Social media evangelist Jon Leland, one of the keynote speakers at the Lowndes Associates’ second Business Intelligence Series workshop for 2011, featured on TVOne’s AMP Business this week.

Lowndes Associates have been running their Business Intelligence Series workshops for over nine years, with the latest focusing on the importance of social media for businesses. The workshop took place at the Telecom Conference Centre on 25 August with more than 130 senior business people in attendance

During the AMP Business interview, Jon highlighted the practical relevance of social media to businesses and the opportunities offered by social media, as well as the risks of failure to engage with it. Jon emphasised that in not engaging, businesses risk being left in the dust.

Duncan Shand, from digital marketing agency Young and Shand, also appeared in the interview and shared his insights into the benefits of social media.

Click here to view the full interview.

Leading corporate and commercial law firm Lowndes Associates has recently appointed two new industry professionals to the Lowndes team. Denis McNamara and Warren Butterworth have joined Lowndes Associates in leading roles; Mr Butterworth as partner and Mr McNamara as consultant.

Mr Butterworth brings with him more than 40 years of commercial and office law experience. He has practiced as a litigator in a variety of cases in the High Court and Court of Appeal, and has acted as both mediator and counsel in a number of mediation cases.

Mark Lowndes, managing partner of Lowndes Associates says, “We are delighted to welcome Warren to our team, he is a great asset and we look forward to introducing him to our clients”.

With over thirty-five years experience as a barrister and solicitor at Simpson Grierson, Mr McNamara felt it was time for a new challenge. After weighing all options, he decided to join Lowndes Associates.

Mr McNamara says, “The culture Mark Lowndes has created at Lowndes Associates is innovative with a professional approach which adds value through excellence in providing legal services”.

Mark Lowndes says, “I have long been impressed by the breadth and depth of Denis’ interests and expertise in the legal profession, and am delighted by his decision to join our team.”

As a consultant of Lowndes Associates, Mr McNamara’s role will focus on a broad range of commercial and corporate law work.

Click here to read the full article.

Founder of corporate and commercial law firm Lowndes Associates, Mark Lowndes speaks with Niko Kloeten from The National Business Review about his appointment as chairman of Multilaw, one of the world’s largest legal networks. 

Mutlilaw has 6500 member laywers spread across 60 countries, with 71 member firms; Lowndes Associates has been a member for 10 years and is the only member firm in New Zealand.

Click here to read the full article and find out more about Multilaw.

Mark Lowndes Appeared on NZI Business TV on the morning of the debate with Corin Dann to headline why this debate is necessary now. The issues were also discussed in an article in the Sunday Star-Times headlined “Economic Union Aust-NZ unification slammed by Oram.” written by Lois Cairns

The debate was held between 7.30am – 9.30am, Wednesday 3 November 2010, Stamford Plaza, Auckland

Lowndes Associates and Unlimited magazine were pleased to host the fourth and final 2010 Business Intelligence breakfast workshop series. Now in their eighth year, these superior content-rich workshops are for busy executives, owners, directors, managers, advisers and corporate counsel.

Is it time to join forces with Australia? Many think so, many oppose the idea vehemently. What is the best answer for NZ business? The debate actually ended up persuading many in the room that it’s probably best to gradually do more effective business with our neighbours, but remain sovereign as New Zealand has more potential being in control of their own future. Time will tell.

As the Australian and New Zealand governments work to decrease the barriers between the two nations, Kiwi support for a Trans-Tasman merger is rising:

• Will a Trans-Tasman economic union boost the NZ economy?
• Will being part of a bigger market create more jobs and give better access to opportunities for careers and education?
• Will there be a level playing field for Kiwi businesses in Australia?

…read more about the workshops

Four outstanding speakers debated this important topic, two arguing for a union, and two arguing against:

Rod McGeochCo-Chair, Australia & New Zealand Leadership Council
Andrew Main Business Editor,The Australian
Rod Oram International Business Writer, former editor of Business Herald
Mark Weldon Chief Executive, NZX

Lowndes Associates and Unlimited magazine are pleased to host the 2010 Business Intelligence breakfast workshop series.  Now in their eighth year, these superior content-rich workshops are for busy executives, owners, directors, managers, advisers and corporate counsel.

You are invited to attend the up coming workshop Leadership and Top Performance in the New Environment, on Wednesday 29 September at the Stamford Plaza, Auckland, 7.30am – 9.30am.

Hear from three outstanding chief executives: How to build and lead a high performance team in the new environment. How to engage and train talent. The role of values and how they have changed.

Click here to find out more about the Business Intelligence seminars and how to register for workshops.

Mark Lowndes, of Lowndes Associates talks about this subject on www.unlimited.co.nz. He recently chaired his firm’s Business Intelligence Series workshop for more than 90 senior businesspeople on the topic of clean technology, or cleantech, and its progress in New Zealand and globally. As a result, he shares some insights on how New Zealand is poised to take advantage of what might be called the ‘cleantech revolution’

Click the link to find the whole article on the Unlimited website.

Lowndes Associates and Unlimited magazine are pleased to invite you to the 2010 Business Intelligence breakfast workshop series. Now in their eighth year, these superior content-rich workshops are for busy executives, owners, directors, managers, advisers and corporate counsel.

Learn more about:
Concept — the key initial questions: Will it work? Does the market want it? Will customers buy it?
People — how to find, motivate, reward and keep the people you need. Finding the right mix of skills.
Funding — once the seed capital has been spent, where do you find the development capital and funding for the longer term?
Development — getting to market without running out of money in the process.
Growth — when to bring in new talent and experience. Must the founding group stay in control?
Governance — getting the right balance of skills and experience on the board. Key issues for the directors and senior management.
Exit strategy — developing and executing a successful sale/divestment process.

