Business Diary: June 14

BRITISH Retail Consortium director general Stephen Robertson got himself in a tangle at the industry body’s Retail Symposium. Introducing the new Tesco chief executive, he described Philip Clarke as the boss of “500 million employees around the world”.

Mr Clarke, a Liverpudlian who followed his father’s footsteps into retail, was reluctantly forced to point out Tesco does not yet employ seven per cent of the world’s population. “Actually, it’s 499 million people around the world,” he joked, before adding the true number is about half a million.

George and ASDA: no advice for Chancellor

Asda chief executive Andy Clarke may head the UK’s second-biggest grocer, but the former store manager has no delusions of grandeur.

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Asked by Mr Robertson what advice he’d give to Chancellor George Osborne, Mr Clarke dodged the question with a hasty sidestep.

“I’m a shopkeeper,” he said. “My job is to manage Asda to the best of my ability. The Government has a very different task. My job is to continue to lower the cost of living for people in this country.”

However, asked about Government plans for a retail adjudicator to protect suppliers, Mr Clarke was more opinionated.

“We operate in one of the most tightly-regulated markets there is,” he said. “Do we believe we need further regulation and red tape? No.”

Yorkshire investors keep hold of brass

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It’s a well-worn stereotype to claim Yorkshiremen are prudent with their pennies.

Now a new survey of wealthy investors has underlined the cliche, showing the appetite for financial risk is the lowest in the region.

A Barclays Wealth Insights report found only 14 per cent of respondents in the Yorkshire and Humber region described themselves as financial risk-takers, compared with 32 per cent in the South West and 54 per cent in London. Asked if they wished they could take a more disciplined approach to their finances, only seven per cent of Yorkshire respondents said “yes”. In the North East, 50 per cent wished they were more fiscally prudent.

“Compared to the rest of the country, Yorkshire has one of the lowest demands for greater financial discipline,” said Martin Cuthbert, Barclays Wealth’s regional head for Yorkshire.

The power of conversation

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Diary hears of a former nurse at York District Hospital who has embarked on an unusual business venture.

Michael Brook, originally from Pudsey, spent his early career working in A&E departments. He contacted Diary to say he’d set up a training course that enables businesses to use the art of conversation to “ethically” influence clients. Mr Brook has just launched an internet-based course called Conversational Influence. He said: “This new private members training portal can be used by anyone who needs to influence through conversation, to grow their business or improve their communication skills.

“Even those people with ‘zero people skills’ can learn from these techniques.”

According to Mr Brook, his “journey into the art of conversational influencing” started during his days as a trauma nurse, when he had to learn how to communicate effectively, often in a crisis.

Art lovers will flock to Hirst’s exhibition

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A FORMER enfant terrible of the art world is coming back to his Yorkshire home – with the help of one of the region’s major law firms.

The work of Damien Hirst will be shown at Leeds Art Gallery from July to October after a sponsorship deal was struck with Walker Morris.

Artist Rooms: Damien Hirst is billed as a concise collection of the artist’s works, including Away from the Flock, one of his signature vitrine pieces of animals suspended in formaldehyde.

There is also an extra room devoted to the artist’s collaborative project Pharmacy, the restaurant in London’s Notting Hill, where the art of Hirst – who grew up and trained in Leeds – was made part of the restaurant’s design. This initiative follows Walker Morris’ sponsorship of the Saatchi Gallery exhibition, The Triumph of Painting, at Leeds City Art Gallery in 2006, when it broke all records for visitors. The firm also supported The Revolution Continues – New Art from China which opened the new Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea three years ago.

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