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At this time of year, it's tempting to treat the Budget as background noise and to leave next year's numbers until January. We'd encourage you to look at them now. The Chancellor's Autumn Budget on 28 October has made several of next year's costs much clearer. Interest rates and energy prices are less predictable. Taken together, that makes November a good time to check that your plan still adds up, and that your cash position will carry you through whatever the next few mont

By October, many business leaders quietly decide the year is mostly done. Targets have either been hit or they haven't, diaries start to fill with year-end tasks and attention drifts towards January. We'd encourage you to resist that. The final quarter is one of the most valuable periods of the year. There is still enough time to deliver meaningful results, but not so much that you can afford to drift. And the businesses that finish strongly tend to start the new year with mo

As a business grows, the quality of the leadership team becomes increasingly important. In the early stages, a strong founder or Managing Director can compensate for weaknesses elsewhere. They can make most of the important decisions, stay close to customers, solve problems personally and keep everyone moving. But that model becomes increasingly difficult as the business gets bigger. More people create more communication. More customers create more complexity. Decisions becom

August is a good time to step back, test your direction and adjust the route before the final part of the year. For many businesses, August brings a slightly different pace. Customers are away. Colleagues take holidays. Meetings reduce. Some of the usual day-to-day noise disappears. For business leaders, that can create something that is often in short supply during the rest of the year: space to think. It is tempting to use that extra space to catch up on emails, clear the t