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Rebuilding trust in business part 1

Patrick business trusts, leadership, sustainability Comments Off on Rebuilding trust in business part 1

A group of us gathered at the Greenhouse Hotel in Bournemouth on Tuesday evening to explore the question “How to rebuild trust in business”. This was highly topical, given the recent corporate scandals (the banks, the pharmaceutical companies, the media hacking saga among others) and that the Chief Executive Officer of security firm G4S had appeared earlier in the day before a Parliamentary committee to explain why his firm has failed so badly to meet its obligations regarding the Olympics.

This event was the second in a series of events that we are running at Working in Trust, aimed at stimulating conversations around the place of trust in business. Our ultimate goal is to establish healthy relationships between individuals, organisations, society and the planet and we see trust as an essential element in such relationships, as well as a key tool for helping us understand the issues. Read More

In business we trust?

Patrick business trusts, sustainability Comments Off on In business we trust?

I have been thinking about trust a lot recently. And the more I think about it, the more I see it woven into the fabric of our lives.

I see it when I let my 5 year old son play in the garden with his friends, trusting they won’t hurt themselves (or the plants) too badly. I am trusting his school to educate him. When I drive my car on the motorway at 70mph, I am trusting the engineers made it well enough so it won’t blow up or fall apart.

At a national level, I hear doctors’ leaders in England worry about losing public trust if they go on strike again. I see the UK government spending millions on the Leveson inquiry into press standards, with the aim of restoring trust in the press (and of course in politicians who are expected to keep an eye on the press).

We say that money makes the world go around. But it is not true – it is trust. Read More

Riding the wave to a new type of model

Patrick Uncategorized Comments Off on Riding the wave to a new type of model

There was an interesting article in the Financial Times yesterday about the corporate structure of Patagonia, makers of outdoor gear. Patagonia recently converted to a “B” corp, a For-Benefit corporation, in the US and has made consequential changes to its structure. Patagonia “want to catch the wave of change in capitalism and ride it until long-held preconceptions about business are permanently altered.”

The article gives examples of a number of other organisations in the US that have chosen the “B” corp structure, for a variety of reasons.

We think there is a lot to learn from this encouraging precedent in the US, even if it is not necessarily directly transferable to the UK or elsewhere, because of legal and cultural differences.

 

How a business can be dominated by an individual (for good or bad)

Patrick business trusts, leadership Comments Off on How a business can be dominated by an individual (for good or bad)

Here’s a link to an interesting article in the New Statesman bout a well-known business trust, the Guardian newspaper.it recounts how powerful Alan Rusbrudger, editor of the Guardian, has become very powerful. He sits on the board not only of the newspaper but also of the parent company and of the trust itself (the ultimate owner). What’s more, several of his mates sit on the board of the trust.

It is a salutary reminder that mere ownership by a charity or trust doesn’t ensure that the business will always make the right decisions, and that organisations can easily be captured by one ambitious individual. I believe that it is possible, as has been done in the John Lewis Partnership, to introduce governance processes to avoid, or at least to minimise the chance of, this happening. We need to get better at these processes if we are to make business trusts successful.

British Waterways to become a trust

Patrick new trusts Comments Off on British Waterways to become a trust

As part of its reform of public bodies, the Government has decided to transfer British Waterways’ network in England and Wales from the public sector into a new charitable trust for the waterways. See here. The new body will be by far the largest business in the “third sector” and remind us that sell-offs to the private sector are not the only alternative to holding assets by the state. There is a third way…

The statute is passing through Parliament as we speak…

Forms of Business and a Living Systems Approach

Rick Uncategorized Comments Off on Forms of Business and a Living Systems Approach

Sparked by a conversation the other day, it began to dawn on me that what we are seeing in our work to develop new forms of business is the move from a mechanistic  to a systems view of business.  Similar to many disciplines in the sciences, it is becoming clear that mechanical models for business are causing us to oversimplify things – taking a business out of its proper context in a complex living system. Read More

On woods and trees, organisations and people

Patrick governance, leadership Comments Off on On woods and trees, organisations and people

“We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” ~ Anais Nin

We each see the world in a different way, from our own perspective. Things that are glaringly obvious to some of us are invisible to others. If I look at writing in Chinese it is meaningless squiggles – to someone else it can be the most enlightening thing they have ever read. A botanist can look at a meadow and see 50 different species of plant – to others it just looks like grass.

I was reminded of this truth last week, after I attended an event with the theme “Ownership – the only thing that matters for long term growth?” Ownership is something I have long been interested in, and it seems to be something of a hot topic at the moment. Read More

Men in charge – why there is so little diversity in the boardroom

Patrick governance, Uncategorized Comments Off on Men in charge – why there is so little diversity in the boardroom

I had to laugh. A letter was published in the Independent newspaper on the subject of the lack of women at board level in companies. Here’s an extract: ‘…I suspect that there might just not be the numbers and, at times, the talent available within the female pool …To be a successful business person you have to be racing fit – intellectually and physically sharp enough to think on your feet, able to get up at the crack of dawn each day… able to keep ahead of the game and with the ability to keep delivering work that is fresh and dynamic. Sometimes women are not able to fulfil all these points because of family commitments…”

No doubt in his childhood this man was fed a rich diet of fairy stories about brave knights rushing about the country rescuing swooning damsels in distress from dragons….

Read More

The paradox of richness

Patrick Uncategorized Comments Off on The paradox of richness

It is bankers’ bonus season again in the UK. £7bn is expected to be paid out to our senior bankers – not bad at all, at a time when the economy is suffering and businesses and government departments across the land are cutting costs and jobs.

The funny thing is that the bankers genuinely seem to believe they have earned these ridiculous amounts. According to them, their contribution to society is so valuable that it justifies them being paid twice as much in a year as a teacher, an intensive care nurse or a soldier fighting in Afghanistan will earn in a lifetime. Who are they trying to kid?

But I am not here to bash bankers, fun though it may be. Read More

Is there such thing as a good company?

Patrick governance, sustainability, Uncategorized Comments Off on Is there such thing as a good company?

“Things are neither good nor bad but thinking makes them so”. William Shakespeare, Macbeth

In his speech to the Labour party conference in October Ed Miliband proposed, in essence, that companies be labelled as “good” or “bad” and taxed and regulated accordingly.

You can see where the thinking comes from – it is pretty much how our foreign policy works. If you are considered “good” (e.g. Kazakhstan, which allows our bombers to use it airfields) then you can get away with murdering your citizens. If you are considered “bad” (think Iran or, in the case of the US, Cuba) then you will be punished no matter how you behave. Read More

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