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Fink again
Here is a question to ask your colleagues or, if you are a teacher of business, your students. Try dating these two statements: Putting...
Jan 24, 20221 min read
How do we stop organisations doing stupid things?
Why do organisations do stupid things? I asked myself this question in December when I read that NatWest Bank had been fined £265m for...
Jan 17, 20221 min read
Has Private Equity lost its way?
A recent Panorama programme described the failings of care homes under private equity (PE) ownership. BBC Social Affairs Editor Alison...
Jan 10, 20221 min read
Listening is okay. Acting on what you have heard is harder
‘I would not only invite those at the top to spend their money as a resident . I would invite them to spend six months  as a carer doing...
Dec 13, 20211 min read
Guilty – of reshaping someone’s mind?
Remember Midas? Professor Stuart Russell did In his first BBC Reith Lecture about Artificial Intelligence last week. Midas had asked the...
Dec 6, 20211 min read
More foxes please
A few weeks ago, after reading ‘English Pastoral’ by James Rebanks, I commented that  Today the language of organisations, and of...
Nov 15, 20211 min read
Where’s the pulse?
How our understanding of corporate governance is holding us back Corporate governance has for a long time felt remote from the real...
Nov 1, 20211 min read
Governance – my gut instinct
It started on a high altitude skiing expedition. Scientist and doctor Tim Spector found that he was rapidly losing his sight. The cause...
Oct 25, 20211 min read
Make the journey your own
I made a bad decision last week, whilst walking in the Lake District. It was one of those experiences that make one cringe and then ask...
Oct 19, 20211 min read
Our better nature
This week I am off to Cumbria for some autumnal fell-walking in the Western Lakes. This will take me back over 40 years to a happy year...
Oct 12, 20211 min read
On behalf of which people?
‘I don’t think the passengers will notice any difference’ said Transport Minister Grant Shapps as he announced that South Eastern...
Oct 5, 20211 min read
Stewardship could deliver what ESG cannot. Here’s how:
Two weeks ago, I argued that ESG is not an investment category. It is an adjective, not a noun. It doesn’t make sense to pretend that...
Sep 13, 20211 min read
Rebellion and the boardroom
‘The first principle of 21st century economics is to protect the life-supporting systems of the living world. That’s why I stand, with my...
Sep 6, 20211 min read
ESG is not a noun: it is an adjective
Imagine being told that the evidence is now overwhelming that eating more food contributes to longer life. If you are suffering from...
Aug 23, 20211 min read
Stewardship’s quiet hero
Are there difficult environments where aggression and bullying are the only way to get results? This question was raised in the Financial...
Aug 17, 20211 min read
Better judgement
I am a judge. Not in a court of law, but in a rather special company award scheme. For the last 23 years, I have been one of three...
Aug 9, 20212 min read
First steps towards a wealth creation manifesto
Is the governance and proper conduct of our companies a priority for the UK government and Kwasi Kwarteng, the Business Secretary? It...
Jul 27, 20211 min read
New Undergraduate Module and Conference for Business Students: University of East Anglia & Tomorrow’s Company
Tomorrow's Business Leaders: a Force For GoodTomorrow's Company has set as one of its two priorities the objective of improving the way...
Jul 23, 20212 min read
A national discomfort policy
‘It was getting hotter’. These are the opening words of ‘The Ministry for the Future’, a science fiction novel by Kim Stanley Robinson. ...
Jul 21, 20211 min read
The Better Business Act – a charter for pie splitters?
Last week I was invited by the UK’s Institute of Directors (IoD) to hear a discussion about the proposal for a Better Business Act (BBA) ...
Jul 12, 20211 min read
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