You know how I’ve been rattling on about The Daily Huddle in the last week? Last weekend, Annie and I stayed at York and Albany, Gordon Ramsey’s restaurant/townhouse hotel in London’s Regents Park area. After Sunday breakfast and a walk around Camden, we returned to notice The Daily Huddle taking place at the back of
Read More
Many years ago I stumbled across a superb 6-minute video on the Four Seasons Hotels web site, in which founder Isadore Sharp talks about their core values as an organisation, described as The Four Pillars on which the organisation is built: To operate medium-sized hotels of exceptional quality – to be the best; To make
Read More
In the October issue of Wired UK, there is a fascinating interview with Debbie Wosskow, CEO of Love Home Swap, launched in 2011. Debbie is a serial entrepreneur and now runs Allbright, a female-focused investment fund. Here are some extracts on what it takes to be successful in business: “Coming
Read More
Based on my personal experiences over the last few days, its seems possible that the hotel and catering industry may have woken up to the realisation that good people can be more important in the user-experience than fancy architecture, fixtures, fittings and menus: Friday morning – a working breakfast at the Doubletree Hilton close to
Read More
To begin with, you can download (free of charge) here an updated version of my suggested organisational structure for a £10m private micro-corporate. 02183 CB Org Structure A4 FINAL Before you think “I’m never going to achieve £10m in sales, so this is not for me” – pause – download anyway – and reflect on
Read More
In the 20th Century, learning was viewed as a phase that took place early in one’s life. The objective for all socio-economic groups was to “get an education” and then decide on “a trade or profession”, whether or not that was in the public or private sector. Game sorted – 45 years of work, marriage,
Read More
Upton Sinclair was an American writer and political activist who, in the mid 1930’s, wrote a series of allegorical novels that exposed poor working conditions in various USA work environments between the World Wars. He first coined the term “white collar worker” to describe those who were involved in professional, managerial or administrative work. He compared
Read More
About 6 years ago I was approached to become involved in a new business and, as part of my research, enjoyed a fascinating dinner with the senior partner in a Private Equity firm. His “job” was to invest between £50m to £100m per project – each time in an existing business that had plateaued, with
Read More
It’s really hard to swallow isn’t it? When a member of your team hands in their resignation and tells you that they are moving to another practice in the area for a few more pounds/dollars per hour? 20 years ago I was running a dental workshop in my home town of Manchester, attended by a
Read More
Recently, I have met three young dentists who have bought practices under what I can only describe as questionable circumstances. Three different locations around the UK and yet the audit trail of events that is disturbingly similar: Existing owner in mid-50’s decides to sell whilst goodwill values are at an historic high; Sales figures for
Read More