Management Today articles from February 2003

Management Today archives from February 2003

EDITORIAL: Anxious times need special leaders.(Editorial)
February 4, 2003... We all have leaders on the mind at the moment. With our economy looking green around the gills and a war in the offing, this is quite natural. When times are troubled we tend to look to those above us for guidance and reassurance, whether...

CONTRIBUTORS.
February 4, 2003... ANDREW DAVIDSON In a world where the lines between art and commerce get ever more blurred, Andrew Davidson's encounter with the Tate Gallery, run by Britain's sharpest arts manager, Sir Nicholas Serota, is nothing if not timely. After 15...

IN MY OPINION: Sir Victor Blank.
February 4, 2003... Chartered Management Institute companion Sir Victor Blank, chairman of GUS plc, pinpoints the skills that non-execs bring to a successful board. I have found you the ideal non-executive director, the headhunter told the company chairman...

CUTTING ROOM.
February 4, 2003... Comforting words for the wilting greenback; why US drivers keep on trucking; how gullible can shareholders get?; my euro gesture... Evan Davis at large. Are we witnessing the end of an era in the currency markets? For several years, the...

BRAIN FOOD: Ten ways to ... Use the telephone effectively.(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... 1. Ringing phones are better than silent ones 2. Value its strength as a one-to-one medium 3. Plan what you need to talk about 4. Give important calls 100% concentration 5. Always check that it is a good time to speak 6. Start with...

BRAIN FOOD: It just might work - True path to profitability.(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... If you're glorying in your market share, stop. The Myth of Market Share by Richard Miniter calls share 'fool's gold'. He cites 1997 research by Windermere Associates: for more than 70% of the time, firms with top share didn't have the highest...

BRAIN FOOD: Unlikely managers - Chatroom moderator.(Rob Marcus)(Brief Article)(Interview)
February 4, 2003... CHAT MODERATORS, LONDON SW1 Name: Rob Marcus When did you become a manager? In 2001, just after I set it up, Chat Moderators won the contract for Liverpool FC's web site, which runs 24/7. I hired six moderators - we now have 40....

BRAIN FOOD: Quote.(Sir Adrian Cadbury)(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... 'Good leaders serve their followers, bad leaders enslave them' Sir Adrian Cadbury said it.

BRAIN FOOD: Workplace rights - Tougher grievance procedures.(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... The Government has a problem. Its programme of extending employment rights since coming to power in 1997 has led to a big increase in employment tribunal claims. Reforms in the latest Employment Act aim to encourage settlement of disputes...

BRAIN FOOD: Earning curve - Ski-ing.(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... Adam Aron, CEO, Vail Resorts, US ('01) pounds 820k Bode Miller, Giant Slalom skier, US team ('02) pounds 630k Eddie 'The Eagle' Edwards ('88/'92) pounds 385k/bankrupt P-Y Gerbeau, CEO, Xscape snow centre ('01) pounds 50k Rick Sylvester,...

BRAIN FOOD: Route to the top ... Sharing bad news.(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... Don't put it off. The longer you leave it, the harder it will get and the greater the chances the other person will hear the bad news on the grapevine, making the talk more difficult. Create the right environment. Find a quiet place where...

BRAIN FOOD: If I had to start again ..(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... It's difficult to say what I'd do. When you open up a new field you can't be sure what the end-point is - you have to create as you go. I started out in medicine, where I developed ideas on self-organising information systems. I then applied...

BRAIN FOOD: Are you suffering from ... Anal retention.(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... We all know Freud was obsessed with toilet training. One theory was that children who did not master the art of elimination got, well, constipated. This turned a normal child into an obsessive and tidy adult preoccupied with petty details....

BRAIN FOOD: Words-worth - Six Sigma.(management technique)(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... Six Sigma is a management technique invented by Motorola, famously embraced by Jack Welch. The Greek letter sigma is the mathematical symbol for standard deviation. Six sigma accuracy means only 3.4 faults per million products, which is what it...

BRAIN FOOD: Room service - Where John Allan stays.(Hotel Review)
February 4, 2003... For business: By a short hair, I'd say the St Regis in Beijing. It has great facilities, ambience and decor but it's the service that gives it the edge. Everything I requested was done as I'd asked for, and with a smile. There are butlers on...

BRAIN FOOD: Speaking out - Mo Mowlam, Former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... I went to see Mo Mowlam at the Winchester Festival expecting to have my prejudices confirmed: a loud-mouthed, at times foul-mouthed, individualist, not a team player - no wonder she left government. Within minutes she stood those prejudices on...

