A consultant that thinks like a client
You need to know the rules in order to break them successfully
The poor soul didn’t know it was impossible, he just went ahead and did it
A tweak of the engine is usually sufficient, but sometimes you need to hit it with a hammer
The better the presentation style, the more the message will be believed
Not-for-profit organisations measure success by acclamation
Lack of ruthlessness causes business development initiatives to fail
Things go round in spirals. It just looks like circles from a certain angle
‘Assurance’ is like a faulty walking stick: lean too heavily and it will collapse
If you build it, they really do come
Financial modelling is a ‘gateway’ skill: it gains access to more senior positions
Working in the public sector, large numbers of people are looking over your shoulder
A harsh, uncomfortable existence is the best way to ensure corporate success
An unexploded risk just detonated
Selling is partly about enjoying the game
Analysing financial accounts will help you ask the right questions but the answers lie elsewhere
Experienced HR people get into character for an interview
Really talented people are quite rare in business, as in any walk of life
What have you got to negotiate with?
Creative people have a talent for borrowing
Anyone reporting financial results in a quoted company knows the pressure to avoid surprises
Sail around the world, just make sure you can afford to return
‘Where’s economic growth going to come from?’ Seriously?
Let out your inner crazed dictator
Problems are dimly perceived, solutions hazily understood, and outcomes unknown or unknowable
Risk is the name investors give to losing money
Decision-making begins when analysis finishes
Sometimes leaders have to be ‘ahead’ of public opinion
Loved by consultants, loathed by managers, benchmarking is a powerful analytical tool
Things are constantly changing, yes, but the way we live changes quite slowly
We get to know each other by telling stories
The role of a Chairman is chief executioner
In all innovation strategies, you must – above all – kill bad ideas quickly
Scottish independence is a lovely idea, I just think it’s going on the wrong direction
You don’t need to be good with numbers to be good at finance
Work comes first
If you want to know what life will be like in the future, I can tell you. It will be exactly like life today
Just before a meeting starts there’s always someone sharing a pet theory
If you don’t know what you want in life, look at what you do
Raising finance is like pitching a film or TV programme. It’s about who you know, darling
Net Present Value doesn’t convey much useful information
Barring a couple of months in early 1998, I don’t think I’ve ever been bored at work
Double entry bookkeeping ranks among the glories of the Renaissance
You’re not your budget
The first thing you should expect from your audit partner is an invitation to lunch
Like a doctor that smokes, I ignored personal finances until my late thirties
Corporate life is constantly changing, full of suffering and slightly absurd
A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon we’re talking big numbers
The average earner pays 36% in tax. Is it just me, or does this seem a lot?
Ask a professional firm how proud they are with the work they’ve done
An MIS system that is boring and reliable is a necessary condition of good decision-making.
Both sexes need a mix of masculine and feminine skills
Without a cost we’re unable to value anything
Even standing on the moon watching the Earth rise must get a bit dull after a while
Perfect mental health is as rare as elite athletes, requiring similar levels of training and commitment
I’ve lost £0.5m
Where did we get the idea that we live in times of accelerating change? The way we live changes quite slowly
You need to keep cutting the tale. It regenerates
ERP systems are a devil to implement
All progress is achieved through projects
Leaders are 56% born, 34% made and 10% learned
EBITDA is like a list of technical financial terms put in descending order of confusion
We should be aiming for a valuation that is accurate to within, say, + or – 15%.
A wonderful, clear and distinctive brand is a thing of beauty
Unlike donkeys, people will move forward, or not, because they want to
You might plan to build a bridge, but you need a strategy for defending it.
Management of the public sector is one of the great challenges for the next generation
No one ever does what they say they’ll do
Investing in start-ups is a form of Russian roulette where each chamber except one contains a bullet
Anyone with a clear mind can do strategy
The ideal amount of work is slightly more than you can cope with
So that’s the plan. Now I’m going to pretend to listen to your petty concerns
Give me a difficult person any day. It’s the reasonable people that you have to watch out for
Introverts have to make more of an effort to speak and extroverts have to make more of an effort to listen.
The future is non linear, meaning our assumptions about it will always be wrong
Save more. You’re welcome!
Being a decent employer has limited impact on employees’ satisfaction levels
Treating everyone equally does not mean equalising everyone
Playing games can teach us a lot about business strategy
If God didn’t exist, we would need to invent Him
To those that have, more shall be given
This is what auditing is like. Most of the time, you have no idea what is going on
Publishing market forecasts is like being professionally obliged to make a fool of yourself
Understanding how culture works is important if you want to change it
Airports are full of mildly stressed people committing micro-aggressions against each other
Improvement of yourself and the world, is a better life goal than just being happy
That sounds great. Now tell me what you propose we are going to stop doing
A decisive person does not need to be intelligent
To get promoted in a large organisation you need to rock the boat gently
The little things are important, just don’t beat yourself up if they go wrong
All the cool kids go on to really unimpressive careers. For them, school was the pinnacle of their careers
Why is the world full of second-raters
If you are not wrong-footed from time to time, it you must be from the future
Stock market trading is for the needy, like other forms of gambling
Some people that love a good argument. But this is not the best way to influence others
Sometimes patient, careful planning, while assembling allies, is more effective than agile management
Never interrupt a rather grand Dutchman when he’s trying to make a point
Make greater use of the pause and mature a bit quicker
A CEO’s basic salary should not exceed what an average person could make in a lifetime
A lot of poor management behaviour stems from a lack of confidence
If you want to have control over your life, live longer and be happier, seek power
Most people’s advice boils down to this: be more like me
At the root of passive aggressive behaviour there is some sort of turf war going on
A watch brand you’ve never heard of = senior management
The most important step towards managing dual careers is to admit to each other how much it sucks
The key to Total Quality – getting management and workers on the same page
These days you can pretty much wear what you like to work (except gardening clothes) and no one will judge you
Being the internal candidate is a curse, for the candidate. For the interviewer, it is a blessing
If you want to know in which direction a man and his dog are travelling, follow the man not the dog
Try to be admired, not liked
Most people are entirely unsuited to management
Anti-consumerism is naive, unobservant and, worst of all, condescending. It doesn’t trust people
Once you’ve gone, you’ve gone
If you are considering a joint venture my advice is, ‘Don’t do it, you’re still young!
Things go wrong. Having a plan in the top drawer is the best way to manage the risk
You’re not one of these idiots who thinks doing a good job is enough, are you?
There’s little competitive advantage to be gained from financial analysis
Procurement requires a level of control over your organisation that many firms don’t realise they haven’t got
Being tough-minded and serious all day, every day, is exhausting
Don’t ask government to do anything. They’re rubbish at it
You’re like me…

Invite a salesman in you want a party

What is the essential ingredient of a good sales person?  A good sense of humour.  Take a random sample of business people that have never met and observe them together.  It is the sales person that gets the party going.  He or she will speak first.  They will ease the tension for everyone else by

Don’t ask governments to do anything. They’re rubbish at it

Most people most of the time are busy getting on with their lives.  In the case of newspapers, lobbyists, think-tank academics and politicians, getting on with their life means trying to change all of ours.  It’s their job.   And every few years we get to say whether their doing it well or not.  You have

The secret to management – benign dictatorship

‘Abel, your fired. Out’.  With those words, interrupting his own employee meeting, Tim Armstrong, CEO of Patch, AOL’s local news subsidiary, fired his creative director, with hundreds of other employees listening in by conference call.  Here’s a man who’s learned one half of benign dictatorship, the secret of management, without learning the other half.  It