Blog

Thought-provoking views on business, society and the environment

This blog is no longer active but you can find Sarah’s latest work on FT.com and elsewhere on this website.

Good idea: from food waste to job skills

21st April 2015

Food waste is a growing problem. By some estimates, about one-third of the food the world produces is lost or thrown away. . . READ MORE

Water worries: equipping ourselves for the future

7th April 2015

When I’m thirsty, there’s a glass in my kitchen I love drinking from. It’s a simple flared tumbler with a thick base containing a bubble of air. . . READ MORE

Career shift: What will be your second act?

31st January 2015

The other day, I stumbled across a 1987 copy of a glossy interiors magazine called Dimensions in Living. It was a scary moment. This was the issue I worked on when I got my first job in journalism. . . READ MORE

Growing pains in the sharing economy

19th October 2014

As a business writer, I’ve got used to the corporate jargon. But at one time I found it pretty confusing. Why did everyone want to share information with me? . . READ MORE

Cities: Celebrating the Beautiful Chaos

11th October 2014

Anyone who flew into Hong Kong before 1998 will remember it well – that terrifying but thrilling sensation as your plane careered towards Kai Tak airport through Kowloon’s forest of skyscrapers. . . READ MORE

Social innovation … from the inside

3rd September 2014

While in Kenya, GSK research scientist Graham Simpson noticed that, without effective diagnostic tools, people were dying from curable diseases. It sparked an idea. . . READ MORE

Revolution or evolution? Gene Tempel reflects on philanthropy’s future

21st August 2014

He founded the world’s first school of philanthropy. He’s been watching trends in giving for the past quarter of a century. . . READ MORE

New forces shaping micro-services for the poor

28th July 2014

This month, Women’s World Banking closed a $50.6 million private equity fund, which will be largely invested in microfinance institutions supporting women. . . READ MORE

Wanted: non-profit matchmakers

7th July 2014

The past six months have seen corporate merger and acquisition activity reach its most feverish levels since 2007. Not so in the non-profit sector. . . READ MORE

CEO perspective: Jack Larsen, UnitedHealthcare Medicare and retirement

29th June 2014

For many companies, a corporate awakening comes with a crisis. At UnitedHealth Group, a stock options scandal prompted some senior management soul searching. . . READ MORE

Technology changes the entrepreneur’s game

11th June 2014

Entrepreneurs are happier and more satisfied with their work than most. That’s what the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) found in a recent report. . . READ MORE

Can the MBA accommodate the circular economy?

30th May 2014

It won’t be easy: shifting the linear “take-make-use-dispose” model of production to a circular one, with energy, water and waste returned to the cycle and companies becoming temporary stewards of materials rather than resource consumers. . . READ MORE

CEO perspective: Ajay Goel, Tata Power Solar

19th May 2014

After returning to his native India in 2012 to take on a job at Tata Power Solar, one of the first things Ajay Goel did was to head out of the office. . . READ MORE

Can McDonald’s turn its golden arches green?

9th May 2014

Tuck into a burger and the beef you’re eating took 2,400 litres of water to produce, says WaterWise. And the cow burped out a lot of methane before being slaughtered. Do you care? . . READ MORE

CEO perspective: Shibu Shibulal, Infosys

5th May 2014

A recent Infosys sustainability report quotes Edward Wilson, US biologist and author, on the need to “raise people everywhere to a decent standard of living.” . . READ MORE

Stirring up healthcare’s melting pot

28th April 2014

They’re calling it Moon Shots – a plan to accelerate development of cancer-fighting drugs. And for Ronald DePinho, the challenge is as much organisational as it is scientific. . . READ MORE

Leadership perspective: Cargill’s Greg Page

16th April 2014

For anyone familiar with Cargill, the name brings to mind things that are big – very big. . . READ MORE

Challenging the resource curse

16th April 2014

Gazing down from a helicopter at the dense foliage of an Indonesian jungle, Christine Bader’s heart sank. . . READ MORE

The unexpected benefits of bureaucracy

15th April 2014

As chief executive and founder of a Liberian enterprise, Chid Liberty knew he would encounter hurdles. . . READ MORE

Let’s mix it up!

14th April 2014

In 1996, I stood on a poplar-covered slope in Pakistan above a valley where the Karakoram, Pamir, Hindu Kush and Himalayas fight it out in a grand confusion of jagged peaks and deep ravines. . . READ MORE