Sex in the office with Lucy Kellaway
My very smart and funny colleague Lucy Kellaway has just released a novel about love in the office, called In Office Hours, published by Penguin. If you like reading Lucy’s columns (on work, on office problems and as ‘Martin Lukes’) – and I haven’t met a single reader who has anything but enthusiastic things to say about her – then you really should buy this book. It’s a roaring read.
It will not be published in the US until next year but you can buy it at Amazon’s UK site.
Did Aol’s Tim Armstrong slam his staff in the right way?
Tim Armstrong, CEO of Aol, has got himself into a bit of bother with his staff. Last Tuesday, at a breakfast meeting with Wolf Olins, he criticised his company’s efforts covering the SxSW festival in Austin and, in particular, the quality of work of his staff.
Apparently, he quickly backtracked – not by renouncing what he said but by declaring in an open meeting with staff that he should have made the point directly to them instead of to an external company. He stood by his assertion that the company’s work was not up to snuff.
Was this the right move?
Lehman sisters – the untold story
Fascinating portrait of the wives of Lehman Brothers executives. They were part of a moral code that apparently flowed through the company and were a key part of the way the place worked.
HR at the Met is under the cosh
HR Magazine is hosting its People Strategy Forum and opened with a presentation by Martin Tipaldy, HR director for the Metropolitan Police. The industry, he said, is “under the cosh”. And, he continued: “HR is under the cosh,” he said. “We are skilled at being transactional, but are we good at adding value? Businesses can operate without us. HR needs to get away from talking jargonistic nonsense and be seen to have speed and relevancy. We need to be swift, and look swift, to be pragmatists and professionals.”
Strong words, indeed. But just as the economic crisis has forced all sorts of sectors and industries to rethink their frameworks and how they function, it would make sense that HR take a chance to ‘reset’ how they work.
I didn’t make it to the forum but I wonder what sort of reaction he received.
Stefan Stern writes a column on Tuesdays on management. He is winner of the 2010 Towers Watson award for excellence in HR journalism, and has previously won awards from the Work Foundation and the Management Consultancies Association.
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
Lucy Kellaway writes a column on Mondays 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.
Luke Johnson writes an FT column on Wednesdays on entrepreneurship. He runs Risk Capital Partners, a private equity firm, and is chairman of the Royal Society of Arts.
Lucy Kellaway, FT columnist and associate editor, offers her solution to your workplace problems in a column in the Financial Times. In the online edition of her Dear Lucy 'agony aunt' column, readers are invited to have a say too.
