Columns, blogs and opinion from some of the UKs leading business opinion makers and entrepreneurs and small business owners
A report recently published in the Training Journal Online stated that almost one in five workers left their jobs last year due to not being given access to adequate training and development. We’re going to take a look at this from the trainer’s viewpoint to see why this is such a danger.
Call it a SuBo effect if you like, the surge in popularity of Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems is a disaster.
One of the most fatal and potentially terminal mistakes I see businesses become guilty of is the one of living on past glories.
The conclusion to the first live TV debate in my mind is simple. Gordon Brown is a lost cause and has exposed on live television why he is the worst Prime Minister this nation has ever had. David Cameron has shown how you can throw an election away by lacking in focus, priority and depth. Whilst Nick Clegg has demonstrated that the British public are so naïve that if you wrap rat poison in a pretty ribbon and call it a cup cake – they will eat it all up.
The general election campaign has kicked off to widespread voter apathy. The three main parties have launched their campaigns and the electorate is none the wiser.
To be totally honest I would like to hear more from both parties and what their policies are, not only for businesses but for the environment. I would like to take the opportunity to sit down with both parties, look into their eyes and ask some serious questions.
Some people think that the more qualifications you have, the more valuable you are. And in business circles, the MBA is a highly valued qualification. I’m just not sure that it is a guarantee of quality management, good decision making or judgement, or anything at all.
Andy Preston explains why people don’t buy from you …..and what you can change right now to get their business in the future……..
Developing an effective digital strategy isn’t easy. Once you’ve got your website right, how do you begin to increase the traffic to your site, convert these visitors into customers and generate more sales?
The question I get asked most, by business owners and entrepreneurs, is ‘When do I get help?’ How do I know when my business needs some kind of support?
Would you give your customers your products if they paid one of your competitors for them? Then why do we allow people to live in the UK, receive public sector services from the government, but pay for them in the form of taxes to another country?
Social media has been with us for a while now, but until recently it seemed that many in the business world had failed to grasp the true power of the social medium and were largely confused as to how best to embrace the phenomenon in any meaningful or useful fashion.
Thank you for stepping in to this, my first surgery with Business Matters. Each week I will answer questions either, from those posted you, the reader, or from my own surgery sessions.
There has been a lot of talk over the past few months about ‘the green shots of recovery’ that are emerging, as the recession apparently begins to ease. This doesn’t just have to be limited to the housing market and the commercial side of business – it can also apply to REAL Thought Leadership.
REAL thought leadership is based upon the idea that Reach, Engagement, Authority and Longevity are the key to being the best in your field.
Like most of us, I’ve had the culture of long term business planning drummed into me throughout my career. Plotting a three or five year plan for a new venture; hours pouring over spreadsheets, forecasting and re-forecasting. I have to confess it’s been the least useful tool in my entrepreneurial tool box.
