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Thinking in real terms is convenient, but what happens if inflation turns out to be 5 percent per annum instead of 2 percent? Inflation plays a key role as it is the link between salary (and hence saving capacity), asset market returns and valuations, the value of other assets (like property) and perhaps most importantly, spending in retirement. In short, it is so integral to the problem of retirement that it needs to be carefully modelled – and very clearly explained. Failing to adequately address it may render the advice misleading at best, leaving the user to reach retirement woefully underfunded.

The role of digital in financial planning

By: EBR | Friday, August 4, 2017

Retirement planning, riddled with uncertainty and consumer biases as it is, may be best handled with a mix of digital and face-to-face advice

While in external negotiations there are times that if you do not reach a deal, you can just move on to your alternative or best alternative to a negotiated agreement (BATNA),but in internal negotiations this is a much harder thing to do. Your organisation is unlikely to have two departments responsible for the same resource so that if you are denied that resource, there is nowhere left to turn. This lack of alternatives increases the internal negotiation tension and causes mini-monopolies to emerge inside a firm. Not only do such monopolies have a higher temptation to use their power, because the counterparty cannot walk away, they also have rules and regulations that diminish the incentives to find creative solutions. It is important not to act like a monopoly but to lead by example.

Four reasons why internal negotiations are harder than external ones

By: EBR | Thursday, July 20, 2017

Jessica thought it would be easy to borrow two members of David’s team for a four-month project she’d been asked to undertake on behalf of the board

Once the implicit assumptions are out in the open, ask your team to reflect on whether they’re helping your company or hindering it. For example, in our consulting with a newly merged, international telecoms company, we conducted a simple exercise to help the newly merged entities to describe their cultural norms and those of the other parties. It quickly generated truths and myths that could be discussed and used to iron out blockages as they rolled out their distribution and cable network – the key to capturing subscribers and business operational success.

Tools for leaders to leverage organisational politics

By: EBR | Monday, June 26, 2017

Many CEOs enter organisations with ambitious plans to change strategies or processes. But they often find themselves up against organisational politics. Historical divisions and entrenched power structures can quickly hobble change

It is unlikely that the average person is willing to settle for such a sharp drop in their lifestyle. Based on current spending levels, the reality is that Singaporeans’ monthly retirement stipend will need to be closer to US$3,300 to maintain their current living standards. Most Singaporeans will draw US$550 per month from the Singaporean retirement income scheme for the elderly, the Central Provident Fund (CPF) LIFE. Contrary to popular wisdom, household spending does not decline significantly during retirement. This is often referred to as the retirement income puzzle.

Why your financial planner should be a robot

By: EBR | Wednesday, June 7, 2017

Retirement planning requires more data and less human involvement to nudge customers to a more comfortable future

You can also argue that a separate group or task force needs to be set up to examine an issue or bridge silos. It creates a ‘working space’ outside of the habitual structures, norms and routines of the organisation. It’s vital for innovation and change. For instance, a public agency was hampered because of slow structures and formalised steps to stop potential fraud. It meant that millions in tax revenues were not collected at the end of the year. Senior leaders decided to set up a dedicated task force outside of the formal organisational structure to solve the problem.

Tools for leaders to leverage organisational politics

By: EBR | Thursday, June 1, 2017

Navigating four typical domains of organisational politics can help leaders overcome barriers to strategy execution

Keen-eyed observers might point out that people’s extent of foreign experiences is roughly in step with their social class. At first glance, our results might seem to be a rehash of past research showing a higher prevalence of immoral behaviour at the upper reaches of the social scale. But they remained robust even after explicitly controlling for education and income, suggesting that participants’ foreign travel—rather than their social status—was responsible for the increase in immorality.

