Surprisingly, people have been asking where my monthly blog/newsletter/rant has gone. The truth is, every time I sit down to write, the world seems to have moved on from the carefully penned draft. Trying to stay informed these days feels like riding a sharp-horned bull in a rodeo – The constant redrafting got a bit boring so instead, I kept my head down, especially with everything else going on in life.
At the risk of oversharing, I have now recovered from a significant (though not urgent) operation, have settled into my new home, and at Polestar Towers we have moved two deals forward significantly. It has certainly been busy, and hopefully ultimately rewarding. I now feel a bit like Moley from Wind in the Willows, poking his head out into the bright spring sunshine, with a summer of bountiful promise ahead. And like Moley, I intend to spend much of it, how did Ratty put it? “…there is nothing-half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”
My favourite economist – and who doesn’t have one? – is Tim Harford. In last week’s Weekend FT, he wrote, in his usual erudite fashion, about how the boring things in life often turn out to be the most crucial. His highlight was: “Success leads to boredom. Boredom leads to neglect. Neglect leads to failure.”
His examples included national 50Hz AC power grids (solar runs on DC), the importance of preserving archives, and the risks of ignoring 11-digit binary counters – which still require a reboot to avert air disasters. Failures caused by neglecting the boring include the recent Iberian power outage and the infamous LA air traffic control failure 20 years ago. Investigators used boring old printed Boston Catholic diocesan directories to trace abusive priests – records that would have vanished in today’s ever-updating databases. As Harford puts it, “The boring things in life will shut down your electricity grid, identify paedophiles, and crash your computer – or maybe even your aeroplane. Might we attempt a grand unified theory of boring things?”
This got me thinking about cyber protection, (do see Annabel’s blog below). It is very boring having to use passwords, two-factor authentication and passkeys: It is equally boring to have to call someone and check the payee’s bank details are truely theirs and it is obviously super boring and unnecessary to check your IT team is actually your IT team, or, for them to check you are really you, before giving access to credentials, passwords and 2-factor pins. Well of course, as proved by M&S with $1billion of shareholder value suddenly wiped out security is anything but boring.
Beyond cyber what boring-but-important tasks are being neglected in your business (or dare I suggest personal life)? Are you properly investing in accounting functions? Do you own your IP? Are your supplier and customs contracts appropriate? How about those friendships and relationships? Whilst we all like to chase the shiny new things the boring stuff needs to be tended and watered.
As Tim Harford summed it up: “Smooth, successful operations are uninteresting, and uninteresting matters tend to get neglected. Eventually, they stop working well. At which point, they become interesting again”. M&S’s Chair, Archie Norman, said ruefully to the City last week, “Just as you think you are on a good streak, events have a way of putting you back on your backside”. If we are honest with ourselves how often are “events” due to our neglect and really could have been mitigated. Archie Noman attended all meetings of the audit and risk committee, which oversees cyber. I suspect his and his colleagues’ executive bonuses may be trimmed, and they will find that quite boring indeed.
We have one week left for completion of this year’s Sustainability Survey where responses will be compared across the years which, along with the new questions, will give insights into the changing attitudes.
It would be very much appreciated if you could spare us 10 minutes to complete our survey, which you can access here.
