ICIS Blogs : corporate life

Wood Mackenzie staff in the money

ICIS Chemicals Confidential — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 08:10:59 GMT

Wood Mackenzie, the energy consultancy and long-term supporter of the ICIS Aromatics Conference, was sold yesterday for £533 million , in a deal whereby 100 of the company's staff share a total payout of about £100 million. The Blog was delighted...(read more)

Borat mankini arrest warning

ICIS Chemicals Confidential — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 12:07:18 GMT

England football fans in Almaty for the Kazakhstan match (England 4, Kazakhstan 0) on Saturday 6 June were warned not to wear the Borat swimsuit, or "mankini", unless they wanted to be arrested. Pictures of fans in the green thong reminded the...(read more)

Why unauthorised email use will make your feet hurt

ICIS Chemicals Confidential — Thu, 21 May 2009 12:05:17 GMT

From the number of forwarded emails the Blog receives, I think it's fair to assume that no-one reads the disclaimers at the bottom of emails. There's a report of a novel disclaimer entitled " We will shrink your shoes " in today's...(read more)

Print your business card on meat

ICIS Chemicals Confidential — Wed, 20 May 2009 17:03:25 GMT

Why mess around with old-fashioned paper business cards when you can be chewing on Meat Cards ? Have your contact information seared onto beef jerky by laser beam . It's environmentally friendly and protein rich. (Photo Meat Cards) For more about...(read more)

Packing our golf bags for Seaview

ICIS Chemicals Confidential — Wed, 20 May 2009 17:00:22 GMT

What everyone loves about the Northeast Chems Association ( NECA) Sports Outing is that it is usually three days out of the office playing golf in the sunshine on the glorious rolling greens of the luxury Seaview Marriott hotel at Absecon on the New Jersey...(read more)

The Blog goes Boxing

ICIS Chemicals Confidential — Thu, 07 May 2009 08:21:40 GMT

When I told my colleagues I was going to a boxing match last week they were incredulous. "So you like watching sweaty men beating each other to a pulp," said one. "You're turning into a boy," said another friend. As it turned out...(read more)

Southwest Chemical Spring Golf Day in Houston

ICIS Chemicals Confidential — Wed, 06 May 2009 15:05:35 GMT

Stephen Burns in ICIS Houston has made this video of last week's Southwest Chemical spring charity golf day. I think I recognise a few of those backs. He writes ... The Southwest Chemical Association held its spring charity golf day on Monday 4 May...(read more)

Texas tornadoes play havoc with ICIS cyclists

ICIS Chemicals Confidential — Fri, 01 May 2009 12:03:14 GMT

A team from ICIS Houston tackled an epic journey on two wheels across central Texas last week, but there was more than a bit of drama along the way. Stephen Burns, Angela Garzon, Ron Marshall, Heather Doyle, Landon Feller and Steven McGinn, plus Fred...(read more)

Twittering executives are making a complete hash of it - Kellaway

ICIS Chemicals Confidential — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:00:36 GMT

Twitter may be "potentially the best communication tool there is; the trouble is that most executives are making a complete hash of using it," says Lucy Kellaway in today's Financial Times. "Either they fill it with mundane personal...(read more)

Floggers guest speaker Ann Widdecombe

ICIS Chemicals Confidential — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 12:09:55 GMT

Excitement is mounting ahead of next week's Floggers lunch in London, where flamboyant Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe is set to be the after-lunch speaker. The annual lunch of the Chemical Business Association (CBA) on Wednesday 29 April will be held...(read more)

Angry about business cards

ICIS Chemicals Confidential — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 12:28:31 GMT

Thanks to Dan Blank for this link to someone you are never going to meet at a chemicals conference. "This guy has strong feelings about business cards," says Dan in the understatement of the week. Read More......(read more)

A forecasting joke

ICIS Chemicals Confidential — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 12:04:24 GMT

My friend Paul Hodges was here in the office on Friday and showed me a shocking slide from a presentation which a well-known chemicals consultancy had given at an industry briefing in June 2008, showing peak oil continuing for years to come and hence...(read more)

Staff sabotage at Dominos Pizza on YouTube video

ICIS Chemicals Confidential — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 16:46:29 GMT

Staff who lose their jobs in the economic downturn may look for ways to sabotage their companies, according to a posting on the Computer Weekly Editor's Blog. And it's not just former staff, a s demonstrated by the current furore over Domino's...(read more)

Top 10 Most Dangerous Places to Work

ICIS Chemicals Confidential — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 12:38:19 GMT

The London-based risk consultancy, Control Risks , has devised a list of the Top 10 most dangerous places in the world to work , as measured by the number of times the company's registered clients requested each country's page on its Forecast...(read more)

Taking One For The Team

ICIS Chemicals Confidential — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 17:10:09 GMT

How insidious sporting metaphors are as they sneak unremarked into our corporate-speak. "Team spirit," "pulling together," "weaker players," "extra coaching" and the currently popular "taking one for the team"...(read more)