Listen to Lucy
By Lucy Kellaway
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Podcast Description
Lucy Kellaway, the FT's management columnist, pokes fun at management fads and jargon, and celebrates the ups and downs of office life
| Name | Description | Released | Price | ||
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1 |
CleanUBS’s silly menu leaves a bad taste | It is time to worry when companies write witless things and then hand them to their customers, says Lucy Kellaway | 2/9/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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2 |
CleanIf you have to reject me, tell me straight | No one appreciates hollow good wishes from someone who is telling them to shove off, says Lucy Kellaway | 1/23/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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3 |
CleanIf you want adult behaviour, treat people like babies | Lloyds bank has found a new way of saving money. It has banned all staff from travelling on the third week of every month. If this is a good idea, a similar system should be deployed for all the other ways in which We Are Not Wise with our time, says Lucy Kellaway. | 1/16/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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4 |
ExplicitThe 2011 guff awards | The judging is now complete and Lucy Kellaway is ready to announce the winners of her annual business jargon awards. | 1/10/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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5 |
CleanSocial networks upend office etiquette | What is acceptable and what is shameless? The answer is that no one has the foggiest – we are all making it up as we go along, says Lucy Kellaway | 12/10/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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6 |
CleanMoney’s too tight to mention if you have lots of it | It is surprisingly hard to be good at having money – harder than acquiring it in the first place. The perfect amount of money is when you hardly have to think about it at all, says Lucy Kellaway | 12/3/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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7 |
CleanWe all deserve to be told the terrible truth | ‘Protected conversations’ between employees and bosses are a good idea but they won’t make any difference in practice, says Lucy Kellaway | 11/30/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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8 |
CleanA guide to life in the fast cycle lane | Thinking strategically about your life isn’t necessarily such a great idea, says Lucy Kellaway | 11/23/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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9 |
CleanStick to the rules and abusing your colleagues is OK | So long as top people in the City are continuing to behave in an uncivilised fashion, the world as we know it isn’t coming to an end, says Lucy Kellaway | 11/17/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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10 |
CleanCopying, the mother of the best inventions | No one seems interested in teaching us how to get better at mimicry, despite it being the key to success, says Lucy Kellaway | 11/9/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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11 |
CleanManagement guff lands in China | When the guff germ arrives big time in China, my prediction is that they will be better at dealing with it than westerners, says Lucy Kellaway. | 10/30/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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12 |
CleanBlackBerry blackout left me happily unlinked | Most email messages are exceedingly stupid, and none more so than the ones that arrive from LinkedIn, says Lucy Kellaway | 10/17/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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13 |
CleanEveryone benefits from a beast in the boardroom | All companies need someone on board who stirs things up and couldn’t care less what people think, just don’t confuse it with ego, says Lucy Kellaway. | 10/13/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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14 |
CleanForget doing the ‘math’ and stick to proper English | All sorts of things are just plain wrong when translated from maths to business talk, says Lucy Kellaway, | 10/3/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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15 |
CleanPretenders to power are the most dangerous | Power may corrupt, but absolute power corrupts much less than partial power – as too many lower down the pecking order show, says Lucy Kellaway | 9/28/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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16 |
CleanMy cure for an outbreak of weak excuse tendency | Sufferers from WET aren’t skiving or lying; they just have an inadequate notion of what it means to be reliable, says Lucy Kellaway. | 9/20/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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17 |
CleanBartz flubs her lines as she leaves the Yahoo stage | The sacking of Carol Bartz last week made theatre of the most superior kind. Watching the former chief executive of Yahoo go down spitting obscenities was exhilarating in an immediate sort of way, says Lucy Kellaway | 9/14/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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18 |
CleanDo teddies have a place in the boardroom? | Research from an expert in ethics at Harvard University suggests people behave better when teddy bears are in the room, says Lucy Kellaway | 9/8/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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19 |
CleanChief Googler’s ‘amazing’ clichés are dull and void | Larry Page’s thinking on his decision to spend $12.5bn on some mobile handsets, patents and set-top boxes is woolly at best, says Lucy Kellway. | 9/6/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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20 |
CleanAge-old bonds make the office tick | Is working with people of different ages really a problem? | 8/14/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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21 |
CleanSix little words and one very big question | What keeps you in your job? What would your six-word answer be? | 8/7/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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22 |
CleanAnti-PowerPoint revolutionaries unite | The ubiquitous piece of software can leave one feeling grumpy and passive and in no frame of mind for proper work, says Lucy Kellaway | 8/1/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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23 |
CleanUnrequited love and corporate idiocy | When the new head of Tesco in the UK said he wanted staff to love customers, I followed up by visiting my local store, says Lucy Kellaway | 8/1/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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24 |
CleanCheers to those with a glass half-empty | In business, optimism is good and pessimism bad. Optimists have a monopoly on success, on happiness and even on longevity. Pessimists, with their long faces and dark thoughts are pariahs, thought fit for nothing in the gung-ho corporate world except possibly careers in journalism (where bad news is good news). Otherwise, they have a choice between the couch, the closet or the comedy circuit. | 7/6/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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25 |
