When Willy the Bard first wrote those (not exactly) words, he probably did not think they would be bastardised in such a frivolous manner . Well, get with the project Mr Willy , if you are listening, time moves on…

Neither would he have tolerated plagiarism, well once again move on , it’s all the rage. so that what I am going to do . I will ‘plagiarise'(felt a Gloria Gaynor song coming on, but soon stopped as I can only ever remember first lines), myself or an article written by myself for a trade publication,a couple of years ago. So much of what we see, hear or do is subject to perception.

‘….what we believe is based upon our perceptions….what we perceive depends upon what we look for….what we believe determines what we take to be true…what we take to be true be our reality…. ‘

Gary Zukav (American spiritual teacher, former Vietnam special ops vet and advisor to the American security services)

I return to it , not Gary, ‘cos I don’t know him, but perception itself as it invades every aspect of our lives and never more so.

You get up, go to the bathroom, and, invariably, stare into a mirror. What do you see? In my case , it is a ‘gormless dork’. Should Julia be passing by she might see an extraordinary specimen, she might not, but at that moment in time it is down to how she perceives me. Throughout the day everything you do will be affected by perception. So how is that entire sections, commercial, personal, religious, play, health and everything else from cradle to grave, of society seem to ignore that. A very simple example is you go into a rubbish shop ( not one selling rubbish, and not one I ‘perceive’ as being rubbish, but a bloody awful shop, plenty around just look) and think what is there about this place that the owner thinks makes it an attractive environment for a consumer to come in and buy stuff. Only this weekend we were both in Brick Lane , East London. In this street there is a very famous Beigel shop. There are actually two, only two doors away from each other . One was empty, the other had punters , literally, queing into the street. I am not suggesting one is especially bad , indeed reviews say there is little difference, and that they are owned by the same family members. The only apparent differences are the colour of the signage,  one is one hundred years older and one is open 24/7 but at 2 o’clock on a Saturday afternoon that if pretty irrelevent. My suspicion at this stage was thatthe queue created a perception that this was the best shop ??

We are plagued by the phrase ‘fake news’ but essentially most of it is about how each of us perceives a piece of information. Of course organisations of all shapes and sizes know this and manipulate that information to convince us about the message they wish to convey. Whether it be the mighty Apple, Coke Cola, BMW, Macdonalds, through every democratic political party ( even dictators use perception manipulation, its just they are less bothered about it), the worlds major faiths through to your next door neighbour (who you think are a really nice family ‘cos that’s what they want you to think, but behind the scenes they are criminal masterminds).

A pretty simple question, with potentially a pretty simple answer . Yet it is one those questions that carries a whole load of baggage and pitfalls. Does the questioner want a truthful answer …?

Hi Alf, its been a great summers day , hasn’t it ? Blue sky all day, birds singing…

Nah Liz, I got burnt in the sun, my fault, but then I tripped over some idiots bike in the park and broke my wrist on the footpath….so it ain’t been that great…just remembered I got fired ….

At this time of year, within our industry,immediately post Halloween , the question on every one’s lips is how was it for you (or rather for everyone else)?

Well the answer is not so straight forward ‘cos it was different for most. There are local issues that have affected some in completely different ways. For example one customer had a very good Halloween because a competitor had closed but another not so good as major road works hampered their customer flow , so it was ok but not great. But for some ‘it were great’.

Marks & Spencer’s have recorded their eighth year of falling clothing sales and consequent decline in profitability. Yet over a similar period, selling presumably similar product (clothing) Seasalt has recorded ten years of annual growth exceeding 20%.

Their gross profit increased last year from 55-57% and their net profit was five times higher than last year at £2.5 million. Their total turnover was £66 million and they have been going since 1981. So they may not as large or as long established as Marks , but they are not the the new kids on the block either. They have and are experiencing the same high street retail as everyone else, but they would have a very different answer to the the same question. Oh, and just one other thing , they dont only sell clothing but their focus is women’s clothing , Mark’s biggest problem. Come to think of it , so do Primark, so do Next and they are doing quite well, if asked how’s it for you….

It’s a question , I am regularly asked but think about, before opening my big ‘gob’. I think about who is asking and what do they genuinely want to hear. If they are having a really tough time, especially through reasons beyond their control I don’t really think they want to hear how wonderful everyone is doing (rarely quite that straightforward). On the other hand, if I figure that they are having a tough time and would want to know if others are having a better time then they may get some inspiration, motivation or just ideas that will help change the course of their business, I tell ’em.

So my theory on the post heading is….If you ask the question, consider whether you will get a truthful answer, and whether you want a truthful answer. If you are asked the question, ‘sod the questioner’, give the answer you want to give .