Firstly, a belated but much deserved congratulation goes to Gareth Southgate and the entire England Team. It was a wonderful World Cup and certainly united a Nation. Let’s hope we can go all the way at the Euros, in two years’ time.
Continuing the World Cup theme, congratulations go to Matilda (Tilly) Emerson, who won the BWD internal World Cup competition. No, she did not get France in the sweepstake, it was a bit more complex than that. It was an activity and competency-based knockout for all consultants. I am sure she would be more than happy to discuss and gloat about her achievements with you.
My final congratulations go to TransPennine Express, the existing train franchise for parts of the North. Having lived in London for a considerable period of my working career (trying to hide my age here), I did not think it was possible for a train company to exceed the incompetence, delays and cancellations of Southern Rail, but I was wrong. You have. The last 24 journeys home, I have managed to get my connecting train on three occasions. Two of these occasions were in the same week.
Brexit, Politics and That White Paper
I did say to myself when writing these blogs, I would try and avoid politics, but this is unavoidable. We are only nine months away from when Brexit is meant to implemented. If you ask fifty people in the street to list three items that have been agreed, I could pretty much guarantee they couldn’t. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they couldn’t name one. This is probably one of the largest fundamental changes to our economic landscape in a generation, if not our lifetimes, yet we are unaware of what has been agreed.
Resignations over the Brexit white paper are now in double figures, with two very high-profile names in David Davis and Boris Johnson amongst them. Probably the most prominent Brexiteer and backbench MP, Jacob Rees-Mogg said: "This is the greatest vassalage since King John paid homage to Phillip II at Le Goulet in 1200. This White paper has not needed age to turn yellow." Just to clear this up, he will not be voting in favour of this paper.
Closer to home, the asset management reaction to the paper has not been favourable and more should be done for integration and jobs, revenue and tax could be affected. The specialist finance sector has stated lending has remained robust and has increased. Lessons have been learnt from the initial Brexit decision, therefore are more positive.
Communication solves problems
Now, I could very easily turn around and say it does because I work in a communication capacity, but, reflect on how many times you say or even think why I wasn’t informed about that on a weekly basis. I can guarantee it will be a significant number. Would it of made a difference if you were told? Very likely.
Communication saves time, makes people more efficient, eliminates confusion, the list goes on. Now I am not perfect, as a scenario happened towards the end of last week, where the communication channels broke down and had an impact on a project. Luckily this was nipped in the bud before it delayed matters extensively, but it could have been avoided altogether. We sat down as a group and had a useful meeting of how this happened and how it can be avoided in the future.
We are all guilty in mis-communication or failing to communicate matters to people. But why do we do it? Is it human nature? Do we think we can do things better without informing others? There are many questions and answers to why, but we still do it.
SFI Awards
A final thank you goes to the fantastic team at Mortgage Introducer, especially Ryan Fowler and Robyn Hall. They had invited me as their guest to the Specialist Finance Introducer (SFI) Awards, the third year they have been running. The award format is not the normal black-tie event that we are accustomed to, but a more informal, but no less professional event for the industry. Held at the stunning rooftop destination of Madison in St Paul’s, it was the perfect setting for the weather we have been experiencing.
The awards themselves are just one part of the event. The remainder allows for all elements of the specialist finance market to interact and meet old and new acquaintances. Its professional without the pretentious nature these events can purvey. Well done guys, thank you once again and looking forward to working with you again, in the very near future.
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