Management Today articles from June 2006

Management Today archives from June 2006

Barbarians and herbivores.(private equity to become rich)
June 1, 2006... I recently attended a seminar at the Oxford Said Business School on the subject of the dark art of private equity (PE). Inky scribblers like me were allowed into the plush halls only under Chatham House Rules - ie, I'm not allowed to tell what...

Contributors.
June 1, 2006... TREVOR BROOKING The FA's director of football development contemplates his career in 'If I had to start again'. It has been a game of three halves for the polysyllabic Sir Trev. He has carved a successful niche in broadcasting and sports...

Chartered Management Institute: In my opinion.(charities management as a team work)
June 1, 2006... Chartered Management Institute Companion Helena Shovelton says chairs and CEOs must work as a team in charities just as much as in business. Having chaired two very different bodies before becoming the chief executive of a charity, I...

The MT diary: Howard Davies.(politics)
June 1, 2006... Blair's stained-glass moment; Clarke's last swipe; Washington cooler; NY's new wonder. The prime minister dropped in the other day - just for half an hour or so - to open a window. I was surprised, too. The short version of the story is...

Brain Food: Ten ways to ... be an ambassador.(qualities to be an ambassador)(Chart)
June 1, 2006... 1. Know your stuff 2. Be on time 3. Learn a language 4. Present a united front 5. Treat people equally 6. Understand your company 7. Don't hard sell 8. Praise in public, criticise in private 9. Keep your promises 10. Remember...

Brain Food: It'll never fly - Rap music.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... Music is meant to be about good tunes. That rule was as relevant to Hendrix as it was to Handel. Nowadays, soaring symphonies and jaw-dropping guitar solos are out; having a stupid name and rhyming idiotically about your bank balance is in....

Brain Food: How does he manage? - Exorcist.(Rev Tom Parish Priest)(Interview)
June 1, 2006... REV TOM WILLIS RETIRED PARISH PRIEST, YORK DIOCESE When did you become a manager? In the 1950s, when there was an explosion in occultism after the government repealed the Witchcraft Act. York needed 12 priests to deal with the results...

Brain Food: Earning curve - Fear.(Statistical data)
June 1, 2006... Roche, sales of avian flu drug Tamiflu ('05) - pounds 659m Jaws, all-time highest-grossing horror film - pounds 447m Spider Catcher trap, estimated UK sales ('06) - pounds 1m Roller-coaster designer, p.a. from - pounds 62k Presenter, Sky...

Brain Food: Workplace rights - Pandemic panic stations.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... Most experts believe a new influenza pandemic is just a matter of time. There were, after all, three of them last century, with up to a quarter of the UK population affected and thousands dying. Avian flu is the current scare, although it...

Brain Food: Your route to the top - Negotiating a pay rise.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... Collect the facts. What impact have you had on the business? Whether sealing a deal with a new client or leading the delivery of a new project, be clear what part you played. If you have the numbers to back it up, even better. Know your...

Brain Food: History Lessons - Balance your life - Pitt the younger.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... It's a common predicament for many ambitious corporate tyros (management consultants, take note): a prodigal talent climbs the greasy pole of ambition only to burn out by the age of 30. The parabolic career of British prime minister Pitt the...

Brain Food: Why business is like ... jazz.(business planning resembles jazz musician performance)(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... In business, the absence of tightly controlled procedures, detailed road maps and extensive scenario planning could be construed as the absence of conscientious management. But if we uncover the secrets of the best jazz artists - adept at...

Brain Food: Mind your manners - Hotel behaviour.(business etiquette)(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... Unpack. Resist the urge to flop in front of the TV. Take 20 minutes to iron a shirt and subdue the trouser-press and you'll look the business first thing. Sleep well. The lounge and mini-bar may keep calling you, but you're not on holiday:...

