markconwayuk

A to Z B2B Customer Experience
Reading Time: 8 minutesWhat really drives loyalty, trust, and value in your B2B Customer Experience? B2B Customer experience isn’t a department anymore — it’s the arena where every B2B organisation now competes. Products can be copied, prices undercut, and technologies leapfrogged, but how customers feel when they work with you determines whether they [...]

The A to Z of B2B Customer Experience (2025 Edition)

 in Business / Customer Experience / Leadership  tagged Customer Experience / Customer Services by
B2B Growth
Reading Time: 4 minutesB2B Growth slowing, but why? When B2B growth stalls, leadership teams often point the finger at market shifts, aggressive competition, or disruptive technology. Those factors matter, but in countless organisations I’ve seen, they’re not the real killer. The silent assassin of B2B growth is misalignment across functions. It doesn’t scream [...]

The Silent Killer of B2B Growth: Misalignment

 in Business / Leadership / Management / Teams  tagged Communication / Leadership / Sales. Marketing by
A to Z Digital Leadership
Reading Time: 8 minutesDigital leadership isn’t just leadership with shinier tools. It’s a different discipline altogether. Traditional leaders rose through hierarchies, steered with experience, and relied on authority to get things done. Digital leaders still need authority and experience, but they also need speed, adaptability, and the humility to learn faster than the [...]

The A to Z of Digital Leadership

 in Digital Transformation / Leadership  tagged Digital Leadership / Digital Literacy / Digital Transformation / Leadership by
Project Rescue
Reading Time: 9 minutesWhen projects derail and when to move into Project Rescue Every leader has faced it: the project that starts with promise, burns through months of effort, and then stalls. Deadlines slip, costs spiral, and meetings feel more like crisis briefings than progress updates. In the private sector, that might be [...]

The A to Z of Project Rescue

 in Leadership / Management / Project Management / Technology  tagged Business / Communication / Leadership / Success / Transformation by
Making Digital Transformations Stick
Reading Time: 6 minutesContinuous Improvement Beyond Go-Live The Myth of “Finished” In the final blog of the series, we dive into how to ensure that your digital transformations stick. In the first two blogs of this series, we looked at how to craft a digital transformation vision that inspires, and how to lead [...]

Making Digital Transformations Stick

 in Digital Transformation / Leadership / Management / Project Management  tagged CX / Digital Transformation / EX / Project Management by
Reading Time: 15 minutesIntroduction In Part 1 of this series, we explored how to craft a digital transformation vision that truly inspires — one that speaks to every stakeholder by answering the question: “What’s in it for me?” But vision alone doesn’t deliver outcomes. Many organisations begin their transformation journey with optimism, board-level [...]

Leading Digital Transformation: From Vision to Reality

 in Digital Transformation / Leadership / Teams / Technology  tagged Digital Transformation / Leadership / Strategy by
digital transformation vision
Reading Time: 7 minutesCrafting a digital transformation vision is of paramount importance if you want your organisation to embrace digital change. Too many digital transformations start with a tool, a vendor, or a budget line — but no real vision. The result? Programmes that burn money, frustrate teams, and deliver little more than [...]

Crafting a Digital Transformation Vision That Inspires

 in Digital Transformation / Leadership / Management / People / Teams  tagged Digital Transformation / Project Management / Vision by
A to Z of Customer Alignment
Reading Time: 14 minutesIntroduction At Oak Consult, we believe that customer alignment is the difference between transactions and partnerships. That’s why we’ve built this A to Z of Customer Alignment: 26 practical lenses to help leaders, managers, and teams see alignment in action, understand why it matters, and put it into practice. Most [...]

The A to Z of Customer Alignment

 in Business / Customer Experience / Leadership / Teams  tagged Customer Alignment / CX / Success by
Purpose-driven Projects
Reading Time: 9 minutesPurpose-Driven Projects – Yes the what and the how are important, but what’s often missing is the why. Most organisations measure project success with the familiar three: time, cost, and scope (sometimes quality is added too). Deliver to budget, hit the dates, and stay within scope — and on paper, [...]

Purpose-Driven Projects: Why Mission Matters as Much as Milestones

 in Business / Business Skills / Digital Transformation / Leadership / Project Management / Teams  tagged Business / Communication / TCQ / Team / Vision by
A to Z Project Management 1
Reading Time: 7 minutesThe A to Z of Project Management is more than a list of buzzwords — it’s a practical guide for leaders, sponsors, and delivery teams navigating today’s toughest projects. In a world of shifting markets, hybrid teams, and relentless pressure to deliver ROI fast, organisations can’t afford to treat delivery [...]

