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More fury, which isn’t exactly a core Scandinavian trait, has broken out again over Stockholm as The Capital of Scandinavia. Headlines in national newspapers across Scandinavia have appeared raising the debate once more. This time the Norwegians have accused the Swedes of being too ‘kaxig’ a Swedish word that means arrogant. Exciting stuff. Well I [...]

It’s increasingly obvious that the world needs to change and change quickly and radically. It needs to find new ways to work and new ways to do business. Five years ago I used to spend at least three hours a day in a car, driving around 120 kilometers (70 miles) a day to and from [...]

Following on from my last blog approach of  ‘Good Artists Borrow, Great Artists Steal ‘  this month I happily embezzle a few words from a person I have the great pleasure of knowing well – John Simmons. John is an inspiring creative business writer, who was one of the founders of the Dark Angels writers courses.

I attended my second UP* meeting yesterday, and the first-ever in the USA. Several East-coast members gathered to make introductions, share ideas and motivate each other about ways to grow the business. What was most remarkable about the meeting (aside from the lovely historic nature of the meeting room held in the Nassua Inn in [...]

Today Barcelona is one of Europe’s, if not the world’s, most successful destinations for both tourism and as a business location. People even talk of adopting the Barcelona model when it comes to redefining a post-industrial location. However, it was all very different forty years ago. In the 1975 series “Fawlty Towers,” Manuel, the hapless [...]

Today in the Netherlands it’s Queen’s Day, a national holiday honoring the royal House of Orange.  While technically the Queen’s birthday is in January, Queen Beatrix decided to keep Queen’s Day on April 30th in honor of her own mother’s birthday.  And the weather is generally nicer this time of year, too!

In our society people use brands to create identity. The range of brands used for  identity projects stretch from global giants like Nike and Apple to smaller local brands like Cheap Monday and Chadburry. But, the authentic mind shy’s away from brands since they want to build identity on loose parts rather than comply with [...]

*UP There, Everywhere held a company launch meeting in the historic town of Sigtuna, Sweden, at the lovely Sigtunahöjden Hotel and Conference Center last week. Having lived in Sweden for several years more than half a decade ago as an ex-pat American, I was excited about the idea of visiting again. I hoped to recapture [...]

Getting ahead of time, a rare opportunity that exists when you work in different time zones. The “I need it NOW”  is easily accomplished. I work when you sleep. I dream up ideas while you dream.

Whilst it would be very handy to have a foolproof formula for generating strong, strategic creative concepts and ideas, I think it is unlikely that we could come UP with one. What I do believe however, is that if you create a stabile organised environment in which to exist, the more unexpected triggers and impressions you [...]