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Michael Skapinker is an assistant editor of the Financial Times, a columnist and the editor of the FT’s special reports. He was born in South Africa in 1955 and was educated at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg and Cambridge University.
He began his journalistic career in Greece, where he worked as a correspondent for CBS Radio News and Independent Radio News. He joined the FT in London in 1986 and has reported on many industries, including aerospace, electronics and tourism. From 2000 to 2005, he was the FT’s Management Editor. He was the editor of the Weekend FT from 2005 to 2007.
He was a consultant on the BBC series The Secrets of Leadership, which was broadcast in 2003, and has addressed audiences on business topics in the US, Japan and Europe.
In 2003, he received the Work Foundation Members’ Award for his contribution to the understanding of working life. He was named Columnist of the Year in the 2008 WorkWorld Media Awards.
His column, on business and society, appears in the FT on Tuesdays. - -
There is more to city life than convenience
Is there a way to combine urban dynamism with, if not pristine cycle paths and spotless metro stations, a quality of life, asks Michael Skapinker
The students who swear by a business school
The oath is the brainchild of an idealistic group of Harvard MBA students but it raises some interesting questions about business ethics and managerial skills, writes .Michael Skapinker
You say ‘you was’ and I say ‘you were’
Notions of grammatical correctness change. If they did not, the outraged e-mails would say: ‘Thou art wrong’, says Michael Skapinker
Business too must look to its reputation
The public anger comes both from a sense that rules of fairness have been violated and from the discovery of a world of perks and pay that people had not realised existed, writes Michael Skapinker
It’s competition that delivers the goods
Online supermarkets are in a category of their own, because they involve someone turning up on your doorstep. You get to know the delivery drivers better than their employers do, writes Michael Skapinker
Diversity fails to end boardroom groupthink
Introducing diversity into the boardroom is not easy. As a company director there is enormous pressure to agree with those sitting around the table with you, writes Michael Skapinker
Consumers are savvy about organic food
If I thought it was better for me or for the environment, I would eat it all the time. But the health advantages are dubious and the environmental benefits debatable. writes Michael Skapinker
Britain’s years of progress were no illusion
Thirty years ago an avocado pear was an exotic wonder, it took months to get a phone installed and the country was plagued by strikes, writes Michael Skapinker
Time to be honest about open-plan offices
We do not need studies to tell us people get less done when they have to listen to conversations and telephone calls, writes Michael Skapinker
Narcissistic leaders need external controls
People change as they do top jobs. Some believe they know more than anyone else and make catastrophic mistakes, writes Michael Skapinker
