There’s a human cost to fetishising entrepreneurs like Elizabeth Holmes March 28, 2019 According to the documentary director Alex Gibney, the success of Elizabeth Holmes can be put down to Silicon Valley’s “fetishisation of the entrepreneur”. Holmes’ story is depicted in his latest film, The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley, released last week. But her story has caught the imagination of just about everyone who has [...]
If nothing else, Brexit has taught us how mediocre our politicians are March 28, 2019 Earlier this year, the BBC Parliament channel briefly became more popular than MTV. Perhaps not quite able to believe how on earth this was all going so badly, a few hundred thousand people tuned in to see what was happening on the green benches for themselves. What they witnessed would have clarified things. Posturing, grand-standing, [...]
Brands, don’t let your employees’ bad social media posts harm your reputation March 27, 2019 One of the many lessons of 2018 was how easily a worker’s social media activity can damage a brand’s reputation. I don’t just mean the deliberate attacks made by angry ex-employees, but the accidental disasters caused by well-meaning contributions to the marketing effort. HSBC experienced this in October, when Business Insider published a piece about [...]
DEBATE: Should companies link executive pay more closely to that of ordinary employees? March 27, 2019 Should companies link executive pay more closely to that of ordinary employees? Rachel Reeves, Labour MP and chair of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, says YES. When a business does well, workers should share in the rewards, not just the boss. Too often, superstar salaries are waved through by remuneration committees that pay too [...]
Why I’m proud that the art industry has taken a stand against the Sackler family March 27, 2019 When I heard that the Tate Group was following the National Gallery’s example by refusing to take further donations from the Sackler Trust, funded by the Sackler family, I felt a sense of both relief and pride in the arts industry. The Trust has for many years made generous donations to leading artistic and philanthropic [...]
London’s creative industries are a culture club boxing out young people – here’s how we can fix that March 26, 2019 London’s creative and cultural sector has boomed in recent years, but despite its success, women, members of black, Asian, and minority ethnic groups, and other people from less advantaged backgrounds remain woefully underrepresented, particularly in senior positions. This is a result of London’s creative industry becoming a “culture club” – one that is exclusive, with membership [...]
Rolls-Royce boss enjoys £1.6m pay increase despite £2.9bn 2018 losses and engine issues March 25, 2019 Rolls-Royce chief executive Warren East saw his pay skyrocket by more than £1.6m last year, despite presiding over a loss-making year and a series of issues with the firm’s engines which grounded a British Airways jet for nearly a year. East did not receive a rise in his base salary, but was the beneficiary of [...]
Level up your staff by using games and gamification in the workplace March 25, 2019 Many assume that video games and board games are just a form of entertainment. But what if you could use the psychology behind these games to motivate people? This process is called gamification, and it’s the driving force behind a new industry, with applications ranging from improving health to helping employees adopt a new corporate [...]
Social media content creators The Hook explain how to make great online video March 25, 2019 Video is big business in marketing. A good video can be the difference between success and failure. After all, as Bill Gates said, content is king. Brands love video content because it is seen as more intimate and informative than just posting a picture or a wall of text. And they’ve been spending more and [...]
iSmash on rivalling Apple for tech repairs and launching more stores in a dying high street March 25, 2019 Many will be familiar with the trauma: you drop your smartphone and the screen shatters into a modern-day mosaic. You either learn to live with shards of glass jabbing your fingers, wait a week for a phone company to fix it, or pay for a bodge job at a corner shop. Except those are no longer [...]