CleanYou’ve got mail but you need to get your life back | Everyone agrees that we spend too much of our lives e-mailing. Everyone agrees that the answer is to write fewer, shorter, clearer messages. Everyone has known this for years. Yet instead of getting better, the problem goes on getting worse. | 7/6/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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26 |
CleanA need to please can get you into trouble | Two different women, both of them up to their eyes in different sorts of trouble, last week put forward the same excuse to explain lapses in their behaviour. Each said she was suffering from a new debilitating condition – a compulsion to please people. | 7/6/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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27 |
CleanPath to happiness runs through the office | It is a terrific relief to find that the true path to happiness involves doing what most of us do most of the time, whether we like it or not – work | 6/11/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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28 |
CleanE-mail contract is not worth the kilobytes | Legal disclaimers on e-mails are not only unenforced but unenforceable – making one wonder why they are so popular | 6/4/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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29 |
CleanThe wonders worked by womanhood | Lagarde is right to play the female card – this is the best time there has been to be a woman with talent, charm, and an appetite for advancement, says Lucy Kellaway | 5/28/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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30 |
CleanDespite the offer, I won’t fill in for DSK | I don’t like the idea of deputising for someone who was sorting out the financial crisis and might have been president of France, says Lucy Kellaway. | 5/25/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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31 |
CleanMust I remember my kids’ ages just to log on? | In the early days of computers I never forgot my password because the top secret word I’d chosen was ‘Kellaway’, which I found could be effortlessly recalled even in the most fraught moments, says Lucy Kellaway. | 5/11/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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32 |
CleanThe dull names of those who rose | Research shows that with CEOs overwhelmingly having boring first names, the drearier the moniker, the greater the success – and that diversity is bunkum says Lucy Kellaway. | 5/4/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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33 |
CleanDrivel is in the detail with CEO pay | The reams of justification for executive remuneration are mind-numbing and likely to make one succumb through sheer weariness, says Lucy Kellaway. | 4/29/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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34 |
CleanYou might be a genius but I wouldn’t tell you so | Even though I prefer to have genius status granted for big things, I’m prepared to accept it for any achievement at all, even for pressing send on my computer, says Lucy Kellaway. | 4/28/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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35 |
CleanTablets to cure our smartphone sicknesses | Last Monday, when Kerry McCarthy MP got up to speak in the House of Commons she made history – not for the words she spoke, but for reading them off her iPad. | 4/5/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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36 |
CleanWriting is on the wall for ‘customer care’ | A letter posted on a lavatory wall to amuse with its verbosity highlights the deficiencies of another missive by a virtuoso at apology – and guff. | 4/1/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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37 |
CleanChina rekindles fondness for western ways | In accepting the invitation to go on a debating tour, I had expected to return with a mind full of management ideas and a suitcase full of rip-off handbags. | 3/22/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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38 |
CleanBusiness leaders are worse than they think | When it comes to describing their dark sides, leaders feel bound by one rule: any weakness is perfectly admissible, so long as it is really a strength. | 3/15/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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39 |
CleanPen and paper: the forgotten management tool | Last week I went out for a pizza with a man I hadn’t seen for a while. The bill was low; I picked it up. Two days later, a small, cream envelope arrived on my doormat. Inside was a folded piece of paper on which he had written a short note saying how much he had enjoyed the occasion. | 3/7/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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40 |
CleanFemale quotas would target the wrong women | If you are listening to this during office hours on Monday, you can think of me sitting at a large table engaged in deep discussion about dividends, internal controls and appetites for risk. With me will be my fellow directors of a FTSE 100 company, 11 of us in all: nine men and two women. | 3/2/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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41 |
CleanAmerica’s Next Top Student | She is beautiful, rich and famous. She has two television shows, one of which is named after her. She’s got her own foundation that helps deprived girls. She’s been to bed with Barack Obama. She is taking a course at Harvard Business School on how to be an entrepreneur. | 2/22/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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42 |
CleanTalk like a loser and you might win | When I watched Tim Armstrong on CNN last week talking about the brilliance of his decision to buy the Huffington Post, I found I didn’t believe a word he was saying. | 2/15/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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43 |
CleanTwo banks, a conman and a homeless bloke | Last week, there were two stories in the papers about bankers being taken for a ride by conmen and nutters. Both tales were profoundly enjoyable: seeing investment bankers with egg on their faces is always cheering. They were also enjoyably profound, making one question what bankers get up to all day and which talents are needed to perform those tasks well. | 2/7/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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44 |
CleanA good employer offers more than Botox | Last week, Fortune magazine published its latest survey of the 100 best companies to work for in the US. As I have never worked at any of them I can’t offer first hand corroboration of the rankings – though in 1981 I did try to get a job at Boston Consulting Group (rated number two in the Fortune list), but was rejected after letting slip in an interview that I had no idea what a learning curve was. | 2/1/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanPointless conditions should not apply | I was sitting on a train coming back to London after a board meeting in Cardiff. Life felt good: the meeting had ended a bit earlier than I’d feared and I was just getting stuck into a gin and tonic and a packet of Quavers when the ticket inspector came round. I handed her my ticket, which she pronounced not valid. | 1/25/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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46 |
