A short but insightful piece by Matthew Lynn in The Spectator. The opening paragraph:
There are lots of plausible explanations for Dame Sharon White’s failure at the department store and grocery chain John Lewis. The retail environment was too tough. Her predecessor expanded too quickly. During a cost–of-living crisis and with the shift to online shopping it was always going to be a very tough gig. Yet once you look a little deeper, the real explanation is this: the quango-cracy, of which she was a leading member, is useless at running a real business.
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Another “diversity hire” an American term that sums up the perversely racist and sexist practice of hiring people on the basis of their skin colour or genitalia. Sharon White hasn’t been near anything retailing nor anything in a competitive business environment. One can’t help thinking the “board” thought John Lewis thought their business was so safe that appointing someone who was obsessed with the “whiteness” if the John Lewis ” partners” and the genitalia of its managers could do little harm. Seems they were quite wrong.