Workshop two: Flying Kiwis: Startup to success — overcoming startup problems, is on 25 Wednesday August, 2010 from 7.30 – 9.30am at Auckland’s, Stamford Plaza.

For More information:

Click on to Unlimited.co.nz or at the Lowndes Associates Business Intelligence website

Mark Lowndes of Lowndes Associates speaks with Corin Dann on NZI Business

A commercial lawyer says clients have become more discerning as the impact of the global financial crisis hits the sector and the growth of social media frees up information.

Mark Lowndes from Lowndes Associates represented New Zealand at the recent Multilaw conference in South America and says while the feeling in New Zealand is that we are emerging from the crisis, American and English lawyers still felt like they were well in the middle of the recession.

Lowndes told NZI Business that commercial law firms in most countries have had a drop off in revenue and have had to trim costs and look at their business model.

In boom years people get a bit careless with costs, Lowndes says and he believes more flexibility is needed with the way legal services are delivered.

Lowndes says while the traditional hourly rate charging model is convenient and easy to understand, it doesn’t necessarily align itself to value. As clients become more demanding, Lowndes says lawyers need to stay close to them and really understand what they are looking for.

Younger managers and lawyers have different expectations around work-life balance and the formality of the way service is delivered, says Lowndes.

And he says clients tend to turn up well informed. Lowndes says lawyers need to be collaborating with them as business people, not just information providers. He says clients aren’t  prepared to pay large fees for routine transactions.

“The days of doing standard transactions and delivering standard information and making a good living out of that are gone.”

I asked Rod Drury (Ceo of Xero Ltd) a question about Ceo bloggers this morning. He was speaking at the Lowndes Associates Business Intelligence Series breakfast session in association with the National Business Review and The Auckland Chamber of Commerce on the topic of  ”Emerging A Winner From The Recession.”

It’s a question that I have asked many executives and Ceo’s over the last 3 years and received varied responses - the usual good, bad and ugly rule applies.

I remarked that he has been a profilic blogger over many years and whether any of the current successes he and his company have had can be specifically ascribed to writing a regular blog about his thoughts about his industry , his company and his personal experiences? Rod was an extremely active blogger for over 5 years, 1626 posts, 3 companies, 3 children and 10 kilos (he says) and while he has moved now to an occassional post on Xero’s blog  and in some other mainstream media blogs, he absolutely believes that blogging has made a significant contribution to his personal and business succcess. He went further to say that he probably wouldn’t have been able to raise the capital he did unless he had that rich repository of his “back story” readily available for investors and interested parties to see his track record and credibility.

Another Ceo who blogs is Carey Smith , Ceo of Ray White who has a personal blog about leadership and all things related on his personal site (including promoting his book – Deliver -36 Life Stories on Leadership) , and has created a company blog to discuss meaningful events with loyal followers of Ray White, his staff, suppliers, media and the market in general. The blogging has created opportunities to share his story with all stakeholders in a personal, regular and meaningful way.

More and more Ceo’s, business owners and executives are now taking this out of the”too hard” box and beginning to think how they can use blogging to further their own personal and business goals. Many of our clients for example executives from Results.com , Switch Business and others have begun blogging in the last two years – with dramatic results.

What are the benefits of blogging for CEO’s?

• Blogging creates discipline for developing worthwhile ideas and content that will enrich your audience and add value to readers, who include staff, suppliers, clients, prospects, media and (yes) competitors.
• The idea written up in a post creates the perfect opportunity to have open dialogue about an idea and get  feedback – instantly.
• Especially if you are in the intellectual capital or service related business , it’s the perfect opportunity to merchandise your teams IP and case studies that create value and bring readers benefit. But don’t be fooled – even people who are product manaufacturers or distributors can be successful bloggers.
• Each post becomes a “syndication opportunity” for influential online news sites and blogs that can spread your ideas further afield and attact like minded people into the debate.
• The blog shows your personal and company milestones along the way and helps communicate your intent and “backstory” in a meaningful way.
• Blogging and your style and “voice” can be a source of differentiation from your competitors.
•  Your latest blog post can be shared by your “community” – at least the ones that find your latest idea interesting on Twitter, Linkedin.com and elsewhere on the bloggosphere.
• People who understand their business and industry in detail have a dramatic advantage when it comes to blogging- and when you can translate this into words in a blog- then its adds instant credibility if you have been at it for some time and have developed a following.
• The blog and its associated tags and posts are found easily on Google and all the other search engines – all working together to show your vision, intent and actions – all usefull when engaging with existing and potential clients.

So when executives tell me that they are too busy minding their business to do any of that nonsense, I usually tell them that blogging can be a very useful instrument for Ceo’s in business. The Ceo blogger can achieve more depth and engagement with all his or her stakeholders than someone who only practices management by walk-about (which is also a necessity !) Of course the Ceo who engages their team in the process and gets the team involved in posting has that one further advantage- multiplying the ideas and thoughts that attract other like minded people.

So I say to would be bloggers who are Ceo’s – carry on minding your business – and start a blog. Start small. Be authentic. be purposeful.

Yes, make a calendar entry for the first one, by the end of the quarter. (Lets be realistic now) Start a plan for what you would like to write about and give it a go.

Independent contractors a vulnerable group says Ross Crotty, Special counsel, Employment Law at Lowndes Associates in a recent article in www.nzherald.co.nz . Particularly in current economic circumstances, they can be persuaded to enter in to so-called contracts for services as opposed to employment agreements, so desperate are they for the work…more

Ross has also been quoted in LawFuel about how the Court of Appeal Refuses to Cap Compensation for Humiliation, Loss of Dignity Etc. in Employment Law … more