April 2012 - Rick

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Were the 1970s really that bad?

The Seventies were crap. It’s one of those things that ‘everybody knows’. The unions held the country to ransom, refuse piled up in the streets, power cuts were frequent and the fashions were embarrassing. The economy was tanking and...

Published 30 Apr 2012 10:02 AM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales

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Creativity: Should the ‘mediocre middle’ be kept inside the box?

Can we all be creative given the right circumstances or is creativity the preserve of a few naturally talented people? It’s an important question for organisations. If it’s the former, you foster an environment where people are given as much...

Published 26 Apr 2012 8:48 AM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales

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Is there a creativity crisis?

Chris Dillow reckons we are facing a crisis of creativity. “What might be the most important question in economics,” he says, is “how to encourage creativity.” I say this is the most important question because it is the main cause...

Published 23 Apr 2012 7:50 AM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales

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Global cities

If you want to fritter away an hour or two on a Friday, you could do worse than play around with this fascinating Global cities graphic from McKinsey. It maps cities by population, GDP and Per Capita GDP in 2007 … Continue reading → Read More...

Published 20 Apr 2012 7:21 AM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales

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The end of the state as we knew it

Two reports about the cost of ageing and its fiscal impact came out last week. The IMF’s Financial Stability Report concluded that the cost of longevity has been consistently underestimated. By 2050, it says, if people are living for even …...

Published 19 Apr 2012 8:22 AM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales

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Leadership lessons from dictators and warlords

A bronze statue of Genghis Khan, by Buryat sculptor Dashi Namdakov, was placed at Marble Arch this weekend. The occasion lead Kate to consider the khan’s legacy and his leadership style. I can never decide whether Genghis Khan was a ruthless …...

Published 17 Apr 2012 11:32 AM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales

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Time out

I’m off for a few days on a finance and risk management action learning event. Normal service (whatever that is) will be resumed next week. Read More...

Published 12 Apr 2012 6:10 AM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales

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The Gig Economy – odd jobs, debts and the desperate search for hours

Chris Dillow’s ‘day job’ piece in the Investors’ Chronicle explains the ‘hidden unemployment’ in Britain. Productivity has dropped, he says, because a lot of people simply don’t have enough to do. Part of this...

Published 10 Apr 2012 11:58 AM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales

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We protest about state surveillance while happily surrendering our privacy

The government’s internet surveillance proposals have provoked a storm of protest from across the political spectrum. Personal privacy and its protection always arouses strong feelings. At least, it does when the threat to it comes from the state...

Published 5 Apr 2012 9:08 AM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales

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Selection bias – the failure to study failure

My Twitter stream is full of links to articles and blog posts with titles like, “The 7 must-haves for business success,” or “The 5 things that make a successful entrepreneur,” or “10 reasons why beer drinkers make better...

Published 4 Apr 2012 6:50 AM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales

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What sort of countries have lots of self-employed people? Poor ones!

After one of my recent posts about self-employment, someone (I forget who or where) asked me if I could plot the percentage of self-employment in a country against its per-capita GDP. There is no way at the moment that I … Continue reading →...

Published 2 Apr 2012 5:00 PM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales

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Financiers and pimps

I was going to do an April Fools’ Day post about a report by a free market think-tank and a group of private equity bosses, claiming that tiresome and outdated laws on under-age sex were damaging the economy. The dead … Continue reading →...

Published 2 Apr 2012 7:32 AM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales

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April 2012 - Rick

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Were the 1970s really that bad?

Creativity: Should the ‘mediocre middle’ be kept inside the box?

Is there a creativity crisis?

Global cities

The end of the state as we knew it

Leadership lessons from dictators and warlords

Time out

The Gig Economy – odd jobs, debts and the desperate search for hours

We protest about state surveillance while happily surrendering our privacy

Selection bias – the failure to study failure

What sort of countries have lots of self-employed people? Poor ones!

Financiers and pimps