CleanFinnish lesson on principles for Goldman | Lloyd Blankfein is in need of advice on the principles of business. Fortunately, I have just the man to give it to him: Hannu Penttilä, a Finnish shopkeeper who runs a chain of department stores. | 1/18/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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47 |
CleanMy awards for management guff | At the beginning of every year I hand out prizes to companies and individuals who have shown the greatest flair in butchering the English language or in talking through their hats during the previous 12 months. | 1/11/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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48 |
CleanBetter to waste time at the office | Even though it’s a weekday and during working hours, I’m in bed. The reason for such slovenliness is that I’m not feeling my best. Too unwell to feel like getting up, yet not so unwell that I can’t move my fingers over a keyboard. | 1/5/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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49 |
CleanTwo memos divided by understanding | This week I’ve decided to focus on two things that are always popular at this time of year. Layoffs and stand-up rows. | 1/4/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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50 |
CleanA glimpse of ambassadorial life | Last Monday I had a delightful lunch with the turkey ambassador. He didn’t appear to know anything much about Ankara or care whether Turkey joined the European Union, but seemed more interested in what people eat for Christmas. He was the chef, Marco Pierre White, who had just been given the title by Bernard Matthews, the biggest British turkey producer, and was therefore flying the flag of the battery bird. | 12/8/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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51 |
CleanBetter to save face than look in the mirror | At a party last week I met a man who told me he had just lost his job. I commiserated, but he said it was OK, he was well out of it. He explained that his boss was a fool who could not cope with having an underling who was far brighter and more charismatic than him. The man looked perfectly cheerful and reassured me that his pay-off had been large, and the move was his employer’s loss. | 12/3/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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52 |
CleanBreaking the glass ceiling at home | On the front of Wednesday’s Financial Times was a picture of Kate Middleton smiling adoringly at the future king of England and giving every impression of delight over her new job as the nation’s foremost corporate wife. | 11/23/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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53 |
CleanDon’t give hiring a moment’s notice | Wearing socks on the outside of your shoes makes you less likely to slip on icy paths. Promoting people at random makes companies more efficient. These two hypotheses were among the winners of this year’s Ig Nobel prizes – handed out by Improbable Research, an organisation set up to promote academic work that makes you laugh, then think. | 11/17/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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54 |
CleanBeing happy is a serious handicap | There is a teenage boy I know who worries me quite a lot. He was born to a good family with plenty of money. He is extroverted and optimistic; people appear to like him. He’s relatively easy on the eye and reasonably bright. His health is good and he can kick, hit and catch balls of various shapes and sizes. He does not smoke, or take drugs, or do any more binge drinking than the next person. | 11/15/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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55 |
CleanThe thief, his victim and the company laptop | The only problem with losing stuff is not that harm is done, it is that people fear that harm will be done and the loss does not look pretty in the papers, says Lucy Kellaway | 10/31/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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56 |
CleanGlass ceiling in management drivel is broken | It is usually men who talk more management nonsense, but Lucy Kellaway finds they are no longer the only ones capable of talking guff | 10/24/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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57 |
CleanListening to customers can be bad business | Management accepting humiliation in order to satisfy customers seems like a good thing but Gap’s climbdown on its new logo is feeble, says Lucy Kellaway | 10/16/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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58 |
CleanWe need more CEOs willing to speak out | Everyone lives in mortal dread of getting into trouble – CEOs are all shacked up together in a glass house in which no stones ever get thrown, says Lucy Kellaway | 10/9/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanPower posing and flattery beat an MBA any day | To make it, you simply have to fake it, according to Lucy Kellaway | 10/2/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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60 |
CleanTime to spit out more praise for Apple | The exchange between Steve Jobs and Chelsea Isaacs prompts Lucy Kellaway to congratulate him on his clarity, tetchiness and for being completely in the right | 9/25/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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61 |
CleanWords to describe the glory of Apple | Like most Brits, I find success in others pretty hard to cope with. When that success is combined with good looks, I can’t tolerate it at all. Apple’s continued glory eats away at me like a maggot at my core. | 9/21/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanWhy CEOs cry all the way to the bank | Bob Diamond is full of energy and enthusiasm. He likes taking risks. He is determined: he knows what he wants and goes for it. He is fearless, cheerfully taking on a job he has little experience of. He speaks (relatively) simply. He has been known to throw tantrums. He is greedy and always wants more. I’ve never met him, but on the strength of what I’ve been reading about him I’m absolutely confident that he’s going to make an excellent new chief at Barclays. This is because he accords perfectly with a brand new theory of leadership that is surprising, radical, yet utterly compelling. This theory says that the best CEOs are just like toddlers. | 9/14/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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63 |
CleanTwitter is no way to manage a smelly mess | On the bank holiday weekend, the political satirist Armando Iannucci was driving along the M40 to spend a couple of days in Snowdonia and stopped off at a Starbucks on the way. As he is a man who likes to record all his thoughts on Twitter, he dispatched this message to his 80,000 followers: “Still surprised that, despite their market dominance, Starbucks haven’t eliminated the slight smell of lavatory you get as you enter.” | 9/7/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanPersonal life has invaded the office | Over the past decade there has been a steady onward march of objects, activities and emotions from hearth to cubicle, so there is now almost nothing left that belongs entirely at home. | 8/31/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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65 |
