Raising money

We have found it's good to do what they say

CHELSEA — Where has all the money gone?  That’s a question I discussed with senior change leaders at two great international businesses this week.

When they bemoaned their business’ inability to spend, or it’s continued focus on cutting core costs, I pointed out the money their companies are sitting on.

Great big [...]

The fine line between business vanity and genius…

FULHAM — The title should read: “The fine line between business vanity and genius: that’s change management.” But it was too long.

I have just read about the Galacticos Island this morning.  A billion-dollar plan to build a Real Madrid theme-park island in the UAE.  It was being derided as a wild and silly idea.  [...]

2012: A year of change

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 [...]

Heart and Seoul: Why I want to work in Korea

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 [...]

Change management and Britain’s big banks

CHELSEA — The problem with change is that you cannot always foresee what might happen next.  So you create an anticipated direction of travel and risks, issues, dependencies etc. along the way.

That’s how it’s done.  In a nutshell.

The problem with Britain’s big banks though is not that they don’t know what might happen next.  They do, but they’re determined to [...]

Sunshine and crowds belie the dire economic news

EATON CENTRE, TORONTO — It’s easy to be positive when you’re on holiday. But the 30C temperatures and happy crowds on Canadian streets don’t belong to recessionary times.
The economy in this country seems to have defied the greatest evils of the last three years — banks have never been allowed to wager with others money. But still it [...]

The Middle East, India and Asia: New issues we’d love to work on again

HYDE PARK CORNER — I love Doha.  I was thinking about that as I wrote a friend at QTel in Qatar.  It’s a lovely place and I know some lovely people there.  This week we have seen lots of poorly disguised derisive comments made about Qatar and it’s [...]

Coming soon to your town: Quiet!

VICTORIA STATION — I am seriously proud of our friends at Nissan. We have known for a while that they were working on something big. But today’s stories on the new Nissan Leaf are exciting.

“100% emission-free” (excluding electricity generation emissions).

How cool is that?

Faced with petrol at £5+ a gallon [...]

Sox wouldn’t have understood what I do

SOUTH KENSINGTON — Sox was my granddad (left, above). He died when I was about 6. He ran a business called Ingersoll-Rand out of an office in Montreal. I remember visiting the office. I walked by the building two weeks ago. It had long, dark halls, red carpets, a mail trolley and a [...]

Thinking the impossible: That’s America

CAPE COD — I am in shock. I have just emerged from a food store. There is a whole row just dedicated to marinades and BBQ sauces. The shelves of food that I might buy in London is a few rows in the very centre of a football field of “family packs” and convenience meals.

I have no [...]