Brain Food: Slogan doctor - Tourism Australia: Where the bloody hell are you?(advertising ban)(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... Tourism Australia's slogan appears in the TV ads as a question posed by 18-year-old starlet Lara Bingle, whose wobbling bikini provides a warm welcome of its own. It's meant to be bold and informal. But one country's forthright is another's...

Brain Food: Are you suffering from continuous partial attention.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... Secretly checking your BlackBerry in mid-conversation? Writing a document but really looking out for incoming e-mails? You turned off the sound, but you can still see who's there, of course. Continuous Partial Attention is the plague of our...

Brain Food: We'd love that job - Shop display designer.(Erin Thompson head of visual merchandise interview)(Interview)
June 1, 2006... Erin Thompson head of visual merchandise and 3D, Selfridges. What do you do? I'm in charge of product presentation across Selfridges' stores. This is creative, fun stuff. If the theme is 'punk', I work out how to present it in a fresh way....

Brain Food: Words-worth - Differentiation.(develop product which is very different)(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... 'Differentiation' means making your product stand out, but that doesn't mean it has to be different. As WPP's CEO Martin Sorrell put it: 'Intangible differentiations are becoming more and more important.' In other words, forget the product,...

Brain Food: Remember this.(quotation)(Literary quotation)(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... 'With me, a change of trouble is as good as a vacation' DAVID LLOYD GEORGE SAID IT 'As long as you're thinking anyway, think big' DONALD TRUMP SAID IT

Brain Food: How he made his pile - Thor Bjorgolfsson.(business management methods)(Interview)(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... ENTREPRENEUR AND INVESTOR Who is he? Bjorgolfur Thor Bjorgolfsson, 38, is Iceland's first billionaire. He started out selling beer in Russia and now runs an investment empire from Park Lane. He's worth pounds 3 billion. How did he make...

Brain Food: Stat of the month - Directors' cut - pounds 1.03bn.(Financial Times and the London Stock Exchange)(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... The total wages paid to FTSE-350 board directors in 2005 FTSE-350 companies spent more than pounds 1 billion paying their directors in 2005, according to research by consultancy Hay Group. FTSE-100 executive directors did particularly well:...

Brain Food: Sir Trevor Brooking - If i had to start again ..(Sir Trevor Brooking football development director career)(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... I could have gone into football management. I was never one to think playing would last for ever, so I got my coaching badge in the '70s just in case. But when I packed up as a player in 1984, my son and daughter were at school and I didn't...

Brain Food: Crash course in ... Public speaking.(www.azizcorp.com)(www.skillstudio.co.uk)(www.woodhousevoice.co.uk)
June 1, 2006... Great new job - just one catch. In your new role, you're going to have to get up on a podium and speak at company meetings, conferences and the like. Apart from the fact that the thought fills you with dread, your voice is a nasal whine, and...

Brain Food: MT Masterclass.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... ENTERPRISE What is it? Enterprise is what successful entrepreneurs have, and it's characterised by imagination, energy, daring, conviction and competence. Don't forget that last one, because an enterprise without competent management...

Brain Food: Decisions - David Spurlock - EOS Airlines.
June 1, 2006... FOUNDER AND CEO OF THE PREMIUM LONG-HAUL CARRIER MY BEST... Leaving a large airline company to found a small one (Spurlock used to be head of fleet planning and corporate strategy at British Airways). If you were starting today,...

Brain Food: Behind the spin.
June 1, 2006... THE DILEMMA Microsoft, the dollars 281 billion, 61,000-strong global computing powerhouse, celebrated its 30th birthday last year. But what next for Bill Gates' and Paul Allen's ageing love child? A certain amount of reinvention is planned...

Our fetish for feedback.
June 1, 2006... Is 360-degree assessment a triumph for democracy and transparency, or an opportunity for mutual back-scratching and sly rubbishing of your rivals? How's my writing? Call MT and ask for Andy, my editor. He's the one who took out all the...

