Peter Osborne

Author's details

Date registered: September 3, 2010

Latest posts

  1. Definitions of Bulldog Simplicity from Apple and Renoir — August 31, 2010
  2. Two simple tips for practicing simplicity — July 29, 2010
  3. Make simplicity your top priority — July 13, 2010
  4. Improve execution and accountability with a Daily Huddle — July 8, 2010
  5. Limiting choice can improve response — June 22, 2010

Most commented posts

  1. Generals miss the point on PowerPoint — 7 comments
  2. Improve execution and accountability with a Daily Huddle — 6 comments
  3. Is the juice worth the squeeze? — 6 comments
  4. PowerPoints: Fewer bullets, more confidence. — 6 comments
  5. Lemons to lemonade: Refusing to let the job market get me down — 5 comments
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Author's posts listings

Aug 31

Definitions of Bulldog Simplicity from Apple and Renoir

Categories:

LinkedIn, Passion, Personal Branding

by

Look for ways to spice up your personal branding materials

Last week, I took my family to the Late Renoir exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and smiled at Renoir’s description of his work as “simplicity bordering on severity,”  thinking that the notion of Bulldog Simplicity has been around for a long time.  Then yesterday, I was cleaning out some files and came across …

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Jul 29

Two simple tips for practicing simplicity

Categories:

Communications, Personal Branding, Storytelling

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Elevator speeches become "the 118"

Twitter is the new Mark Twain. You’ll recall Mark Twain apologizing for the length of a letter, saying he’d have made it shorter if he had had more time. Well, I recently started Tweeting as part of my new Consultant Launch Pad site (if you’re interested in following me, I’m @consultantlaunc) and it’s helping me …

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Jul 13

Make simplicity your top priority

Categories:

Execution, Simplicity

by

One of the great challenges in business communications is making a computer-generated letter sound personal and still achieve its goal.  It’s not easy to make a collection letter feel like it was written to an individual, to walk a line between friendly and firm and recognize that many of the recipients are embarrassed to be …

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Jul 08

Improve execution and accountability with a Daily Huddle

Categories:

Communications, Execution, Preparation, Project Management, Time Management

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I’m in a terrific new program that networking guru Keith Ferrazzi (Never Eat Alone, Who’s Got Your Back) is running and a recent exercise asked participants to describe ways they’ve kept their teams (and themselves) accountable.  My submission got some positive feedback and it’s pretty simple, so I thought I’d share it. I had a …

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Jun 22

Limiting choice can improve response

Categories:

Execution, Marketing, Simplicity

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Too much choice can be paralyzing

First, I apologize for my absence over the past three weeks.  I’ve been building a new website, Consultant Launch Pad, which is designed to help new consultants and people whose job searches may be at a point where they have to think about alternatives to pay the mortgage.  We have a lot of resources on …

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May 30

Visuals bring simplicity to complex explanations

Categories:

Communications, Simplicity, Storytelling, Talking to the Media

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Have you read anything that clearly explains what the heck British Petroleum was using to implement its failed Top Kill strategy? Here’s how the New York Times described the material being used to force-feed mud down the throat of the blown-out well: “The mud has been ‘weighted up’ by adding dense powdered minerals so that …

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May 22

Rats! to taking a conservative approach to branding

Categories:

Communications, Execution, Passion, Personal Branding, Simplicity, Storytelling, Strategy

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DC Metro rats

In the midst of some new projects and designing a new website that has a real chance to impact people’s lives, I’ve gotten to thinking about whether my personal-branding materials go far enough to explain what makes me different, whether I’m adequately reinforcing the “bulldog” brand on my personal website and elsewhere. I’m not sure I’m …

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May 15

'Creative confidence' trumps historical indicators of future career success

Categories:

Communications, Design Thinking, Passion, Personal Branding, Project Management, Strategy

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Photo: Associated Press

As one group of students prepare to leave college and another batch of high-school seniors prepare to take their place, the importance of technical knowledge takes center stage.  Whether you’re talking about undergraduate or post-grad admission offices or potential employers, GPAs and test scores that demonstrate students’ abilities to get the one “right” answer are …

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May 11

Simple questions can get (or keep you) on track

Categories:

Execution, Simplicity

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I can't stand all my piles...

I’ve written before about focusing on that “one thing” that will remind you what’s important.  I found myself recently trying to get myself organized (the catalyst for this is usually my wife telling me to get the piles off the dining room table). I spent a bit more time on this exercise than usual (the …

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May 06

Follow eight simple strategies for marketing success

Categories:

Execution, Marketing, Passion, Simplicity, Strategy

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What tools are in your Marketing Swiss Army Knife?

A few days ago,  someone asked me to explain what made me a “good marketer.”  I had never heard the question phrased quite that way before and stumbled through an answer. Later on, I realized I built a class around that very question 11 years ago.  So I headed down to the basement and pulled …

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