I was eagerly looking forward to seeing 'An Audience with Lord Alan Sugar' as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week last night at the British Library and it certainly started off well, with lots of entertaining put downs and answers.
eg Audience member: 'Do you read business books and which have influenced you?'
L.A.S.: 'Nah'
But as we got deeper into the evening it seemed like there was a descent into anger and completely off-beam responses. At one point Chair of the evening Matthew Rock (editor of Real Business magazing and CEO of Caspian an £8million company) felt the full thrust of the Sugar temper:
'Weren't you listening? I've just answered that haven't I?'
Gems of the dinosaur-like advice included:
'There's no point going into a sector you don't know or understand'
(So you were wrong James Dyson, Innocent Smoothie guys and lastminute.com)
'Personal brand PR is a useless waste of time'
(So you were wrong Anita Roddick, Stelios and Branson)
'You can't teach enterprise skills'
(Close down all those degree courses every University in the country)
Of course, Sugar was whisked off immediately after the event so didn't stop to mingle with the crowd, if he had he would have heard the feedback I did - that everyone was left totally dis-empowered, dis-engaged, de-motivated and even dismayed by his comments.
Most entertaining as a spectacle of old-style and outdated business thinking - and it was an enjoyable evening with lots of networking and lovely wine and food , so thank you British Library for putting it on.
But if this is the government's advisor on enterprise GAWD HELP US !!!!!
R
Showing posts with label Richard Branson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Richard Branson. Show all posts
Wednesday, 18 November 2009
Tuesday, 18 November 2008
The Chain Reaction
It's not often that I attend conferences where I'm not due to speak, but something urged me to get along to the Chain Reaction event - all about international social leadership - yesterday at London's South Bank.
The attraction for me was a session entitled 'Can Entrepreneurs Change the World?' (to which the answer is of course 'YES WE CAN!') - but I was intrigued to know what the line up of Peter Jones, James Caan and Sir Richard Branson (albeit by video) amongst others made of the debate.
I often make the joke in my after-dinner speeches that Peter Jones rarely bothers to show up at enterprise events unless Gordon Brown is speaking - and true to form an unexpected bonus was the appearance on stage of our very own PM Gordon Brown.
And so we had them. Peter Jones swept in no doubt by his chauffeur driven Maybach to tell us that 'Scarcity is a real driver of innovation' and 'Am I the only one on the positivity bandwagon here?'; James Caan telling us that making money is brilliant because then you have lots to give away to charity like Bill Gates does; and then Sir Richard Branson beamed in via a pre-recorded satellite link where he was clearly sitting on the sun-drenched terrace of his holiday home on Necker Island, telling us how wonderful it is to encourage enterprise.
Finally Gordon Brown joined the debate, who reminded me of a Finance Director I used to have who arrived at every Board Meeting looking a bit shabby and crumpled, so busy scribbling notes on to a bit of a paper during the debate that he didn't really seem to be paying attention to much of what was going on, whose every bit of body language seemed to scream 'No you can't!', only to get up and tell us with as much gusto as he could muster that the UK economy was due to double in the next 20 years and that NOW REALLY IS a great time to be in business.
Meanwhile, back over here in the real world, before I set off for London yesterday morning I opened three emails all about entrepreneurs absolutely on the knife edge brink of bankruptcy, about to lose their homes, and in desperate need of my help (or anybody's help for that matter) while meantime at the weekend my own husband received a letter from his company stating that one person in his team of three at work would be made redundant this week, as a result of the tightening economy. By the way, I don't have an army of PAs handling all my correspondence, plus I go and talk to entrepreneurs around the country at business events every week, so I really do feel that I am at the sharp end of what is really going on.
Maybe I should reassure all of these people that, not to worry, in 20 years' time everything will be OK?
The only speaker who really captured the imagination of the audience yesterday was the fabulous Tim Smit, founder of the Eden Project, who spoke with passion about the ability of business to deliver so much more than the constricted City-lead profit expectation of big corporates, whose CSR initiatives are nothing more than a few marketing frills to attract extra shoppers. In other words the current system of capitalism and 'much to few' isn't working - not for business, not for individuals and certainly not for the environment. He would be my vote for PM (or at minimum Minister for Business) any day.