A to Z of Project Management

 in Business Skills / Management / People / Teams  tagged Acceptance Criteria / Agile / Business Case / Critical Path / Planning / Project Management / TCQ / Testing / Virtual Teams / Waterfall by
The A to Z of Digital Transformation
Reading Time: 7 minutesOver the past decade, Oak Consult has published a series of A to Z guides covering the essentials of business: strategy, leadership, employability, risk, building winning teams, and customer experience. Each has combined timeless principles with practical guidance to help leaders reflect and act. Digital Transformation now joins that series. [...]

The A to Z of Digital Transformation

 in Artificial Intelligence / Business / Digital Transformation  tagged Digital Transformation / KPI / Success by
Reading Time: 3 minutesWhy even the best proposition underperforms when your teams aren’t pulling in the same direction — and how to fix it. We Know What We Do. So Why Isn’t It Landing? You’ve got a strong product or service. You’ve invested in development.The customer results are great. And yet… Sales aren’t [...]

Your Proposition Isn’t the Problem — Your Alignment Is

 in Business / Leadership / Teams  tagged Business / Communication / marketing / Sales / Team by
Reading Time: 7 minutesBusiness strategy is never static. What worked a decade ago doesn’t always cut it in 2025. The pace of change, the rise of digital, the climate agenda, and shifting customer expectations mean that leaders need a new lens. Back in 2014, Oak published the original A to Z of Business [...]

The A to Z of Business Strategy (2025 Edition)

 in Business / Business Skills / Leadership  tagged Business / Customer Centricity / Digital Transformation / Quality Management / Strategy by
Oak Consult, Customer Experience, CX
Reading Time: 5 minutesHelping teams build a culture that truly puts the customer first by wearing customer spectacles Introduction When was the last time your team truly saw the world as your customers do? Most organisations say they are customer-focused, but targets, processes, and politics often pull attention inward. The result is experiences [...]

Customer Spectacles: Seeing Through Your Customer’s Eyes

 in Business / Leadership / Teams  tagged Communication / CRM / Customer Experience / CX / Leadership by
Reading Time: 6 minutesYour guide to getting more from the world’s most talked-about AI assistant ChatGPT Introduction This A–Z guide highlights 26 top features of ChatGPT, explained in plain English. ChatGPT has quickly gone from curiosity to everyday tool — helping people write, analyse, code, and create at speed. But with so many [...]

A to Z of ChatGPT Top Features

 in Artificial Intelligence / Technology  tagged AI / Artificial Intelligence / technology by
Reading Time: 6 minutesYour Guide to AI Concepts, Capabilities, and Practical Uses Introduction Artificial Intelligence is no longer a futuristic concept — it’s here, shaping how we work, live, and make decisions.But with the jargon, hype, and complexity, it can be hard to separate the essentials from the noise. This A–Z guide gives [...]

A to Z of Artificial Intelligence

 in Artificial Intelligence / Business / Technology  tagged AI / Artificial Intelligence / Business by
Reading Time: 3 minutesSometimes, the best ideas don’t arrive during office hours. They sneak up on you late at night, when the world quietens down, the emails stop pinging, and your brain finally gets the space to roam. That’s exactly where I found myself recently — staring down a problem, circling an idea, [...]

Burning the Midnight Oil with AI: A New Kind of ...

 in Artificial Intelligence / Technology  tagged AI / Artificial Intelligence / Brainstorming / Strategy by
Milestones, Inch Pebbles, Project Management
Reading Time: 5 minutesIt’s fair to say that I’ve been involved in my fair share of projects during my career. Some have been market changing product launches or operational transformations and some have been must do, dull, but important projects. Others have been misguided, bonkers and failed projects. I’ve learnt from each and [...]

Effective Projects – Inch Pebbles, Milestones and Tombstones

 in Business / Leadership / Project Management / Teams  tagged Delivery / Project Management / Projects by
Christmas Future, Business, Technology, Leadership
Reading Time: 15 minutesIn the third and last in the series of Think Oak’s Christmas blog posts – The Post of Christmas Future, let’s take a look at the next 15 years in Technology, Business and Leadership and see how they might have changed by 2030. (In case you missed Part 1 and Part [...]

