Management Today articles from November 2005

Management Today archives from November 2005

MT Contributors.
November 1, 2005... TODD STITZER Cadbury Schweppes' chief executive may like his wine gums, but this month MT gave him something meaty to chew on - reviewing Resonant Leadership on the books pages. 'I was made to stop and think,' says Stitzer, who was...

Consultants who show flair.
November 1, 2005... Running English Heritage is one of the trickier jobs in the quangocrat's universe. Management consultants have not enjoyed a good press down the years. Their popular image is fixed in a deadly triangle somewhere between a squadron of...

In my Opinion: Chartered Management Institute.
November 1, 2005... Chartered Management Institute Companion Richard Steeves, CEO of Synergy Healthcare, discusses how to create value through partnerships. I'm firmly of the view that private and public-sector partnerships have enormous scope to improve...

The MT Diary: Howard Davies.(business travel to Washington and Hong Kong)
November 1, 2005... Picnics in the sky; a Baez encounter in Washington; Disney celebrates with Hong Kong. Am I alone in thinking (as Telegraph letter writers are wont to ask) that the British Airways in-flight catering strike was a blessing in disguise? The...

Brainfood: Ten Ways to... Keep Yourself Fresh.(Brief Article)(Illustration)
November 1, 2005... Be passionate about what you're doing Enjoy learning Reward yourself Exercise Work when you're at work Don't work when you're not Have outside interests Know your colleagues Use your lunch break Take your holiday

Brainfood: It'll never fly - Tattoos.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Tattoos are expensive, painful and look sad when the skin starts to wrinkle. Given that the tattooee may one day swap the biker's jacket for a Paul Smith suit, getting a winged cross on your neck seems unwise. Research shows that 75% of...

Brainfood: How Does He Manage? - Teenage Entrepreneur, Fraser Doherty, Doherty Preserves.(Brief Article)(Interview)
November 1, 2005... When did you become a manager? I started my business at 14, when my gran taught me her secret marmalade recipe. I'm 16 now. I began selling door-to-door, paying four friends on a commission basis. I'd go out and get the people to try...

Brainfood: Earning Curve - The Internet.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, net worth pounds 6.3bn Terry Semel, CEO, Yahoo! ('04) pounds 132m Record eBay sale: private business jet ('01) pounds 2.7m Web developer, BBC Magazines, p.a. pounds 16k-pounds 23k Tim...

Brainfood: Workplace Rights - Striking Back.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Industrial action was the hottest employment issue of the 1970s. Workplace strife was rampant and the nuances of the law on trade union immunities, picketing and sympathy action were endlessly debated. Margaret Thatcher put paid to that...

Brainfood: History Lessons - Be The Brand - Victor Kiam.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... As marketing VP of Playtex, Kiam described bra sizes as 'Ping Pong, Ding Dong, King Kong and Holy Cow!', but with a middle name like Kermit, the late CEO of Remington can be forgiven as an eccentric personality. The Yale-educated millionaire's...

Brainfood: Your Route to the Top - Listen Effectively.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... One thing at a time. Focus on the person you're talking to, and put everything else to one side until later. If you're having trouble concentrating, pay attention to the quality of their voice, their eye colour and what they are wearing. This...

Brainfood: Speaking Out - Sir Stuart Lipton, Chairman, Stanhope PLC.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Sir Stuart clearly knows his stuff. A commercial property developer for 40 years and the man behind the City of London's Broadgate development, he should have been perfect to address the FT's commercial property conference on the theme of...

Brainfood: Business Manners - Working From Home.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Make space. If you don't have a spare room, set aside a quiet corner for your office. You'll be able to focus better, and business visitors won't have to navigate strewn toys and discarded underwear. Dress the part. Even if you're not...

Brainfood: Slogan Doctor Tango - You Know When You've Been Tango'd.(advertising)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Devised by ad agency HHCL in 1991, the Tango slogan featured most notoriously in a 1994 commercial in which a fat, bald, orange-painted man in a nappy repeatedly slapped a Tango drinker's face. The sequence caused controversy when it was...

