Imagine my concern when two consecutive ‘tweets’ from the Telegraph News Twitter account today read;
Donkey rides disappear from Margate beach after 120 years
and…
6-foot boa constrictor on the loose in Kent
Thankfully it turns out that the two stories are in no way connected.
Many years ago, London’s networking queen Carole Stone used to produce Any Questions for the BBC. Unsurprisingly, this fuelled the creation of one of the UK’s largest and most influential address books. Nick Pisani, who previously edited Question Time will find his wealth of high level contacts more than handy in his new role at Intelligence Squared. This week, another excellent BBC producer, Newsnight’s Peter Barron announced that he is leaving to join Google, as head of communications and PR for the UK and Ireland.
At Google, Peter will work with Rachel Whetstone, newly appointed Global Director of Communications, who will be based in Silicon Valley. Rachel is married to Steve Hilton, who went from co-founding Good Business to working as head of strategy for David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party. His equivalent at Number 10 is Stephen Carter, who previously ran Brunswick Group, and OFCOM before that.
All of this makes me wonder; who is going to produce our flagship TV programmes in the future? And I think you can guess where I’m going with this one. Alistair Campbell, your country needs you.
Disguise, deception, youth crime, random acts of kindness. Once in a while a story comes along which captures the spirit of the news…
Now no cheating by skipping to the bottom of the post. Who is this being oveheard by ABC News?;
A:”You should be on the beach. You need a break. Well, you need to be able to keep your head together.”
B:”You’ve got to refresh yourself.”
A:”Do you have a break at all?”
B:”I have not. I am going to take a week in August. But I agree with you that somebody, somebody who had worked in the White House who – not Clinton himself, but somebody who had been close to the process – said that, should we be successful, that actually the most important thing you need to do is to have big chunks of time during the day when all you’re doing is thinking. And the biggest mistake that a lot of these folks make is just feeling as if you have to be . . .”
A:”These guys just chalk your diary up.”
B:”Right. In 15-minute increments . . .”
A:”We call it the dentist’s waiting room. You have to scrap that because you’ve got to have time.”
B:”And, well, and you start making mistakes, or you lose the big picture. Or you lose a sense of, I think you lose a feel ..”
A:”Your feeling. And that is exactly what politics is all about. The judgment you bring to make decisions.”
B:”That’s exactly right. And the truth is that we’ve got a bunch of smart people, I think, who know 10 times more than we do about the specifics of the topics. And so if what you’re trying to do is micromanage and solve everything then you end up being a dilettante but you have to have enough knowledge to make good judgments about the choices that are presented to you.”
Barack Obama (B) and David Cameron (A) might enjoy;
In Praise of Slow, by Carl Honore
Slow Planet (the ‘Global Hub for the Slow Revolution’)
Slow Down Now (strapline; Multitasking is a Moral Weakness)
When Liam Black left 15, Jamie Oliver’s foundation, I wondered what he’d do next. The first part of the answer comes in the form of Wavelength 100, a two-day event connecting social entrepreneurs and private sector businesses. Over lunch at One Alfred Place this month, we talked about the idea that two people in completely different jobs or sectors could, at heart, be trying to solve very similar problems. And how bringing those two people together could result in some powerful reactions.
I met Liam at a dinner hosted by James Lawn and Bronwyn Kunhardt, founders of Polecat. Sitting opposite me was the excellent Katie Ledger. We kept in touch and last week Katie did a superb job hosting the Catalyst Awards final.
Liam Black once told a Guardian interviewer that his first vocation was to become a priest. Jim and Bron went from Microsoft to found Polecat, measuring the social impact of social media. Katie used to present the news on ITV and Channel 5 and now helps business leaders get their story heard, and is writing a book about portfolio work. Different people, different paths.
Last year I met the inspiring Dalton Leong, who changed path from his City career to run the Shooting Star Children’s Hospice. Just this month I spent the morning at the St Giles Trust, run by former investment banker, Rob Owen.
Two weeks ago I hosted some Speed Networking between employees of ten investment banks, here in London. Although the mood was extremely positive, talk turned often to passions beyond the city.
Regardless of where people are holidaying and what they’re reading this summer, I wouldn’t mind betting that we hear about some pretty major career changes from some pretty influential people come September.
