Blogs and articles by Craig Dean
Right, let me start by apologising for being a bit lax on the blogging front. To be fair the Wi-Fi connection in Rhodes was a little underwhelming, and although I did pen an article it disappeared into the ether. However, I’ve not been wasting my time off! Thanks to everyone who left me so many …
As I’ve mentioned before, I just don’t buy the fallacy that profit is the sole driving force of great businesses. If you are a business owner (like I am), then it’s easy to understand why profit is such a motivation; profitable companies frequently equate to wealthy owners (though they don’t have to). In my own case …
Update: This post has now appeared in the Oldham Chronicle as can be seen on the Web Apps Website. In Oldham we seem to find it easy to focus on the negatives, but having attended a number of events showcasing plans for regeneration, it’s difficult to feel anything but positive. Oldham is pushing forward, to show …
Anyone who knows me will tell you how important I take any opportunity to talk to young people before they enter the workforce, so when the University of Manchester invited me to give a guest lecture to their Advanced Computer Science masters students I jumped at the chance. So at 11AM on Wednesday the 18th …
If you are a regular reader of my articles you will be aware that social responsibility is a key area I focus on. This policy needs to be addressed in order for any business, no matter what size to develop in the way it wants to. Without policies in place how can you determine where …
How do you measure success? In the business world there’s a misplaced obsession with two metrics – turnover and profit. Running your business within these parameters would be like choosing your life partner based only on eye colour and height – I suppose it’s a start, but you would be missing out on so much …
Legacy. At times it can be a boon, inspiring culture and rooting us with a strong identity forged in the fires of history. But it can also be a weighty anchor pulling us to the bottom. In business, there are no awards for being first out of the blocks; the gold medals are reserved for …
After more than two centuries it is probably a good time to ask, ‘Is the Chamber of Commerce still relevant?’ Businessmen in the last decade of the 18th Century were hardly worried about developing an effective social media strategy, or obsessing how their website would look viewed on an iPad. How could a Chamber founded …
Last night I found myself at the Bolton Lads & Girls Club. I had been invited for a tour of the facility by Claire Crossfield who is part of the team building a new youth zone facility in the heart of Oldham. The local young people have been very involved in this new centre’s progress …
Craig Dean is the new Oldham President of Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce and Chief Executive of Web Applications UK. The Oldham business community is a dynamic, thriving and overwhelmingly positive group of people which is unquestionably surprising to ‘outsiders’ considering the ceaseless tirade of negative punditry that surrounds the prospects for our economy and …