Brainfood: We'd Love That Job - Reportage Photographer - , David Alan Harvey National Geographic.(Brief Article)(Interview)
November 1, 2005... What do you do? I get paid to travel. I devise the brief, whether it's Cuba or Nairobi, and put the whole package together. My job is as much journalism as photography - I get educated on an area, working on intuition and meeting people by...

Brainfood: Remember This.
November 1, 2005... 'Quality is not an act, it is a habit' - Aristotle Said It 'However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results' - Winston Churchill Said It.

Brainfood: Are You Suffering From Hollywood Syndrome.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... This syndrome was coined to describe actors in Hollywood who experienced their 15 minutes of fame. For a nanosecond, they bathed in attention and fame, but the next thing they knew, their agent didn't return their calls and no-one hailed them...

Brainfood: Words-Worth - Virtual.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Gone 'virtual' yet? It's good enough for NewsCorp, apparently. The reference was to the Murdoch company's decision to spend dollars 650 million on an online 'community', a sure sign that a new internet boom is under way. 'Virtual' is...

Brainfood: Sir Michael Bishop - If I had to start again..(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... I'd start my business career later and probably go to university. I picked up a broad range of knowledge later in life, but it would have been useful to have it upfront. I was 36 when I bought British Midland and found that I lacked some...

Brainfood: How He Made His Pile - Paul Raymond, Property and Publishing Entrepreneur.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Who is he? A reclusive porn and property baron who owns two-thirds of Soho, London. In 1958, Raymond opened Britain's first legal strip club, the seed of a soft-porn empire that now includes Mayfair and Razzle magazines. Paul Raymond...

Brainfood: Stat of the Month - Britain's Big Polluters.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... A small group of top British companies - BP, Shell, Corus, BHP Billiton and Scottish Power-account for a shameful 1% of total world carbon emissions. In 2003/04, this corporate quintet were responsible for more than 60% of all the...

Brainfood: Crash Course in... Joining the Board.
November 1, 2005... You've been offered promotion to executive director. But what does a seat on the board entail and how can you best prepare for your new role? Don't sign anything until your lawyer has seen it. A contract for service is of great value as it...

Brainfood: MT Masterclass - Culture Change.(managing work culture)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... What is it? It's a label to describe a wide range of activities designed to shift the prevailing mood and behaviour of an organisation, from today's possibly unsatisfactory position to a brighter, shinier future. It's usually based on the...

Brainfood: Decisions - Carolyn McCall, Guardian Media Group, Chief Executive of Guardian Newspapers.(Interview)
November 1, 2005... MY BEST... There are two: the first was the launch of Guardian Unlimited in 1999, which has expanded the reach of The Guardian exponentially, getting the brand into the minds of people who would never have been exposed to it. Business...

Brainfood: Behind The Spin.
November 1, 2005... THE DILEMMA It's 1980 and Sony unleashes its chunky Walkman on an American public in the grips of disco fever. After a slow start, Sony scores a massive hit with the world's first portable music listening device. By 1989, more than 50...

Mergers end in a fudge.
November 1, 2005... In the best M&A deals, a clever bidder takes over an underperforming company. Investment bankers have had a good year and they expect the next one to be even better. The wave of cross-border mergers and acquisitions that has been talked...

Books: Shaking off power stress.(Resonant Leadership: Renewing Yourself and Connecting with Others )(Book Review)
November 1, 2005... Emotional intelligence helps to improve performance, but it's hard to sustain; this book provides the tools for renewing your well of positive spirit, says Todd Stitzer. This book is a good read for aspiring business leaders and adrenalin...

Books: Three of a Kind - Brush up your Sales Pitch.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Selling to Win Richard Denny; (revised edition) Kogan Page pounds 9.99 Sales on a Beermat Mike Southon & Chris West Random House pounds 14.99 More annoying big type, and the authors' egos sometimes get in the way of their...

Books: The colourful tale of entrepreneur Green.(Top Man: How Philip Green Built His High Street Empire)(Book Review)
November 1, 2005... The epic rise of the King of the Shops makes for a good read, says Paul Murphy, but this book doesn't really pin him down. Top Man - How Philip Green built his high street empire Stewart Lansley and Andy Forrester Aurum Press pounds...

