How an economist optimises their morning routine
Plus, UK needs £1tn investment for a decade to reach 3 per cent annual growth, Poppy Gustafsson to leave Darktrace and Ticketmaster “dynamic pricing” of Oasis tickets under investigation
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Business Thinker
Deep dives on business and leadership
🌅 How an economist optimises their morning routine
Hustle culture: 4am wake up, gym for two hours, breakfast, attack the day. Some see this as inspiration, others as LinkedIn clickbait. But what if it only took a few tweaks to optimise that start to your day? The Financial Times looks at exactly that.
🎯 The unconventional philosophy behind ‘founder mode’
Investor Paul Graham recently shared an essay with a bold perspective: traditional advice on business growth is often misguided. Highlighted by Big Think, Graham says that rather than transitioning to “manager mode” and delegating tasks as a company grows, the most successful startup CEOs maintain “founder mode” indefinitely.
😩 How to support an employee in distress
Recent research has a counterintuitive finding: people who have suffered troubles at work may not be effective in helping other employees experiencing similar distress. Those who have not endured the same thing are more likely to be more effective. Harvard Business Review looks at how leaders could handle these situations and avoid “carewashing”.
Business Agenda
A summary of the most important business news
By Sarah Vizard
1. The UK needs £1tn of investment over the next 10 years if it is to achieve 3 per cent annual growth, according to the Capital Markets of Tomorrow report. Led by City veteran and former L&G boss Sir Nigel Wilson, the report says that investment will require £20bn to £30bn in housing stock, £50bn in the energy sector, £8bn for water projects and £20bn to £30bn in venture capital. You can read more here.
2. Darktrace’s co-founder and CEO Poppy Gustafsson is to leave the cybersecurity firm Darktrace after its $5.3bn (£4.2bn) sale to the private equity company Thoma Bravo. Gustafsson founded the business in 2013 and is one of a few women to have built a billion-dollar company in the UK – and still be involved in it. Darktrace’s chief operating officer Jill Popelka is to take over. You can read more here and our profile of Gustafsson on our billion-pound founder list here.
3. John Lewis has brought back its “never knowingly undersold” price promise, two years after abandoning it. The scheme now includes both online and in-store sales, with the retailer using AI to match the prices of 25 top retailers. You can read more about the new scheme here and an interview with its marketing director on why redressing value perceptions is important here.
4. PwC is to start monitoring the office attendance of its 26,000 UK employees as it adopts a hybrid-working policy that says staff must spend a minimum of three days a week in the office or at client sites. The location data will be shared with individuals and monitored in the same way as chargeable hours. The Financial Times has the details here.
5. The competition regulator has launched an investigation into the “dynamic pricing” used in the sale of Oasis tickets. The Competition and Markets Authority will look into whether Ticketmaster breached consumer protection law by increasing the price of tickets in line with demand. You can read more here.
Business Question
Guess the year
- The Food Standards Agency was created
- MG Rover is sold to Phoenix Consortium for £10
- Vodafone’s completes a hostile takeover of Mannesmann
- A bubble peaked in this year
- Octopus Group, Home Retail Group, Uswitch and CV-Library are founded
The answer can be found at the bottom of the page.
Business Quote
Inspiration from leaders
“If you think you’re too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito in the room.”
– Anita Roddick
Business Leader
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🚀 5 Nordic ideas to boost entrepreneurship in the UK
♀️ Let’s narrow the divide on the unfinished business of pay gaps
And finally…
Some light entertainment courtesy of our friends at tech website Sifted – the actors who could play the founders of UK businesses if their story was turned into a TV show.
Some of the actors suggested look remarkably like the founder they would play, such as Jeremy Strong as Revolut’s Nikolay Storonsky. You can read the piece here.
The answer to today’s Business Question is 2000.
