost sight of what the magazine stood for. Feedback from the focus group gave some credence to Zoe’s throwaway ‘Hip Replacement’ idea, but a combination of translation and Darth Norn’s attempt at funking up the front cover meant it was a loser. Credit to Zoe though for understanding how the magazine should be pitched, just a shame the name left it looking decidedly bizarre.

The firing was a surprise more for the fact Darth Norn remained than Glenn being fired. The same charge could be levelled at Susan, but, despite her best efforts to irritate most, she perceptively picks up on the fundamental business points in the tasks. She just needs to learn to speak up a bit more before the event.

Lord Sugars rather unkind adage on firing Glenn that he’d ‘never met an engineer that was good at business’ will rankle with many. Though in his Lordships defence he loves engineers in general, especially those that helped him make his vast fortune. He obviously has a few scars.

So it was the engineer that left, with Bambi and Darth Norn heading back to the other candidates with their saving more a stay of execution than an indication of being potential winners.

Star of the Week: Tom Pellereau and Helen Louise Milligan.  Both picked up on the correct route for Covered but were ignored by the whirling Natasha


Got Lucky: Darth Norn - Jim.  Got it so wrong and his inability to sell will have him gone before long.

Heading for a Fall: Natasha Scribbins.  Yeah!

For Twitter updates on The Apprentice don't forget to follow me @simonbrooke

What can Digital Marketing learn from Direct Marketing (DM)?

For many marketers, digital marketing has quite rightly become their number one priority.


The flexibility, cost savings and relative ease of use makes it a marketing channel that is perfect for many. Quite rightly too, but what is sometimes forgotten in the use of this marketing panacea is sometimes focused too much on the technology and not enough on the best way to use it.

And in this respect digital really can learn lessons from DM.

One clear lesson is one that DM practitioners have been using for years. The well worn DM path of Test, Learn and Refine is one that fits perfectly with the benefits that digital bring. And it is a reason why many of the best digital marketers have a DM background.

Secondly, the essence of any great marketing strategy is a perfect mix of marketing channels all working in conjunction to best meet the business objectives. Digital campaigns work best when they are combined with other marketing routes. Making sure, as you would with a DM campaign, that all branding is in line and reflects the key messages you are trying to make.

Thirdly, any great DM campaign follows the Test, Learn and Refine process, but also any DM must be AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire and Action). The beauty of digital is that it can speed up this process as feedback can be instantaneous. However, as it is so easy to do, it often becomes forgotten. Test, Learn and Refine can bring excellent results to any marketing campaign.

Creating something interesting, great design, persuasive copy and call to action are key to any effective marketing piece. Be that digital or DM, the trick is to ensure that some of those fundamental lessons that arrived before the digital era are followed through. Digital marketing is essential for all businesses. It takes customer and supplier interaction to a new level.

However, the fundamentals of great integrated marketing campaigns should not be ignored.

Networking doesn’t have to be a Nightmare

My last two major marketing tasks couldn’t be more of a contrast; old fashioned sweets and insolvency practitioners.


It’s two ends of a very interesting scale, particularly when out at networking events. In engaging networking terms it seriously is feast or famine. One of these subjects is guaranteed to ensure you find conversations ending very quickly with nervous glances over to the coffee table (or ‘excuse table’ for many of us), whilst the other means fending off questions fired in with machine gun-like regularity (have a guess which one is which – answers on a postcard).

Neither in their own way make networking an easy ride, especially when you are trying to maintain a golden rule of the art, be interested and interesting. I love meeting new people and yet the daunting environment of a networking event still gives me jitters. This feeling isn’t helped by the contrasting challenges presented by the two subjects, either getting the nervous silence (is he going to make me insolvent) or feeling like your subject is dominating the conversation. Believe me, as strange as it sounds having the subject constantly returning to your passion isn’t as great as it sounds when you are loving finding out about others.

It is a challenge that is often replicated by clients across many industries we speak to, in areas that they see as un-interesting, unsexy and therefore un-marketable. However as we always say, nothing is un-marketable.

The key to anything like this is approaching it as you would if you were face to face with your customer. If you were to have a conversation with them what would you say? What would you want that person to take away from the 1 min conversation that you had?

For me it always boils down to a few key things. I want people to know something about me and I want to know something about them. I’d like to understand how I can help them, and I’d like to give them an idea of how I could do that.

These are the things I always keep in mind when I’m meeting new people at networking events. And they can be applied as easily to your general marketing. Take the time to understand your customers, learn things about them, help them, make their lives easier in some way and you’ll find that marketing becomes that little bit easier.

I Love Me: Lessons from Apprentice Series Seven Episode One

You know the score, Prokofiev's 'Dance of the Knights' starts up, Mark Halliley's distinctive tones kick in and we're off. Series Seven of the Apprentice smashed its way back onto our screens with a new set of candidates.

Just how they settle in will become clearer over the coming weeks, but in many ways this was one of the tamer starts to an Apprentice series for some time (in Apprentice terms anyway).

