Brands

The 10 Commendments by Chris Goldson

August 27th, 2008

Posted By adam

The 10 Commendments

Ok… so there’s a big old bunch of stuff happening right now, and lots of shiny new things about to happen. We’re saying farewell to a few family members, and continue to welcome exciting new people into the company.

Whilst the brand may be changing, there are some things we should definitely keep going, so I’ve put together a starter list: The 10 Commendments (’commandments’ feels a bit too oppressive). Many are things we’ve held dear for many years… the stuff that makes Golden Square such a unique place to work. Others are thoughts and suggestions…

1) Thou shalt expect to suffer the consequences of leaving thy PC unlocked, and thy email accessible.
Everyone is fair game. Particularly Brian, who remains a priority target.

2) Thou shalt welcome thy new starters with gusto, just as much as thou shalt say a deserved and heartfelt farewell to thy leavers.
New starters will help shape our future - we should excite them. Leavers have helped make us what we are.

3) Workies shalt be part of thy family.
They’re here to help and experience our business. There’s loads of other companies that need biscuit barrels re-filling, so we need to make sure their time here is special. Plus they might tell people about us, or even come back and work for us.

4) Love thy music, whatever you may be in to.
Billy Joel may have had some criminal records, but Scenes From an Italian Restaurant is just wonderful.

5) Adam Bowie shalt never attend a work function without his camera.
Photos must be made available for viewing by at least 10am the following day.

6) Thou shalt share thy ideas, particularly if you think they’re stupid.
Even if there’s a seed of an idea, there’ll be someone else here who can help you turn it into something exciting and possible.

7) Thou shalt spend time with thy I.T. department.
They are amusing, creative, and clever. Even Ben Matthews’ emails have seen a vast improvement in terms of pithiness and quality.

8) Thou shalt get thyself used to trying new things. Pronto.
We’re going to be taking more risks, and try doing things we’ve never been able to do before. It’s going to be fun, and there’s mischief to be had.

9) Love thy listeners.
After all, we want them to love us! Meet them, speak to them, listen to them and read their comments. Step out of the VIP a bit more and spend some time in their shoes.

10) Getting exceptionally drunk together hast never solved anything.
However, there could be something of value in the concept, so we should continue to tirelessly research, explore, and find new ways to disprove the theory. And we should put our pub business up for pitch at least once a year.

Any more?

5 Comments

  1. Niko (from Manila),
    August 27th, 2008 at 8:44 am:

    I feel for Adam. Back in my university days (they ended a couple of months ago) I was the one taking a lot of photos. And so I also got pressured to get them up, even if I don’t really have a decent Internet connection…


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  2. llia,
    August 27th, 2008 at 3:45 pm:

    1.) I fell foul of that one, I think it was J.Cridland who emailed everyone in the digital media team from my account to say that I loved them. (It’s not a lie, so I couldn’t be too mad…)

    4.) You won’t go a day in the office without hearing someone singing to the radio at some point.

    5.) I think this is a rule which Bowie has imposed on himself. :D

    8.) Mischief is what we do best!

    9.) Through my interactions with listeners on the website, they are indeed a lovely bunch.
    And when you say “step out of VIP,” I sincerely hope you don’t mean the VIP area of the website! Of course you don’t, our VIPers are a valuable source of ideas, constructive criticism and support, as Clive discovered below. The listeners help make us the success that we are.

    10.) Drinking solves nothing… but it helps!

    Changing tack slightly, I likened the current state of affairs to be like baking…

    “It’s like making a cake. The first time you bake one, your mate might have a bite and say, “It’s nice.. but there’s not enough jam!” So next time, you know that to make it better, you put in more jam.
    Then maybe the next time, someone says, “I love your cake, but I reckon a bit of butter icing wouldn’t go amiss.” So you grab the butter and icing sugar and make some nice yummyness for the next batch.
    In other words, you keep improving the cake with stuff that’s great.

    Maybe your ‘jam’ is new music. Maybe your ‘butter icing’ is a wider playlist. You see what I mean though, right? Anyway, I think I should stop with the cake analogy because it’s making me hungry.”

    Cake anyone?


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  3. adam,
    August 27th, 2008 at 4:25 pm:

    Niko - you needn’t feel sorry for me in 5). As Llia correctly summises - this is a self-imposed rule.

    [By the way - smileys now turned off so that "8)" above reads correctly]


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  4. Jon,
    August 28th, 2008 at 6:14 am:

    I can’t give it enough emphasis - love your IT staff. They handle the web filters. ;]

    (Seriously, never hesitate to make nice with IT, security, or janitorial services. Manners cost nothing and you never know when you’ll need help covering your tracks. ;] )


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  5. Gareth,
    August 28th, 2008 at 9:16 am:

    Here Here Chris, it has always been and I hope always will be the case tht there’s a great community spirit within these here walls. We’ve got a great history of including everybody, making everyone feel welcome and I genuinely think the fact that everyone generally gets on with each other on a social level benefits the business too, it makes it a great place to work which external visitors/clients and those outside the business always seem to comment on.

    Let’s keep this up!
    (I’m not just talking about piss-ups in the pub and social gatherings but lets not beat around the bush that’s a big part of it, even now the Midas has gone!)


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