Show me how a person is rewarded and I will predict their actions. Maybe it’s a coincidence that as I write this article the sports news has been dominated by the end of the 2018 January transfer window. Possibly that’s what drew me to make a parallel between football agents...

We all like a nice surprise, but nobody likes a shock and avoiding shocks from suppliers should be a central principle when selecting and managing them.  You can’t predict every bump, but you can put measures in place to minimise their impact. We returned to work in the UK...