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Business Agenda
A summary of the most important business news
By Sarah Vizard
1. The UK economy unexpectedly flatlined in July for the second month in a row. Data from the Office for National Statistics shows that while the economy grew by 0.5 per cent in the three months to July, there was no growth in the final two months, despite the City expecting 0.2 per cent growth. It leaves the government with more difficult decisions to make in the Budget and the decision over a change in interest rates next week on a knife edge. You can read more here.
2. Amazon Web Services is to invest £8bn in the UK over the next five years to build, operate and maintain its data centres. The increased investment comes amid the growth in cloud computing and AI, which Amazon says will contribute around £14bn to the UK’s GDP and help support 14,000 jobs. You can read more here.
3. Just two-thirds (65 per cent) of UK businesses have plans to reduce their emissions to net zero by the deadline of 2050, according to a survey of 2,005 organisations of all sizes by the UK Business Climate Hub. It also found that only half the companies surveyed even measure their carbon footprint. You can read more here or download the full report here.
4. The low-cost airline Wizz Air is to launch services between Europe and the Middle East, the first time it has run flights of seven hours or more. It will fly between London Gatwick and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as well as between Milan and Abu Dhabi. Unlike other low-cost long-haul routes, it will only offer economy seats and no extra services, betting that people will be lured by the low price. You can read more here.
5. The makeup brand Trinny London is opening its first store as it pushes to reach £100m in annual sales. The company, which was founded by Trinny Woodhall, will open a shop on the King’s Road in London. Until now it has only had a digital presence. You can read more here.
Business Question
According to research from Marktlink, what percentage of UK SME owners don’t understand the steps to prepare, or the challenges they may face, in selling their company?
A. 73 per cent
B. 61 per cent
C. 50 per cent
D. 39 per cent
The answer can be found at the bottom of the page.
Business Thinker
Deep dives on business and leadership
By Sarah Vizard
😁 Should we focus on making workers happy?
How important is a happy workforce? That’s the question Bruce Daisley is asking in a new episode of his podcast. The former Twitter exec turned workplace expert speaks to Mark Price, the former boss of Waitrose, about why the fastest way to business success is a happy and productive workforce. We also spoke to Price on the Business Leader podcast, which you can listen to on Apple here, or wherever you get your podcasts.
👑 How to delegate decision-making strategically
Delegating is an important skill for managers: it frees up their time and energy while allowing staff to take on more meaningful work. But when done badly it can cause employees to feel overburdened. This new research by Harvard Business School shows the negative impact it can have and offers solutions to those issues.
🍣 Business ‘immortality’ and the art of focus
Jiro Ono is a retired chef who spent his career perfecting sushi at his restaurant Sukiyabashi Jiro. In this piece, Big Think analyses how maintaining a relentless focus on one product or service can lead to long-term success.
Business Quote
Inspiration from leaders
“The leader has to be practical and a realist, yet must talk the language of the visionary and the idealist.”
– Eric Hoffer
Business Leader
The best of our content
🥵 Menopause: Is your workplace leading or lagging?
😕 How to set strategy in an uncertain world
🤳 Welcome to the brave new world of bio-preneurs
And finally…
During the Covid lockdown, I was fortunate to host a virtual event with some mentors from Funding London, a financial consultant that focuses on SMEs in the capital. One mentor blew me away with his knowledge and unwavering passion for helping leaders to grow their businesses.
Earlier this year, I reached out to this same mentor to get his reflection on his time working at Oracle. While it’s a tech behemoth now, the company was in its infancy when Sukhendu Pal was one its first UK employees in the early 1980s. What I got was a beautiful and insightful analysis of the person who is Larry Elison.
While Sukhendu has been fighting cancer for many years, his passion for giving back to the business community has never waned. He has recently shared three stories from his life and the lessons from them. From becoming the black sheep of the family by dropping out of a PhD programme to join a young start-up called Oracle to what he learnt from meeting Steve Jobs and David Bowie.
It’s a great read and I’d highly recommend it. You can read the stories here.
The answer to today’s Business Question is C. 50 per cent.
