Friday High Five – what’s been in the news this week

One of the most welcome pieces of feedback from our excellent Rainmakers lunch with Contollo’s impressive CEO Ruth Percival this week was that we enabled a great story to be told.

One attendee said: “Some might think the corporate finance world is dull and dry, or else that it’s all just about making money and egos. It’s good to hear the human stories behind the strategies and the deals.”

Let’s be honest, there are plenty of businesses out there that are of very little broader interest to anyone but their own locality, supply chain and workforce for most of the time.

Until that is, they do a deal. When they get acquired, or buy someone else, suddenly their purpose and position becomes a real curiosity.

But in the deeper dive on our Rainmakers platform Chris Morris from Citation told me this week that buying businesses is easy, the hard bit, he said, is integrating them.

We must remember too that there’s a fascinating human drama at the centre of any story. Yes, and the egos.

Add into the mix too the emotional investment in a business, the sudden upheaval and disruption to people’s lives when a business changes hands.

As journalists we must never forget that.

I gave a careers talk to students at my local sixth form college this week. Our industry may have been turned upside down in recent years, but I told them there is always the need for stories and storytellers.

That next generation may do it very differently, but it must never be dull and dry.

Have a great weekend and enjoy the sunshine.