Broadcaster Alastair Stewart might have been Chancellor of the Exchequer or a real-life Rumpole of the Bailey had fate not intervened and directed him towards a career in television. He reveals some of the high points of his journalistic career and gives some tips on how to get ahead in television
Michael Prescott is political editor of The Sunday Times where he has been a journalist for more than ten years. Educated at St. Catherine’s College, Oxford University, he then went on to do a degree in journalism at the Center for Journalism Studies, Cardiff University. He lives in Islington, with his wife Rachel Storm –
Amanda Farnsworth, 35, has recently taken on a new role in BBC News, as planning editor for the whole of television. She was formerly deputy editor of the BBC’s respected TV current affairs programme Newsnight. Here she gives us a few tips on how to get a foot in the door at the BBC and how
Jane Frost, is the BBC’s controller, corporate marketing and was behind the much-lauded corporate promo Perfect Day. Jane says she believes in the BBC so much she wants to ‘grab people and tell them about it’. Her advice to graduates interested in a career in marketing is that if you like people there isn’t a
Nigel Smith has been appointed to track down new comedy talent for UK commercial TV producer and broadcaster Carlton Television. He was offered the job after successfully producing a three-week sitcom festival for terrestrial station Channel 4. Here, the former local newspaper reporter and busker talks to us about the world of TV comedy, and offers
Brad Rees enjoys working his socks off. Rees, the former new media editor for Express Newspapers, has just swapped one hectic dotcom job for another. He has recently been appointed senior producer at Sports.com after spending seven months at rival online outlet Sportal. He describes the change as moving from ‘hard work’ to ‘seriously hard
At the age of 37 Kerry Marcus has already had a varied journalism career, doing everything from covering courts and council meetings as a cub reporter to being part of the launch team for a new national newspaper. She now works for leading UK news supplier ITN as a senior home news editor for the
Roxanne McMeekin, 24, is a reporter for financial magazine FT Mandate. She started as an editorial assistant at Reed Elsevier, publisher of science journals, before moving to The Financial Times business division
Merrill Lynch Investment Managers is one of the world’s largest asset managers, with $525bn of assets under investment. We talk to Karen Hoggard, head of human resources about this unique working environment and get some invaluable advice for graduate applicants
Alf Chubb became a private banker at a leading City bank after a year out working as a cowboy in Argentina. He got his banking job by having a drink with the right person at the right time and has now been there for 18 months What is your day-to-day role? If you’re on the
Astrally projecting itself to the top of the bestsellers list in 1994, The Celestine Prophecy became the must-read of the management and business leadership world. A self-help book-cum-novel-cum-historical myth, The Prophecy encourages its reader to lead a more spiritual life through the discovery of nine ‘insights’, supposedly based on those discovered in an ancient Peruvian
Summary It makes good business sense for firms to make their staff feel good. This new study warns that firms who do not implement a ‘work-life strategy’ – defined as ‘helping people to combine work with family and personal life’ – actually lose competitive advantage to firms who do.
Summary The core theme of this book is Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints, otherwise referred to as TOC. Goldratt argues that manufacturing has for too long focused on producing, ignoring what is demanded by the market place, i.e. demand and capacity. Goldratt believes that one should balance flow through a system to meet the demand of
Thirty goals in 63 international matches for England, a remarkable average of more than 20 goals a season in the Premier League and a league championship medal for unfashionable Blackburn Rovers – you’ve definitely done well for yourself. But could you do better? Your decision to quit international football after the European Championships in the
Summary Handy’s book is a groundbreaking philosophical and practical guide to the inevitable changing ways of organizing work and the workforce. Handy starts from the viewpoint that radical change is not only desirable but essential, if economics and society are not to be irreversibly damaged. The book focuses on the necessity of becoming more creative
Summary Management consultant Bob Garratt told us that he wrote his latest book as ‘a counterblast to myopic thinking’ among senior managers in the quest for company efficiency. Garratt shifts the focus away from the current vogue for downsizing and cost cutting, towards a value-system that preserves and encourages employees at all levels. Get employees doing
Summary In 1979 journalist Keith Waterhouse was commissioned by his editor at UK national tabloid the Daily Mirror to write an instruction manual for the newspaper’s new recruits. The result was a booklet that became an instant success, with half the hacks in Fleet Street trying to beg, borrow or photocopy what had started as
Summary The academic and consultant Andrew Brown has selected six key elements of leadership that, he believes, illuminate the secrets of great leaders. Illustrated with countless examples of leaders from history and today, The Six Dimensions of Leadership, first published in 1999, tackles in 200 racy pages the six qualities in turn: heroism, acting
Summary In the introduction, the authors admit that this book was turned down by countless publishing houses with the objection: ‘Who cares? Who wants to read about techies pissed off at their jobs?’ Co-author Bill Lessard says he is a ‘living testament to the fact that most Internet careers are nasty, brutish and short’. So,
Summary Goffee and Jones – the BBC director of human resources – reject the assumption of some business books that the character of a corporation is a uniform, single concept. They see it as complex and multiple-faceted. Every firm is composed of several cultures, they explain. These are fluid, liable to change, and are sometimes
