FAQ

Some questions that we are frequently asked are addressed below:

Why the crazy name?

What does Z/Yen actually do?

How did Z/Yen start?

How can I learn more about Z/Yen and risk reward management?

I think I might be a potential Z/Yen expert; how do I apply my expertise to Z/Yen?

What's the crazy in your imagery??

Why the crazy name?

• Zen and Yen - "A philosophical desire to make money" … "improve performance"

• Performance ratios - Z/Y

• Focus on solution - not A/B

• Typographic logo on its own, unabbrvbl.

• Eastern paradox - unified dualism - balance - harmony - desire - enlightenment not fads

• Not Arthur Aardvark

• We have fusion food, so why not fusion business. Try fusing “Clean Business Cuisine” and “The Price of Fish”.

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What does Z/Yen actually do?

"You can know where we are or what we are doing, but you can't know where we are and what we are doing!" (with thanks to Rupert Stubbs and Werner Karl Heisenberg)

• Z/Yen ...... helps good people solve wicked problems.

• Z/Yen ...... helps organisations prosper by making better choices…through risk control, strategic enhancement and systemic management.

• Z/Yen ...... improves organisations by helping them make better choices.

• Z/Yen ...... works with clients on initiatives which manage risk and enhance reward.

• Z/Yen ...... not just a think-tank, but also a do-tank.

• Z/Yen ...... for those who understand Z/Yen, then no explanation is needed. For those who do not understand, then sadly, no explanation is possible.

• We ...... undertake special projects for clients in order to help make better choices - which we implement through projects or coaching.

• We ...... help organisations improve.

• We ...... manage change.

• We ...... improve decisions through analysis of risk and rewards.

• We ...... do people, organisational, strategy, systems and intelligence projects.

• We ...... work mainly with organisations in financial services, business to business services, high technology and the voluntary sector.

• We ...... invest in our clients, our partners and ourselves, sharing the rewards from our efforts while retaining and developing innovation and humour.

• We ...... help people see from new perspectives.

• We ...... enchance organisations.

• We ...... design tomorrow's organisation today.

• We ...... specialise in the eclectic.

• We ...... change attitudes towards risk and reward.

• We ...... are applied management scientists.

• We ...... are very special problem solvers.

• We ...... give the advice others only talk about.

• We ...... attempt to measure the unmeasurable.

• We ...... engineer success.

• We ...... challenge preconceptions in order to improve performance.

• We ...... are a think well.

• We ...... are a think spring.

• We ...... have a shop window of new ideas.

If you don't need to improve, Z/Yen is optional; survival is not mandatory.

Some people call in the corporate doctors - we're the vets.

All organisations have some tough nuts to crack - we're the nutcrackers.

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How did Z/Yen start?

• We have compiled the highlights from more than a decade of Z/Yen to make our own big red book, Z/Yen ... This is your life!

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How can I learn more about Z/Yen and risk reward management?

• If you have any further questions that are not covered in our introductory sections on Z/Yen, or our numerous (far too numerous?) publications, then please contact us for further information.

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I think I might be a potential Z/Yen expert; how do I apply my expertise to Z/Yen?

• SpecialiZm, Z/Yen's expert resourcing division, provides experts for management position. Find out more about how to apply your expertise here. To register, please email a copy of your CV to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

What's the crazy in your imagery??

Well, you’re clearly an eagle-eyed reader of Clean Business Cuisine (and who isn’t?). These are - ‘hànzì’, i.e. Chinese characters. "chú yuán" translates directly as “unite circle”. However, these are ‘simplified’ characters. In traditional characters, our phrase would be . Sadly, the Japanese - kanji – aren’t equivalent in this case.

Other translations of the same characters might include “gather round” or “bring people together around money”, in Z/Yen terms “commerce”. When we went down this road, we were close to trying to say “eternal circle”. So, what’s the gist? Z/Yen tries to tackle ‘wicked problems’ where finance and technology meet social issues. We believe that by bringing people together in a community we can help to solve wicked problems, particularly if we’re aware that people, as Adam Smith noted, can create social benefits through semi-selfish behaviours.

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