2008 feels like a lifetime ago… Back then, my son Stuart – who is now a father – was just off to university, while Amy was still in secondary school. I’d been living in the same house for 21 years – the same house I’ve just moved out of. And my business was very different, […]
Author archives: callum
This is the biggest mistake companies make when they professionalise
Boards in the corporate world are currently undergoing a change. When recruiting for directors, there is a new emphasis on finding people with geopolitical expertise, tech backgrounds and knowledge of ESG and sustainability. This is different from the past, when the most important qualification for a director was usually their financial track record. Traditionally, boards […]
Interest rates are up. Should you deposit your business’s spare cash?
I recently fielded a question from a cash-rich client which nearly knocked me for six. “Garry,” he asked me, “should I consider depositing our spare cash?” No one has asked me about depositing money in the bank for nearly 15 years! Interest rates have been so low, it simply hasn’t been an option. But in […]
Business owners in denial
In March 2020, a cartoon published in a Canadian newspaper went viral on social media. It showed a small city on an island. The speech bubble said: “Be sure to wash your hands and all will be well.” Meanwhile in the background two huge waves were threatening to drown the naïve residents: One labelled “Covid 19” and […]
Moving house is expensive. Who knew!?
I’m moving house shortly, to Gloucestershire. It’s the first time we’ve moved in over 30 years. So while this may not come as a huge surprise to you, I was somewhat taken aback to discover how expensive the whole operation was. Not just buying the house itself – that’s a given! But controlling all the […]
Field mice defeated the German tanks. Here’s what your business can learn
The Battle of Stalingrad, in the Second World War, continued for nearly six months. Towards the end of 1942, a German tank unit was preparing to join the battle. It had been waiting in reserve on grasslands outside the Russian city. But when the unit came to move, the tank operators were in for a […]
We can’t get the money out of our bank
Over the past week, you might have seen some headlines about the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). If you were tempted to skip over those items because it has very little to do with you, I understand. Still, there are a few lessons that business owners in the UK can learn from this […]
How Amazon decides whether its products are viable
Here’s something new I’ve learned… When Amazon decides which products or services to develop, it follows a process it calls “Working Backwards”. The idea is that before they go develop something new, they picture the moment of the launch. Their marketing department drafts a press release announcing their new product. The details include the (as-yet […]
Reason #3 your accountant isn’t proactive
If you were trying to figure out whether you could afford an extension on your house, what kind of information would be more useful to you… A summary of how much money you made and spent around 12 months ago? Or a carefully calculated forecast of how much money you’re going to have over the […]
Getting to know you
My wife Thelma was looking for a new pair of walking boots. She walked into a local shoe shop, where the assistants directed her to the right section, told her a little about the boots and then asked what size she was. She ended up buying a couple of pairs, but although they weren’t cheap, […]
