Where’s Wally? I’m in Hong Kong. The airport is scary empty. London Heathrow was much the same. Is it the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) or just the GAP (Global Anxiety Pandemic?). I think a mixture of both. Anyway, no trouble ordering a bacon sandwich in the Virgin Clubhouse.

Great talk by the CEO/Chairman of Cafe Nero at the Retail Forum I was speaking at in London. He mentioned that he ran a regular one day event for all regional and area managers – about 160 staff- in which he wasn’t allowed to speak for six hours (he could write things on flip-charts but that was it). Staff were not allowed to say ANYTHING positive whatsoever about the company during the day. In other words, the aim of the session was to identify problems and weaknesses. He didn’t seem to have a name for this idea but I like the idea of reverse brainstorming. In short, build a problem factory and the innovation will come….