WHAT’S NEW? Compass Group Appoint
New CEO After Tragedy Dominic Blakemore has been appointed Compass Group’s new Chief Executive following the tragic death of Richard Cousins.
What I Learnt
This Month Liz Kentish
I think that there must be a particular strain of an infectious disease that affects certain normally sane, rational and intelligent people whenever they walk into a meeting.
They use words that I understand, but in a context that makes no logical sense.
Let me give you a couple of examples that we have all heard many times: “Low hanging fruit”; why say that when you can say “quick wins”? Why say “blue-sky thinking” when you could say “let’s have some alternative ideas”?
A new one to me was used by a prospective client when responding to a proposal: “we’ll look into this when we find ourselves back in shallow water” make what you like of that one!
Whatever happened to plain speaking? Back when someone would say something and you would understand exactly what was meant. Why is there an overwhelming tendency to complicate everything, in an attempt to either impress, or confuse people?
How many times in a meeting have you wanted someone to say “what on earth does that mean?” whenever one of these daft phrases gets used? But for some strange reason no-one ever does.
Well, I have learnt at last to call out this particular affliction and I strongly recommend that others do it as well. You will be doing everyone one else in the meeting a favour, whilst at the same time getting the perpetrator to understand the value of clear communication.
14 | TOMORROW’S FM
Cousins, who had been in the role for more than a decade, was killed alongside four members of his family when the seaplane they were travelling on crashed in Australia on New Year’s Eve. He was due to retire on March 31st 2018.
Paul Walsh, Compass Group Chairman, said: “We are deeply shocked and saddened by this terrible news. The thoughts of everyone at Compass are with Richard’s family and friends, and we extend our deepest sympathies to them.
“It has been a great privilege to know Richard personally and to work with him for the last few years. Richard was known and respected for his great humanity and a no-nonsense style and transformed Compass into one of Britain’s leading companies,” continued Paul.
Moneypenny Acquires
Made Simple Group Moneypenny, the UK's leading provider of web chat, answering services and outsourced switchboards, has announced today that it will extend its services with the acquisition of the Made Simple Group, which offers business products and services to start-up companies and small businesses.
MadeSimple is home to a range of products dedicated to providing online solutions to the start-up and small business communities such as company formation, virtual offices, website creation and most recently a co-working space in central London. Over the past 15 years, Made Simple Group has helped form more than 650,000 companies. The team of 45 will continue to work in London.
Mark Finlay, Mergers & Acquisitions Director at Moneypenny said: “We are delighted to welcome MadeSimple into the Moneypenny Family.
When Cousins joined Compass in 2006, the company faced a number of challenges including a series of profit warnings and a poor reputation. His turnaround plan involved exiting 50 countries and focusing on operational delivery. Today Compass employ more than 550,000 people and has annual revenues of £22.6bn, sitting in the upper half of the FTSE100.
Dominic Blakemore, who was originally due to take over on 1st April 2018 after Cousins’ retirement on 31st March, took the helm immediately on 1st January 2018.
www.compass-group.com
They have a great brand and the combination of the two businesses further complements the services we can offer our clients. It provides a great opportunity for us to accelerate the growth of our digital products and services, such as Pocket Phone System, Mobile Answering App and Live Chat. We are experts in helping small businesses prosper and believe that our respective customer bases provide a perfect fit. Howard and his team have built an incredible business and we look forward to supporting their future growth.”
Howard Graham, CEO and Founder of MadeSimple, added: “We are excited about the opportunities this next phase presents for our business and more importantly, for our team and customers. We are committed to helping our customers, start, run and grow their businesses. The suite of services provided by Moneypenny ideally complements the needs of our customer base.”
www.moneypenny.com twitter.com/TomorrowsFM
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