Management Today articles from January 2008

Management Today archives from January 2008

Backing into the limelight.(Editorial)
January 1, 2008... It's a rare occurrence for us to put someone on the cover of MT whom few will know or recognise. But part of the pleasure of our annual Top 100 Entrepreneurs list is that we often discover a businessperson who has been quietly going about...

Contributors.(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... PHILIP BERESFORD The rise of the metal-bashers in this year's Top 100 Entrepreneurs is particularly satisfying for Beresford. It was nearly 29 years ago that he first started in journalism, working for MT's then sister publication...

Chartered Management Institute: In My Opinion.
January 1, 2008... Chartered Management Institute Companion Kai Peters argues that curiosity is a much-needed virtue among the business leaders of the future. In theory, talent management is a very simple proposition. An organisation recruits the best talent...

The MT Diary.
January 1, 2008... Too cheap, Gordon; my dark horse in the primaries; Swiss lurch; sterling opportunity. The foreigner, I find, is rather perplexed by what is going on in British politics. Wherever I go, puzzled folk ask why Gordon Brown is struggling. How...

Ten ways to... Dress for Success.(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... 1. Take out your tongue stud 2. Think West Wing, not Sex in the City 3. Look conservative. With a small 'c' 4. Knock 'em dead, but not with your perfume 5. Avoid novelty fashion 6. Accessorise carefully (you're not Pat Butcher) 7....

It'll Never Fly - Ice hotels.(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... The whole point of holidaying somewhere cold is to come in at the end of the day, take off your furs and fleeces and relax, with a glass of warming spirit in hand, next to a roaring fire. That's rather tricky in a building made of ice. The...

Dave's Eco-nomics: Two wheels better.(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... GREEN ALERT Sorry, road users, I had to cover this eventually. Despite global warming and record oil prices, more than 70% of journeys to work in Britain are made by car. True, these beautiful machines offer comfort, the radio and a...

Earning Curve: Cinema.(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... UK box office takings ('06): Pounds 762m Cost of piracy to UK film industry ('06): Pounds 460m Johnny Depp, for third Pirates of the Caribbean film: Pounds 45m Renting out your living room as a film set, per day pounds 2k Cinema usher,...

Workplace rights: Asterisk you take.(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Allowing employees to swear at work can have beneficial effects, according to researchers at the University of East Anglia. Yehuda Baruch, professor of management, found that regular use of 'taboo language' reinforces solidarity among staff and...

History Lessons: Beware a paper promise - Neville Chamberlain.(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Europe in 1938 was a wary continent, scarred by the first world war and fearful of new hostilities. Enter Adolf Hitler. His first move was on Sudetenland, a German-speaking province of Czechoslovakia of strategic interest to the Nazis. To avoid...

Your Route to the top: Pure politicking.(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Play the game. You'll find politics in the personality of every organisation. Master the basics and you can win without sacrificing your integrity. Look, listen and learn. Every company has its own culture, so spend time observing the...

Why Business is like... the morning after.(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... The bigger the party, the worse the hangover - as many of us will be painfully aware right now. How many readers celebrated New Year's Eve with beer and bubbly, only to wake up to New Year's Day groping for the Paracetamol, the frying pan or a...

Do it Right: Filling in for the boss.(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Get it in writing. Make sure you and your boss are clear about what you're expected to cover, and how this will affect your own work. If you're expecting a bonus for the extra responsibility, have it confirmed well in advance. Set targets....

Slogan Doctor: John Lewis - 'Never knowingly undersold'.(John Lewis Partnership)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Introduced in 1925 by John Spedan Lewis, the one who created the famous partnership structure, this is an unusual slogan in that it makes a specific promise: that John Lewis will match the prices of anyone, anywhere. That's a bold commitment,...

How does he manage? Organic butcher - Jack O'shea, When did you become a manager?(Interview)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... I was working for the family's butcher business, in Ireland, but I just couldn't see a market for really top-end meat. We had our own beef farm and abattoir, yet people were comparing our produce to that of the supermarkets. 'To hell with...

Are you suffering from adjustment disorder.(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... No-one really likes abrupt change, but given the current situation in the markets, change may come faster than some expect. Hearty souls can weather any old thing that life throws them, but for a sizeable chunk of the population, coping with...

Words-worth: Delivery.(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Once upon a time, 'delivery' was a matter for posties, spin-bowlers and maternity hospitals. But now everyone has to 'deliver', whether they are heading a FTSE-100 company or driving a milk-float. 'Deliver' and 'delivery' come from the same...

Remember This.(quotes from Mark Twain and Thomas Carlyle)(Quotation)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... 'Work is the cure of all the maladies and miseries that ever beset mankind' - Thomas Carlyle said it. 'If work were so pleasant, the rich would keep it for themselves' - Mark Twain said it

Stat of the Month: Don't write them off - 800,000 - No. of pupils attending underperforming schools.(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... There's increasing concern that the younger generation doesn't know its three Rs from its elbows. Even Channel 4 has seen the need to run a childhood literacy campaign. And it's not just a question of creative spelling and the odd grocer's...

How he made his Pile: Gerald Ronson - Property tycoon.(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Who is he? CEO of property giant Heron International, Ronson will be forever known as one of the 'Guinness Four', having spent half of 1990 in Ford Open Prison for his part in a share-rigging scandal Ronson's washing-up skills back then earned...

Sue Brownson: If I had to start again..(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... I have been called the most powerful woman in Britain's motor industry, but I got into the sector very much by chance. While men tend to go into a career, for many women it's different: you pick up what you've been given and turn it into...

