The importance of business history
Lecture to MBA students and alumni at Leeds Business School based on my book Eminent Corporations, but also looking at the authenticity of brands – and the urgent need for them to be more human (22 Sept 2011).
I worked closely with Anita Roddick and miss her enormously. Her legacy will be widespread, and – despite the way she was consistently dismissed by the business press – especially in the way we do business (Open Democracy, Oct 2007).
The lunch, the cook and the larder
Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy live in the countryside with an old professor. But Edmund finds himself in another world where TescoVirgin isn’t the only company left (Ethical Pulse, Jan 2007).
Everything today is thoroughly modern – or is it?
Why do we have to go along with the modernism hype this year, just because of the V&A? Isn’t it time the monstrous old doctrine was put out of its misery? (Town & Country Planning, May 2006).
In defence of the little things
Small human details make society human (The Guardian, 2004).
In search of wabi-sabi planning
The strange revival of authentic places (Town & Country Planning, 2004).
Community brands
Is there such a thing as a community brand? The emergence of genuinely authentic branding (Viewpoint, 2005).
Why big brands are failing
The big brands are on the way out all over the world – because they are not real (Financial Times, 2003).
Artificial places No. 1
Is Ocean Dome, Japan’s fake seaside resort, the least authentic place in the world? (The Ecologist, 2003)