As part of our series to celebrate the best of Yorkshire, we’re paying tribute to past and present day pioneers whose combined true grit – or, in some cases salt – vision and innovation are truly inspirational. 

We doubt that William Morrison could have foreseen how the business would crack the tough retail world when Morrisons began life as an egg and butter stall in Bradford in 1899. Fast forward 113 years, and Morrisons boasts 455 UK superstores following the Safeway takeover.

The driving force behind the success is William’s son Ken Morrison whose trailblazing career is relentless. Taking over the company at 26, he has only recently stopped for breath.   

Fellow Yorkshire retail giant Asda, the UK’s second biggest supermarket by market share, also started from humble beginnings as Associated Dairies & Farm Stores Ltd in Leeds in 1949.

Subsequent mergers linked it with high-profile household names such as MFI and Allied Carpets with the major acquisition of Gateway Superstores in 1989 for £705 million described as an acquisition too far. Enter white knight Archie Norman who powered it to greatness by replicating the Wal-Mart formula – and who was succeeded by Allan Leighton – described as the best connected man in the business world. Subsequent developments include Asda buying Netto’s UK Operations.  

A more private man was Morley-born philanthropist Sir Titus Salt who made a major impact on the lives of the public.  

Creator of the fashionable cloth called ‘alpaca’ which featured in Charles Dickens’ book, ‘Household Words’ his business became the largest employer of Bradford. At the forefront of the textile industry, he created a large mill and built the town of Saltaire, for his workers to live – in his words: “to do good and to give his sons employment”. More than 100,000 people flocked to his funeral to pay their respects.

When it comes to entrepreneurs who reach for the stars – literally – let’s remember the lesser known yet equally talented aviation pioneer Robert Blackburn OBE the founder of Blackburn Aircraft. Born in Kirkstall and graduating from Leeds University, he built his first monoplane in 1909 and flew it at Filey, gave regular demonstration flights for crowds at Roundhay Park, and went on to found a company which on his death became part of Hawker Siddeley.

Robert Blackburn’s name and achievements live on today in a multi-million pound renovation of the 200-year-old Bowcliffe Hall – which he bought as his family home in 1917 – and which is one of Yorkshire’s most historic stately homes.

The transformation is the brainchild of serial entrepreneur Jonathan Turner, chief executive of the Bayford Group, who owns Bowcliffe Hall. Blackburn’s links with Bowcliffe Hall will include a spectacular, art-deco dining room themed on a pilots’ mess.

Who’s your favourite Yorkshire entrepreneur – past or present – and why?

As champions of Yorkshire and passionate about profiling the region’s vibrant business community, we’re launching a series of blogs which ‘celebrate all things Yorkshire’. 

The first one focuses on the dynamic developments in the pipeline in the city of Sheffield which boasts a rich and colourful history – and which has been boosted by a £1 million government funding programme.

Sheffield’s optimism shone through in the Star Business Survey 2012 supported by Lambert Smith Hampton.It was great to hear James Newman, chairman of the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership, (one of the first LEPs to be approved by the Government), outline being very upbeat and outlining how future growth will be determined by the way in which we create and shape opportunities now.

There is strong evidence to support the forecast that the major growth industries in the South Yorkshire area will include manufacturing and precision engineering and technology and digital. Local manufacturers including Anchor Magnets which boasts the prestigious Made in Sheffield mark – and whose groundbreaking innovations include Warmroom – a magnetic energy saving product that reduces heat loss and energy bills – are blazing a trail and boasting strong order books and growth.

The spotlight will likewise remain on South Yorkshire’s Advanced Manufacturing Park whose  aspirations include having the world’s biggest and best manufacturing research centre according to Professor Keith Ridgway.    

Another storming milestone ahead will see the Sheffield Enterprise Zone expecting to create around 250 new business tenants and 12,600 new jobs over the next three years.

Sheffield’s business talent also spans professional services such as the newly merged hlw keeble hawson, boutique dealmakers Strategic Corporate Finance headed by Andrew Coates, and accountancy firms Barber Harrison and Platt and Hawsons Chartered Accountants.

Also boosting Sheffield’s profile is its vibrant creative and digital sector which employs 50,000 people – and more great things expected of the Digital Region initiative which has enabled 84 per cent of South Yorkshire to have broadband.

And last – but certainly not least – Sheffield and Yorkshire has a fantastic media including the Sheffield Star and its award-winning digital editor, the Yorkshire Business Insider TheBusinessDesk, The Yorkshire Post, Sheffield Telegraph, BBC Radio Sheffield, The Legal and First for Business – to report the ongoing wealth of wonderful stories.