CleanAntidote to the dreariness of modern life | Last night I did what I always do when I am feeling jaded - I got out my boxed-set of Mad Men and immersed myself in the hedonistic, glamorous world of Maddison Avenue in the 1960s, when all women were a 38 triple-D cup, all men drank scotch from lunchtime till bedtime, everyone chain-smoked and fornicated whenever they got the chance. | 8/16/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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66 |
CleanWhy financiers are leaders in drivel | The e-mail was waiting for me on my return from holiday, just as I knew it would be. Shortly before I went away, I had written a column in which I had borrowed not merely someone else’s idea but his very words. At the time I thought I’d get away with it, but in the middle of the night had woken in a sweat. In the age of the internet, plagiarists nearly always get punished. | 8/14/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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67 |
CleanNice dud is key to office harmony | Last Tuesday, during the final assembly of the year at my daughter’s school, pupils said goodbye to a teacher who was being elbowed out. Miss T was famous for her feebleness at imparting knowledge; the new broom of a head had decided it would make more sense to give the job to someone who could teach instead. | 8/13/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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68 |
CleanIt’s time to sack job appraisals | Last week an e-mail went round the office touting for suggestions on ways to improve our performance appraisal system. My suggestion is dead easy and dirt cheap: get rid of the whole thing and replace it with nothing at all. | 7/13/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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69 |
CleanDon’t just dress down on Fridays | In Britain they are cutting about a million jobs. In France, they have axed the Bastille Day garden party. All governments are looking for ways big and small to cut spending. But there is a better way that no one has yet considered: cut Fridays. | 7/6/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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70 |
CleanIt is time for the gender gap to be kicked into touch? | The only difference between male and female managers, says Lucy, is that women are less confident and more hung up on approval. | 6/29/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanBP has become the company we all love to hate | It's not just Americans or lefties or environmentalists who now hate BP. Everyone else seems to as well. | 6/23/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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72 |
CleanA self-help guide for Sir Terry Leahy | Lucy's list of key "don'ts" for a retiring chief executive | 6/15/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanPrinciples for living we could all do without | Lucy on Bridgewater chief, Ray Dalio, and the list of his top 300 rules for life. | 5/23/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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74 |
CleanWhen the FSA came calling | A summons to a 90-minute interview with the financial regulator sends Lucy reeling through the five stages of grief | 5/16/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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75 |
CleanIt's the little things we should fret about | One of the comedies of working life is pretending to care about the big things, says Lucy Kellaway. | 5/8/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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76 |
CleanFabulous Fab is far scarier than you think | Is Fabrice Tourre one of the most boastful men in the world, or is the Goldman Sachs trader a man who looks dispassionately at himself and is well aware of his weaknesses? | 5/1/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanAsh cloud helped productivity | It was miraculous what the volcano did to conferences, meetings and business trips. | 4/24/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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78 |
CleanThe joys of long service | Does 25 years at this paper make me a disgrace, asks Lucy Kellaway | 4/20/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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79 |
CleanMy first law of success: a big lucky break | Most successful people have had big lucky breaks at birth and a succession of smaller ones thereafter | 3/27/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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80 |
CleanGeneration game plays out on Facebook | The gap between the Facebook/non-Facebook generation is wider than the gap between my generation and our parents | 3/20/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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81 |
CleanYou can’t always get what you want | The current trend of using rock bands as models for business school study is deeply flawed. | 3/14/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanWhy feedback forms leave me fed up | The wrong questions are asked at the wrong time to people who generally are in no frame of mind to answer them properly | 3/6/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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83 |
CleanA corporate calendar that is so last year | ‘A client a day’ makes no sense at all, especially in a business where people often work with the same client for months on end, says Lucy Kellaway | 2/27/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanWhy insensitive bosses make more sense | This is the single most sensible word I’ve seen on the flabby subject of leadership in at least a decade, says Lucy Kellaway | 2/11/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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85 |
CleanMy new motto: Nomina Rutrum Rutrum | Latin gives oomph, partly because it lends an air of learning but also because most people have to look it up, says Lucy Kellaway | 2/7/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanMemory doesn’t matter when you have the net | The only essential things to remember are one’s computer login, pin number and the names of a few workmates, says Lucy Kellaway | 2/1/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanClooney won’t do in business | I can think of three possible explanations why in mainstream corporate life in the UK and the US, the ugly mug rules, says Lucy Kellaway | 1/23/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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88 |
CleanMy proven formula for cheerfulness | The most depressing day of the year is upon us. But Lucy Kellaway says she has found a better way to keep up morale than the motivational gurus | 1/17/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanWhy forecasters should stick to the weather | Cold air has been blowing out of the Arctic, and hot air has been blowing out of the mouths of business forecasters, says Lucy Kellaway | 1/10/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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90 |
CleanGood year for management guff | Even in bad times, some can still push the envelope and go the extra mile when it comes to talking bull, says Lucy Kellaway | 1/2/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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91 |
CleanTomes to make you groan | There is no shortage of bad business books, but Lucy Kellaway feels that giving them as ironic presents to bankers would be irresponsible | 12/20/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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92 |
