Debrett’s Ask the Expert: I only own an ill-fitting, loud suit. Will it cost me a job offer? September 19, 2016 Q: I’ve just graduated from university and I’m applying for training schemes with a few different investment banks. My only suit barely fits me and I haven’t got the cash to buy an expensive new one. Given all the recent press about “brown shoes and loud ties”, I’m afraid I’ll be called out on my [...]
What3Words co-founder Chris Sheldrick explains how his company is creating Mongolian addresses and helping the UN in disaster zones September 19, 2016 Back in November 2014, advertising executive Rory Sutherland called What3Words “the best navigation idea [he’d] seen since the tube map”. The idea is simple: take the globe, divide it into 57 trillion 3m by 3m squares and ascribe three common words to each square. To cover the globe, What3Words needs to use 40,000 words – [...]
Getting VC funding right: Why you need to think about pre-built networks, IP and evolving the whole team September 19, 2016 So you've built the next tech unicorn. The platform is solid, your product fits the market and all you need now is scale. However, someone needs to help pay for all the free sugary drinks, table tennis tables and office space that the army of growth hackers, developers and sales people are going to need. [...]
Ozwald Boateng’s guide to success and being the best-dressed man in London September 15, 2016 The designer’s rise to the top of the fashion world is a true rags to riches tale, writes Helen Cahill If you measure a man by the cut of his suit, then Ozwald Boateng is the most successful man in London. Boateng started making suits at the age of 16. He was the first black tailor [...]
How women can break through the glass wall separating them from career success September 15, 2016 FTSE firms face tough targets for women in top jobs. But is that what it takes to fix the current situation? Last October, the Davies report came out, proclaiming good news: the target for women on FTSE 100 boards had been exceeded at 26 per cent. On closer scrutiny, the news was much more mixed. [...]
Bankers went bonkers for bonuses last year – but payments across the economy hit a record level September 15, 2016 UK employers went on a bonus frenzy last year, as payments hit a record £44.3bn – finally beating the pre-recession record set in 2008. Naturally, the finance sector was the biggest contributor. Bonus payments in the financial year ending 2016 were six per cent of total pay, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said today – that's [...]
Hybrid engine firm Vantage Power is setting itself apart with clever software September 15, 2016 Not many startups hunt for premises with the requirement that they can fit a double-decker bus in them. But for Vantage Power, that was a necessity. Founded by Imperial College graduates Alex Schey and Toby Schulz, the firm makes hybrid – part-diesel, part-electric – engines. Vantage Power can turn four buses currently in use hybrid for the [...]
The right business partner: Here are five things that’ll ensure a match made in heaven September 15, 2016 In business there is nothing more important to leadership and organisational success than partnership. While these are often pre-planned, sometimes they can sprout when you least expect it – it’s worth keeping an open mind. I met my co-chief executive on a beach in Thailand. I can safely say that wasn’t in my itinerary when I [...]
The UK’s bonus system among the world’s most unfair – CIMA September 15, 2016 The UK’S bonus system is not fair a survey from the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) has revealed. It found the UK has the second-least meritocratic bonus system in the world with bonuses causing resentment among two-thirds (35 per cent) of UK firms. Only the United Arab Emirates faired worse than the UK, with 42 [...]
One in five chief executives are psychopaths, study says September 14, 2016 Most of us have listened to a family member, friend or colleague moaning about a "psychopathic" boss, but it appears there’s a chance their complaints are actually justified. Australian forensic psychologist Nathan Brookes' study found 21 per cent of 261 corporate professionals displayed psychopathic traits — far greater than the general population in which the rate is about one per [...]