This week

For me there have been 2 major news stories this week. In fact listening to the radio, on my drive into work, at times, you would have thought that they were the only stories. The second is very obviously business related but the first is perhaps not so obvious.

Let me start by stating that I follow Manchester City Football Club and I was obviously very disappointed with Tuesday night’s performance and result against Bayern Munich (shouldn’t it be Bavarian Munich or Bayern Munchen?) but the story as everybody, who hasn’t been on the moon, knows is that Carlos Tevez refused to play.

Within minutes, people were “tweeting” about this and one of the best I came across asked what the difference was between Tevez and a tramp. The answer was £150K per week because they both won’t get off the bench. Very good but it got me thinking.

It illustrates the importance of getting all your team on board and everyone having a shared goal. It only takes one “bad apple” to disrupt any targets you have. Perhaps the target of winning the Champions League was a bit farfetched any way but in the words of Wayne Gretsky (the ice hockey player) “I have missed every penalty that I didn’t take “.

It also shows that people problems can overshadow the important matters very easily.

The second item was Ed Milliband’s speech at the Labour Conference. Putting aside the issue of rewarding good businesses, which sounds intriguing but fanciful? I was taken aback by the attitude that seemed to be saying that it was impossible to make money and be good.

Yes, the primary purpose of being in business is to make a profit but there is so much more to it. I can’t believe that most businessmen put this so much to the fore that they would be willing to sacrifice everything else. Business is not just about making money. There is so much more to it like developing good relations with customers and colleagues, always striving to do your best and building something that will stand the test of time. It is also about ensuring that the balance between home and work is right and having fun.

If you ever find me giving these up in the pursuit of just money you have my permission to shoot me.