Watch out for the well-travelled

By: EBR | Monday, May 29, 2017

Sampling a wide array of cultural norms can blur people’s moral vision

Top restaurants’ identities are substantially wedded to their chefs’ in the areas of creativity, innovation and external image. However, the day-to-day customer experience outcome is delivered through a coordinated organisational effort of several individuals in the kitchen and the front-of- house who face many challenges in real time. In customer-facing operations, the connection between the organisation and the customer is crucial. Organisational excellence can be highly impacted by a combination of three main factors: leadership effectiveness, team effectiveness and workplace environment.

How to lead like a top chef

By: EBR | Tuesday, May 2, 2017

World-class chefs confront many leadership challenges shared by corporate leaders and entrepreneurs

We urge the G20 to formally accept the recommendations of the TCFD and send a strong signal that government leaders desire more transparency from business regarding the financial implications of climate change on their short and long-term strategy and operations. We welcome the current TCFD recommendations, and will actively support their successful implementation.

Global CEOs call for greater disclosure of climate risks and opportunities

By: EBR | Friday, April 28, 2017

Global business leaders representing companies with US$4.9 trillion in assets under management and US$700 billion in revenue have joined together to urge G20 governments to formally accept and act on the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures

The irony is that technological progress is only exacerbating this crisis. Historically, society has been able to afford more bullshit jobs precisely because our robots kept getting better. As our farms and factories grew more efficient, they accounted for a shrinking share of our economy. And the more productive agriculture and manufacturing became, the fewer people they employed. Call it the paradox of progress: the richer we become, the more room we have to waste our time. It’s like Brad Pitt says in Fight Club: too often, we’re “working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don’t need.”

A growing number of people think their job is useless

By: EBR | Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Time to rethink the meaning of work

My main lesson is that everything happens for a reason, and as long as you work your hardest and have the best intentions (and rarely is this driven by making the most money) the results will follow. It’s never an easy road, and it’ll be full of trials and tribulations, but the satisfaction of bringing your vision to reality is priceless, so enjoy the ride!

3 entrepreneurs share their biggest mistakes – and what they learned from them

By: EBR | Friday, April 7, 2017

When you hear the stories behind some of today’s most successful companies, it can be easy to forget just how hard it is to set up and scale a business

While the firm may lose some value appropriation, and pass on a bigger slice of the value pie to the achieving executive, the extra value gained through successful exploration and the development of new business and knowledge increases the size of the pie overall, and places the organisation in a better position for future growth. Indeed when an organisation gives some of its “ownership” of relationships to individual employees, it can actually benefit.

Rethinking network ties

By: EBR | Thursday, March 23, 2017

Professional service executives who base their professional relationships on individual ties bring more value to the firm

Digitalisation may involve a great many experts, but the ultimate responsibility for digital transformation belongs to all functions within a firm. Successful change also requires cooperation from junior contributors all the way up to the board by linking digital savvy millennials with the business experience and wisdom of senior executives and directors.

11 Leadership guidelines for the Digital Age

By: EBR | Wednesday, March 15, 2017

The old ways of running a company won’t cut it in a digital world

Managers may find that feigning optimism inspires loyalty from employees and faith from higher-ups. Stakeholders who believe these cheerful predictions may be in for a rude awakening, however. Our findings suggest that if you want to filter out the noise, you must provide an almost ostentatious level of anonymity protection. In an atmosphere of maximally reinforced reassurance, you have the best chance of banishing the rose-coloured glasses.

The fine line between optimism and fakery

By: EBR | Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Are humans unrealistically hopeful about the future, or just pretending to be?

A “glass ceiling” is really a set of stereotypes that are in contradiction with one another. That is, the stereotype of the profession “computer scientist” is at odds with the stereotype of the gender “woman” and so some people may vacillate between thinking that women aren’t tough enough to make it as computer scientists . . . and thinking that tough female computer scientists aren’t feminine enough to be acceptable women. We all use stereotypes to make processing the world easier – rather than seeing things anew, we can just group what we see into types that we already have.

