Wednesday 23 October 2013

How Hard Working are you?

Are you getting a bit tired of being told by politicians that you have to be 'Hard Working'?  
'Hard Working Families' and 'Work Hard and Play by the Rules' have become jarring clichés, robbed of their meaning by over-use.

For a lot of employees, hard work means doing longer hours for less money than previously with someone else taking the majority of the benefit.  And aren't we supposed to be working 'smarter not harder'?  That's certainly what most of us try to do.

And what's so great about hard work anyway?  Most people, while not being afraid of hard work, and giving it their all, go to work so that they can enjoy holidays, leisure, time with family & friends, whatever it is that makes life worthwhile.  Mary Evans of the LSE nails this canard here.  

" ...the vindication of what seems to be a mindless new religion, that of hard work, seems singularly pointless as well as inappropriate. Not only does this religion divert attention from more important questions about the morality of rewards (or the lack of them) but it also completely fails to ask questions about the value of work and its products. The doctrine of ‘hard working’ then becomes the worst kind of religion, refusing questions and possibilities, and all too likely to guarantee less the pious boredom of paradise than the life doomed to unrewarded servitude."

We'd all like to hear something a bit more uplifting from our leaders.




Preparing a Cash Flow Forecast - part 2

Here's the second part, which takes you step by step through preparing a forecast on Excel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zpy6ImSC3o


Preparing a Cash Flow forecast part 1

I've made two videos on preparing a cash flow forecast.  Here is the introduction.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s2mW_psxMg






Tuesday 15 October 2013

Shock news - a kinder, gentler Ryanair

Michael O'Leary has declared himself tired of the public abuse he receives about Ryanair's service and determined to improve.

He has pledged to soften Ryanair’s image and overhaul the airline’s customer relations strategy.


“We should try and eliminate things that unnecessarily piss people off,” said Mr O’Leary.

Lucy Kellaway notes that the regular on-line abuse the airline receives has had no effect. ("That extra £50-£100 difference between Ryanair and BA is taken not from your wallet but from your soul")  

However, O'Leary can no longer stomach the criticism he regularly suffers to his face, even when out with his children.

It's interesting that whatever we think about the power of social media, tackling a CEO in the off-line world may still be the best way to bring about change.