Business Diary: January 7

A new Twitter account has been launched and has amassed 159 followers, including Labour frontbencher Rachel Reeves, incoming N Brown PR chief Ed Watson and lots of people involved in the Yorkshire legal sector.

Tweets include “We’ve said goodbye to clients and hello to customers... everything we do is for you” and “forget the legal clichés... we are a new breed of law firm”.

One of the entrepreneurs behind the campaign contacted Diary in confidence yesterday to flag up the campaign, which uses tools including reverse psychology: “If you are happy with your law firm, do not visit this website.”

He promised that all would be revealed next Tuesday morning.

“This is an interesting social media campaign,” said the individual. “Which you don’t expect from a law firm.”

According to Twitter, the firm is based “everywhere”. Read Leeds.

M&S look physical jerks in digital world

High street retailers need to promote all the benefits they can in the omni-channel world of shopping.

So the Marks & Spencer policy of closing fitting rooms during the festive sales season struck Diary as particularly wrong-headed. The advantage of physical as opposed to digital is that consumers can look, touch and feel garments and try them on for size. You cannot do that online. Yet.

“M&S might impress with the look and feel of its new fashion products, but it lost potential sales during my visit,” said one Yorkshire Post reader.

A spokeswoman said the fitting rooms were closed temporarily as usual during the busy sales period. They reopened on December 29. “We apologise for any inconvenience,” she added.

Judgment day will come on Thursday when M&S updates on trading.

Getting into the spirit of leadership

To some cynics, business is prosaic drudgery; a world confined to flow charts and ledgers.

Every day, Diary speaks to entrepreneurs who prove cynics wrong. They are passionate individuals who want to nurture and develop those around them.

To lead, you must, of course, first know yourself. And, according to a release that arrived in Diary’s inbox, you’ve got to get in touch with your spiritual side. The press release arrived from author and businesswoman Sarah Alexander promising to provide Diary with “the essential element to leadership: the inner foundation to lead ourselves”.

Her second book, Spiritual Intelligence in Leadership, is not another book about leadership, claims her PR company Panpathic Communications.

“This book guides you through the seven key lessons that make up the thinking, attitudes and deep inner knowledge that underpin effective 21st century leadership.

“With personal stories and examples drawn from well-known figures in business, sport and entertainment to support each lesson, the book offers real insight and a spiritual path to being a leader in every capacity.

“Sarah can offer advice about how to tap into your innate spiritual intelligence; how to use it to make 2014 your most successful business year yet; how to use spiritual intelligence to overcome obstacles in your business; how to use spiritual intelligence to find your life’s work; and how to use it to set goals and ensure you achieve them.”

Your real strength, it seems, comes from within.

Talks aim to help you crack China

If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to look to the fast-growing Chinese economy for business opportunities then you may be interested in two upcoming events.

A Chinese government-backed institute in Yorkshire is kicking off 2014 with its second annual lecture and a ‘Meet the Authors’ event.

The Business Confucius Institute at the University of Leeds aims to boost business links between the North of England and China.

Its second annual lecture this year features Professor Man Fong Mei discussing the traditional ‘Chinese scholar’ both within history, politics, literature and healthcare culture. It will be held on January 15.

This will then be followed up by the first ‘Meet the Authors’ lecture of 2014, on January 20, featuring Professor Nigel Holden of the Centre for International Business at the University of Leeds, who will be discussing the advantages and challenges of global business cultures.

For more details, visit http://lubswww.leeds.ac.uk/confucius/home/