EDITION 1033
19 AUGUST 2024

On this day in 1969 Actor Matthew Perry was born. Today would have been his 55th birthday. The “Friends” actor died at his Los Angeles home in October last year. Five people were arrested last week in connection with his death, including medical doctors and Perry’s personal assistant. In his 2022 memoir the actor said he hoped that, more than for his role on the hit TV sitcom, he would be remembered for having helped others in his life.

As another week slips by, here are 10 things which caught my attention and may have escaped yours. Please feel free to share on social media and forward to your colleagues and friends so they can also subscribe, learn and engage. I would be very grateful if you did.

Before you dive in, remember our POTENTIAL workbook [see below] is on offer for only £99. This unique workbook will help guide your organisation to its highest potential. Contact us today to start your transformation.

William Montgomery
Editor and CEO of TEN

1. How to grab their attention before you present. Senior leaders are among the toughest crowds. They're incredibly busy so they won't sit still for a long presentation with a big reveal at the end. Often they'll just interrupt before you finish. READ MORE

2. Inflation rises amid rate cut hopes. UK inflation rose to 2.2% in July, slightly below expectations but above the Bank of England's 2% target. The increase was mainly due to housing and household services costs. The really juicy number is the big drop in services inflation to 5.2% - that tells us more about the domestic economy and points to more interest rate cuts ahead. Following the latest data, investors have increased bets on a potential interest rate cut in September, with markets now indicating a 45% chance of a reduction to 4.75%. However, uncertainty remains about future rate decisions. The Bank of England expects inflation to rise again in late 2024, and some experts suggest rate cuts may be shallow and consistent due to stubborn services inflation. Markets are now pricing in two rate cuts by year-end, with expectations for a November cut rising to over 90%. Office for National Statistics

3. Harris holds slight national lead over Trump. As Democrats gathered last weekend in Chicago for their upcoming national convention, Harris stands at 49 percent to Trump’s 45 percent among registered voters in a head-to-head matchup. When third-party candidates are included in the survey, Harris is at 47 percent and Trump at 44 percent, with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at 5 percent. In early July, Trump stood at 43 percent, Biden at 42 percent and Kennedy at 9 percent. Given the margin of error in this poll, which tests only national support, Harris’s lead among registered voters is not considered statistically significant. The vice president’s three-percentage-point advantage in a race that includes third-party candidates is slightly smaller than Biden’s 4.5-point popular vote margin in 2020, which translated into an electoral college majority. The Washington Post

4. Badenoch clear favourite to become Conservative Party leader. Kemi Badenoch is the clear favourite to be Tory leader among party members. She commands 33% support, and is followed by Robert Jenrick (19%), Tom Tugendhat and James Cleverly (10%), Priti Patel (8%), and Mel Stride (2%). However, 62% of British adults don’t care who becomes Tory leader, including 36% of Conservative voters. With this in mind, would you rather UK’s leaders focus on staying out of conflicts or taking strong actions against other countries. VOTE HERE

5. Bad news for high-performing women. If you’re a high-achieving woman, you're likely to have received feedback that you're either abrasive and difficult or friendly and helpful in at least one performance review. That's according to a recent study that analysed more than 23,000 reviews across 250 workplaces in the US. It found that women received "harsher and less constructive" feedback than their male peers, with more than a third being described as "opinionated". Meanwhile, men were more likely to be praised as confident (54%) and ambitious (63%) – a critique only 18% of women received. Fortune

6. Millionaire exodus reaches record high. Wealthy individuals are increasingly relocating globally, seeking favourable tax conditions. The UK's decision to end its long-standing "non-dom" tax regime has prompted many rich foreigners to consider moving. Countries like Switzerland, with its "forfait" system allowing negotiated tax rates, are competing to attract these high net-worth individuals along with megacities like Dubai and Singapore. A record 128,000 millionaires are expected to relocate globally in 2024, up from 120,000 last year. However, some countries are tightening their schemes due to political pressure. While Italy doubled its annual flat tax on foreign income to €200,000, Portugal also restricted its programme for new residents. Experts suggest this trend may signal a shift in attracting wealthy residents, with growing concerns about fairness and local impact. Financial Times

7. Dementia is not inevitable. 55 million people are living with dementia, and ten million new cases are diagnosed annually. But almost half of them are due to “modifiable risk factors” – things we can change – and so could, in theory, be prevented or delayed, a new report has found. The findings reveal that 14 lifestyle, medical and environmental factors were, together, responsible for 45% of cases. Twelve of these were already known, but they also identified two new ones: high cholesterol, which is believed to be behind 7% of cases, and untreated sight loss, which was linked to 2%. The others are high blood pressure, smoking, obesity, depression, physical inactivity, diabetes, excessive alcohol consumption, traumatic brain injury, exposure to air pollution, social isolation, lower levels of education and hearing loss. The Lancet

8. Post-A levels, university value questioned. Around 600,000 students across England, Wales and Northern Ireland received their A-Level results last week and many will have been waiting to see if their achievements would secure them a place in a university course. But is this the best route forward, and which degrees can boost your earning potential or hinder it? In a ranking of graduate earnings, computer science at the University of Cambridge came out on top, with graduates earning around £100,000 a year five years on. Performing arts graduates earned a median of £23,000 a year five years after finishing their courses, the lowest ranked. More employers are seemingly  scrapping requirements for degrees, The number of UK job postings not requiring a degree has gone up by 14.2% since 2021, and 90% of companies say soft skills are more important than ever. The Telegraph

9. Could you qualify for the Olympics? Could you qualify for the next Olympic Games if you were to start training today? If you’re like a quarter of the British public, you’d most likely say yes. In a recent study by YouGov, which sampled over 2,000 adults in the UK, 27% of Britons said they could become Olympic-level athletes across 25 sports by the start of the Los Angeles Games in 2028. Men (30%) were more confident about achieving the feat than women (25%), while nearly three-quarters of those aged under 49 said they could do it. Nearly a quarter of those between 50 to 64 years old said the same, while it was 15% for the over-65s. The 10m air rifle (shooting) was the top event chosen to make an Olympic team, along with archery, badminton and table tennis. Skateboarding, rugby, diving and gymnastics (artistic and rhythmic) were seen as the least attainable options. Daily Mail

10. The bottom line. HMRC reports that it is owed £43bn in unpaid taxes and concedes that it is unlikely ever to recover £19bn of that. The average customer phone waiting time was 23 minutes. BBC