The Bookseller.com

3rd December 2008

PAUL SMIDDY

Paul Smiddy is a City analyst.

Jargon buster

06.06.08

In my business world, English may be the common ­currency, but it is in a state of slow but insidious devaluation. Screen-based communication, texts, emails—all this provides instant communication, but literate it ain’t. ­Technology could be said to be undermining literacy.

The mangling of English is evident on a daily basis: for example, a management team “covers off” (a problem), someone “saves down” (a document), anything successful is “landed”, and, on my own doorstep, so to speak, I recently encountered a “mentee”.

I had always thought it was some sort of exotic sea mammal found in the Pacific. But it’s alive, and living in London E14, apparently.

It is therefore refreshing to encounter a business person who is evidently highly literate, and cares about communication in all its forms. His many roles include leading businesses in television, fashion retail, restaurants and catering. He is of course, Luke Johnson, now also involved in book retailing via ­Borders UK & Ireland.

I had the pleasure of meeting Johnson when I was a speaker at a conference he recently headlined (oops, a touch of ­management speak), and I can confirm his eloquence at the podium. But he puts his thoughts on the line, so to speak, in ­regular business columns (formerly the Daily Telegraph, now the Financial Times). These usually take the form of an evolving guide to ­entrepreneurship.

A recent column about start-ups would have been useful reading for one or two recent high-profile failures in the book industry. Johnson’s pithy advice included: “Do not rent fancy commercial premises . . . Do not spend money on advertising . . . Do not rely on bank debt . . . Do not engage expensive advisers . . .” and so on.

With such an abundance of insight and common sense, well expressed, I doubt that the employees of Borders UK are now wanting a sense of direction. It is pleasing that a major UK book chain is now in the hands of someone who obviously cares so much for the ­written word—and can avoid slipping into the ­cesspit of management ­jargon while running a ­business. A reportedly off-day at the recent Booksellers Association Conference in Brighton perhaps just shows a degree of human fallibility.

Obviously there are great challenges, not only in all of UK retail now, but in the guts of the Borders ­business he has acquired. Quoting Helen Keller, Johnson said: “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.”

I wish him well on this adventure.

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