Bubbles, strong currencies and capital flows
Most bubbles come with a strong currency or a flood of foreign money. Why capital inflows and asset booms reinforce each other, how they reverse, and what it means for importers and exporters.
10 min read
Insights category
Business
Operations, building businesses, systems and decisions.
Articles in Business
Building a high-performing sales team: accountability, trust and empowerment
Strong sales teams rest on a few durable values and habits. What accountability, tenacity, trust and empowerment look like in practice, and how leaders create the conditions for them.
10 min read
Building rapport that is real, not rehearsed
Rapport is the mutual understanding that makes honest conversation possible. Practical ways to build it, techniques that backfire, and how to know what to practise.
10 min read
Consistency beats a single great year
Why ten years of steady, rising earnings tell you far more than one record result, and how to separate a business's real earning power from one-off gains.
10 min read
Credit: the fuel behind every bubble
Most damaging bubbles are financed with borrowed money. How lending, new lenders, low real interest rates and rising debt turn a boom into a bubble, and why credit makes the bust worse.
10 min read
Debt as a warning light: what borrowing reveals about a business
How interest costs, long-term debt and the mix of short- and long-term borrowing can reveal whether a business stands on its own or depends on lenders.
10 min read
Depreciation, capital spending and the weight of heavy assets
Why businesses that constantly replace plant and equipment struggle to build wealth, how depreciation and capital spending reveal this, and what it means for manufacturing ventures.
10 min read
Designing a business for durability: a founder's reading of Buffett
Buffett reads financial statements to find durable businesses. Read in reverse, the same signals become a design checklist for anyone building a business from scratch.
10 min read
Durable competitive advantage: the idea behind Buffett's best investments
Why Warren Buffett looks for businesses whose advantage lasts for decades, the three shapes that advantage usually takes, and what it means for anyone building a business.
10 min read
Explore or exploit? The multi-armed bandit problem
Should you stick with what works or try something new? The bandit problem formalises this dilemma. How exploration strategies work and how to apply them to marketing, products and suppliers.
10 min read
First impressions and the 12×12×12 rule
People form impressions within moments. What the popular 12×12×12 rule captures, what research on first impressions supports, and how to start well without pretending.
10 min read
Five practical ways to improve your conversion rate
Converting more of the opportunities you already have is often the fastest way to grow. Five practical levers, how to measure them and how to choose where to start.
10 min read
