Dick Cook and the illusion of managerial creativity
The notion that the head of a creative enterprise needs to be creative himself, or herself, has always struck me as dubious, for reasons that I have written about before.
It is certainly dubious that someone needs to be kept at the head of a media organisation because people like them, or they get on well with the talent. That was the justification used by many A&R men in the music industry and is regularly wheeled out elsewhere in the media. Read more
Chris Dodd acts while Barney Frank talks
Senator Chris Dodd’s proposal to wrap together various US financial regulatory agencies into one “super-regulator” and squeeze out, or at least reduce the role of, the Federal Reserve, reminds me of something.
It is the decision by Gordon Brown, then the chancellor of the exchequer, in 1997 to strip the Bank of England of its role in banking supervision and to consolidate regulation under the Financial Services Authority. Read more
The wanderer returns
Hello everyone. I have returned from my break so normal service, whatever that is, is being resumed. Read more
| About this blog | Blog guide |
John Gapper is an associate editor and the chief business commentator of the FT.
He has worked for the FT since 1987, covering labour relations, banking and the media. He is co-author, with Nicholas Denton, of 'All That Glitters', an account of the collapse of Barings in 1995.
Andrew Hill is an associate editor and the management editor of the FT. He is a former City editor, financial editor, comment and analysis editor, New York bureau chief, foreign news editor and correspondent in Brussels and Milan.
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