What do you want Sheffield to achieve this year?

Phew – what a relief to be see and hear that more business are looking to consolidate their social media activities in 2012 as opposed to running themselves ragged trying to keep up with every development – and beating themselves up if they don’t.    

Social Media Examiner founder Michael Stelzner says ‘the old mantra of “Be everywhere” will quickly be replaced with “be where it matters to our business” makes for good old-fashioned business sense. This is particularly relevant in our tough climate where all organisations are expected to achieve more for less  while trying to keep sane and keep all the plates spinning.  

2011 saw an increasing number of companies harnessing and recognising the value of social media, 2012 will put the spotlight on adding value and being effective as a business – a goal we all want to aspire to.  

As an established Yorkshire  PR company which champions the  ‘joined up’ business and communications approach, we advocate the ‘Let’s get strategic with social media’ call to action which, if implemented properly, will enable companies to leapfrog their competitors.

As Seth Godin said, “No one can maximize on every engagement, every project, every customer and every opportunity. The art of it, I think, is to be rigorous about where you’re prepared to over deliver, and not get hooked on doing it for all… because then you just become another mediocrity, easily overlooked.”

And as per the adage that as some things change and some things remain the same, the importance of ensuring your marketing and communication tools and platforms are aligned with your business goals – is as relevant now as it was decades ago.     

Share with us what you’ve done to refocus your social media strategy.   

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This week, freelance PR consultant Duncan Greenwood offers his views on the PR sector’s prospects for 2012.

 Effective PR in 2012 will be increasingly vital to the UK’s hopes of recovery.

Social and broadcast media exposure will continue to expand, to the cost of traditional printed titles, additionally and grievously hampered by phone-hacking and other less than noble enterprises.

The PR winners will be the consultancies and in-house managers doing less of the fluffy stuff and concentrating on nuts and bolts business support that helps enhance reputations and shifts products.

The gathering gloom of financial regression and shortening winter days in December 2011 at times suggested Armageddon just round the corner.

But job losses as we moved into the festive season were balanced by expansion announcements from major players including Honda and Morrisons.

On the manufacturing scene, apprentice schemes will gather pace in 2012 and Britain’s engineering skills will be showcased with substantial renewable schemes – on and offshore.

A pre-Christmas canvas of IT decision makers reported confidence for growth in the coming year and medical innovation continues to flourish in clusters close to teaching hospitals, for example Leeds.

Finally, the Olympics, whatever the critics might say, will provide a boost for the feel-good factor; following the tremendous lift in production and sales figures for companies across the UK.

Professional service organisations long since switched on to the value of banging their drums, but many manufacturing companies have yet to embrace the culture of self-promotion, particularly in Northern parts where there’s a tradition of “just getting on with the job.”

In addition to promoting the best professional service operations, PR’s role in 2012 will be to persuade manufacturers in particular to talk long and loud about the things they do well. And to form a two-way information link between those manufacturers, relevant media and opinion formers, based on clear, concise information and easy access for follow-up enquiries.

Happy New Year to all! Very aptly for our first blog of the year, business coach and inspirational speaker Lisa Clifford offers her expert insights on how to kick start 2012 into being your most successful year yet.

1. Think of something you’d love to achieve that when you achieve it – it will blow your mind.
2. Now take a moment and become aware of all the reasons this dream is great for you and your life.
3. Take a moment to imagine you are celebrating the success of your dream. Visualise it as though it is happening right now. Make it real.
4. Really connect into what you are feeling, thinking, sharing, what are people saying to you.
5. Make a list of people who inspire you and the reasons why they inspire you.
6. Create a dream board of all the dreams you have set as goals, show your feelings, aswell as your celebrations. Hang this board somewhere that you can see regularly.
7. Enhance your wellbeing so it can support you through working towards and achieving your dreams.
8. Pick a mentor. Be clear of the role you would like this mentor to fulfil, frequency of meeting, style of meetings, feedback.
9. Now draw a time line of your year – like a road with signs on ………………the beginning of the road marking now and the  end being New Year’s Eve 2012, then write on the sign posts your landmark achievements and the date.
10.  Take one action right NOW that begins your journey.

Lisa is based in York and is a Business Coach, Master Practitioner of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) and Hypnosis, trained by Paul McKenna and the founder of NLP Richard Bandler. 

For further information visit www.lisaclifford.co.uk or email Lisa at lisa@lisaclifford.co.uk.

