The Week - UK (2021-07-17)

CITY 47

17 July 2021 THE WEEK

Commentators

TheBigFouraccountantDeloittehasshocked staff bymaking

around athirdofits executiveassistantsredundant,saysSimon

Foy. “Thisisn’tthefirsttime secretarialstaffhave found

themselvesinthefiringline”:duringthe last financialcrisis,many

companiessoughtto cutcostsbyreducingtheirnumbers.But

there’sasense thatthismoveismorepermanent. Deloitteblames

the cuts on“the plannedshiftto long-term remoteworking”. The

secretary,it seems,mayhavefinallysuccumbedtothe digital

revolution,hastenedbythepandemic.Unsurprisingly,Victoria

Wratten oftheExecutive&Personal AssistantsAssociation

takesaratherdifferentview.As she points out, thejob“has

shiftedfrombeingatransactionalrole toamore strategic one”:

as computerscovermore oftheadmin, they havetakenon

managerialresponsibilities.Themarketfor good EAs remains

busy.Whenexecutives aregoing“abitcrazy”,saysWratten, EAs

are there “to getit alloutof theirhead, makesenseofit,and

formulateastrategy”. In otherwords,dismis sthem at yo ur pe ril.

“Acoupleofmonthsago,thewayoutofthecrisislookedclear,”

saysTheObserver.Immunisationprogrammeswouldremove

restrictionsonactivity,enabling“thepick-upingrowth”to

continue.RisinginfectionratesoftheDeltavarianthavegiventhe

lietothat,thoroughlyspookingmarketsglobally.“Intruth,the

firsthalfof 2021 wastheeasybit”:growthrateswerealways

goingtobeimpressiveasshutteredbusinessesre-opened.Buta

wholehostofotherproblemshavenowsurfaced–fromsupply

bottlenecks tothe difficultyoffindingjobsforpeople whoseold

jobsno longerexist. Despite risinginflation, centralbankswillbe

in nohurryto tighten monetarypolicyforfearof jeopardisingthe

recovery.“Ifthe past isanythingtogoby,thiswillputafloor

understock markets and boostthevalueofproperty, oiland

crypto-assets such asbitcoin.” Inthe short-term,there’sarisk

of stockmarkets beingrattled byaslowdownin growth.But

themore potent,longer-termthreat isthatof acheap-money

“everythingbubble”whichwilleventuallygo“pop”.

Therewasa“grimsymbolism”inthechoiceofVeniceasthe

venuefortherecentmeetingofG 20 financeministers,saysGillian

Tett.Thecityisoncoursetosinkunlessurgentactionistakento

combatclimatechange.ArecentBPreviewhighlightsthescale

ofthechallenge.Afternotingthatcarbonemissionsfellbya

“startling”5%duringthepandemicslumpof 202 0,BPreckons

theworldneedstoaveragethesamerateofdecline“everyyear

forthenext 3 0years”ifitistohittheParisclimategoals.This

callsfor“massivebehaviouralchange”;andtherearefiveways

theG2 0 couldkickstartit.First,bycollectivelyembracing“a

steadilyrisingcarbonpriceandtax”.Second,bydemandingthat

China“backsawayfromcoal”.Third,bygettingseriousabout

helpingpoornationstransitiontocleanenergy.Fourth,by

fosteringresearchintogreentechnologies.Fifth,byproperly

mobilisingconsumers.Muchofthisis“obvious”,buturgencyis

stilllacking.Thepandemicfrightenedtheworldintoaction.We

needtocreate“thesamesenseofshockaboutclimaterisks”.

Onlinemessagingisan“intimatemedium”, saysThe Economist.

One WhatsAppusercalls it“a cocktail-party whisperin digital

form”.And th epandemichas givenit afillip. Facebook, which

owns WhatsApp, reports thatmessagingonits Messengerand

Instagram appsisupby40%. Indeed, “four-fifths of mobile-

devicetime is nowspent onchat apps”. Nowonder someofthe

world’sbigges tconsumerbrands are trying to usethese apps to

sell products: they realise“the limitationsofconventional

channelslike callcentr es an demail ”. E achday now, 175million

peoplesend amessag etoWhatsApp businessaccoun ts. Boosters

clai mthatconversationcommerce (“c-commerce”) will displace

e-commercewithin adecade or two. In some ways,“it is athrow-

back to the past”.Trade, after all, “has relied on conversationfor

millennia”.Automa ticmessaging is nowmovingwaybeyond

rudimentary chatbots to thesortoffree-flowing exchanges that

shoppersused to have withexper tretail assistants.Companies

must,of co urse,tread carefull y. Chatapps are“emotional

spaces”: get itwrong“and your firm might find itself deleted

faster than an ex”.But they couldbethe future ofshop ping.

BillandMelindaGates

Fortunatelyforthefutureof

oneoftheworld’slargest

philanthropicfoundations,

theGatesdivorceseemsto

havebeenconcluded

harmoniously,saidThe

Times.BillandMelindawill

continueworkingas

co-chairsofthe$55bnGates

Foundationfortwoyears,

butMelindawillstepdown

“ifthearrangement

unravels”.Still,endinga

27-yearmarriageisnever

easy,andGatesisfeeling

thestrain.Appearingatthis

year’sSunValleygathering

–anIdahoget-together

dubbeda“summercampfor

billionaires”–heappeared

“closetotears”ashe

“‘fessedup”towreckinghis

marriage.Therewerereports

ofanextra-maritalaffairbut,

accordingtoTheNewYork

Times,itwashisassociation

withthelatefinancierJeffrey

Epstein,aconvictedsex

offender,thatwasthefinal

strawforMelinda.

SarahFriar

Growing up in Northern

Ireland during the Troubles,

Sarah Friar saw some of the

worst of human nature, said

Hannah Murphy in the FT.

But in her village, Catholics

and Protestants lived side

by side. As CEO of Nextdoor

–the “hyperlocal” social

network in which neighbours

share local news–“she is

trying to recreate that

camaraderie” online. Not

always successfully: parts of

Nextdoor remainacesspool

of “curtain-twitching”

prejudice. An Oxford

graduate, Friar arrived in

Silicon Valley via McKinsey

and Goldman Sachs. Now

she is readying Nextdoor to

float, at around $4.3bn. She’ll

need to be “ruthless”, but

that should be no problem.

One colleague describes

Friar asa“Samurai soldier”:

elegant but lethal.

Another shock

is needed to

save the world

GillianTett

FinancialTimes

Covid isn’t

beaten; neither

is the bubble

Editorial

TheObserver

Is it curtains

for the

secretary?

Simon Foy

The Daily Telegraph

The art of

chatting up

customers

Editorial

The Economist

City profiles