CleanGive office idiocy Dada treatment | I come across a lot of angry people in the course of my work, writes Lucy Kellaway. They take exception to anodyne things written by me. | 12/16/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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93 |
CleanRebels who look ridiculous | A bright tie, red socks, a flash of crimson in the lining of a suit – these attempts to stand out in the office smack of desperation, says Lucy Kellaway | 12/6/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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94 |
CleanHow to land on your feet when speaking in public | What Lucy and J-Lo have in common; and how to avoid boring your audience when speaking in public | 11/28/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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95 |
CleanWhen too much information harms the office | Staff are responding to overload by not digesting anything. No one reads e-mails any more – except from the boss, writes Lucy Kellaway | 11/22/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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96 |
ExplicitThe return of managerial bone-headedness | The bear market in bull may be over but the bear market in courage is not. Fear and paranoia are even more a part of corporate life, argues Lucy Kellaway | 11/14/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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97 |
CleanFor better or for worse, but not for work | To allow husbands and wives to co-work has always been a bad idea financially, socially, practically and emotionally, says Lucy Kellaway | 11/8/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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98 |
CleanWhen a longer working life is good for us all | Work is a bit like taking exercise. It can be boring and stressful while you are doing it but it is preferable to not working, says Lucy Kellaway | 11/1/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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99 |
CleanWhy ‘chillaxing’ isn’t cool | Chilling is seen by today’s children as the natural order of things. However, taking it easy in the office is not a good idea, says Lucy Kellaway | 10/18/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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100 |
CleanTaboo or not taboo? Some new office guidelines | A search for the sacrosanct subjects of the workplace was almost fruitless as most of the old strictures at work are on the way out, but there are still some no-go areas, says Lucy Kellaway | 10/11/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanThe perils of opening your medicine cabinet at work | Gordon Brown’s questioning over whether he takes pills to cope with the pressure reveals the new taboo in the workplace, says Lucy Kellaway | 10/4/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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102 |
CleanHow to be a top female boss | Anna Wintour's longevity in the fashion industry and hard-nosed approach provide a useful model for women executives | 9/27/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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103 |
CleanDrug dealers are perfect gurus in a recession | With their ruthlessness and brilliance at managing cash flow, hustlers such as the reformed 50 Cent can provide useful lessons to executives, says Lucy Kellaway | 9/21/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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104 |
CleanLetting the office go to the dogs | Bring your dog to work day may uncover some uncomfortable office truths, says Lucy Kellaway | 9/13/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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105 |
CleanWash away management’s verbal germs | In my book, cleanliness is not next to godliness. Necessary up to a point, but quite dull, and not something that deserves a place in management literature. | 9/7/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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106 |
CleanWomen in the boardroom | After decades of discussing women in the boardroom we should have gained enough confidence to go post-PC, argues Lucy Kellaway | 7/5/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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107 |
CleanTake it easy about ageing | As contemporaries seemed to have stopped playing the obsessive game of age comparison - its time to join them, says Lucy Kellaway | 6/28/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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108 |
CleanThe missed trick in the new pay reality | With employees paid to stay at home, the relationships between work and leisure, and money and no money are breaking down, says Lucy Kellaway | 6/21/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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109 |
CleanSchool exams fail the office test | They teach lessons about work that you need to unlearn pretty smartly if you want to get ahead in business, says Lucy Kellaway | 6/15/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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110 |
CleanKudos to bosses who use praise wisely | At a time when no one can afford to reward people with more money, to reward them with handouts of 'what a star' would seem a no-brainer, says Lucy Kellaway | 5/23/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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111 |
CleanUnderdog tale sheds light on pushy parenting | It does one good to fail in a small way. It means one then has to work hard to catch up, and that one may have a fresher way of doing things, says Lucy Kellaway | 5/17/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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112 |
CleanHow a thief gave me 10 reasons to be grateful | It was a great morale boost that this time I was victim rather than perpetrator, and people have been astoundingly sympathetic, says Lucy Kellaway | 5/10/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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113 |
CleanHow to take safe revenge on the boss | Lucy Kellaway says anti-boss rage is more in vogue than it has ever been in her lifetime. She watches the display with alternate surges of glee and discomfort | 4/18/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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114 |
CleanWhen chore-chore means war-war | The trick is not for husbands and wives to get to a 50:50 share when doing the housework. It is to stop counting and to stop minding, says Lucy Kellaway | 4/5/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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115 |
CleanCareer counsellors should find a new job | The whole idea of advice is hopeless: the best tests in the world would not help, as there is no formula for matching round pegs to round holes, writes Lucy Kellaway | 3/29/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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116 |
CleanWork is the subject songwriters are labouring to avoid | Work has been overlooked in pop lyrics: there are office novels, office sitcoms and office movies, but almost no office songs, writes Lucy Kellaway | 3/22/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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117 |