Smashing the glass ceiling: 6 Davos leaders explain how they did it

By: EBR | Tuesday, January 17, 2017

When it comes to closing the gender gap, we’ve made an immense amount of progress in a relatively short space of time. But we’re nowhere near where we need to be

Here the good news is that while conventional political engagement has eroded, democratic expression and unconventional political involvement have expanded. Citizens are not losing interest in public affairs. Quite the contrary. The challenge for leaders is therefore to channel this growing interest in the democratic process through the creation of new avenues of participation, co-creation of policies and oversight of leaders’ actions. In our re-politicised societies, successful political representatives will be those capable of transforming mounting distrust into civic virtue.

A 10-point guide to responsible leadership in the age of populism

By: EBR | Sunday, January 15, 2017

In a world characterized by epic political, social and technological transformations, there has never been a greater need for responsive and responsible leaders

Responsible leaders must develop empathy and solidarity with all people they serve, so that they will forge collective benefits that enlarge the pie for everyone. Again, volunteerism and community engagement are crucial. Unfortunately, with social media and an overabundance of choice, people are easily conditioned to only seek out interactions with people they “like” or to “friend” people of similar views or backgrounds. This is the exact opposite of the desired outcome, and can lead to irresponsible leaders with low social capital, and low empathy, who see the world as a fixed pie that must be divided up with the largest slice going to themselves and people like them. The future of the world, particularly the one that the young will inherit, must be defined by what we share, not our superficial differences.

What does leadership really mean?

By: EBR | Tuesday, January 10, 2017

A young person could almost be forgiven for feeling despair and hopelessness today. Everywhere they look, there is escalating inequality and a lack of opportunity

It should be a gradual shift, with minimal impact on pay. For example, suppose all workers over 50 take a one-hour cut in their working week each year. If they start with a 40-hour week, they can be doing 30 hours at 60 and 20 hours at 70. And suppose all young people entering the labour market for the first time start on a 30-hour week – and stay that way, with each new cohort adding to the numbers, until it becomes the new “normal”. What if all workers in organisations where there is an annual round of pay negotiations were to trade a bit more time each year for a smaller pay rise?

The fetishisation of work is making us miserable. Let’s learn to live again

By: EBR | Monday, October 31, 2016

Long hours and poor pay are wreaking havoc on our lives. Rather than fixating on growth, if we restructured the working week it would allow people to flourish

Corporate acquirers pursue acquisitions for many reasons from gaining access to complementary resources and capabilities to increasing their size and economies of scale; the hunt for synergies is the key term. Private equity funds on the other hand have a different mandate when it comes to acquisitions or investments.

Ten Questions to Ask Before Pursuing an Acquisition

By: EBR | Friday, October 7, 2016

Corporate acquirers can benefit from asking the same questions private equity firms ask themselves before pursuing acquisitions. Most mergers unfortunately fail

Management plays a key role, the researchers suggest. Implementing modern collaborative tools requires changing employees’ old habits and triggering new ones, as quickly as possible. Pointing out the benefits of social media platforms is all well and good, but shaping employees’ habits seems to be more vital in creating a new culture of knowledge sharing

Inbox Zero: Can Employees Be Persuaded to Abandon Email?

By: EBR | Friday, September 30, 2016

The rise of Web 2.0 platforms and social media programs has the potential to enhance the way colleagues collaborate, but old work habits die hard

What is key for the state is to ensure a well-functioning market for corporate control that can attract both domestic and foreign investors. If the rules lack clear scope, it will make it difficult to predict whether a cross-border deal is likely to be blocked or require modification.

The cost of geopolitics to M&As

By: EBR | Tuesday, July 5, 2016

When geopolitical relations between nations are strained, states are more inclined to intervene to block mergers and acquisitions on national security grounds. But this makes mergers more difficult and more expensive, putting them at odds with the national interest

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Editor’s Column

‘The Times They Are a-changin’

N. Peter KramerBy: N. Peter Kramer

With apologies to Bob Dylan for using his already so often (mis)used words: ‘The Times They Are a- changin’

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Technology is changing and challenging governments around the world. With data analytics and artificial intelligence, new technologies present governments with tremendous opportunities to improve public services, get better value-for-money, and curb corruption

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