‘Isn’t accountancy boring?’ I’ve felt the burden of this unasked question every time a stranger asks me what I do for a living. I have a degree in accountancy. Never mind that accountancy must be the least theoretical subject it is possible to study (it doesn’t matter, the degree is filled with economics, law, finance
When you work for yourself there is a pleasure when a customer pays your bill that is kind of biblical. There was nothing; then you created something; and someone valued it enough to part with some cash. The owner of a small business once said to me, ‘It’s still amazing to me when people pay
Ever pitched a film or TV programme to a producer? No? Me neither. I wouldn’t know where to begin, or who to contact. I don’t know anybody in the entertainment business. I don’t know the sorts of things that they would be looking for, the questions they would ask, or areas of special interest to
Although management as a profession has done its fair share of damage to the English language, most of the time I’m quite taken with some of the expressions. A neat phrase can make otherwise clunky concepts more readily understood. For instance, I wish I had the imagination to dream up a better phrase for ‘new
Turn away now if you don’t like seeing a man inflict harm on his reputation. I think a future integrated Europe, a United States of Europe in some form, is not only unstoppable, it is the only way for its citizens to avoid declining prosperity. It’s countries like the United States, China, and others with