For eight years between 1998 and 2006, Luke Johnson wrote a regular column as 'The Maverick' in The Sunday Telegraph. His short, pithy essays tackled subjects ranging from rich lists to bankrupt companies, from high finance to investment techniques, from philanthropy to trophy wives, bringing a practitioner's eye to the commercial world and the people in it. The Maverick quickly developed a cult following among readers who wanted to understand the blunt truth about investment, entrepreneurs, business history, and corporate life.


This book brings together 84 of the best articles, with updates, in a single volume. What makes them unique is that Luke Johnson is not just a first-class writer, he is also one of Britain's most successful entrepreneurs. He made his name with PizzaExpress, has run and owned businesses in many different sectors, and now takes stakes in fast-growing businesses through his company, Risk Capital Partners. He is also Chairman of Channel 4. The diversity of his experience enables him to write with insight and perspective about the very serious matter of making and losing money.



If you are in business, you will find The Maverick entertaining, informative and inspiring. If you are not in business, you will discover what makes business people tick, the hurdles they have to overcome to succeed, and the substantial benefits they bring to society.


lukejohnson.org

Introduction 1.Entrepreneurs and the RichWhy Run Your Own Business? Founder's CourageGetting on the Rich Lists50 Reasons To Be An EntrepreneurHow Tycoons Breed Success Corporate Executive vs EntrepreneurTrophy Wives Billionaire Politicians Paradise Syndrome Inheritance Letting Go Legacy 2. Management and Corporate LifeBusiness Maxims Executive Disease Business Language Seven Deadly Sins Corporate Comedy Vicious Business Old Raiders Face Music Boards Buzzwords Selling 3. WinnersWorld-Beating, Single-Product Companies Champagne Ineos Digital Radio Air Conditioning Trademark CompaniesBook Publishing 4. ProblemsWhat Can Go Wrong Things Fall Apart The Worst Business Decision of All Time The Downside of Downsizing GEC a Go-Go Health Clinic Cammell Laird - A Marine Tragedy The Software Industry Rip-Off Frank Timis 5. EconomicsA Philosophy of Capitalism China The Importance of Title Russia Student Misery Japan Will Recover The Age of the Dumpies is Dawning 6. Business HistoryLet's Support the Inventors of Real Wealth Four of the Really Big Losers Coke, Big Mac and Harry Hyams The First American Boss of the Tube Georges Doriot United Fruit A to Z Airline Pioneers Alfred Nobel Who Remembers the Founder of GM? The Panama Canal Selfridges and Whiteley's Richard Cobden George Hudson Sir Henry Wellcome 7. InvestingThe Key Questions About Every Investment Estate AgentsPerception and Reality in Chairmen's Statements Forestry Langbar Why to Buy a Share A Really Ethical Portfolio A Bitter Pill from My Vet Give these Market Myths a Miss Ten-Baggers Selling Signals Regus PartyGaming The Loser's Game, the Winner's Curse and Freud Is the Neuer Markt a Giant Ramp? Why Stock Markets Always Kill The Ones They Love The Most8. Business and SocietyWho Says Tycoons Are Always Wicked? Public vs Private Sector Public Schools The Lawyers Will Kill Us All! Twenty-First Century Philanthropists Reinventing the NHS Money War of the Ages AppendixA list of books referred to in articles