A pro-business mayor? Khan is less so than Livingstone April 29, 2019 Before he was elected, Sadiq Khan promised – in this newspaper and elsewhere – to be the “most pro-business mayor yet”. In a literal sense, that pledge was already a bit limited, because Khan has only had two predecessors: Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson. The first one was an apologist for assorted Communist regimes. In [...]
Protecting the UK’s creative treasures by bringing the digital pirates down a peg leg or two April 26, 2019 The gathering storm of state-backed piracy is high on the agenda, as leaders from creative industries gather for World Intellectual Property Day today. As you read this, a pirate media empire is illegally broadcasting 10 channels of live sport – including one of Britain’s most valuable exports, the English Premier League – to a region [...]
How to cope with culture clashes and different time zones when collaborating across global offices April 25, 2019 "If everyone is moving forward together, success takes care of itself." While this Henry Ford quote sums up a simple idea for businesses, sustaining a culture of collaboration across a global organisation is more difficult than it sounds. When offices are split across different countries, operations and communications, departments can quickly become siloed. The trick [...]
Leaving EU behind: The potential winners and losers from a soft Brexit deal April 25, 2019 After three failed votes, Prime Minister Theresa May has another six months to get her Brexit deal through the House of Commons. Despite her securing an extension from the EU, the Brexit deadlock seems as intractable as ever. Still, some form of soft Brexit remains a likely option, so it’s worth exploring the potential impact [...]
What a tin of battered beans can tell us about behavioural finance April 25, 2019 "Most people get interested in stocks when everyone else is. The time to get interested is when no one else is. You can’t buy what is popular, and do well.” Those are the words of one of the greatest investors of our generation, Warren Buffett. The investment guru got me thinking: why is the stock [...]
Why playing a different version of ourselves at work can cause stress April 24, 2019 Just be yourself. It’s a mantra that’s been drummed into us since we were kids. Yet when you leave the comfort of home and school life to start your first job, it can feel like a completely different story. People often adjust their personality in the workplace. Sadly, research indicates that over half of employees [...]
Leaving the legacy behind: Meet the tech company that could put a stop to the banks’ IT failures April 23, 2019 IT meltdowns are becoming dangerously common among the big banks. According to Which, at least one British bank suffered an IT failure every day during the last nine months of 2018. TSB’s outage last year, which left 1.9m customers locked out of their accounts and cost the bank £330m, demonstrates how catastrophic these IT issues can [...]
The fault in default funds: Why you might not be getting the most out of your workplace pension scheme April 17, 2019 There is no denying that auto-enrolment is paving the way for the British population to have a half-decent savings pot in retirement. According to recent figures from the Office for National Statistics, 76 per cent of UK employees were members of a workplace pension scheme in 2018, up slightly from the 73 per cent enrolled [...]
The founder of Boxpark on making a modern market out of a shed, selling Boxfresh, and hiring a Michelin star chef April 15, 2019 For an industrial-looking shed, there’s something strangely inviting about this giant black and white box next to Wembley Stadium. Having opened its doors in December last year, this is Boxpark’s third site, and it’s also the largest, taking up 20,000 square feet of space. It’s essentially a stripped-back leisure centre – long tables are lined [...]
Which Game of Thrones leader are you? April 12, 2019 From Cersei Lannister to Daenerys Targaryen, every major character in Game of Thrones has a different approach when it comes to leadership. Over the last seven seasons, we have come to learn that attaining power is hard, and maintaining that power is even harder. The same holds true in the real world. Corporate competition often lies [...]
