Prahalad is back
Today sees the publication of CK Prahalad’s update of The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, his book originally published in 2004 that argued that businesses could eradicate poverty and earn profits at the same time.
Stefan Stern will be writing his column on some of Prof Prahalad’s key ideas next week. Until then, you might want to check out the ‘bonus section’ on the website above.
Jerome Kerviel: curbing bonuses won’t work
I’m a bit late on to this but last week Jerome Kerviel, the “rogue trader” who is accused of losing French bank Societe Generale €5bn, was interviewed on French television.
The video on France 2’s Objet du Scandale is revealing partly because of all the talk at the G20 and, in the UK at the Labour party conference, of the need to curb bankers’ bonuses or at least restructure how they are paid out. Kerviel’s broader point is that there isn’t any point; whatever rules are created, clever people will find a way round them.
But I thought his other comment on the nature of his former job as a trader pointed to a wider issue that doesn’t seem to be attracting quite as much discussion. “It’s a job that makes you a bit crazy, an addict. They push you to take risks,” he said, referring to the culture of his former workplace.
Continue reading "Jerome Kerviel: curbing bonuses won’t work"
How to be a top female boss
On Saturday, the FT published a list of the top 50 women chief executives in the world and, loving such lists, I settled down over breakfast to study it. First, I admired the double string of pearls worn by the CEO of Avon; the pearly white teeth of the Sara Lee chief and the spookily perfect skin of Yoshiko Shinohara, founder of Tempstaff in Japan – who looks younger than I do but turns out to be 74.
Leaders who use charm to reach the top
Humour and charm are a surprisingly powerful combination as a means of ascent in life. I have met a number of entrepreneurs who have built fortunes on the back of their wit and general popularity – and not much else. They disarm us with self-deprecation, we enjoy their company – so why wouldn’t we want to do business with them? Of course, it all has to be done well; sycophancy and flat jokes do not weave the same spell.
Strengths become weaknesses
One year on from the fall of Lehman Brothers, the face of Dick Fuld, former chief executive, has been back on our television screens. Some of his greatest hits have received another airing. “When I find a short seller, I want to tear his heart out and eat it before his eyes while he’s still alive,” he declares in one clip.
How to optimise your board
Board meetings are the central device for the supervision of companies. Do they work? I suspect they are the least bad system, but they are far from perfect. Very large boards tend to be dysfunctional. Generally, everyone feels they have to contribute to justify having turned up.
Letting the office go to the dogs
On Wednesday, for one day only, several thousand of the unemployed and unemployable will make their way into UK workplaces. Most will have exceptionally low IQs and will be capable of following only the simplest instructions. Many also will have halitosis and be inclined to behave with inappropriate friendliness or sudden hostility. Continue reading "Letting the office go to the dogs"
Further reading
A ’shocking disparity’ in women’s pay
I’m coming a bit late to this but just as our debate on women in the boardroom generated a fair bit of heated discussion a few weeks ago, today’s report that women in the the UK’s financial industry suffer from a “shocking disparity” in performance related pay (many receive 80 per cent less than male colleagues) has rightly been getting a lot of attention.
If the report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission is accurate, the results are difficult to swallow. Not only is the pay gap is one of the widest in the UK economy and could be being entrenched by recruitment patterns, an issue we take to task in an editorial in today’s paper.
Healthy body + healthy mind = good worker
At the beginning of last month, we asked if everyone should take August off. Well, it’s September 1st, the first day after a bank holiday in the UK, which means most offices are filling up again.
I grew up in Canada, so the European notion that most businesses have to cope with mass staff absences because most people go on holiday at the same time has always seemed a bit of a pleasant extravagance. Even in the UK, which pales in holiday time when compared to its European cohorts but is head and shoulders ahead of its North American cousins, August is a quiet month as most staff, particularly those with school age children, head off for vacation.
Seeing everyone return to the office relaxed, smiley, often in new clothes and tanned (even those who stayed in the UK) reminds me of the first day of the school year. All those kids eager, at least for a day, to get back into the classroom. Ok, many of my colleagues are less enthusiastic about the tasks at hand but they are certainly happy to see the familiar faces that they normally lunch or gossip with a few days each week.
Continue reading "Healthy body + healthy mind = good worker"
Ravi Mattu is the editor of Business Life, the FT's management features
section, and a former editor of the Mastering Management series. He joined the FT in 2000 from Prospect magazine
Stefan Stern writes a weekly column on management . He has won awards from the Work Foundation and the Management Consultancies Association.
Luke Johnson writes an FT column on entrepreneurship. He is chairman of Channel 4 and runs Risk Capital Partners, a private equity firm.
Lucy Kellaway writes a weekly column on work , poking fun at management fads and jargon and celebrating the ups and downs of office life. She is also the FT's Agony Aunt.
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