Mark Goyder

“The burden of regulation is too high” said Kemi Badenoch MP as she set out her case in front of Conservative Party members at their party conference last month. How short memories can be. Only a month ago, we heard from the final report of … Continue readingMessage to boards – get off the fence and start arguing for the regulation that the wellbeing of future generations demands

The slippery slope to Grenfell to which all boards should be alert I haven’t read the whole Grenfell Inquiry Report. But I have listened to the authoritative BBC Radio 4 podcast series Grenfell – Building a Disaster presented by Kate Lamble. It describes three issues … Continue readingDishonourable compliance, suppressed conscience, and lethal compartmentalisation

Almost 40% of students in the UK failed to pass English and Maths GCSE this year. The pass rates were even worse for those over 17.There was strong regional variation. Why? Opinions vary. The fall-out from the Covid pandemic? The failure of the previous government’s … Continue readingAbysmal Exam Results – the Deeper Causes

How we got into this mess and how we start to get out of it Imagine the scene. Civil war has broken out. Soldiers arrived in your village. You feared for the safety of your children. You left in a convoy, hoping against hope that … Continue readingRiots, refugees and reconciliation

In the 18th century the city of Edo (now Tokyo) adopted a policy of no waste. Almost everything was recycled, and the city was home to more than a thousand businesses that specialised in transforming waste into useful products. What started as a response to … Continue readingWhat nature teaches us about economics: everything is connected

I like talking to lawyers. They care about words and their precise meaning. So do I. Last week I spent a day amongst lawyers who were nearly all General Counsel to major retail companies. I was asked to help lead a dialogue with them about … Continue readingPurposeful Business – who are we kidding? A question every GC should be asking

My first grown-up job was in industrial relations in an engineering company. After 18 months I was asked to take up a post in a Cumbrian factory where we were heading for a strike. The Factory Manager gave me a diatribe about the unreasonableness of … Continue readingTo hell with protocol, let’s be sure there isn’t an injustice here

Throughout the world, education is seen as the route to progress. If children can be educated, they may find a route out of poverty. If girls can be educated, there is hope that they may escape from the burdens of unwanted pregnancy and domestic enslavement. … Continue readingPrison for parents? If 1 in 50 pupils are missing from half the lessons, it’s time to think again about what school is for

Thirty years ago, as I was embarking on what became the RSA Tomorrow’s Company Inquiry[i], I had a conversation with a senior partner in an international management consultancy. I liked him and felt that he had a lot to contribute to our work on the … Continue readingQuestion to the board: what if a consultant’s report is not the solution to your knotty problem?