The Post of Christmas Future

 in Business / Leadership / Social Media / Teams / Technology  tagged 3D Printing / Artificial Intelligence / Automated Vehicles / Crowdfunding / Robotics by
The Dark Side of Leadership - 10 Leadership traits that will destroy your organisation 1
Reading Time: 12 minutes10 Leadership traits that will destroy your organisation Having spent 20 years of my life in the corporate world and 10 of them in leadership roles, I’ve been privileged to have worked with some fantastic leaders from across 3 continents. I’ve written many posts on positive leadership for Think Oak! [...]

The Dark Side of Leadership

 in Business Skills / Leadership / People / Personal Development  tagged Communication / Organisational Change / People Management / Performance Management by
Moments of Truth, Customer Journey, Manage, CRM, Customer, Insight, Need and Desires 9
Reading Time: 19 minutesCustomer Experience = How customers or prospects perceive their interactions with your organisation Click To Tweet Customer experience encompasses every aspect of an organisation’s offering – the quality of customer care, of course, but also advertising, packaging, product and service features, ease of use, and reliability. How can you drive [...]

A to Z of Customer Experience

 in Business Skills / Leadership / Management / People  tagged Advocate / Amazon / Apple / Customer Experience / Customer Satisfaction / Disney / Innocent Drinks / Net Promoter / Promoter / Prospect / Ritz Carlton / Zappos by
Strategy, Objectives, Goals, Marketing, Sales, People, Finance
Reading Time: 19 minutesStrategy creates context for operating decisions. It establishes the playing field and provides guidance for decision-making, the experience and skills needed by employees, positioning of marketing and advertising, the priority of initiatives, how to structure the company, and a many other issues. A plan is necessary to guide decision-making, channel resources, [...]

A to Z of Business Strategy

 in Business Skills / Leadership  tagged Business Planning / Goals / marketing / Objectives / Sales / Scorecard / Strategy / Vision by
Mushroom Culture 18
Reading Time: 5 minutesI’m sure many of you have heard people say: They treat us like mushrooms! They keep us in the dark and feed us manure or nothing at all! Click To Tweet Nothing stifles an organisation’s possibilities more than poor communication. Actually that’s not strictly true. Three things do – telling [...]

Avoid the Mushroom Culture – The Seven Deadly Sins

 in Business Skills / Leadership / Management / People / Teams  tagged Communication / Seven Deadly Sins / Simon Sinek by
007, Change Management, Organisational Change, Oak Consult, Mark Conway, Management Consultancy 13
Reading Time: 4 minutesThe original version of this post was a partial celebration of the 50th Think Oak! post together with the 50th Anniversary of the James Bond Movies. What better way to celebrate than to talk about very special agents, Change Agents! Firstly what is a Change Agent? A Change Agent is a [...]

007 ~ An Agent For Change

 in Business Skills / Employability / Leadership / Management / People / Teams  tagged 007 / BPM / Change Agent / Change Catalyst / Change Management / James Bond by
A to Z, Leadership Qualities, Oak Consult, Mark Conway 5
Reading Time: 9 minutesGreat leaders come in all shapes and sizes, genders and cultures, but they all possess many of the qualities I’ve highlighted below in the Think Oak A to Z of Leadership Qualities: A – Agile In today’s economic climate, it is more important than ever for leaders to be agile. Agile [...]

A to Z of Leadership Qualities

 in Business Skills / Leadership  tagged A to Z / Inspirational / Leader / leadership qualities / Leadership Style by
Teams, Success, Customers, Oak Consult, Knowledge, Energy, Focus 6
Reading Time: 9 minutesBeing part of a winning team is a great feeling! Building a winning team is hard work, but can be great fun with some amazing results! Below I’ve detailed Think Oak’s A-Z of Building a Winning Team: A – Audit Abilities The very first thing to do when you take [...]

A to Z of Building a Winning Team

 in Business Skills / Leadership / Management / Personal Development / Teams  tagged Can Do / Energy / Focus / KPI / SMART / Teamwork / Vision by
business, iso 22301, iso 27001, iso 31001, iso 9001, risk assessment, risk management, threat management
Reading Time: 26 minutesAll organisations, whatever their size or market, face a range of risks affecting the achievement of their objectives. While “risk” is commonly regarded as negative, risk management is as much about exploiting potential opportunities as preventing potential problems. Risk management comprises a framework and process that enable organisations to manage [...]