THE HUMAN FACTOR.(new ideas and energy from outside the company )
February 4, 2003... Someone who brings new ideas and energy from outside the company can have an invigorating effect that an insider can find hard to achieve. When James Benfield became CEO of an unquoted furniture manufacturer in May 2001, the headlines were...

STATE OF THE UNION.(digital cable systems and Internet in U.S. news business)
February 4, 2003... The US news business may be stodgy, but not for much longer. Digital cable systems and the internet have opened up the market. Think of the American press, and what comes to mind? JJ Hunsecker, the ruthless gossip columnist of Sweet Smell...

INSIDE OUT.
February 4, 2003... The Spectator wonders why we don't just assassinate Saddam. This simplistic line shows how our debate on Iraq is trailing that of the US. Towards the end of last year, slate.com, America's most popular online magazine, published a lengthy...

REALITY BITES.
February 4, 2003... The best learning is not done in a Hilton meeting room. It's done at work. The best teachers are talented people doing the job you're learning. Long before he conquered the English-reading world with The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen...

TECHKNOW: Things to come ... Endless ski-ing.(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... The trouble with ski slopes is that they run out. Snowdonia Gateway, a firm based near Snowdonia National Park in Wales, hopes to put an end to this with a ski slope where the fun never stops. Taking a lead from the Eden Project and with a...

TECHKNOW: Tech talk.(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... Keyboard trauma (n): What happens when the chief exec tries to type his own e-mails Adminisphere (n): The rarefied upper echelons of management hierarchy where strategy is forged, before being handed down to the rank and file on tablets of...

TECHKNOW: Pushing the envelope - Male contraception.
February 4, 2003... Philip Larkin was nearly right when he wrote that 'Sexual intercourse began in 1963... between the end of the 'Chatterley' ban and the Beatles' first LP'. Britain's sexual revolution really started in '61 with the launch of the first...

TECHKNOW: Smart tools - Digisette Duo-DX.(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... What is it? An unlikely blend of old and new; a portable MP3 player shaped like an audio cassette. What does it do? The Duo-DX is a top-spec MP3 player and recorder. It's got on-board memory for 1.5 hours of digital quality sound...

BOOKS: If you can keep your head ... Market Panic; By Stephen Vines; Profile pounds 19.99.
February 4, 2003... To buy stock when others are selling may not be an original tip, but this study sets out to explain why the tactic works. DeAnne Julius appreciates its clarity. Are you nervously awaiting the right moment to put your savings back into the...

BOOKS: On the bedside table of ... Nicola Horlick.(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... 'I am reading two books at the same time - something that I usually do. I only ever read novels, as I like to block out the horrors of the everyday world. I am currently reading Austerlitz by WG Sebald and Donna Tartt's new book, The Little...

BOOKS: Discovering your destiny - What Should I Do with My Life?; By Po Bronson; Secker & Warburg pounds 10.00.(Book Review)
February 4, 2003... Can a best-selling novelist bring new insights to your quest for career satisfaction? John McLaren finds the case studies encouraging. In the late '80s I wasted some cash very wisely. I had run out of visa in California and was staring down...

BOOKS: 10 Top Business Books.(Brief Article)(Bibliography)
February 4, 2003... 1. The Financial Times Handbook of Management; Edited by Stuart Crainer; Prentice Hall pounds 30 2. Globalization and its Discontents; Joseph Stiglitz; Penguin pounds 16.99 3. Business - The Ultimate Resource; Edited by Daniel Goleman et...

BOOKS: Smell The Coffee.(Anyone Can Do It)(Book Review)
February 4, 2003... Anyone Can Do It; By Sahar and Bobby Hashemi; Capstone pounds 14.99 Entrepreneurial tips from the sibling founders of Coffee Republic give Richard Reed a buzz. I think I'm a bit of a geek. I can't seem to stop reading business...

BOOKS: The book that shook.(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... 'It's an interesting exercise to go through your books, evaluating each one for its impact. First there are those that have shaken you so much that you never got beyond page 23. Then there are those that you read because they feature on the...

BOOKS: Three of a Kind ... Improve your coaching skills.(Brief Article)(Bibliography)
February 4, 2003... Effective Coaching; Myles Downey; Texere pounds 7.99 This book offers a thorough description of coaching and its aims, and can be adapted for use both in and out of the workplace. Useful sections include further development of one's...

