News

Leadership qualities need to be embraced by the number crunchers too!

Leadership qualities are sought after in every role and those in finance offer no exception. However, it’s important to decipher what the much used term means. There’s an implicit assumption that leaders are budget holders with responsibility for the ‘pay & rations’ of others as well as for their performance, development and well-being. However, if … Read more

The Problem with People Science

People Science is the world of the rational, of evidence and categories, systems and equations. We all know and evidence-based research confirms, that people aren’t rational. They are unique and emotional and, unlike machines, don’t perform in an unbiased way. They find it difficult to be informed decision makers – preferring heuristics – which makes … Read more

The Dangers of Applying Big Data to Learning

Our uniqueness is our distinct advantage, not our limitation. We need to learn to appreciate it in ourselves and respect and encourage it in others. There is so much talk about big data that it’s easy to forget that big is only the sum of small. In business we refer to ‘big’ via aggregates, averages, and … Read more

Financial Literacy – Counting the Cost

The Bank of England’s Chief Economist, Andy Haldane believes financial literacy should be built into the core curriculum early in secondary schools. Doing so will lead to more people being better prepared for the challenges of adult life and more confident when handling financial matters. However, Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the Association of School … Read more

Why don’t line managers develop their people?

The urgent need to democratise learning The never-ending debate around undergraduate tuition fees and vocational and technical training courses hits the headlines again. The PM, Theresa May is calling for “better value” from the former and “higher standards” for the latter. While this issue centres on the quality and cost of education for young people … Read more