The Partners of Athene are delighted to confirm their new website www.athenellp has gone live.
The site was designed and developed by the creative team at Socrates Communications, lead by their Creative Director Andrew Derrick. http://www.socratesint.com/
Sunday 19 April 2009
Sunday 12 April 2009
The case for change - businesses do not improve by constantly tweaking at the edges.
It appears only natural for bankers, economists and government officials to view the present financial crisis simply as a technical problem of economics, as if it were the breakdown of a machine, with the solution being a matter of spending more public money, imposing greater regulation and tweaking organisation structures.
Anatole Kaletsky has noted that “consumers and businesses have already started to see recession as a moral retribution for past excesses”.
When considered in the context of the professional services in the construction industry, the root causes need tackling not just the effect. The changes needed have to be more radical and not just reductions in headcount.
It is clear that fundamental change is necessary and the responsibility for this change lies with business management. They must recreate a culture of integrity, prudence and attention to detail within their organisations. Boardrooms must rein in out-of-control egos. This change of ethos cannot be delegated to others; the board executives and their non executives have to take their personal responsibilities seriously to deliver change.
Businesses need to be able to flex and change to cope with the new economic world order, which means getting back to the core values of providing quality services, and their proper implementation, which truly reflect the Client needs. This will necessitate curbing the “sales teams” excesses in designing and creating ever more complex new “products”.
The services industries, particularly the bank and professional advisors, have now to recognise they are there to provide sound reliable advice and services which their Clients can rely on and not to just sell more “products” to them.
The fundamental change needed is in business culture.
Anatole Kaletsky has noted that “consumers and businesses have already started to see recession as a moral retribution for past excesses”.
When considered in the context of the professional services in the construction industry, the root causes need tackling not just the effect. The changes needed have to be more radical and not just reductions in headcount.
It is clear that fundamental change is necessary and the responsibility for this change lies with business management. They must recreate a culture of integrity, prudence and attention to detail within their organisations. Boardrooms must rein in out-of-control egos. This change of ethos cannot be delegated to others; the board executives and their non executives have to take their personal responsibilities seriously to deliver change.
Businesses need to be able to flex and change to cope with the new economic world order, which means getting back to the core values of providing quality services, and their proper implementation, which truly reflect the Client needs. This will necessitate curbing the “sales teams” excesses in designing and creating ever more complex new “products”.
The services industries, particularly the bank and professional advisors, have now to recognise they are there to provide sound reliable advice and services which their Clients can rely on and not to just sell more “products” to them.
The fundamental change needed is in business culture.
Wednesday 8 April 2009
Royal Bank of Scotland Excesses
Excesses appear to a the hallmark of the failed bank, a prime example of the RBS’s excesses came to be symbolised by the comically expensive# £335m new campus on the outskirts of Edinburgh, the construction of which Sir Fred Goodwin is understood to have supervised personally in 2005.
The final excess is the gifting a pension of £703,000 to Sir Fred Goodwin. This pension is likely to go down in history to be the worst example of reward for abject failure, which is considered by many of the public to have been nodded and winked through by the RBS Board and Gordon Browns appointee Lord Myners.
# FT.com/ Alphaville Paul Murphy Apr 18 09:07
The final excess is the gifting a pension of £703,000 to Sir Fred Goodwin. This pension is likely to go down in history to be the worst example of reward for abject failure, which is considered by many of the public to have been nodded and winked through by the RBS Board and Gordon Browns appointee Lord Myners.
# FT.com/ Alphaville Paul Murphy Apr 18 09:07
The RBS Tragedy
It is a tragedy that another 9,000 job losses are to take place in Royal Bank of Scotland in its back office operations within a division known as “Group Manufacturing”. The “Group Manufacturing” services comprise document processing, information technology, procurement and bank property.
There appears to be no announcement yet for reductions in the departments responsible the £7.3bn loss as part of 2008’s overall loss of £24.1bn. The overall loss required a huge injection of government capital in October 2008 to prevent the bank from outright collapse.
Since the bulk of the loss has been identified as a directly a result of the ABN Amro takeover the collapse of the bank can be fairly defined as the responsibility of the board and particularly the former CEO Sir Fred Goodwin.
The question which has to be asked is what positive action needs to be taken to prevent a business from being driven to destruction by a few. Light touch regulation by retired bankers is clearly not the answer.
There appears to be no announcement yet for reductions in the departments responsible the £7.3bn loss as part of 2008’s overall loss of £24.1bn. The overall loss required a huge injection of government capital in October 2008 to prevent the bank from outright collapse.
Since the bulk of the loss has been identified as a directly a result of the ABN Amro takeover the collapse of the bank can be fairly defined as the responsibility of the board and particularly the former CEO Sir Fred Goodwin.
The question which has to be asked is what positive action needs to be taken to prevent a business from being driven to destruction by a few. Light touch regulation by retired bankers is clearly not the answer.
Monday 6 April 2009
Athene takes off
News release www.socratesint.com
A new specialist real estate project management group, Athene, led by senior industry figures, is being launched by Socrates with a name and branding exercise, literature collateral and an online presence currently under construction. A temporary site went live this week at www.athenellp.com.
A new specialist real estate project management group, Athene, led by senior industry figures, is being launched by Socrates with a name and branding exercise, literature collateral and an online presence currently under construction. A temporary site went live this week at www.athenellp.com.
Sales verses Performance
In a recent interview the ex Head of Risk at HSBC said “If you have a Company which is headed by those focused on “sales”, you have a problem” - Paul Moore ex HSBC being interviewed on the BBC on 3rd April 2009
It is refreshing that there are very good Clients that are willing to, no in fact positively want to, pay for a different kind of service - were the quality of the service and the people are put genuinely first and are not taken in by the "sales pitch" or the "process".
This different kind of service can only improve delivery which will benefit all, Clients and service providers.
It is refreshing that there are very good Clients that are willing to, no in fact positively want to, pay for a different kind of service - were the quality of the service and the people are put genuinely first and are not taken in by the "sales pitch" or the "process".
This different kind of service can only improve delivery which will benefit all, Clients and service providers.
The Key to Success
Success is founded on authority, responsibility and accountability – one must have the authority, be responsible in everything you do and be held accountable for the results – no more and no less!
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