Category Archives: Business speak

Down the rabbit hole

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Jamie Jauncey

I’ve been walking round the river at the end of a long day, wondering what to write about. It’s a still, clear evening and the water’s low for the time of year. Normally we’d be expecting the stormy weather that … Continue reading →

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Let the meaning choose the word

Posted on February 1, 2013 by Jamie Jauncey

In 1946, George Orwell wrote of the English language: “It becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts.” He was speaking, in the main, … Continue reading →

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Leading and following

Posted on November 16, 2012 by Jamie Jauncey

I listened to a talk the other day by Mark Robb, a former member of the M&S business recovery team – the firefighters who got the retailer out of the hole it had fallen into during the late nineties. He … Continue reading →

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Speaking as an expert

Posted on October 26, 2012 by Jamie Jauncey

I went to a dinner on Tuesday night. The host was Vistage, an international chief executives’ organisation with 60-odd groups in the UK. Each group meets monthly under the guidance of a trained chairperson. Members discuss challenges and seek advice … Continue reading →

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Tales of passion

Posted on October 11, 2012 by Jamie Jauncey

On the second night of our recent Dark Angels advanced course in Spain, once they had all settled in, we decided to ask the eight students to take just a couple of minutes after dinner to say why they had … Continue reading →

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Olympic virtues

Posted on August 3, 2012 by Jamie Jauncey

On Radio 4 recently, Clifford Longley, the BBC’s religious affairs correspondent, quoted Bob Diamond’s notorious comment that business culture was ‘how people behave when no one’s watching’. Longley went on to draw the distinction between the self-interest that governs so … Continue reading →

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Strange fruit

Posted on June 15, 2012 by Jamie Jauncey

Tomorrow I leave for France for 10 days. This is a holiday that feels like it’s been a long time coming. The year so far has been one of hard domestic slog, clearing out my mother’s house in Kent and … Continue reading →

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Bring on the clowns

Posted on November 17, 2011 by Jamie Jauncey

Here’s a terrific story that surfaced in The Guardian this week in the context of the Pakistan match-fixing convictions, and the fact that corruption and gambling in Asian cricket is seen as a cultural problem. In 1995 a new mayor took office … Continue reading →

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A small rebellion

Posted on November 3, 2011 by Jamie Jauncey

The ripples from our last Dark Angels course continue to spread. Two weeks after leaving Inverness-shire, the glue that binds the group together seems to be setting firmer rather than weakening, as is more often the case. Our inboxes bulge … Continue reading →

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Murder was there none

Posted on October 28, 2011 by Jamie Jauncey

‘What are the types of people who come on your courses?’ asked a prospective Dark Angels student a couple of days ago. With last week’s course fresh in my mind I was able to reel off the following list: an … Continue reading →

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