Making Difficult Decisions: How to be decisive and get the business done

Foreword

I first met Peter Shaw more than twenty years ago. I had just joined the Treasury, and my job was to provide economic advice to the labour market policy team which Peter was then leading. The Treasury of those days attached a slightly lower priority to good management than it does now. And the building in Great George Street – consisting then of austere monkish cells – was less conducive to good communications than its modern open plan successor. To me, at that time, Peter shone out like a beacon. In a world of hard-nosed introverts, here was a man of rare compassion and humanity who could communicate and lead. To the civil service's credit, these skills were recognised, and all too rapidly he returned to his home department on promotion. ...