CleanThere is a Fred Goodwin or Dick Fuld in all of us | There are many theories about the mess we are in, but it is simply what you get when you take human beings and put them in an organisation, says Lucy Kellaway | 3/15/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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118 |
CleanLord Lucan and the vanished charm of desks | What has happened to the office desk over the past few hundred years tells of the fall of the craftsman and the rise of Ikea but it also says much about what has happened to the penpusher and office worker, says Lucy Kellaway. | 3/9/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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119 |
CleanManagement metaphors are out for the count | I have seen an article that marks the first evidence from the management guff industry that a soft approach is finally on its way out and a hard one is on its way in. | 3/1/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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120 |
CleanWelcome back, semicolon; cu l8r, informality | The pendulum has swung away from slouchy language towards correct usage of punctuation in emails, helped by the recession. | 2/22/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
121 |
CleanStay smart and pull your socks up | To survive this economic downturn we need to smarten up and buckle down. We really need to get some work under our belts. | 2/15/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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122 |
CleanMy new guilt as a selfish working mother | An idea about the happiness of happiness that had given me solace these last two years has been rudely overturned by the conclusions of a report, says Lucy Kellaway. | 2/8/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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123 |
CleanI have fallen into recession web of fear | Through blogs, websites and e-mails the economic ills of the world are fed to us on a drip all day long, multiplying troubles everywhere, says Lucy Kellaway. | 1/31/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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124 |
CleanNothing to fear from your inner child | I dare say the US president hoped his words would resonate beyond the toy cupboard and sweetie jar, but even so they are feeble advice, says Lucy Kellaway. | 1/24/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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125 |
CleanMemories of my $10m trading blunder | The first episode of a business reality television programme rammed home the message that being a trader is the worst job in the world. But it is in reality TV that Gordon Brown could really make his mark in hard times, says Lucy Kellaway. | 1/18/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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126 |
CleanA cool reaction to colleagues' colds | Lucy Kellaway finds she has little time for those who abandon work for their beds because of a cold, despite the chill wind of recession blowing outside | 1/11/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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127 |
CleanTwaddle thrives amid the turmoil | Lucy Kellaway laments that management twaddle and gobbledygook haven't faded away with the recession | 1/4/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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128 |
CleanExpect to get dirty when a name is mud | If your occupation involves making off with money from investors, then it is proper the name Made-off reflects that. There is a fine tradition at work here. | 12/20/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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129 |
CleanMoney is the new secret of a happy job | When your job is at risk and your savings are a shadow of their former selves, the search for meaning at work becomes meaningless in itself, says Lucy Kellaway | 12/14/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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130 |
CleanA risky hug in recessionary times | In the cause of research for a novel, Lucy Kellaway explores the world of internet adultery, and finds that, as the market for banking jobs goes cold, the market for adultery is getting hotter. | 12/7/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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131 |
CleanThe worst since 1929? | Newspaper articles in these tumultuous, fatal, not-seen-since-the-Great-Depression times are so tightly packed with cliche that it is hard to do anything other than join in, says Lucy Kellaway. But she says we must be careful not to overstate things. | 10/30/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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132 |
CleanA supercalifragilistic answer | If bankers want to understand the global financial crisis, what better way, Lucy Kellaway suggests, than to watch classic film Mary Poppins. They will find a film, she says, that manages to be 'soothing, perspicacious and upbeat all at once.' Time to listen to your inner chimney sweep. | 10/13/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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133 |
CleanFlatulence is no longer tolerated | As the global financial crisis deepens, Lucy Kellaway says the glory days of the management b******t industry are well and truly over. But she admits the return of sense may not be entirely welcome. | 10/5/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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134 |
CleanThis novel approach to the chief's role is pure fiction | What chief executives could learn from reading novels | 9/30/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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135 |
CleanAdvice for ex-bankers with long positions in Mars bars | Should we be sickened at the news of formerly well-paid Lehman bankers jostling with their vending cards for the last Mars Bars? Lucy Kellaway asks just what kind of character is needed to survive the financial meltdown and to find another job. | 9/18/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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136 |
CleanWhy salaries are the final taboo | The global movement to end salary secrecy is flawed, says Lucy Kellaway. It is relative, not actual, pay levels that determine happiness, and sometimes it is better not to know | 9/18/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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137 |
CleanTeen troublemakers and business parents | If you are a business leader your children can screw up as much as they like without harming your career prospects at all, says Lucy Kellaway | 9/10/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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138 |
CleanThe pen is mightier... | Lucy Kellaway goes back to school with a brand new pen lid, which offers a lifetime of pleasure - putting modern gadgets to shame | 9/3/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
139 |
CleanThe City lawyer, the intern and the strip club | You don't need to be a lawyer to know that strip club, summer intern and clumsy pass all up to trouble, says Lucy Kellaway. | 8/19/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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140 |
CleanDying wish to spend more time in the office | Thinking about death generally encourages people to come up with dodgy philosophies about life, says Lucy Kellway. The best way of living is not to think of death at all | 7/28/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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141 |