Wherever the Apprentice Candidate Farm is located, it's clear that the ‘I’m Number One’ chemical is being increased by each series, along with Jeremy Clarkson levels of ‘Tact’ in their feed. It generally makes for fabulous TV viewing, and whilst it was clear some of the contestants were on the slow-release capsules in Episode One, you got a distinct impression that we are (TV) hours away from more of those chemical kicking in.

For those of you turned off by previous series, this series is distinctive for one key reason. Gone is the £100k per year job with Lord Sugar and in its place the chance to go into business with the main man, who will also invest £250k into the venture. A fantastic start for a new business of the winner’s choice.

Although it’s not yet clear how this will change the dynamic of the programme, it does ask a fundamentally different question of the candidates and Lord Sugar. Indeed Lord Sugar will have to ask himself, not if he can employ this person, but can he go into a partnership with them.

The lessons from Episode One were many, varied and fundamental to any business. We had mistakes on devising costs, sale prices, stock and production. But what struck me was a lesson that was certainly hammered home on the ‘You’re Fired’ sister show.

Edward Hunter proved that outside of the basic fundamentals of running a business the one thing each and every entrepreneur (young or old) should do is understand themselves. By that I’m not talking some deep and comprehensive analysis of what you are, it’s more basic than that.

Though almost every entrepreneur I’ve ever met has to be a jack of all trades within their business, often through necessity, there comes a time when each will have to ask the question – What are my strengths? It’s a question I have asked and had help understanding with my friends at Alchemy. Within each of us, entrepreneur or not, we have an honest understanding of what we are good at, and not so good at. Many of the most successful entrepreneurs understand this, and will build teams and businesses in such a way that the business benefits from the strengths that they have, whilst utilising the different strengths of others.

Edward, in his attempt to show he wasn’t an accountant from the mould (as he put it), deliberately set aside a key strength namely his accountancy skills, and instead took the boys team on seemingly disorganised squeeze and sell. He set aside the very skills that were a basic requirement of the task in place of what he perceived to be high-energy leading and selling. Even before the bizarre exchanges with Lord Sugar in the boardroom, Edward set aside one of his biggest strengths and from that moment on he was very much Edward Hunt-ed.

Getting the fundamental business processes correct in any business is essential. But so is understanding the strengths we have as individuals and finding partners, employees or colleagues to help us create a team with the required strengths and skills to really go for the big prize.

Perhaps this year’s candidates really can listen to themselves for once...’I love me’ – just find out what ‘me’ can bring to the table.

Star of the Week: Jim Eastwood - hilarious argument diffusing skills aside a solid performance
Got Lucky:  Edna Agbarha - Looked uncomfortable with the task and almost cost the girls the win with production problems
Heading for a Fall:  Melody Hossaini - Great performance but the toast to herself may not be appreciated by others

The Apprentice is Back (-'s Up!)

The Apprentice well and truly sizzled back onto our TV screens this week with the usual mix of ego’s, attention seekers and potential stars. That wasn’t entirely unpredictable, and neither in many ways was the result once the boys appointed Dan Harris to be their first project manager.


It was an episode filled with lessons in ‘how not too’, but let’s not forget in the furore that followed the result, both teams achieved profit. That was about as good as it got, as neither team overly impressed, though it is fair to say that that isn’t unusual in week one.

Watching the episode with a group of seven women was an interesting place to be, especially as the boys team held their kick-off meeting...or should that have been stag rut. Things didn’t get any better once the sausage challenge kicked off, with the views in the room going from mild annoyance to outright disgust.

From the moment Dan was appointed project manager, Desperate Dan appeared. Indeed he may have been better eating his cow pies lovingly prepared by Aunt Aggie. The bumbling fool of The Dandy fame was there, however somewhere along the line, it may have been the kitchen fumes, he morphed into Gordon Ramsey, or certainly his vocabulary did.

Under the pressure of the challenge and the testosterone filled frenzy, Dan ignored almost all the rules of good people management and proceeded to shout, swear and bully his way to a profitable loss. His team were on edge from the first moment, automatically taking their lead from the project manager. His body language, demeanour and conduct did nothing to calm, reassure and control his charges. In fact, it’s fair to say we will probably see several of them less macho as the series proceeds, with a different project manager around.

There will be different body language and communication experts that will be able to explain what went on far better than I can, but you certainly didn’t need to be an expert to understand just how wrong the boys and Dan in particular got it.

Respect was for me the biggest lesson. Even the girls team got it wrong a couple of times, almost in a more spectacular way when they left a customer wanting to do a big deal, whilst they proceeded to have an argument over who would close the sale. Showing no respect to the customer, they were lucky he stayed around; he may not have come back. Equally, the boys may have made a profit, but just who from the team has any respect for Dan? After all he showed none to them, and even more astonishingly, none to Lord Sugar in the boardroom.

Disagreements are acceptable in business. Dictatorial leaders/managers are arguably needed in certain situations. What makes it possible to move on and create lasting relationships with staff, suppliers and customers is having an underlying respect for each and everyone. Be they Lord or sausage maker.