We have published some essential features and interviews this week that offer a unique insight into leadership, the UK economy and the reasons for business success and failure. 

First, make sure you check out Tom Beahon’s new column. The co-founder of sportswear brand Castore has written about the importance of entrepreneurs staying focused.

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He says: “The single biggest lesson I have learnt throughout our journey so far is the importance of keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing: what is the single factor that makes your business special and different from anyone else – and that makes customers choose you? In its purest form, it is what made you start the company in the first place. Understanding this, and remembering it, is a true superpower for all entrepreneurs. 

“This can be incredibly difficult, particularly for fast-growth scale-ups. The array of stakeholders you manage grows exponentially, from banks and investors to suppliers and customers, your team internally, the media and of course yourself. If you are not coming into the office excited every day about what you are building, it is unlikely anyone else will be. Each stakeholder has different priorities and managing them all can be incredibly complex, but that is exactly what great leaders do – and they do this while maintaining a laser focus on the overarching mission.” 

The column is a rare chance to hear the founder of one of the UK’s fastest-growing companies speaking candidly. You can find the column in full here. 

Second, do listen to Dougal Shaw’s interview with Fraser Smeaton, the co-founder and chief executive of MorphCostumes. This interview features in our latest podcast episode and is the story of how a quirky side hustle became a successful business – but then ran into big trouble.  

Smeaton explains how he had to make half of the company’s employees redundant as growth slowed and new rivals undercut MorphCostumes with cheaper alternatives. “We hired in hope rather than with a plan,” he says at one point. Now, however, MorphCostumes has fought back and is generating more than £40m in annual revenue. 

You can listen to the podcast episode here. 

Finally, Chris Maguire, our Northern correspondent, has spoken to the mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham about why devolution matters so much for the economy and businesses. “This is as exciting as it gets for Greater Manchester given that we’ve blazed this trail,” Burnham says. “This devolution journey is tangible here. People can see the changes. They can see the growth in our economy. We have been growing faster than the UK economy for some years now.” 

The interview also covers how Burnham thinks about leadership and his views on Sir Keir Starmer, the prime minister. “I’ve got to know Keir across the years,” he says. “I got to know somebody who is very clear-eyed on decision-making. He takes his time, considers things but makes very clear decisions [and] doesn’t fudge things. He’s someone who has been used to office. I always had a feeling that he would, more than anybody before him, look like a prime minister from day one. The minute that he entered Downing Street, he looked like the PM.” 

You can find that interview here. 

What you need to know this week

1. The UK economy unexpectedly contracted by 0.1 per cent in October – its second consecutive fall and marking a blow for Labour’s promise to boost growth. The data suggests the economy was shrinking even before the Budget on October 30. Business leaders are still concerned about the impact that could have on growth, with Currys boss Alex Baldock warning about price rises. You can read more here.

2. Google has released a more advanced version of its Gemini artificial intelligence model as it looks to rival OpenAI, Meta and Apple in bringing assistants powered by the technology to consumers. The company unveiled its vision of two AI agents powered by the new model that can answer real-time queries across text, video and audio. Separately, Apple rolled out an update to its operating system that gives iPhone users free access to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Read more about Gemini 2.0 here and watch a demo of the technology here.

3. In more bad news for Labour, the number of job vacancies in November fell at the fastest rate since the start of the pandemic, marking the 13th consecutive fall, according to data from KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation. Meanwhile, business confidence fell to its lowest level since January 2023, according to accountancy company BDO. You can read more on both surveys here.

4. The cost of the average Christmas dinner has increased by 6.5 per cent in the past year following significant price rises for key ingredients including potatoes, cauliflower, carrots and parsnips. On average, UK shoppers will pay £32.57 for a festive meal for four, according to the retail analysts Kantar. The increase is almost three times the rate of wider grocery inflation. You can read more here.

5. The billionaire financier Lord Michael Spencer has argued that the CEOs of London-listed companies should be paid like “top-rate footballers” and not face a backlash. He said the UK needs to tackle the “political hot potato” of executive pay if it wants to attract the best talent to run companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. “We don’t mind paying our footballers extraordinary amounts of money,” he said, “but if the CEO of BP or HSBC earns £20m a year, materially less than their peer group in America, everyone jumps up and down saying this is an outrage.” You can read the full interview in the Financial Times.

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Weekend reading

⚽ Thomas Frank Masterclass: The secret to Brentford’s success and what’s next 

Thomas Frank is the manager of Brentford football club. He oversaw their promotion to the Premier League and has kept them in the top league in English football for the past four seasons. Here, he talks to host Jake Humphrey about his approach to leadership, how he cultivates a winning culture and the role of data in his coaching strategy. 

🤔 Is your company’s problem complicated? Or complex? 

The question posed in this piece might sound like semantics. After all, is there really a difference between something being complicated and complex? The argument posed here, however, is that complicated problems are solvable by using well-understood processes, while complex problems are harder to untangle and unlikely to have tidy solutions. The main problem leaders face is working out whether the issue they have is complicated and complex – and therefore the best way to solve it.  

🤖 Farewell, Don Draper: AI is coming for advertising 

The news that two of the four biggest ad agency holding companies – Omnicom and Interpublic – are set to merge has set the world of advertising alight. But, as this piece in The Economist argues, it speaks more broadly to changes in how every company is advertising. The industry has never been bigger or more powerful – but increasingly that power is in the hands of tech companies like Facebook, Meta and Amazon. That impacts every business. 

And finally

Every year, GCHQ releases a brainteaser – and this year is no different! Coming in the form of a Christmas card from director Anne Keast-Butler, it challenges the public to decode the names of UK landmarks using codebreaking, maths and lateral thinking.  

This year’s card also includes extra layers hidden within the code for those who want to challenge themselves further. GCHQ’s chief puzzler, known only as Colin, has described this year’s brainteaser as “challengingly fun”. 

You can find the challenge online here.