Here for the schmooze.
November 1, 2005... Events organisers should recognise that guests turn up just to network and play. The programme flyers said it all: flashes of colour everywhere announced: Longer coffee breaks! More time for networking! The conference organisers knew what...

Books: How to consign the neolithic senior leaders to history.(The Stone-age Company: Why the Companies We Work for Won't Survive)(Book Review)
November 1, 2005... In this book, managers who adhere to discredited command-and-control ways are power-crazed or paranoid. John Knell finds this hard to square with the evidence. Organisations have long been depicted as theatres of dysfunction - scripted by...

Crossover consultants.(The Great Little Trading Company)
November 1, 2005... Advisers are smart, but do they have the tenacity to start a business? MT found five who did. Rhymer Rigby reports. Management consultants come in for a lot of stick, varying from the jocular 'A consultant is someone who borrows your watch...

The MT Interview: Simon Thurley.(Interview)
November 1, 2005... Running English Heritage involves juggling so many conflicting agendas that it can seem like a graveyard for ambition. But for this born organiser, the complexities of running the quango could provide the scope to shine. It needs a big,...

What Future for Business Schools?(Ashridge)(Henley Management College)(Panel Discussion)
November 1, 2005... Business schools: part of the problem or part of the solution? MT sat down recently with the heads of three of the UK's top business schools to confront the question. Round the table were Michael Osbaldeston, director of the Cranfield School of...

Britain's Most Admired Companies.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Next month we unveil the winners of the MT Britain's Most Admired Companies awards for 2005. Which company and which leader will win the peer-group accolades in these the most prestigious of corporate annual awards? Who is up and who is down...

Winning Words.(MCA Management Writing Awards)
November 1, 2005... MT presents the winners of the second annual MCA Management Writing Awards, sponsored by Propaganda Marketing Strategy. The response received this year was testament to the wealth of business publishing in Britain, and we can report that...

Systems Under Siege.
November 1, 2005... Corporate security is under attack from hackers, buggers, spammers, fraudsters, extortionists and staff with a grudge. But keeping the cyber criminals at bay is a job for all managers, says Ron Condon. In March this year, customers of a...

A Round Table Discussion: How to create the Sticky Organisation.(Panel Discussion)
November 1, 2005... The subject of our latest round-table discussion, in association with Investors in People, is close to the heart of every HR director, and most chief executives: retention. In an age of unprecedented staff mobility, in which talented people...

MT Business Travel: Frequent Flyer Ken Kamoshida's Guide to Tokyo.
November 1, 2005... HOW TO GET THERE: I use All Nippon Airways. The company arose as competition to Japan Airlines after deregulation, so it ensures service is good. BA also flies direct. Flights from Heathrow take 12 hours. AIRPORT TO TOWN: Take the train....

First-Class Coach.(managing your job)
November 1, 2005... In previous jobs, did it take time to feel settled, or did you enjoy it from the word go? Q. I've just taken a new job in a company I thought would look good on my CV, and I hate it. Although the role is interesting, I just don't fit into...

MT Business Travel: Table Talk - Where Dianne Thompson eats..(The Ivy)(Hotel Review)
November 1, 2005... I have to say I'm an Ivy girl. If you're having lunch to catch up on how business is going and it doesn't involve anything confidential, then it's a great place. There's a lot of bustle, it's got a great buzz and it's always full. A lot of my...

MT Business Travel: On The Road.(Product/Service Evaluation)
November 1, 2005... The Mercedes B Class is a versatile family holdall and would be a rational choice were it not so pricey. With the arrival of the B Class, Mercedes is well on the way to commandeering half the alphabet to describe its exploding range of new...

What's Your Problem?(suggestions for business executives)
November 1, 2005... The only thing that's making you hesitate is the thought of being found out. Q. I work for a marketing company, and a long-time client has asked me whether I'd be interested in doing some freelance work on the side. I am tempted...

MT Business Lifeforms: The queen of branding.(Deborah Hoar of Brand Job)
November 1, 2005... Can Deborah Hoar, chair of Brand Job, meet the biggest challenge of her career? It's Tuesday morning and the good folk of Brand Job are sitting around the round glass table in their glass eyrie atop the firm's Clerkenwell warehouse for an...