Alanhargreaves

LATEST ARTICLES ( 172 )

• Maintaining Passion

  

  The case for delayed gratification What’s going to be special about 2016? You’ll be taking yourself with you, so it’ll be much the same as last year unless you... Read more

  Posted on 11 January 2016 BUSINESS, CAREER, ECONOMICS, MARKETING & ADVERTISING

• Lucky You Are Not Good at Everything

  

  Why delegation is at the core of leadership It was pretty obvious watching the Rugby World Cup: some players are hopeless at some things and really good at... Read more

  Posted on 08 October 2015 BUSINESS, CAREER, ECONOMICS, MARKETING & ADVERTISING

• How to Grow Any Business

  

  You’ve probably already got what it takes There are several remarkable things about General Electric (GE). For a start, it’s been around for a while. Thomas... Read more

  Posted on 15 April 2015 BUSINESS, CAREER, ECONOMICS, MARKETING & ADVERTISING

• The Wisdom of the Loud

  

  Groupthink is alive and well, and often wrong I was warned at an early age. You can’t believe everything you read. And that was well before the internet was... Read more

  Posted on 16 March 2015 BUSINESS, CAREER, ECONOMICS, MARKETING & ADVERTISING

• The Power of Downtime

  

  Does doing nothing really help? It’s sometimes hard to throttle back at this time of the year. After all, weren’t you going to get all that stuff finished by th... Read more

  Posted on 22 December 2014 BUSINESS, CAREER, ECONOMICS, MARKETING & ADVERTISING

• Are Strong Opinions That Useful?

  

  Firmly held ideas don’t have a great track record. Strong opinions have little to commend them. They’re correlated with high blood pressure, anxiety and... Read more

  Posted on 20 November 2014 BUSINESS, CAREER, ECONOMICS, MARKETING & ADVERTISING

• Picking Winners

  

  Making decisions in times of rapid change Why do managed funds invariably underperform the stock market? Even hedge funds – allegedly run by the smartest... Read more

  Posted on 07 October 2014 BUSINESS, CAREER, ECONOMICS, MARKETING & ADVERTISING

• Why Satisfaction in Not Enough

  

  Going the extra mile How much is enough? Depends on what we are talking about. If it’s personal wellbeing, the right answer is probably whatever you’ve got... Read more

  Posted on 09 September 2014 BUSINESS, CAREER, ECONOMICS, MARKETING & ADVERTISING

• Why Simple is Better

  

  For clarity, de-clutter. We often make things complex when something simple would give us a better result. We think we’ll make things clear by adding more... Read more

  Posted on 12 August 2014 BUSINESS, CAREER, ECONOMICS, MARKETING & ADVERTISING

• Work Happens to Be Part of Life

  

  Is work-life balance such a good idea? It has a nice ring to it, like it’s a state of calm. In the office, we’d competently manage stressful issues. At home, th... Read more

  Posted on 29 July 2014 BUSINESS, CAREER, ECONOMICS, MARKETING & ADVERTISING

• The Mindfulness Thing

  

  How doing nothing helps. What do Google, Rupert Murdoch and KPMG have in common with Apple, eBay and Ford Motor Company? All of them embrace the notion of... Read more

  Posted on 15 July 2014 BUSINESS, CAREER, ECONOMICS, MARKETING & ADVERTISING

• Planet of the Apps

  

  Old ideas for managing new technology. Your business is ticking along nicely. Out of left field a low-cost start-up zooms into your market and starts picking of... Read more

  Posted on 01 July 2014 BUSINESS, CAREER, ECONOMICS, MARKETING & ADVERTISING

• The Upside of Your Limitations

  

  Focus is as important as effort. There are infinite ways to improve your life. Trying to do them all is a recipe for underperformance. Success often comes down... Read more

  Posted on 17 June 2014 BUSINESS, CAREER, ECONOMICS, MARKETING & ADVERTISING

• Planned Prosperity Vs Lucky Breaks

  

  Googling Good Fortune. In 1999, Sergey Brin and Larry Page took their fledgling product to George Bell, CEO of established search engine, Excite. Read more

  Posted on 03 June 2014 BUSINESS, CAREER, ECONOMICS, MARKETING & ADVERTISING

• Beware: Cliches Ahead.

  

  Sometimes there’s a reason the road less travelled is not congested. It’s easy to come up with slogans to explain success. Management commentary is full of... Read more

  Posted on 20 May 2014 BUSINESS, CAREER, ECONOMICS, MARKETING & ADVERTISING

• Stressful Decisions

  

  The problem's inside our own heads. On Friday, 16th October, 1987, I ended a prosperous week with a few drinks at the Singapore Cricket Club. Our stock broking... Read more

  Posted on 06 May 2014 BUSINESS, CAREER, ECONOMICS, MARKETING & ADVERTISING

• Strategy Vs Tactics

  

  Optimizing your business and your life. Vision, purpose, mission, goals. They are big words and there’s value in all of them. But once you’ve worked them out,... Read more

  Posted on 22 April 2014 BUSINESS, CAREER, ECONOMICS, MARKETING & ADVERTISING

• Blowing Your Inheritance

  

  Managing your DNA in business and life. Genetics have always been a good excuse. We often hear it. “There’s nothing I can do about it. It’s the way I am. Read more

  Posted on 08 April 2014 BUSINESS, CAREER, ECONOMICS, MARKETING & ADVERTISING

• Fast Leadership

  

  A random walk through the leadership maze. Search “leadership” on Amazon and you’ll find several thousand books on the subject. Even more than on “How to make... Read more

  Posted on 24 March 2014 BUSINESS, CAREER, ECONOMICS, MARKETING & ADVERTISING

• So, What Were You Worried About?

  

  An interesting milestone passed quietly last week. We’re not supposed to worry about material things. Somehow, we are meant to rise above the earthly stuff. It’... Read more

  Posted on 10 March 2014 BUSINESS, CAREER, ECONOMICS, MARKETING & ADVERTISING