Two today!

That's the number of new wrinkles I have on my face in the nose and mouth area today. It is also how old the twins are. Maybe their youthfulness is linked to my ageing. A good day (and indeed birthday weekend) was had by all. They may not completely understand the whole thing, but they are certainly very good at blowing out candles and eating cake. Normal service resumes tomorrow with a 6.40AM flight to Paris. Now there's something that definitely isn't helping the wrinkles!

It's about productivity, stupid

I am enjoying my new role at work. On those days when I am feeling positive, I really like the fact that I'm trying to create new, sustainable jobs. However on some days in some countries the focus is simply trying to get the whole of the existing team busy. This contrast across countries really got me thinking that if we want to be successful over the long term, we've got to do more than just keep people loaded with any type of work we can find. We really need each of them to be more productive. This can be either doing more with less e.g. more of the same type of output in a shorter time period, or, doing different more valuable work in the time available. However this does mean that if everybody is doing more (quantity or quality), then we really need to sell either more of the same, or sell more complex work, to keep these increasingly productive people occupied. That type of reflection was why I found the following article so interesting and worrying at the same time...http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/78e883fa-0bef-11e2-8032-00144feabdc0.html#axzz28S9d2U5m