SOUTH KEN — The win seems easily in hand. It will be more of a TKO than a real back-slapping, headline-grabbing, crowd-pleasing victory. But that’s okay.
And then the player kind of clumsily sits down and then leans forward and back… and falls down.
Suddenly the game is not over yet.
I think I am describing an indescribably painful final [...]
MARYLEBONE — This year is a big year of change. In technology, in the world economy, the world of sport, even in the way all our countries are run. There are elections in America, France, India…
What is more significant in a country than a change of government?
And that’s what is promised in India, Malaysia, Taiwan, Serbia, Kuwait, El Salvador, The [...]
LONDON — It’s been hard not to think about Korea this week. But I have different things on my mind. Not the loss of a dictator. Not the worry that still has South Korean’s practicing evacuations like WWII Britain and Cold War America.
I am thinking about Korea’s fertile business culture and the country’s uncanny ability to reinvent itself, rebuild and [...]
LONDON — I talked to an M&A banker on the weekend. Made me think of my time at high school dances. Always standing on the wall, trying to look cool. But never out on the actual dance floor.
The merger and acquisition market is a bit quiet at the moment. And amen to that. We’re busy enough without it. Businesses are [...]
PICADILLY CIRCUS — Looks like the sun might actually come up in London today. That’s a relief. And one of my biggest concerns. Yesterday was dark and I can’t handle that.
So, how lucky am I? That trivial issues like that concern me?
Yesterday umpteen decisions were made that affect all of our lives and futures. Not just in London, New York [...]
DOHA, QATAR — We’re working on four different ‘transformation programmes’ at the moment. Combined they are on three continents, in over 30 countries.
You would think that would provide some shocking contrasts. But it does something quite different. It shows startling similarities.
Everything has superficial differences: language, geography, industry, structure…
Yes, those can seem superficial.
The issues in big business transformation generally fall into [...]
BAHRAIN — This is my first time in Bahrain. That leaves only really Oman in the area that I haven’t been to / worked in.
United Arab Emirates?
√ Check
Saudi Arabia?
√ Check
Kuwait?
√ Check
Qatar?
√ Check
It’s a part of the world that many people can’t (or choose not to) understand.
In the last three weeks [...]
AT HOME — I’ve been trying to figure out how I ended up with a four-digit dentist’s bill this month, without ever discussing even the procedure, let alone the fees.
And I can’t really make sense of it.
Similarly we have been working with a mid-level legal firm a few years and we keep getting bills through the door with what seems [...]
HYDE PARK CORNER — I had a run of texts from a politically obsessed British friend last week. “Have you heard the latest joke about Chris Christie?”
I hadn’t. In fact I hadn’t even heard of Chris Christie. I was still catching up on the impossible rise and fall of Rick Perry (who I also hadn’t heard of a [...]
Two guys, a garage and a plan
LONDON — It’s been three fairly eventful years. I suspect you’d be hard pressed to look at the last 25 years and come up with three more volatile years in which to be in business.
Able and How was born on 08 September 2008. If you look here you can see [...]