Category: Opinion

This month Johnny McGinley, in his column shares with us his thoughts and expertise on the emerging challenges of digital activism to businesses.

National small business organisation the Forum of Private Business is urging the government to scrap its plans to give new powers to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to recover outstanding debts directly from small business’s bank accounts.

Ania Lichota has always been intrigued by what it is that makes a successful leader. Her search for answers led her to business schools, various executive training programs, onto a PhD program, into boardrooms, on a fair share of mindfulness and meditation courses, and to the top of Mount Everest.

Are you giving off subtle signals that are putting off your potential customers? Are your subtle signals building confidence or wariness?

A black art; a dark science – PR is often akin to the stuff of magicians using smoke and mirrors to leave the audience in shock and awe; often peddled by smooth talking salespeople, masquerading as PR gurus, who will rely heavily on the mystique of the unknown and the unproven world of promotion. Or so it used to be.

The profile of mediation has risen dramatically over the past few years. In 2008, the CIPD Conflict Management survey found that 43% of respondents had used mediation, this jumped up to 57% in the 2011 report. So what explains mediation’s increasing popularity, and why should employers use it?

Yorkshire duo made to eat dog food by Peter Jones and the weird and wonderful world of taxidermy.

In her latest article, Linda Jackson, founding director of 10Eighty looks at how you can unlock the secret of what drives and motivates your employees and channel their career aspirations to the benefit of your business.

Managing a team can be a very challenging role, and one that a lot of entrepreneurs can struggle with. When your business starts to evolve and grow, this should be cause for celebration!

In his latest article, John Richie explores the business benefits of taking a positive and flexible approach to new flexible working legislation.

Earlier this month, as stage two of the Tour de France rolled past our new offices in the centre of York it got me thinking about what businesses could learn from what is widely recognised as one of the most difficult and arduous sporting events in the calendar.

With the OECD upgrading UK growth forecasts to 3.2% it seems we are firmly back into a growth economy. After years of stagnation and worse, businesses are engineered for survival not innovation. Leaders must quickly re-learn the skills to seize every opportunity as it arises.

The use of mobile devices for work purposes is on the up, creating all sorts of new opportunities for the modern worker. In fact, according to a report from Juniper Research, the number of employee-owned smartphones and tablets in the work place could exceed one billion by 2018.

As we welcome back Deborah Meaden, Duncan Bannatyne, Kelly Hoppen, Piers Linney and Peter Jones, we can be sure that we’re in for as many eccentric and unusual business plans and ideas as the previous 11 series’ of Dragon’s Den have delivered to us.