Interior design for the baby boomers and Generation X July 10, 2014 HOW DO you begin to create a dream home for three generations of the same family, all with conflicting tastes, and a shaky grasp of the English language? This was the challenge that faced interior designer Roselind Wilson and her team last year when they were hired to redesign a unique penthouse in Notting Hill. [...]
Check out this Silicon Roundabout penthouse with a hot tub overlooking the City July 10, 2014 TWO imperious towers oversee the numerous technology industries clustered around Silicon Roundabout. Perched atop the taller of the two, sitting pretty at 154ft, is The Penthouse 127. This three-bedroom duplex apartment, which is part of the Bézier development, was built for entertaining. Not only is it a short walk from the City and the offices [...]
The steady spread of the Manhattan loft in London July 10, 2014 AN OLD optical works in Clapham may not be the first place you’d visit to discover a an emerging trend. But Macaulay Walk, a collection of new homes by developer Grainger, is transforming the site into Manhattan-style loft conversions, bringing London’s love affair with New York housing south of the river. Situated in Clapham Old [...]
Excel at anything by breaking free of comfort zones July 9, 2014 Take a leaf out of Mozart and Tiger Woods’s book – practice like hell. The demands of work can mean taking on tasks and responsibilities that require intense learning curves. While maths-based work might terrify the more creative among us, number crunchers can often feel daunted by presentations and report writing – self-improvement [...]
How to improve relations among your colleagues July 8, 2014 Worrying about being seen as a slacker is holding Londoners back. Many of us spend more time in the office than we do with our partners, housemates, or friends. So why are we so reluctant to invest time and energy in fostering genuine relationships with our co-workers? You might think you already [...]
The volatility debate: Be wary of betting on a swift reversal July 7, 2014 Central bank policy has distorted many asset markets. Financial markets have been remarkably tranquil of late. Traders accustomed to the ructions of recent years are now starved of volatility, with the US equity “fear index” (the Vix) continually falling towards pre-crisis lows (see graph, bottom left). As Gemma Godfrey of Brooks Macdonald points [...]
CNBC Comment: Private equity M&A is still a risky game July 7, 2014 Deal after deal, the first six months of 2014 was a bumper period for mergers and acquisitions. But this deal fever, combined with private equity exits, has led bears to warn of a market top. Is it a matter of time before scalps are claimed, or are the players savvier this time round and [...]
Checking emails: The cost is higher than you imagine July 7, 2014 Start clustering your responses – even relegate your boss. Checking your emails is slowing you down – massively. A recent survey found that over half of respondents looked at their inbox more than 11 times a day. A third said they checked each time they got a notification. Even if you only receive [...]
Lessons learned from a leader’s right-hand man July 6, 2014 What do Batman’s Robin and John Prescott have in common? Julius Caesar is down as having said: “I would rather be first in a small village in Gaul than second in command in Rome”. All well and good, but behind every successful leader, there’s always a number two who is crucial to the running of [...]
Thinking like a leader: Achieve it in three steps July 3, 2014 Giving fewer answers and keeping an ear to the ground will help you. In the future, “one won’t ‘manage’ people… the task will be to lead people”, said management guru Peter Drucker, back in 1959. He was explaining one consequence of the rise of “knowledge workers” – the bankers, software engineers, and other “gold collar” [...]