Power flickers on and off
I’ve being working on our Power 100 list this week. It’s a subjective list of the region’s most powerful business voices, but I like to think it is based on solid reasoning.
Such lists are great fun of course and we like to think that ours is received in the same spirit that is in conceived. There are always a few moans afterwards but that goes with the territory.
The interesting thing about this year’s list - without giving the results away - is the way that power has shifted in a 12-month period. The general election result has elevated some and demoted others. And the less than solid ground that the public sector now sits on has undermined the status of many of those working in it.
But it is the transient nature of power that makes it so fascinating. I’m currently reading a book about the Roman republic and the way that power shifted between the likes of Cicero, Caesar, Crassus, Pompey et al on an almost yearly basis is one of the enduringly fascinating aspects of that era in history.
Of course in those days power often shifted with the help of a sharpened dagger or at the behest of the mob. Things seem to evolve more organically within the Midlands business community.
The publishing world has gone list mad and we like other publishing houses have reflected that trend with our Rich List, Power 100, 42 under 42, Top 500 Companies and Growth 100 features. But hopefully what we’re doing in lists of this kind is not infantilising business information but rather representing it in a more user-friendly way. The positive response we get to features of this kind suggests that there is still a large appetite for them.
You will surely be aware that the media is in a period of rapid evolution. The likes of Rupert Murdoch are trying to find a way to get people to pay for general news online whilst we are all attempting to fit social media, podcasts and electronic news despatch into our output. Online blogs such as this one are now de rigeur, of course.
Working out where we will all be in five years’ time is a fascinating, if somewhat scary, pursuit in our sector but also in many of yours. What difference will so-called Tesco Law make to the legal profession? What will a lack of public sector-led projects do to the commercial property sector? What does the future hold for those working in the automotive supply chain? Will medical technologies grow to become the huge sector that many have predicted?
Uncertainty such as this - and the informed speculation that goes hand in hand with it - is the ground that the Power 100 list is founded on. Look out for it in the July issue of Insider. And if you don’t agree with it, have a go at compiling your own to get an idea of how difficult it is.
There’s only one thing that is for certain. Next year’s list will be very different again.
Any comments? Email Andy Coyne, editor, Midlands Business Insider.
Recent Posts
Services
Dealmakers Services Directory
Directory Find an advisor to help you buy, sell or invest
Property Services Directory
Find an advisor across property services
Commercial Property Finder
Full commercial property listings in the Midlands
Guides
Midlands City View
The news, features and analysis that matter for your city
International Trade
Our guide provides expert analysis on a range of trade destinations
42 under 42 Members
The latest class of the Midlands brightest young business people
- Contact us
- Midlands
- North West
- South West
- Wales
- Yorkshire
- Other regions
- 0121 232 0980
- 0161 907 9711
- 0117 906 5900
- 02920 434500
- 0113 220 4410
- 0161 907 9718
- Insider regions
- Central & East
- Ireland
- Midlands
- North East
- North West
- South East
- South West
- Wales
- Yorkshire