CleanA strange kind of capitalism | Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England, set a 'lousy' example by turning down a pay rise, says Lucy Kellaway. For a capitalist economy to work, we all need to believe that more money is a good thing. | 7/20/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
142 |
CleanMy guide to snoopology | Easily the most satisfying job I've done in two dozen years as a journalist was writing a series of articles describing the offices of famous chief executives. For a brief period, I was allowed to indulge my natural nosiness - and get paid for it. | 7/14/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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143 |
CleanBoard battles won on playing fields | Nearly half of the chief executives of Britain's biggest companies have gained awards for their prowess in the field of sport, says Lucy Kellaway. | 7/6/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
144 |
CleanShock of BPC: before personal computers | To mark the retirement of Bill Gates, inventor of Windows, Lucy Kellaway decides to turn off her computer and Blackberry, and write and think with a fountain pen. Can she survive? | 6/30/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
145 |
CleanWhen complaining to wrong person is right | One might think that the American purposeful complaint is better than pointless bellyaching, but in fact both can prove to be highly enjoyable. | 6/22/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
146 |
CleanA bouquet of office barbs | I have been out collecting a botanical array of dangerous workplace blooms, words that can spoil our day, our week - or our career. | 6/17/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
147 |
CleanLetter-writing chiefs: you're fired | I am running a competition in which a chief executive has to woo his customers with a letter. My finalists are Vikram Pandit and Johnnie Boden. | 5/22/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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148 |
CleanMarriage demands due diligence | Being in love is like being on drugs. Do we let people who are off their heads on cocaine make important decisions? Of course not. | 5/17/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
149 |
CleanAim low to find meaning at work | The only answer to the growing problem of worker unhappiness is to stop trying to find a solution and get on with what you do. | 5/10/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
150 |
CleanDecade's spaced-out legacy in business | Even though in offices 1968 did not happen until about 1988, the ideas of the 1960s still affect how we behave and think at work. | 5/4/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
151 |
CleanWe'll never know how women would run the world | In truth we don't have the foggiest idea what life would be like if women ran the show. So far we have only isolated, untypical examples. | 4/27/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
152 |
CleanIf there were no losers, we wouldn't have any winners | Win-win? Instead of pretending that everything is a win, the good leader needs to get better about wining and losing | 4/20/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
153 |
CleanGive managers the 'nanny test' | It isn't easy to keep a person happy in a job that is poorly paid and involves much wiping of bottoms. Managing a nanny is management at its most extreme. | 4/13/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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154 |
CleanOn my own monetary matters, nuttiness kicks in | Knowing the difference between personal fiscal prudence and being a spendthrift is one thing. But being able to keep a tight rein on your personal spending is quite another. | 4/6/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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155 |
CleanSeven type's of rot | 'Your call is important to us'... Lucy Kellaway provides a rot analysis of business talk, looking at phrases that mean the opposite of what they pretend to mean. | 3/31/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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156 |
CleanTrapped workers develop a line in doodling | It is wrong to see doodling as something to do when bored. Instead, it is what we do when we are forced to listen to someone else. | 3/16/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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157 |
CleanPut an end to the trauma of the telephone | E-mail is much derided for interrupting our day's work, but it is as nothing when compared to the noisy, intrusive, brutal phone. | 3/10/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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158 |
CleanGreen holiday that makes me see red | The National Trust gave its 5,000 employees a leap day holiday - but they had to spend time making their own homes more environmentally friendly. Should companies force us to be charitable? | 3/2/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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159 |
CleanRekindling a 25-year bond | At the annual get-together of the alumni of JPMorgan I realised that part of my life may have been weird but it was not an irrelevance, says Lucy Kellaway | 2/24/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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160 |
CleanHappiness is finding your inner receptionist | When we were young we had something to prove. As we grow older, we realise that just as few doors are open to us as when we were young. | 2/9/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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161 |
CleanUnpolished exchanges put soul into shopping | A local shoe mender has unknowingly supplied me with all the delightful things that large service companies are striving in vain to provide. | 2/3/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
162 |
CleanAccenture's next champion of waffle words | An e-mail from Accenture's group chief executive is troubling because it shows top people write jargon even when they think no clients are looking. | 1/27/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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163 |
CleanIndulgence is no way to manage a bleating luvvie | Artists are no different to any other profession; they need to be managed too, so they can go on getting better. Lucy Kellaway delves into the business-like approach that financier Guy Hands plans to take with musicians at EMI, and asks: should you be prepared to discipline a creative at the risk of losing them? | 1/20/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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164 |
CleanBonuses for the incorrigibly childish | The granting of investment bank bonuses is a ruinously expensive, tiring and highly political game in which almost everyone emerges a loser. Here's how the game works. | 1/13/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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165 |
CleanA New Year's resolution that will last | What do workplace experts and coaches tell us about making new year resolutions? And can Lucy find one she can keep? | 1/6/08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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166 |
CleanA year of breakthrough thinking from top twaddlists | Lucy gives out her 2007 awards for management nonsense | 12/30/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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167 |
CleanKeep marriage counsellors out of the office | At work I'm a pussycat, compliant and pathetically keen to please. At home I am a tyrant, brooking no opposition from anyone. So why do people think there are parralels between good marriages and good colleagues? | 12/16/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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168 |
