Chark Blog - What's in a name?

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

I am waiting for some photos of the school I visited yesterday in Soweto. I'll post them for a simple reason. The picture below is most people's image of the township. The reality, as you will see, is different. More anon.

Our new rep in the Free State is called Macmillan Mareka. Apparently a first name of Macmillan is not that rare in South Africa, particularly among people born shortly after Harold Macmillan's Winds of Change speech in Cape Town in 1960. But I still think it shows commitment to the cause. Perhaps all our reps should be called Macmillan.

Back in the UK now and saying farewell to my term as an officer of the Publishers Association at their annual general meeting in a few minutes. So must rush. I wouldn't want my term extended in absentia.

If you have a few minutes to spare and you're interested in the importance of design, check out this video. I love the guy's name, Jesse James Garrett - but still not as good as Macmillan Mareka.

5/9/2007 8:39:14 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Richard, I think you should lead by example. Macmillan Charkin has a lovely ring to it. I will be very interested to see the Soweto photos. I was there 12 years ago and change was progressing at a snail's pace.

clare

5/10/2007 4:49:20 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

In fact its your only possible moniker if you are going to change at this stage. Current Charkin would have sounded too much like a bun or pastry, Reed Charkin II, please NO, it makes you sound as though you failed to get into West Point; Octopus Charkin would terrify the trade and Oxford Charkin suggests that you have decided to become an armchair or a piece of unwieldy funiture. Harrap Charkin -- good for ordering a taxi, but not quite you, is that why you moved on? If your career had taken a different turn, I would have been quite pleased to rearrange my address book to incorporate Penguin Charkin.

Adam Hodgkin

Welcome

This is it. I am officially entering the blogosphere. This is not a Macmillan blog, but Macmillan will certainly feature heavily. The idea is that when we need to share anything from company strategy through news, to talk about new ideas or to help us learn from our successes and our mistakes, we can all blog about it here. This means no more email newsletters from me. Instead, you can read (and blog) all about it here. And don't forget to bookmark this page and to let colleagues know all about it.

The broader the audience the more effective this blog becomes.

And it becomes a lot more interesting if you join the conversation... so don't be shy.

Google Ads

Charchive

November 2009

Sun

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Sat