Cost control: A firm focus on fees is crucial for investors October 14, 2014 Keep a close eye on administration and dealing costs In times of market turmoil, it’s easy to become absorbed in the details of asset allocation, stock selection and risk hedging. And while these factors are leading determinants of the long-term performance of your portfolio, it’s crucial not to overlook the importance of keeping a lid [...]
Going viral: Teads chief Jeremy Arditi on the rise of video advertising October 12, 2014 In the world of online advertising, the video format is still a relative minnow. According to figures released last week by PwC and the Internet Advertising Bureau, it accounted for less than 6 per cent of UK digital ad spend in the first half of 2014, with 55 per cent going to paid-for search ads. [...]
Negotiations at work: Avoid the common errors October 9, 2014 Don’t get caught out by “fixed pie” thinking, and always stay calm. Contrary to the dozens of high-octane confrontation bibles lining the “business” shelves of most bookshops – with titles like Negotiate your Way to Riches, and Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In – life isn’t one long stream of standoffs leading up to a [...]
Plato, Machiavelli and Aristotle: The Philosopher Kings of business October 7, 2014 Businesses can learn a lot from the classics – try imitating Socrates in your next meeting. Every few years, typically following moments of crisis or ructions in the global economy, a bevy of articles appears extolling the virtues of a classical or philosophical education for business leaders. Choose Montaigne over macroeconomics, we’re told – [...]
Russia optimists are making an increasingly implausible case October 6, 2014 A potential economic outcast is a bad place to invest money. Russia's economy has taken a battering this year. The conflict in Ukraine and the subsequent sanctions tit-for-tat with the West has delivered an enormous blow to confidence, with some of the country’s largest companies now all but locked out of dollar debt refinancing [...]
Total Media’s Guy Sellers on the strengths of independent media agencies October 5, 2014 In an age of unprecedented consolidation in the media world, you’d be forgiven for assuming that the smaller, independent agencies must be struggling to compete, clinging on for dear life amid a flurry of dealmaking by the industry’s giants. Outfits like Total Media, however, call this assumption into question. Its income grew by 14.6 per [...]
How to write the perfect CV: Avoid common errors that ruin your chances October 2, 2014 Keep it clear – no one knows what you mean by “results-oriented”. Spot the mistake in this list of skills, taken from a real CV and published on Amy Joyce’s Resume Bloopers blog for the Washington Post: “Strong Work Ethic, Attention to Detail, Team Player, Self Motivated, Attention to Detail.” Actually, there are [...]
Chief executives and Twitter: Are they losing out? October 1, 2014 Only a handful of business leaders tweet, which may be a good thing. "I owe you one @BenKaufman! Here’s my #IceBucketChallenge. You’re up Sarah and Steve Immelt and Ken Chenault!” So tweeted General Electric chief executive Jeffrey Immelt on 21 August. It’s difficult to imagine the company’s august co-founder and former president Charles [...]
Why interview brainteasers are on the way out – even at Google September 30, 2014 You don’t have to be a genius to work out why brainteasers are dying. Imagine you have eight balls of equal size. Seven of them weigh exactly the same, but one is slightly heavier. How would you go about finding the heaviest one using some scales and just two weighings? If you’re thinking [...]
Wondering how to quit your job? Don’t follow Charlo Greene’s example September 29, 2014 Prepare a transition plan – overly acrimonious exits don’t serve anybody’s needs. Alaskan TV news presenter Charlo Greene made a splash in the media world last week, after swearing live on air and announcing that she’d be leaving her job: “And as for this job, well, not that I have a choice but, f *** [...]
