I can’t help but be saddened by the troubles that have engulfed the Co-operative Group.
The mutual movement in the UK was built on pride, hard work and steadfastness, but that alone did not sustain it for generation upon generation.
It was sustained through vision, business acumen and, most importantly, through the trust which it built up with millions of loyal members.
The Co-op ‘divi’ a members’ share of the profits which the group made became a national institution and drew people to the mutual ideal.
Such is the scale of that buy-in, the Co-op is now one of the most significant retail businesses in the UK, with sales topping £11 billion, a workforce of more than 100,000 employees and more than seven million members.
That growth, and the movement’s strong record on social issues, has been guided by the founding principles set out by the Rochdale Pioneers in the 1840s.
But for the Co-op, recent months have been punctuated by scandal upon scandal as it has become increasingly clear the group has lost its way.
As details of the £1bn-plus (and counting) financial black hole in the group’s banking arm emerged last year, the Co-op’s reputation for responsibility took a battering.
And by the time the very public splits and spats in the mutual’s boardroom are finally played out, the regard in which the group is held will have been diminished further. Possibly irretrievably.
It is sad to say, but the Co-op right now resembles a drunken man flailing in the dark.
It has lost its moral compass.
The rebuilding and reshaping of the Co-op is going to be a long and, I suspect, very painful process.
The model of governance through consensus is all but dead, and the future direction of the group is uncertain.
Without a strong pair of hands at the tiller, with the levers to effect the necessary structural changes for growth, it is difficult to see how the Co-op will do anything but lurch from crisis to crisis.
Reform must come quickly, or a proud British institution for which the public holds great affection could wither and ultimately die.
And that would be a sad day indeed.
* There is very little down-time in the world of business.
There are overheads to clear, targets to hit, products to develop, clients to chase, markets to research, invoices to send, accounts to do…the list just goes on and on.
For many there just isn’t enough time in the week to get everything done.
That is why the story of entrepreneur Simon Cohen intrigued me.
At 34, an age at which the majority of us are trying to carve out a career for ourselves, Simon has kicked off the corporate shackles in order to spend time with his family.
Curiously he is not simply taking the money from the successful PR company he built up and running off into the sunset for the good life.
Instead he is giving away his £1 million firm and his lucrative contacts books for a nominal fee.
I can’t see that Simon’s example will spark a mass exodus from workplaces up and down the land as people eschew the trappings of success for a simpler, less stressful existence.
But burnout is a very real issue in workplaces up and down the land when focus and perspective is lost.
That is a situation which is bad for the worker and bad for the employer as productivity and quality fall off a cliff.
If we take anything from Simon’s story perhaps it should be to have the work-life balance on the radar at all times, and to be prepared to adjust accordingly before one begins to dominate the other.