How many silver surfers do you know who can Tweet the proverbial hind leg off a donkey or clock up over 50,000 followers on Facebook?

Our Christmas blog has been inspired by a member of our Quest team and blogger Ashley Ridsdale who wrote about the late Ivy Bean, the oldest known social networker whose celebrity followers included Peter Andre, Chris Evans and Sarah Brown, wife of the former prime minister Gordon.

Ivy, who lived to the ripe old age of 104, first dipped her toes in Facebook, moving to Twitter after reaching the 5,000 friends limit – where she notched up over 50,000 followers.

In a media interview in The Guardian, Mrs Bean said that social media had given her a new lease of life. Prior to embarking on it all she used to sit around all day and fall asleep and had few visitors apart from her daughter. Thanks to social media she no longer felt lonely now she had her Twitter community to chat to.

Another fantastic example of how the web is helping to reduce feelings of isolation among older people sees a virtual centre which helps to enrich and boost the quality of life for homebound seniors.  The project is a fantastic collaboration between Microsoft, the City of New York and Selfhelp Community Services Inc.

The virtual center has saved the life of 86 year old Milton Greidinger. He said: “Before this project I was bored to death. I was just waiting for my time to finish. Now, all of a sudden I’m wide awake. I’m alive again.”  

The importance of social networking among the older generation has also been reinforced in a blog post from  David Cohen who relayed how a survey by My Voucher Codes revealed that 22 percent of 1,341 grandparents over the age of 60 in the UK are active on social networking sites, with 71 percent of those citing Facebook, 34 percent on Twitter and 9 percent on LinkedIn.

Who do you know who merits a silver surfer acknowledgement?

You don’t need me to remind you that 2012 is Olympic year. Naturally, there will be a great deal of focus on world class athletes and sports people. As a sport psychologist, I have had the great pleasure of working with world class athletes and sports teams, including many Olympians. Watching them live and work has raised questions in my mind. What is it that makes some people world class? What differentiates world class people from the ones who almost made it? These questions have intrigued me for years. So I decided to interview a group of world class people from a diverse range of fields, both inside and outside of sport. My rationale was pretty simple. If there are traits that are common to world class chefs, mountaineers, baristas, athletes, polar explorers, special-forces personnel and scientists, those traits are likely to cross into any domain!

So, what did I find? Well, it won’t surprise you to know that world class people in vastly different disciplines do share common traits and habits. Here’s a whistle-stop tour of the 8 key elements that I found.

They all…

1. Have a dream and a burning passion for what they do!
2. Focus on the next step… the thing that they’re doing right now.
3. Keep everything as simple as possible, and avoid over-complicating what they do.
4. Are very careful about what they will compromise and what they refuse to compromise on.
5. Continually push the boundaries, make mistakes and fail!
6. Display mental toughness in abundance.
7. Take complete responsibility and are accountable for everything (good, bad or indifferent).
8. Have authenticity. They follow the simple mantra – be yourself.

These may sound simple and quite obvious, but many of us don’t adhere to many of these principles. How passionate are you? Do you genuinely love what you do? Do you understand your job in the simplest possible terms, or do you perceive that your job is complicated? Interestingly, the world class people I interviewed consider that their job is very simple. What do you compromise on? Are you willing to fail? How many times will you try and fail before you quit? When do you blame other people or circumstance?

Most people genuinely aspire to be the best they can be. Studying world class people gives us a great route-map, which can help us excel. As we enter 2012, we all have an opportunity to take a few steps closer to being world class ourselves.

For an insight into the way these world class people think, make decisions, approach challenges and deal with set-backs, visit www.beworldclass.tv

As the year comes to a conclusion, pundits have already begun talking about the social media predictions for 2012. In all fairness, you have to agree that social media has turned out to be a major hit in 2011, determining the longevity and success of various products, movies and even governments. So, no matter how hard you try to argue against it, social media will play a major role in 2012.

So, here is a look at some of the predictions:

Google+ and what will happen to it

Google+ obviously is not going to break over and surpass Facebook. There is still time for that but Google+ surely will hold its feet. One advantage that Google has is its wide platform and various other services like YouTube and Google search to which the Google+ can be integrated. Still, Facebook’s quality is better and it will keep on growing. Google+ can take solace from the fact that it is the second best out there. If they can lure in more people, they will have a bright chance.

A billion Facebook users

Facebook has 800 million now and it will be only a matter of time till it reaches a billion. Most probably that will happen by mid 2012. If Facebook was a country, it will be the third largest then. Google+ is surely not slowing them and with newer people from various developing countries coming in, the billion marks will be achieved very easily.