Crash Course in... Word-of-mouth marketing.
January 1, 2008... You've spent a ton on advertising, but what you really want is to get people talking about your products. Apparently there's this new thing called WOM - or word-of-mouth marketing - which can do it for you. So how does that work? Find your...

Masterclass: Open-source innovation.(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... What is it? R&D used to be an utterly hush-hush affair. If someone from outside the company found out about a new product or service too early, that person would have to be killed - metaphorically speaking, anyway. But these old attitudes are...

Decisions: Dame Mary Perkins - Specsavers optical group, Co-founder of the opticians' chain.(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... MY BEST... At the time, the joint-venture partnership was unique to Specsavers, and it has revolutionised retail optics. It was good to give a support system to everybody, particularly young opticians who wanted to own and run their own...

Behind the Spin: Citigroup.
January 1, 2008... THE DILEMMA Forced to contend with a frighteningly large write-down, the dramatic loss of a CEO and further financial turbulence, Citigroup, founded in 1812, is in the ordure. The bank - one of the world's largest - was hit by the autumn's...

The Trouble with targets.(employee performance)
January 1, 2008... In goal-setting, less is more. A few well-chosen aims can sharpen focus and boost productivity. Too many lead to stress and even disaster. There's a new word lurking in the lexicographical undergrowth. It's not in the Oxford English...

Books: Lots of money but little sex.(Sex, Science and Profits)(Book review)
January 1, 2008... The work of a free-market zealot, this is a passionately written book, brisk and entertaining, but it doesn't live up to its own subtitle, argues Eric Beinhocker. The publicity for Terence Kealey's book, Sex, Science and Profits, promised...

Books: How to be a decent, successful human..(Egonomics: What Makes Ego Our Greatest Asset (or Most Expensive Liability))(Book review)
January 1, 2008... Too competitive? Too defensive? Some ego is good at work but too much can be toxic. Stefan Stern hails a serious primer. Egonomics: What makes ego our greatest asset (or most expensive liability) David Marcum and Steven Smith Simon &...

Books: Three of a kind - Your Fearless Date With The Future.(Next Now: Trends for the Future, Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Today's Big Changes and Coolhunting: Chasing Down the Next Big Thing)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Next Now: Trends for the future Marian Salzman and Ira Matathia Palgrave Macmillan pounds 15.99 Microtrends: The small forces behind today's big changes Mark J Penn with E Kinney Zalesne Allen Lane pounds 20.00 Coolhunting: Chasing...

Books: The Victorian polymath who lights up the 21st century.(John Stuart Mill: Victorian Firebrand)(Book review)
January 1, 2008... The fusty philosopher of liberty and utilitarianism has been dusted off and brought to new life. Andrew Saunders welcomes a definitive account of a prodigious talent. John Stuart Mill: Victorian firebrand Richard Reeves Atlantic Books...

Britain's Top 100 Entrepreneurs 2008: Premium Power.
January 1, 2008... Financial services still has the edge, but MT's latest ranking of Britain's top wealth-creators reveals a few surprises. Philip Beresford hails the manufacturers' return or the second year running, MT's Top 100 Entrepreneurs ranking proves that...

Britain's Top 100 Entrepreneurs 2008: Premier league.
January 1, 2008... It wasn't a privileged background that kicked things off for most of our elite wealth-creators. It was spotting the killer niche in a well-worked market. 1. PETER CULLUM - TOWERGATE An insurance-industry veteran of nearly 40 years,...

The MT Interview: Dave Woodward.(Interview)
January 1, 2008... With all the persuasiveness of an ex-sales director, he's deploying his considerable skills to try to turn Heinz UK & Ireland from has-been to 21st-century reinvention. Tired products are getting a fresh and saucy face while new recipes and...

I'd rather be..
January 1, 2008... Which of us hasn't wondered what might have been if only we'd turned down that easy graduate job offer and followed a more creative path instead? Helen Kirwan-Taylor talks to three mid-life career changers and finds that it's never too late to...

Motor Mouth.(Range Rover TDV8 Vogue SE)(Product/service evaluation)
January 1, 2008... Range Rover's new TDV8 Vogue SE diesel is quiet, efficient - and blinged out with luxury gadgets. Sathnam Sanghera reports. Range Rover drivers don't have the best eco reputation. For most, 'climate change' is something you achieve by...

Table Talk: Where Erin Hepher eats..(The Wolseley)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... There is an old-fashioned sense of ceremony about The Wolseley, from the second I get out of a cab to be greeted by John the doorman, to the moment I walk in and see Matthew operating the lift. It doesn't matter who you are, they're thrilled to...

What's Your Problem?
January 1, 2008... Q: My company invests heavily in the arts, and I'm sure great thought goes into the pieces commissioned for display around the office The problem is that these are ugly and, in a couple of examples, offensive. I'm struggling to explain them to...

What's Your Problem?(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Q: I am a common director in a number of companies with a business partner. Two years ago, we started a new business and recruited a third director for his hands-on skills. The business has grown steadily, but could expand far more rapidly. The...

What's Your Problem?(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Q: How do I get on without looking as if I am currying favour? I like my boss, and feel we're on the same wavelength, but I feel that the rest of the team resent our professional relationship. I am keen to take on more responsibility but not...

First-class coach.
January 1, 2008... Categorising your boss and yourself in these boxes does neither of you any favours. Q: How do I cope with a boss who I suspect has Asperger's Syndrome? I suppose we're at the opposite ends of the spectrum and some people might say I have...

The Sharp End: Cabin doors to manual.
January 1, 2008... A short-haul Irish airline took Rhymer Rigby on board. Tea or coffee, madam? In these days of shoebombers and obsessive corporate image control who would have me? I thought no airline would be game for The Sharp End. So I was delighted...