Gooday…
Have I got a blockbuster business book review today.
‘Damaged Goods’ is written by the Sunday Times business editor Oliver Shah & is about the rise and fall of Sir Philip Green.
Oliver is 1 of the most respected national commentators on business and the high street & was named business journalist of the year in 2017, for his investigation into Sir Philip Green £1 BHS sale.
He wrote the book on the back of his investigation & it goes much deeper than just the £1 BHS sale.
It covers most of Green’s life, his past deals, his current situation & to some degree his future.
Oliver got very close to Green & the book details the many brutal & choice language phone conversations & meetings that they had. It’s based on real facts.
I don’t want to spoil it too much, as you all must read it. Irrelevant if you are in business or not.
I’m not sure it will teach any good things. But it will certainty show you what you should not do & how not to treat people in your care.
According to the book Green (the once king of the high street) is no fantastic business leader with supernatural talents. It seems he is little more than a foul-mouthed asset stripper.
The facts are. He never used any of his own cash to buy his businesses (including BHS) it was all borrowed from investors.
In the BHS case. Green spotted they had a huge property portfolio (shops & offices) that were massively under-valued.
As soon as he took control, he either borrowed heavily against them or sold them off to pay back what he’d borrowed.
It also turns out Green wasn’t the brains behind BHS initial profit improvement in the early years of his reign. It was mainly down to clever sourcing of product by his business partner Richard Caring & once Richard departed the scene BHS costs significantly rose again.
Oliver then covers Green’s purchase of Arcadia & how lucky he got with Top Shop, his failed purchase of M&S, the billions he stripped out of the businesses, his extravagant lifestyle & ego, the £1 sale of BHS, the pensions fiasco & Green’s #MeToo sexual & racial harassment scandal.
Oliver believes Sir Philip Green became the most talented asset-stripper & trader of his generation. And his reputation as a master retailer was based on a mirage.
Please read this book. You won’t be disappointed. ‘Damaged Goods’ gets a thumbs up & 5-stars.
If you’ve got any questions about the book, connect & message me on LinkedIn or drop me an email to darren@mytotalofficesolutions.com
Watch all our business book reviews at mytotalofficesolutions.co.uk/business-book-reviews
Thank you for watching & see you next week.
