“Weak links?”
In 1973 Stanford Professor Mark Granovetter’s “the strength of weak ties” argued that weak links, between people with different opinions help new and unfamiliar ideas spread.
Tag: Society
Brexit and impact on diversity and inclusion within the workforce
By Funke Abimbola MBE, general counsel and head of financial compliance for Roche UK
Immigration was one of the thorniest issues of the EU referendum campaign. Highly political and emotionally charged, it is also dominating conversation as we negotiate our exit. And rightly so. Brexit, if mishandled, has the potential to severely damage both diversity and inclusion within the workforce. This would have a detrimental impact on UK PLC’s abilities to compete on the global stage.
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New technologies will redefine workplace models
By Joy Frascinella, head of PR at the Principles of Responsible Investment
Responsible investment has steadily moved from the periphery to the mainstream over the last decade. This is because an increasing number of companies and investors acknowledge that looking at environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues translates into myriad advantages, from improved staff performance to better returns.
We can solve the productivity puzzle by investing in people
By Patrick Spencer, Head of Work and Welfare Unit at the Centre for Social Justice
In his Budget, the chancellor Philip Hammond announced forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) that the British economy will grow by 1.4 per cent in 2018, below previous forecasts of a 1.6 per cent expansion.
The reason? “Regrettably, our productivity performance continues to disappoint,” said Philip Hammond.
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Post-truth, fake news, or is it rather more nuanced than that?
By Sam Knowles, Founder and Managing Director of Insight Agents
In a Sky News debate during the EU Referendum Campaign, the aide de camp in the Vote Leave group, Michael Gove, told Faisal Islam: “I think the people in this country have had enough of experts … experts out of organisations with acronyms, saying that they know what is best and getting it consistently wrong.” If you have the stomach for it, it’s worth watching again, here.
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Sorry needn’t be the hardest word to say
Together with a couple of others, I have recently launched a campaign called Apology Clause, which we have conceived, created and will run on a pro bono basis.
The campaign aims to make it easier for businesses to behave with compassion when things go wrong, and thus for victims to have better recoveries.
Taking a stand: the risks and benefits of corporate activism
Research from Ipsos Mori, the market research company, indicates many in politics and the media believe that businesses have a licence, or even an obligation, to speak out on important, and perhaps controversial, socio-political issues.
But if companies are considering taking a stand on a big social or political issue, what do they need to consider to get it right?
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Making the case for free enterprise
Capitalism is under threat and companies now face a more hostile environment in which to do business than at any time in the last 40 years.
A study by the Legatum Institute, a think tank, and Populus, the market research company, found that there is widespread support for Labour’s nationalisation agenda and much less support for free enterprise. For advocates of free enterprise, anyone who runs a business, and, as should be the case, is merely employed by private enterprise, the report makes sober reading.
Making the case for business
Populism is on the rise, tensions are high and the case for business is not being made.
Companies now face a more hostile environment in which to do business than at any time in the last 40 years.
The past decade has traced a decline in trust in formal institutions. Recent studies show across almost every issue – whether regulation or ownership – that the public is losing patience with private business. Even travel agents do not escape the wrath, with a quarter of people wanting them nationalised.
Businesses are under threat, some terminally so.
But companies are the UK’s principal wealth and job creators. They support 82% of all employment in this country. They provide the taxes that essential public services depend on.
It has never been more difficult, nor more important, to make the argument for business. Correctly, responsibly and with conviction.
But for too long communications has failed to keep pace with the changing pressures businesses face. Business communication has lost touch with the need to be human and understand how humans behave.
Rather than shrink from the argument, business must communicate with conviction throughout conflict. We must now understand and influence behaviours, networks, echo chambers, activists and even propagandists.
Businesses must win the argument by having better, more compelling stories. Told in more human ways.
This is why we’ve launched Fourteen Forty.
We believe it’s time to reset the relationship between business and the public.
We believe it’s time people recognise once again all that businesses contribute to society and the economy.
It is time to make the case for business.
Is big business really the big bad wolf?
The big bad wolf is the archetypal menacing predator. Preying on the weak and vulnerable, he has few, if any, redeeming features. For many, this is how they see big business. Recent research by the Legatum Institute showed that the British public holds an unfavourable view of ‘capitalism’ as a concept, viewing it as ‘greedy’, ‘selfish’ and ‘corrupt’. A vast majority, according to the research, would like to see many industries, and the big businesses within them, nationalised.