We just bought a puppy. I have named him Leo because he is courageous and looks like a lion cub. While Leo may be new to the planet, he did arrive with a significant amount of instinctual knowledge. We commonly refer to instincts in slightly derogatory terms (“they are just animal instincts”). But there is a lot we can learn from these behaviours, honed over millions of yea 
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What are you like at receiving feedback? The truth is, when it comes to feedback most of us prefer to be givers than takers. I once stepped onto an escalator behind a work colleague. We had both just put in three long days at a conference and were tired. He was complaining about all the things he still had to do, so I thought I’d give him some encouragement. As the esca 
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Zhanna Kremez is a PhD student at Griffith University who has been investigating eCommerce in the franchising sector. I first met her at a workshop for social scientists in 2012 and was impressed with her enthusiasm for understanding how people work together. We subsequently conducted a joint research project on how franchisors are approaching the digital world, particularl 
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I was recently conducting a debriefing session with a team of senior franchisor executives on the results from their latest franchisee satisfaction survey. One interesting finding was a significant increase in franchisee expectations around the services provided by the franchisor. I asked the CEO how he felt about this, expecting a defensive response. Instead he said he wel 
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Over the past two weeks I’ve had the privilege of spending time with two remarkable people, both newly appointed Chairmen of their respective franchise associations. The first of these was International Franchise Association (IFA) Chairman, Aziz Hashim, who blew everyone away with his incisive insights and advice in a series of meetings with multi-unit franchisees and franc 
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Earlier this month I attended a two day workshop on the latest brain research with leading neuroscientist and author of Brainwise Leadership, Professor Pieter Rossouw. Pieter is a lean, tall middle-aged man, radiating enthusiasm and joy, and it was a privilege to learn from him. Because FRI is running its own learning events over the next few months, I wanted to sh 
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I’ve just returned from the 2016 IFA Convention. One session I particularly enjoyed was a turnaround case study by Catherine Monson, CEO of FASTSIGNS. Catherine took the reins of FASTSIGNS in 2009 as part of a private equity deal that also saw the retirement of the company’s Founder. At the time, same store sales in this 500 strong network were down by 16%. In a whirlwi 
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Several years ago in a survey to franchisees, we asked the question, “Who in the franchisor team do you most admire and respect, and why?” I was more interested in the “why” than the “who” because this would provide insights into the leadership behaviours franchisees value most. But I was surprised and pleased to see that, along with the expected CEOs and senior executives, 
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Many people think about writing a book or a story, and more of us are blogging on social media these days. I am regularly asked what it takes to a publish something that people will read. So I thought I’d share the story of how I came to write my most popular book, Profitable Partnerships, with some interesting lessons. In the early 1990s, Bryce Bell, CEO of the Franchi 
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Welcome to 2016! This Tip on setting resolutions is based on an experience I had many years ago, but which has stayed with me. As a young boy I was erratic with a vivid imagination. My grandmother referred to me as the mad professor. After daydreaming my way through high school and failing English, my school principal had to be talked into letting me complete my final year. 
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