THE MT INTERVIEW: Rod Aldridge.
February 4, 2003... The fortunes of Capita's CEO rose as his firm became this country's biggest contractor of government services. But its entanglement in a string of public controversies - it has been dubbed 'Britain's most unpopular company' - have put him on...

UNZIPPING THE MERGER MYTH.
February 4, 2003... Big-ticket mergers are the society weddings of the business world. But the honeymoon is usually soon over. Anthony Hilton examines landmark deals of the past decade to find out why so many corporate tie-ups destroy shareholder value. One...

THE TATE'S MODERN MASTER.(Nicholas Serota)
February 4, 2003... He cuts an ascetic figure, yet since taking charge of the national collection of recent British art, Sir Nicholas Serota (opposite) has turned a fusty institution into a commercial juggernaut. And he still has nine years to go. Andrew Davidson...

BACKS TO THE WALL.(leadership)
February 4, 2003... Gone are the days of the swaggering, charismatic superhero bosses of the late 1990s. In these straitened times, the new leadership ideal is unshowy, hardworking and consensus-building, presenting a measured but informal demeanour. Matthew...

STRATEGIC MOVE.
February 4, 2003... Is your company stuck in a cramped, unprofitable site? Relocation may be tempting, but choose badly and it'll cost dearly. Furniture-maker Ercol juggled competing claims for cheap land and staff-retention, while bike manufacturer Raleigh opted...

COMING UP FAST: The big idea works - now it's time to run a business.
February 4, 2003... You share the fun and excitement of the start-up with your mates, but the game suddenly changes - with success comes responsibility. Stefan Stern talks to entrepreneurs who had to grow up fast. When you start signing regular six-figure...

COMING UP FAST: Stephen Hall - Gamestation.(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... DECISIONS MY BEST... We started trading in a very small unit on a temporary lease on the outskirts of York. Our best decision was to move to a bigger unit with a longer lease. It showed that we believed we'd hit a winning formula in...

COMING UP FAST: Building to last - Which non-exec?(corporate directors)
February 4, 2003... DILEMMA: I've just had to part company with a non-executive director. He had a great track record but we couldn't get him out of chief executive mode. I need a good non-exec, how can I avoid another mistake? ISSUES: Success obviously...

COMING UP FAST: Net result - Worth their salt.(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... A few years ago, salt was a lowly kitchen staple - always to hand, but rarely at the forefront of one's mind. But, in the days of Delia, Jamie and Nigella, the humble mineral is big business. Pure sea salt is part of the sermon preached by...

COMING UP FAST: Stressbuster - Manage change.(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... Change often causes increased levels of pressure. Here's how to minimize the risk of personal stress. MOURN AND MOAN, but do so constructively. Sounding off at the right time and in the right place can be de-stressing. Doing so in the...

COMING UP FAST: Young Meteors - Tom Hughes, Milkround Online.(Brief Article)
February 4, 2003... Launched in 1996 and now turning a profit, Tom Hughes' Milkround Online is a rare start-up that survived the dot.com boom. The former civil engineer was working as a management consultant when he set it up to provide company information to...

COMING UP FAST: Crash Course - Managing office romances.
February 4, 2003... Two of your sales team have just split up and aren't even exchanging e-mails. You've just caught your finance director and his PA groping in the kitchen, and ugly rumours are circulating that the plum promotion in IT has been offered to the HR...

MOTOR MOUTH: Just plot your course.(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 4, 2003... I did not much care for the key of the Lexus SC430. Given the well-demonstrated Japanese flair for joyously bizarre invention, it is a sad, crude, proletarian thing: three fiddly and ergonomically incoherent buttons and a dangly leather fob. It...

WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM?
February 4, 2003... MY BOSS IS HEADING FOR BURNOUT My boss, the chief executive, has become increasingly curmudgeonly, unnecessarily directive and prone to making irrational decisions without consultation. In short, he is becoming very stressed. In the last...

FIRST CLASS COACH.
February 4, 2003... I'm on my company's career fast-track and have been regarded as a bit of a whizzkid up to now, but recently I've lost my oomph. I don't seem to feel very motivated and energetic. How can I recapture my past form? 'What is a man without...

WEAK AT THE TOP: John Weak's diary.
February 4, 2003... MONDAY I know how the Poles felt. I've just had half my territory annexed by a bunch of storm-troopers in knickers - ie, HR. They've stolen marketing's best meeting room (the famous shag palace), to be used as an Innovation Centre for the...