These articles illustrate why leadership matters. Few great businesses are built without inspirational leadership and we can all learn from the people in the news who are doing this well. What can you learn from the people described in the articles below?
Is Next’s business model strong enough to survive the next half of the Networked Era? I bought my first suit from a Hepworth’s store in Dartmouth in Devon, from Mr Tregunnen, a family friend who, during my childhood, would let me watch the annual Regatta fireworks display sitting on the green beige cutting table on […]
Was Ross Levinsohn’s departure from Yahoo inevitable, or even necessary? I once took on the role of CEO of a modest but well established business and on my first day in the job it was made pretty clear to me, by the shareholders, that they wanted me to keep the guy I had effectively disposed. […]
Just look what happens when you don’t invest and protect the source of your competitive advantage. AstraZeneca, the world’s fifth largest drugs company, measured by prescription drug sales, saw its revenues tumble by 14% in the first half of this year, down to $14Bn, mainly as a consequence of the loss of exclusivity on some […]
Marissa to the Rescue! If you have read many of my daily business commentaries – I don’t call them “blogs” any more, as I was told it undervalued them – you will know my prejudice for young CEO’s, particularly for businesses that have to succeed online. It has to be said though that in Yahoo’s […]
Are penitential firings of proven business leaders really necessary? Measured on most yardsticks of business performance Nick Buckles, the CEO of G4S, has proven himself. He has created huge amounts of wealth for shareholders, employees and the country over the past five years in this job. G4S is today a very successful business and Nick […]
What a treat we have install, waiting to see if France will allow Carrefour to turnaround. On 31st January 2012 I wrote about the sad plight of Carrefour, the second largest retailer by sales in the world, whose hypermarket empire was even then seriously underperforming; with no obvious idea what it was going to do […]
Is it really possible to make peoples’ lives so unhappy at work that they kill themselves? I have had more than one boss with bullying tendencies. The best example was a guy who kept people waiting outside his office for a minimum of 15 minutes, each time he wanted to see them, in order to […]
“Why isn’t your business as flexible, molecular, risk sensitive, segmented, team based, information rich, socially networked, transparent, responsive, adaptive and agile as it could be?” Recently I was asked to be a “guest blogger” on the Regus blog. In case you don’t know, it’s rather big in serviced office accommodation and now operates over 1200 […]
“Businesses just don’t grow in a straight line.” On 8 December 2011, I wrote here about Mulberry’s growth spurt, and then on 16 January this year about Anya Hindmarch. Both companies showing us how demand for luxury goods and particularly handbags, that quintessentially British fashion item, were very much on the up. Mulberry, the English luxury goods maker, has […]
“Zara is not market leader on the high street by accident.” Although my theoretical physicist son may disagree with me, it seems that time is flowing more quickly these days. I don’t think that is just because I am getting older, it is primarily because we live in a more connected and rapidly evolving world. […]