CleanExpress your anger - it is all the rage | For me work is one long rage opportunity - starting with the fact that the machine that dispenses hot water for tea is on the blink. | 12/10/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
169 |
CleanLeaders in need of a good idea | The title 'thought leader' offends for several reasons. And when the term is used there is usually no sign of any thinking or leading going on | 12/2/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
170 |
CleanThe headhunters' disease | Saying anything that makes any sense at all is enough to disqualify one from joining what practitioners call the 'executive search space' | 11/25/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
171 |
CleanSecret science of persuasion | Has Lucy been getting it wrong for 600 columns? A US professor in psychology and marketing has explained how some campaigns can work, including plying your audience with caffeine | 11/18/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
172 |
CleanReasons for being miserable at work | The three things that really make most workers unhappy are actually rather basic - they are the work, the people and the general environment | 11/11/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
173 |
CleanThe battle is lost, going forward | Going backward: how the phrase 'going forward' has infected business conversation | 11/5/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
174 |
CleanReasons for effing and blinding | This column is about strong language, which explains why it contains some. Swearing can be useful in the office, but there are some rules you should follow. | 10/21/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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175 |
CleanStrap on the sensors and step out into the future | Imagine a brave new world where electronic tagging of employees brings the study of management out of the dark ages. Lucy Kellaway peeks into a frightening future as scientists strive to answer why some companies and managers are so good - and others so bad. | 10/14/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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176 |
CleanThe joy of fresh stationery, gossip and lattes with lids | A new theory of happiness says the only reliable pleasures in life are the small ones. So what small pleasures can you find in an office? | 10/7/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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177 |
CleanA word in your ear | Listening is really easy - any old fool can do it - so it can't therefore be a key skill for CEOs, argues Lucy Kellaway. So why do so many business leaders go on about it? | 9/30/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
178 |
CleanWhy lies can save your office blushes | The problem with being truthful about missing work is the reason can be embarrassing or implausible. | 9/23/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
179 |
CleanThe real reason why there are fewer women at the top | The glass ceiling or labyrinth fall short of explaining why women don't make it to the top. Perhaps, argues Lucy Kellaway, women should look at themselves. | 9/9/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
180 |
CleanTake a bracing dip in September's overflowing in-box | Long ago, before e-mail, the return from holiday was a leisurely thing | 9/2/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
181 |
CleanWe are not family | 'We' doesn't imply teamwork or even people who like each other. It is just the mundane experience of office life | 8/19/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
182 |
CleanFleeting pleasures of August without the A-team | There are many reasons to be happy in the office in August - but needless e-mails from control freaks on holiday isn't one of them. | 8/12/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
183 |
CleanJust say No to the new managerial cult of Yes | For people in any position of authority the ability to say no is the most important skill there is. | 7/22/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
184 |
CleanSome uncharitable thoughts on millionaire generosity | Being generous as a millionaire doesn't make you different to the middle classes, says Lucy Kellaway. An act of true generosity is a rare event whether you are a millionaire or not. | 7/15/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
185 |
CleanToday's punishment is meted out with politesse | A corporate bollocking just isn't the same as it used to be: PR people have taken over and emotion has been outlawed. | 7/8/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
186 |
CleanI've found the worst employee handbook ever | Forty-one years ago, chairman Mao distributed 900m copies of The Little Red Book to the people of China. A couple of weeks ago, Deloitte distributed thousands of copies of The Little Blue Book of Strategy to its US employees. Apart from the difference in colour, the two books have much in common | 7/1/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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187 |
CleanPut real business on TV and I'll reach for the remote | Business telly, so the newspapers tell us, is 'the new rock and roll'. While it isn't exactly cool, it is increasingly popular. But is it really about business? | 6/24/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
188 |
CleanGoogle will make recruits less frugal with the truth | Lucy sees reasons for cheer in the new 'world without secrets' | 6/17/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
189 |
CleanMotivational memos must make their message clear | Lucy asks 'what is the worst motivational memo ever?' | 6/10/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
190 |
CleanThe real problem with multitasking is bad manners | Some sorts of multitasking in the office are clearly efficient. But using a BlackBerry in meetings is rude, as is noisy typing when on the phone. | 6/3/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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191 |
CleanPrivate parties and shameless schmoozing | The crossover of business and private parties creates problems for the guest. It is helpful to know which sort of do you are at, so you can behave accordingly, says Lucy Kellaway | 5/20/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
192 |
CleanLeisurely retirement? Think again | When it comes to retirement, are you Buffet, Gates or potato? | 5/13/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
193 |
CleanThe ups and downs of the daily grind | Do you work well when you are miserable? Are happy workers the most productive? This week, Lucy keeps a diary to see how her moods affect her work. | 5/7/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
194 |
CleanTone down the hatred and retain your dignity | This week, Lucy looks at rage, pettiness and rivalry between companies. | 4/29/07 | Free | View In iTunes |
| Total: 194 Episodes |
Customer Reviews
Biting and smiling at the same time
Biting, sarcastic, novel, truthful and humorous … a quintessentially British look at the gears of the management machine.
Business Myths Punctured
On a regular basis. Excellent. She shamelessly plagiarizes Martyn Lukes but given his present residence, that's understandable.
Witty, biting, and always enjoyable
Lucy's commentaries are always a welcome antidote to the drivel that is too often passed off as business journalism. She pulls no punches and slaughters sacred cows at every opportunity. Bravo!
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