Sir John Harvey-Jones once famously remarked that whenever he saw a fountain in a company foyer he feared the worst about the survival of the business. Fellow troubleshooter John Elsden would add the helipad on the company lawn to Sir John’s sure fire signs of impending corporate collapse. The argument in both cases is that companies should never lose focus, never overstretch and al- ways keep their eye on the ball and the basics rather than the flash and the fanciful. Elsden