Books: Darwin in the boardroom.(The Origin of Wealth: Evolution, Complexity, and the Radical Remaking of Economics )(Book review)
June 1, 2006... Dump the economic theory of the past 50 years in favour of a model inspired by evolutionary thinking. John Kay salutes a remarkable book for Sunday mornings... This is a remarkable book. The title betrays the scale of its ambition, yet...

Books: How shopkeepers got the upper hand.
June 1, 2006... True, retailers are putting the squeeze on producers, but this book underplays the binding spell of brands, says Rita Clifton. This is an interesting concept for a book for several reasons. Some years ago, I remember interviewing someone...

Books: Three of a kind - There's more than one way to lead.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... Living Leadership George Binney, Gerhard Wilke, Colin Williams FT Prentice Hall pounds 19.99 Best of its Kind The Leadership Crash Course Paul Taffinder Kogan Page pounds 14.99 Modules help you work through each...

Books: If a better future beckons ..
June 1, 2006... Self-awareness tests, research and a slick interview technique are this manual's route to career fulfilment. John Vincent recommends it - with a little pinch of salt. In 1995, I was working at Procter & Gamble selling make-up to Boots. ...

A gourmet guide to private equity.
June 1, 2006... In this shadowy corner of the corporate world, rich pickings are to be made by grabbing neglected morsels and spicing them up for a quick sale. Andrew Wileman explains. In the UK, three million people work for firms that have been invested...

The MT interview: Robert Tchenguiz.(R20 LTD)(Interview)
June 1, 2006... A family name changed in homage to Genghis Khan seems to have rubbed off on the boss of R2O. The dealmaker extraordinaire of private equity has amassed an immense portfolio, often against entrenched opposition. Number-crunching opportunist or...

Turf war victors.(Betfair management )(London Stock Exchange reports)
June 1, 2006... The World Cup will be the biggest gambling bonanza ever, and online betting exchange Betfair is already giving high street bookies a run for their money, says Steve Barrett. It's the first race on the opening day of the Cheltenham...

Get value from your consultants.(management consultant and client relationship)(consultancy hiring methods)
June 1, 2006... Today, these specialists must roll up their sleeves to work alongside management, treading a line between being a team player and an objective adviser, says Mark Vernon. Management consultancy has changed. Once, consultants would arrive,...

Security in a changing world.(business enterprises online sevice usage and security measures)(Information Security Breaches Survey )
June 1, 2006... Beating the hackers, bots and phishing attacks requires the recognition that threats come from within as well as without. Ron Condon helps clean up your computers. Every two years, the DTI surveys a thousand companies - representing a...

Sponsored feature: B2B London - The growth business.(Business to business )
June 1, 2006... Entrepreneurs and leaders of small and medium-sized enterprises eager for expansion will find specialist help, advice and encouragement on 27-28 June at a London event tailored to their needs. Preview by Dave Waller. It's not hard to see...

On the road.(Alfa Romeo 159 comfort)
June 1, 2006... The Alfa Romeo 159 is comfortable, the fittings feel well made and, yes, permanently attached. If you wanted a classy, compact saloon, the best-looking choice - by common assent - has been Alfa Romeo's 156. Its curvy bodywork, crowned by...

What's your problem?
June 1, 2006... You'd be better off working with the one middle manager who is least hostile to the idea. Q: I need some advice about a sensitive matter. I work for an IT company that has recently taken on a programmer from Bangalore, who works in my team...

First-class coach.(Executive Managerial Roles )
June 1, 2006... You need to make a shift in your mindset so that you start seeing your new role as a challenge. Q: I'm head of an IT department now and I'm not enjoying being a manager. I spend all my time sorting out people problems when I could be doing...

MT business lifeforms: The office cleaner.
June 1, 2006... Fleeing from Colombia, Maria Gonzalez finds grubby machismo in the City too. As Maria Gonzalez bends over to pick up some lazily discarded sandwich wrappers in the corner by the water cooler, a pair of libidinous young analysts - whose...