Psychology in marketing: It’s time to get emotional February 10, 2017 To succeed at marketing you need to understand people. And to understand people, you need to know what makes them tick. In an age when ad blocking is on the rise and trust at a premium, understanding psychology has never been more important in marketing. Whenever I talk about the art of persuasion in [...]
City Moves for 10 February 2017 – who’s switching jobs? February 10, 2017 Squire Patton Boggs Squire Patton Boggs has appointed Ian Wood as a partner in its global energy and natural resources practice group in the London office. Ian joins the firm from the energy and infrastructure group at King & Wood Mallesons in London, along with senior associate Rebecca Slater from his previous team. Ian has expertise in power [...]
Post-Brexit Britain will be a paradise for lobbyists – and it’s not necessarily a bad thing February 10, 2017 Picture the scene: a small conglomerate of agricultural businesses demand a meeting with their local legislator. They tell her their businesses will go bust if she does not vote against a forthcoming trade agreement and they indicate no further donations to her party will be made if she does not speak out more against the deal. [...]
“Our aim certainly is not to punish the UK,” insists Brussels’ financial services commissioner February 8, 2017 Politicians tend to seek the limelight. They court media interest with controversial policy ideas, catchy soundbites and displays of tribal affiliation. But it's people like Valdis Dombrovskis, quiet bureaucrats who do their best to keep beneath the radar and get their job done, who exercise a hidden power. This is particularly true of the European [...]
“I will have failed”: Football Association chairman Greg Clarke offers to resign if he doesn’t reform organisation February 8, 2017 Football Association chairman Greg Clarke says he will step down from his role if he fails to "deliver real change" to the under-fire organisation. Ahead of Thursday's House of Commons debate on a motion of no confidence in the FA, Clarke said he had already begun a process to improve its governance. The Commons Culture, [...]
Exit the beancounter: Here’s the qualities you need to be a successful CFO February 8, 2017 The chief financial officer of today is a far cry from the rigid, number crunching executive of old. No longer a square peg, a great chief financial officer is a rounded leader who can add value beyond the finance function and deliver business results. Ally and equal to the chief executive The ability to influence [...]
Disney revenue slides as it fails to find blockbuster success of last year’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens February 7, 2017 The Walt Disney company reported quarterly earnings that topped analysts' expectations, though revenue fell short of Wall Street estimates. The figures The firm posted first-quarter earnings per share of $1.55 on $14.78bn in revenue. Analysts had expected first-quarter earnings of $1.49 per share on $15.26bn in revenue, according to Thomson Reuters consensus estimates. At the [...]
City Moves for 7 February 2017 – who’s switching jobs? February 7, 2017 Today's City Moves cover cyber security, energy and tax. Take a look at these movers and shakers: PwC PwC has hired Kate Macmillan as a director in its rapidly expanding cyber security and data privacy legal team in London. Kate joins from Collyer Bristow with 20 years’ experience in data protection and privacy litigation, specialising [...]
As Standard Life’s investment boss calls for pay curbs, are big investors right to target chief executive pay? February 7, 2017 Alex Edmans, professor of finance at London Business School and a member of the steering group of The Purposeful Company, says Yes. Shareholders bear both the direct cost of executive pay and its indirect effects on other stakeholders, since stakeholder value ultimately affects shareholder value. Thus it is they, not one-size-fits-all regulation or other stakeholders, [...]
Ireland: Brexit’s forgotten frontier February 6, 2017 Theresa May crossed the Irish Sea last week for a quick meeting with her Irish counterpart, Enda Kenny, to discuss President Donald Trump. Well, according to the official agenda she was actually there to talk about Brexit. Yet you wouldn’t have guessed it from the subsequent press conference in which every single question from the [...]