Why do people keep repeating that the core purpose of business is to make money? Sue George did it the other day in the Guardian. bit.ly/16YPL She said: “…the core purpose of any business is to make money – without profit there can be no corporate social responsibility (CSR)…“. This is a bit like saying […]
On Tuesday I attended an event that felt very significant. It was the first AGM of Riversimple, an eco-car company I am involved with. We are, in our humble way, trying to re-invent the auto industry. You can learn more about Riversimple here. We have been working on our project for many years but only […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
“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 […]
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 […]
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 […]