Category: Opinion

Learning to negotiate is one of the most important business skills you can have.

It used to be so simple. You had a database and email and the job was done. Now there are a plethora of ways of getting to your potential customers and keeping in touch with friends. But wait – when did keeping in touch with your friends turn into a business tool for all things prospect shaped?

Tesco was once the darling of the high street but now the 95-year old supermarket chain is facing its worse crisis ever as it admitted to inflating its accounts by £250 million last week. This wiped more than £2 billion off its market value, saw shares drop by 40% and put them at the bottom of the FTSE 100.

Quantum physics tells us that we are simply huge clouds of atoms that interact with each other on a physical and personal level.

With the giant cogs of the British economy finally whirring back into life, many businesses have seen significant growth in 2014.

In my day when I was pregnant my partner had to beg and cajole his employer for time off to come with me for that all important first scan. He was grudgingly allowed and told to hurry back. Was it paid leave? Was it heck!

The dust had seemingly started to settle after the Scottish people decided that we are, indeed, better together, but it has led to a period of uncertainty that has the danger to damage both countries, the Union and our economy if it’s not resolved.

Who doesn’t work in an open plan office these days? According to Jeremy Paxman, they are an element of modern business that should be banned: impersonal and impractical spaces harking back to the ‘typing pool’, designed to allow bosses to keep an eye on workers.

When I ask successful business leaders why they are successful the majority of them will very quickly say it’s about the quality of the team around them, it’s the people they work with that make the difference.

With the economy growing slowly, pressure on employers to raise wages is growing. Why aren’t employers doing it and are they right asks Alex Jackman from the Forum of Private Business.

Boredom at work (and meetings) is something nearly all of us feel at times, but admitting that boredom to coworkers or managers is likely something few of us have ever done.

Business Matters back the Let’s stay together campaign for the sake of the whole of UK business and urges Scottish business owners to lead the charge with a NO vote in the Scottish Referendum

Scotland is part of the United Kingdom, and creating a new independent country of Scotland cannot be good for anybody as far as I can see. To me, it’s an economic argument, but one based on history, not squabbles over currency, interest rates and EU membership. It’s far more fundamental than that.

Being a successful entrepreneur requires extraordinary skills and expertise. Do you have what it takes?

If you’re thinking of starting a business for any of these reasons, think again.