A to Z of Risk Management

 in Business Continuity / Business Skills / Information Security / Leadership / Management  tagged Horizon Scanning / Risk Assessment / Risk Management / Risk Treatment / Threats / Vulnerabilities by
ISO27001, Information Security Management
Reading Time: 19 minutesThe purpose of information security is to protect an organisation’s valuable assets, such as information, Intellectual property, hardware, and software. Through the selection and application of appropriate safeguards or controls, information security helps an organisation to meet its business objectives by protecting its physical and financial resources, reputation, legal position, [...]

A to Z of Information Security

 in Business Continuity / Business Skills / Information Security / Leadership / Management  tagged Cyber-security / Data / Information / ISO22301 / ISO27001 by
Reading Time: 9 minutesWhether you’re a small business with a solitary Twitter account, a mid-sized agency using the latest social monitoring tools, or a huge enterprise with a multi-million pound cross-platform presence, at some point, we all will make mistakes with social media.   It’s OK to be honest and admit that you get [...]

#Fail – 11 Social Media No-No’s

 in Business Skills / Social Media  tagged Brand / Customer Service / Facebook / Google / LinkedIn / marketing / social-media / Twitter by
Oak Consult Persona 1
Reading Time: 7 minutesPart 2 In Part 1 in this series of 3 posts on understanding your customers, I covered the basics. In this part I’d like to cover some of the main ‘Do’s’ when it comes to improved customer understanding. If you missed part 1 – click here! The Do’s! Above all [...]

Wake Up and Understand Your Customers

 in Business Skills / People / Teams  tagged Customer / Customer Journey / Customer Knowledge Management / Listening / Persona / Research by
Rocket Fuel for the Soul 11
Reading Time: 10 minutes  What does ‘Rocket Fuel For The Soul’ mean to you?  Getting a rocket to take off, break the earth’s atmosphere and beyond our solar system to the stars takes a huge amount of planning, energy, determination and investment. So it is for us as individuals if we want to [...]

Rocket Fuel For The Soul – Take Aim and Shoot ...

 in People / Personal Development  tagged Attitude / Exercise / Goals / Meditation / Relationships / Self-help / Self-Limiting Beliefs by
3
Reading Time: 14 minutesWelcome to the final part of this A to Z of Inspirational People. If you missed Part 1 including; Albert Einstein, Bill Gates, Charles Darwin, David Attenborough and Guy Kawasaki,  please click here. If you missed Part 2 including; Hilary Clinton, J.K. Rowling, Kelly Holmes, Jeff Bezos and Larry Page, please [...]

A to Z of Inspirational People – Part 4

 in People by
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Reading Time: 16 minutesWelcome to Part 3 of this A to Z of Inspirational People. If you missed Part 1 including; Albert Einstein, Bill Gates, Charles Darwin, David Attenborough and Guy Kawasaki,  please click here. If you missed Part 2 including; Hilary Clinton, J.K. Rowling, Kelly Holmes, Jeff Bezos and Larry Page, please click [...]

A to Z of Inspirational People – Part 3

 in People  tagged Mahatma Gandhi / Mohammed Ali / Mother Teresa / Nelson Mandela / Richard Branson / Robert Baden-Powell by
8
Reading Time: 16 minutesWelcome to Part 2 of this A to Z of Inspirational People. People inspire me in so many different ways; whether that be through significant breakthroughs in technology, advancement in science, progression of thought or overcoming adversity to succeed. Hopefully this A to Z series will make you think about [...]

A to Z of Inspirational People – Part 2

 in People  tagged Guy Kawasaki / Henry Ford / Hilary Clinton / Isaac Newton / Isambard Kingdom Brunel / J.K. Rowling / Jeff Bezos / JFK / Kelly Holmes / ken blanchard / Larry Page by
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Reading Time: 15 minutesI recently read Arnold Schwarzenegger’s autobiography – Total Recall, and it’s a great read from a truly driven, focussed, and like him or not, hugely successful athlete, actor, politician and business person. I got to thinking about other inspirational people and what we can all learn from them, so I’ve pulled together [...]

A to Z of Inspirational People – Part 1

 in People  tagged Albert Einstein / Anita Roddick / Ben Saunders / Bill Gates / Bob Geldof / Charles Darwin / David Beckham / Eve Ensler / Florence Nightingale / Freddie Mercury / Schwarzenegger by