Overstating the end-state, Obscuring the objective
by Tony Quinlan on Jan 22, 2014 5:58:31 PM
I came across a glorious Churchill quote recently while reading Billy Bragg's The Progressive Patriot. It wasn't one I had heard before, but it sums up beautifully something that challenges many of the people I talk to - how to set direction and objectives for large numbers of people, …
The content/meaning distortion
by Tony Quinlan on Jan 29, 2013 6:03:17 PM
Posting from the lounge in Cologne/Bonn airport after a meeting with a potential client around supporting a leadership/collaboration approach addressing and using some key issues around nationality and function. (At some point it will no doubt be worth a separate blog. But now's not t …
Understanding narratives - the reality of counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency
by Tony Quinlan on Jan 22, 2013 6:44:42 PM
Yesterday, the House of Commons saw some to-and-fro rhetoric between the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition around counter-terrorism in the wake of the Algerian attack and its aftermath. It's important to recognise within the wide context of the news stories and the polit …
Evaluating impact through stories
by Tony Quinlan on Nov 1, 2012 4:41:41 PM
[Written in haste - I'm supposed to be clearing the decks and preparing material for a trip to Bangladesh that starts tomorrow morning. I'm also preparing for the return of the family early this evening, having had the house to myself for a couple of days.]
Narratives, strategic narratives and micro-narratives
by Tony Quinlan on Oct 8, 2012 6:14:25 PM
If there's one massive change in the 12 years since I founded Narrate, it's the use of the word "narrative". Back then, any mention of the word was met with at best a puzzled query as to its relevance and at worst a comment to the effect that I must have been smoking something strong. …
Marketing Measurement
by Tony Quinlan on Sep 21, 2012 6:50:43 PM
I'm packing to leave for Hong Kong in about half an hour - looking forward to some of the discussions that will ensue around Strategy, Leadership and Innovation next week, then off to Sydney for the Cognitive Edge Foundations course. For the UK-based, however, I've just had details of …
Defining terms by exclusion and by example
by Tony Quinlan on Sep 14, 2012 5:50:21 PM
Last week, I was an interested observer in a debate that rumbled on over three days - about the definition of a term being used by three different organisations working together. On this occasion, the term was "Strategic Communications" or "StratCom". (As an aside, it recalled the day …
Egypt - social media was not a silver bullet
by Tony Quinlan on Nov 23, 2011 7:52:32 PM
I've just seen another article about how social media caused change in Egypt. (I'm not going to link to it - or any of the others - as I don't want to encourage the causal thinking behind it.) The other element I've seen mentioned as important in the Egypt changes earlier this year is …
Giving voice to everyone - avoiding overload, cacophony
by Tony Quinlan on Nov 22, 2011 11:19:00 PM
One of the great truisms in communications and development work (these days, I seem to be having conversations in both areas and am aware of their similarities) is that "we want to hear from everyone, give everyone a voice". The principled, idealistic side of us believes that, but the …
Dots to be joined...
by Tony Quinlan on Jul 18, 2011 1:38:00 PM
It's been a busy couple of months - with a number of things that I'll be putting up here in the coming weeks. Including, excitingly, the next pilots for the Children of the World project...