by Pádraic Gilligan, Managing Partner, SoolNua “Culture eats strategy for breakfast” Peter Drucker I’ve been thinking a lot recently about workplace culture. In fact it’s been the leitmotif recurring in all our projects since SoolNua launched 6 months ago, back in January. The entry point for these projects may have been strategic direction or product development… Read more »
by Padraic Gilligan, Vice President of Industry Relations, MCI and Vice President of Ovation Global DMC Athens Greece – wide open for business meetings Do a Google search for Athens and you’ll get more results for the town in Georgia, that spawned REM (the thinking person’s rock group) than the city in Europe that gave… Read more »
by Padraic Gilligan, Vice President, Industry Relations, MCI and Vice President, Destination Services, Ovation Global DMC Paris has featured, like bookends, at either end of my travel schedule in 2012. On both occasions, in January and November, the city yielded up that timeless sense of refined urban living, unique to great cities like Paris, London… Read more »
by Padraic Gilligan, Vice President, Industry Relations, MCI and Vice President Ovation Global DMC In the euphoric after-glow of IMEX America Lindsay Fultz’s provocative piece on why she doesn’t attend, exhibit or sponsor trade shows and events provides a nice counter-point [access here]. Now Marketing Manager for LoveIt, an LA based technology start up (looks… Read more »
by Padraic Gilligan, VP, Industry Relations, MCI How it Ended My Shanghai sojourn started with a marvellous meal. This is how it ended. The ballroom of the Kerry Hotel looked stunning with accent lighting and clever up-lit props – huge hand painted masks that swiveled in box frames, three dimensional cartoon art in bright colours, festive lanterns,… Read more »
by Padraic Gilligan, VP, INdustry Relations MCI I’m NOT sitting at a railway station I’m sitting on a granite ledge. It’s about 30 degrees and I can feel the warmth of the sun on my face. Around me there’s a veritable babel of different languages and random sounds. The breeze is warm and bone dry…. Read more »
Site EMEA Forum 2012 The last 4 weeks or so have had me all over Berlin – Potsdamer Platz, Unter den Linden, Pariser Platz – but it hasn’t been as exhausting as may seem: Berlin was the key setting for two recent novels that I read – William Boyd’s The New Confessions and Esi Edugyan’s… Read more »
by Padraic Gilligan, Vice President, Industry Relations, MCI My first round of golf for 2012 was somewhat marred yesterday by last week’s social media stories. I knew there was a connection between the McDonald’s, Trip Advisor and culture/strategy stories but I couldn’t figure it out. So I stood up on the tee box, gazed confidently… Read more »
Having posted on the extraordinary inclusion of 3 Irish hotels on the Trip Advisor Travellers’ Choice Top 25 Hotels in the World I was obviously intrigued by Conor Pope’s story which appeared on the front page of Monday’s Irish Times (30 January). Apparently Pope had sight of internal correspondence authored by Jean O’Connell, Director of… Read more »