Thought Piece

I like my wallet: it is well designed and looks good, a gift from my wife. And in it is everything a fraudster could want.

Running back onto the street I hoped it had fallen from my jacket lining after I had stepped off the bus, but there was no sign of it. My long-time colleague Shirley, who was joining me for this meeting, said "Ring Clare". Shirley thinks — as many of us do — that my PA Clare has magical powers so I decided not to cancel my cards. Clare rings the bus company, who she says, "were really lovely" but could not contact the driver. Fearing the wallet had gone but determined to focus on the client meeting I returned to the building.

After, I rang Clare again. The line was engaged and I immediately thought, "Brilliant she has found it."

A few minutes later she called to tell me that Doreen has my wallet in East Ender's Pie and Mash shop at East India Dock Road. I had no idea who Doreen was but it was incredible news. of course I had to go at once to meet her and be reunited with my wallet.

My next meeting would have to be cancelled. But Leigh's response: "I'll drive you there" meant we could both have our meeting and be reunited with my wallet, discussing business as we drove.

Of course, I started by thanking Doreen for finding and having my wallet, but she brushed away my gratitude. She was much more concerned that I may have cancelled my cards and therefore put myself to unnecessary trouble.

Finally, we settled down and I heard how Doreen had found my wallet. Doreen uses a shopping basket with wheels and as she left the bus her trolley ran over it and propelled it onto the pavement. She noticed the wallet tumbling out of the bus and picked it up.

In the Pie and Mash shop where she stops regularly for lunch, Doreen looked in the wallet, found the Peter Charles business card, rang the number and spoke to Clare.

Full of gratitude, I offered to pay for Doreen's lunch. She refused but we sat and talked, swapping stories about other times when we had found money or valuables and given them back.

Driving away from the Pie and Mash shop, I reflected that Doreen reminded me that most people in the world are honest. And I suspect most people have a Doreen story, where a stranger did you a favour by being honest, for no other reason than…well… they are honest.

So here's to you Doreen and the spirit of London. Thank you.

Banks are not charities. But they do calculate the lifetime value of the customer and they understand the reputational risk to themselves of the slash and burn exercises they are sometimes accused of.

That brings us to the role of the banks, so often the largest creditor and certainly the one with the most intimate knowledge of how a company is faring. We all love a stereotype and the heartless, faceless bank pulling the plug on sound businesses over a minor blip sits deep in the business consciousness. But not all banks fit this caricature. "We want to work with management of a business facing difficulties to help identify the issues and provide solutions to get them back on track," says a senior manager with a leading retail bank. "We can make the most impact when the problems are identified early. We are keen for management to be open with us."

Banks are not charities. But they do calculate the lifetime value of the customer and they understand the reputational risk to themselves of the slash and burn exercises they are sometimes accused of. Most solutions to business difficulties involve access to more funds and/or different products (hedging, leasing, factoring) and that all adds up to continued and profitable involvement for the bank.

A Repositioning Turnaround may mean divestment of a troublesome subsidiary. It may mean embarking on (yet another) cost-cutting exercise, including turning away revenue opportunities if they are not of a sufficiently high margin. It most certainly involves a first step of getting an impartial and pragmatic overview of what the problem actually is, from Turnaround Professionals who also know the kind of language with which to talk to banks. The moment you take this kind of decisive action, you're likely to discover that there's no crisis, no drama, only urgent action that must start now.

Peter Charles 2010