Ross Hori

writer | designer | photographer

#Management

Commentary on management issues, from looking after your start-up to pitching to keeping your people on track.

Why “do nothing” sells your business case

Work: writing, research and design
Thursday, October 12th, 2023

A business case tells a story. It starts with how your world isn't as great as it could be. The hero (you) goes on a quest to make changes to working practices, products, tools and people. Along the way are some challenges, but at the end everything is so much better than it was before.

The story we need to tell isn't a single plot. Not only do you need to show how much better things will be, you also need to show how [keep reading...]

Graphic implying steady improvement overlaid across a solid decline

How to find the financial cost of poor quality

Work: writing, research and design
Thursday, September 7th, 2023

A challenge I sometimes face is justifying action when quality is falling. It's easy to say, "Our quality has fallen," and more difficult to add, "and it's costing us $X in lost revenue and $Y in lost profit." The latter is quite helpful if you're creating a business case to fix it.

Finding out what "X" and "Y" are can be hard work. I look for these headlines to get [keep reading...]

Graphic showing multiple hustlers with one of them upside down.

How to do market research on zero budget

Work: writing, research and design
Friday, September 1st, 2023

How do you get into the mind of your customers when the budget's tight, or you're still waiting for customers to come knocking? 

Market research reports can be costly, and if you only have a few customers, a survey might not be practical. Here are four ways I keep on top of what's happening in [keep reading...]

Abstract graphic showing a crowded street with an iPad overlaid with graphs and graphics

How to use CAGR in your business plan

Work: writing, research and design
Thursday, August 17th, 2023

Business plans often predict how much a target market might grow over time and the resulting changes to financial performance. One measure I've seen used more frequently in recent months is the CAGR - the Compound Annual Growth Rate. This percentage describes the mean average growth each year over a defined period. It's often used to compare investment strategies, growth plans, and performance relative to markets and competitors.

Market research and analyst briefings sometimes use the CAGR to show how a market might change over 5 or 10 years. This gives valuable insight into what changes in business performance might be expected if nothing is done differently. For example, if the market is growing at a CAGR of 5%, and the business has historically grown at 5%, changing nothing could see [keep reading...]

Abstract illustration showing a pair of small concentric broken circles on bottom left, a larger cluster in top right. A quartet of similar circles are on the image, each connected with straight lines

How to fail to get on a shortlist: don’t answer the questions

Work: writing, research and design
Thursday, June 1st, 2023

"We don't think you've understood your requirements."

Ballsy answer for someone not yet on a short list. It was an exploratory call at the back end of a Request for Proposal process. Research leading to list [keep reading...]

Graphic of a woman in business attire jumping over a hurdle. She's knocked it over and it's going to hit the ground.

Remote working: here we go again

Work: writing, research and design
Tuesday, May 2nd, 2023

I've seen so many set themselves up as "Remote Working" experts, [keep reading...]

Graphic of an office full of rows of desks with computers and monitors and chairs. Dotted among them are a bed, sofa, kitchen and dining table.

Is closing your business an option?

Notes
Thursday, March 16th, 2023

It could be the business is no longer viable. It might need more money than is available to clean out premises, order in new stock, cover missed payments.

If this is the case, [keep reading...]

Black and white photograph of a shop on Oxford Street, London with a closing down sale sign

The secret of change

Update
Wednesday, January 11th, 2023

I’ve seen this too many times on change programs. Far too much effort is put into trying to preserve “the old ways” in one form or another. Some of the common ones I’ve seen:

  • trying to work everything around an IT system that’s old, inflexible and largely broken
  • accommodating Employee X who refuses to change the way they work, or who you just want to keep around
  • refusing to replace an old piece of machinery because it cost $1 million to buy 5 years ago
  • creating “exceptions” to processes because once Client X does it that way

I wouldn’t suggest ignoring the old ways completely, you need to help nudge people forwards. But I wouldn’t be so eager to make exceptions “just because that’s how we used to do things”.

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