Integration of location-based services will increase

People have begun searching for bars, hotels and restaurants in their location through the internet. So, the demand for such services will increase vividly. Such services with the push technology will get integrated into mobile phones and tablets. The demand for such applications will also increase sharply.

News applications will grow

The Washington Post integrated its application in Facebook and it has become viral. Everyone is using it and reading news through it. In 2012, news websites will face a severe setback and their applications will get popular. It is a good thing after all, you are getting people to read news in Facebook and other sites instead of making them comment of pictures and play games. Moreover, it will also increase the user base to that particular news provider.

E-commerce will become a major hit

The integration between eBay and Facebook will provide the major key to this. In 2011, the number of people buying stuff through the internet has increased greatly and it is not going to reduce in 2012 too. Most companies have brought their stuff online and are even giving attractive options to people who buy through their website. Food, apparel, electronics and even health care items are very popular in the e-commerce world these days.

Whether you like it or not, social media is here to stay. So, better get used to it and try to reap off the best from it. And one more thing, the social marketing thing is also going to get very vigorous and so, you can never escape from all the advertisements.

About the author: Alia Haley is a blogger by profession. She loves writing on technology and luxury. Beside this she is fond of gadgets. She recently bought a Steiner Binoculars. These days she is busy in witting an article on folding bike.

We all know that we act differently depending on the people we are with – and many of us have different personas for our diverse social groups such as work, family and friends.  

So has the advent of social media created a whole new level for us to create multiple identities?

Though social media is viewed as a way for us to be more transparent, does the online persona that we create on social networks actually resemble who we really are in the offline world? Are we using writing styles, vocabulary and topics on social networks to create an online persona for ourselves which actually allow us to be the person we would like to be in our everyday life? 

It can be seen that social media creates a level of equality which is often lacking in the offline world. All too often, and sometimes subconsciously, people judge each other on their physical appearance, their background, the way they speak, or their displayed level of confidence, but social media can disarm this judgement.  It allows us to hide behind the mask of a computer screen and decide exactly what we want people to know about us and what we wish to share with them. It allows us to express our thoughts and opinions confidently to those we wish to share them with. We are given the choice of whether we wish to reveal our identity, or whether we prefer to create a safety net with pseudonyms and anonymity.

Social media can be used as a mask which empowers the user to control who they want to be and how they interact with others. It allows us to infiltrate social circles by following topics of conversation and using our insight to meaningfully engage in them. We are able to gain a real-time understanding of what is happening in the world and in the industries we are interested in, and we are able to express ourselves how, when, and to whom we choose to.

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Related blog post: http://ashleyridsdale.wordpress.com

Our guest blog post from poacher and gamekeeper Jane Cameron, who’s a working journalist and PR, sparked an interesting debate on how good ex print and broadcast reporters are in turning their hand to the world of PR.    

Over the course of our ten year development at Quest PR we’ve hired a balance of experienced PRs with ‘commercial savvy’ and former journalists who have honed their craft to ensure our clients’ stories are placed across print, digital and broadcast media.

As a former Sky TV and BBC reporter, I find the importance of speaking the same language as journalists to be critical and picked up great feedback from clients who appreciate our media expertise in getting them in front of their target media.       

Former print journalist turned PR Jenni Moulson agrees that ex reporters turn their talents well to PR. Jenni says they think like a journalist (and not like a marketing specialist), can spot a story angle intuitively and can encourage their clients to think about topics that will fire a journalist’s imagination as opposed to what the clients want to focus on. 

As we PRs are only too aware, the importance of managing client expectations is vital – irrespective of whether or not you are an ex journo. Jenni’s example centres on a client who just doesn’t get why their networking event will never make it onto national TV, and how good  PRs always manage expectations to avoid compromising both the client’s and the PR’s reputations with the media contacts. In the case of cry wolf, says Jenni, if you try to railroad such a ‘non story’ through, you’ll have the phone slammed down on you straight away and be given short sharp shrift when you go back to them with a real story!

Like Quest, Victoria Tomlinson, founder of Northern Lights PR, has employed former journalists and worked with a number on a freelance basis over the last two decades.

Victoria says the best are the ‘rounded’ ones like her colleague Carol Arthur, a trained journalist with a wealth of commerciality compared to those who’ve come straight from the media and who are great at unearthing stories and journalist liaison – but who inevitably struggle to understand the broader commercial context of PR.