The Making of Tesco - book review

‘The Making of Tesco’ by Sarah Ryle, Published by Bantam Press

It was not a good start to read on the cover that the author is from Tesco’s Corporate Affairs team.  I was therefore quite surprised to find it to be an excellent book, surprisingly open and objective about the many challenges on the way to Tesco’s success. It is true that the self-criticism is stronger when it refers to the distant past but it is still more than would normally be expected from a company sponsored publication.

I may not be typical because of past involvement with Tesco but I found this to be a compelling story of rags to riches and of a brilliant entrepreneurial founder - Jack Cohen - who had to be displaced before the company could grow to its present size and reputation.

Can you curate?

'Can you curate?' by Sam Burrough and Elizabeth Eyre, Training Journal, September 2013

I like to read and review articles in which a new term or concept is being introduced, to make sure that we are not exposed when talking to Learning & Development professionals.  I personally try - not always successfully - to resist the temptation to say that new concepts are in fact not new at all, but are instead merely the recycling of old principles under a new label. And, sure enough, as I read the first few paragraphs of this article, I could not see that 'curation' was anything new or relevant.  Surely curating is something done by museum staff, rather than anything to do with Learning & Development. 

How experts gain influence

‘How experts gain influence’ by Anette Mikes, Matthew Hall and Yuval Millo, Harvard Business Review, July/August 2013

There are a number of features that make this article in the Harvard Business Review unusual and, for me, worthy of special attention.  Firstly it is by three Brits who have done well to get their work into such a prestigious publication; secondly all three authors have titles that show a financial specialisation.  Accountants writing about influencing may seem an odd combination but, to all of us at MTP, this is of particular interest after our recent research on Finance Business Partnering.  Influencing is seen as a key skill by all those companies who contributed to our research.