March 2006

AT&T and BellSouth merger madness and other figures of folly

March 31, 2006

The directors of AT&T and BellSouth can only justify their proposed merger financially if they can see net operating profit after tax (NOPAT) of $25.5 billion. The trouble is that the combined NOPAT last year was $8.5 billion. Hands up anyone who believes that the merger will create $17 billion of extra profits. Click title to read more…

Read in full Posted by Bob | Comments (0) | Filed under: In The News, MergersWarren Buffet

March 30, 2006

I never cease to marvel at the simple brilliance of Warren Buffet. Often, the brilliance lies in the simplicity - in the Sage’s phenomenal ability turn complex situations into fundamental truths. Click title to read the latest:

Read in full Posted by Bob | Comments (0) | Filed under: In The News, Management, Managers, Business strategyBreakthrough management ideas?

March 24, 2006

Looking through the Harvard Business Review’s 2006 list of ‘breakthrough ideas’ gave me a breakthrough idea of my own. There are no breakthrough ideas at this moment in management time. Click title for more …

Read in full Posted by Bob | Comments (0) | Filed under: People Management, ManagementEntrepreneuring

March 21, 2006

Here are the nine attributes of the entrepreneur, as described in the Harvard Business Review at the end of 1979. They are the attributes of remarkable people - like the entrepreneurs I selected back in 1980 to illustrate each of the nine. How have they got on? Have their strong entrepreneurial foundations created long-term success? Click title to find out.

Read in full Posted by Bob | Comments (0) | Filed under: Leadership and Management, Bob's Bullet Points, ManagementBusiness management consultancy Rip-off

March 18, 2006

I’ve been reading with mounting horror a book called ‘Rip-off’ by David Craig. The cover justly describes it as, ‘the scandalous inside story of the management consulting money machine’. My horror arises from the fact that even the bluest of these consultancies may earn their gigantic incomes - and I mean gigantic - by methods which are little short of confidence tricks. Click title for more…

Read in full Posted by Bob | Comments (0) | Filed under: Leadership and Management, ManagementPicasso prints sale and two rules of great collecting

There’s a most interesting sale coming up at Sotheby’s in London on March 28th. It consists of what the auction house deservedly calls a ’spectacular’ collection of Picasso prints. The sale reminds us of two rules of genuinely great collecting. Click title for more…

Read in full Posted by Bob | Comments (0) | Filed under: The Art GalleryEconomic Value Added at Vodaphone

March 12, 2006

Why is Vodafone in such deep trouble, with a divided board, a disastrous share price and a crumbling strategy? It fell foul of three little letters that express a deep truth: EVA, or Economic Value Added. The concept is a simple fact. Any company has to make profits that exceed its ‘cost of capital’. Click title for more …

Read in full Posted by Bob | Comments (0) | Filed under: Management, Business strategyMore creative solutions

March 8, 2006

If you enjoyed my recent blog on finding creative solutions, which contained some highly stimulating ideas for getting ideas, here are ten more to stimulate and entertain you still further. To remove creative block, try these notions … click title for more

Read in full Posted by Bob | Comments (0) | Filed under: Bob's Bullet Points, Lateral thinking, Creative Thinking, ThinkingTop CEOs: Revolutionary managers required

March 7, 2006

It is claimed that the best things about the hot-seat CEOs ‘is that they’re responding to the biggest problems of a revolutionised economy, showing the way for the next generation of business leaders’. If only that were true. For a revolutionary economic you must have management revolutionaries. And of that there is no real sign.

Read in full Posted by Bob | Comments (0) | Filed under: Leadership and Management, Management, Managers