It was a great event and I'm glad I went but all of this left me a bit angry.
Real businesses currently on a knife edge don't need this patronising happy clappy rhetoric from those living in a fur lined sunshine bubble any more.
Firstly we need an urgent law which will suspend the ability of any UK citizen to lose their home until the economy has recovered. And we also need an emergency fund which can intervene to help struggling businesses re-finance in the short term as well as give them advice to help them to restructure and adapt their businesses to get back towards profitability in the long term.
And if I were involved in 'restructuring the global financial architecture' I would start with the premise that capitalism as we knew it cannot be the basis for generating future prosperity for our planet and its people.
The attraction for me was a session entitled 'Can Entrepreneurs Change the World?' (to which the answer is of course 'YES WE CAN!') - but I was intrigued to know what the line up of Peter Jones, James Caan and Sir Richard Branson (albeit by video) amongst others made of the debate.
I often make the joke in my after-dinner speeches that Peter Jones rarely bothers to show up at enterprise events unless Gordon Brown is speaking - and true to form an unexpected bonus was the appearance on stage of our very own PM Gordon Brown.
And so we had them. Peter Jones swept in no doubt by his chauffeur driven Maybach to tell us that 'Scarcity is a real driver of innovation' and 'Am I the only one on the positivity bandwagon here?'; James Caan telling us that making money is brilliant because then you have lots to give away to charity like Bill Gates does; and then Sir Richard Branson beamed in via a pre-recorded satellite link where he was clearly sitting on the sun-drenched terrace of his holiday home on Necker Island, telling us how wonderful it is to encourage enterprise.
Finally Gordon Brown joined the debate, who reminded me of a Finance Director I used to have who arrived at every Board Meeting looking a bit shabby and crumpled, so busy scribbling notes on to a bit of a paper during the debate that he didn't really seem to be paying attention to much of what was going on, whose every bit of body language seemed to scream 'No you can't!', only to get up and tell us with as much gusto as he could muster that the UK economy was due to double in the next 20 years and that NOW REALLY IS a great time to be in business.
Meanwhile, back over here in the real world, before I set off for London yesterday morning I opened three emails all about entrepreneurs absolutely on the knife edge brink of bankruptcy, about to lose their homes, and in desperate need of my help (or anybody's help for that matter) while meantime at the weekend my own husband received a letter from his company stating that one person in his team of three at work would be made redundant this week, as a result of the tightening economy. By the way, I don't have an army of PAs handling all my correspondence, plus I go and talk to entrepreneurs around the country at business events every week, so I really do feel that I am at the sharp end of what is really going on.
Maybe I should reassure all of these people that, not to worry, in 20 years' time everything will be OK?
The only speaker who really captured the imagination of the audience yesterday was the fabulous Tim Smit, founder of the Eden Project, who spoke with passion about the ability of business to deliver so much more than the constricted City-lead profit expectation of big corporates, whose CSR initiatives are nothing more than a few marketing frills to attract extra shoppers. In other words the current system of capitalism and 'much to few' isn't working - not for business, not for individuals and certainly not for the environment. He would be my vote for PM (or at minimum Minister for Business) any day.
It was a great event and I'm glad I went but all of this left me a bit angry.
Real businesses currently on a knife edge don't need this patronising happy clappy rhetoric from those living in a fur lined sunshine bubble any more.
Firstly we need an urgent law which will suspend the ability of any UK citizen to lose their home until the economy has recovered. And we also need an emergency fund which can intervene to help struggling businesses re-finance in the short term as well as give them advice to help them to restructure and adapt their businesses to get back towards profitability in the long term.
And if I were involved in 'restructuring the global financial architecture' I would start with the premise that capitalism as we knew it cannot be the basis for generating future prosperity for our planet and its people.
Thursday, 20 March 2008
Alpha vs Zeta
Following the comment on my last post, I just thought I would write a few words to clarify my thoughts on the Alpha vs Zeta battle we are seeing manifest - not just in business but in the world.
Alpha values = pursuit of money & power which leads to desires like control, revenge. These are traditional male values (although there are many 'Alpha Females').
Zeta values = pursuit of harmony & collaboration which leads to ethics, integrity and desire to help others. These are traditional female values (although there are many 'Zeta Males').
The traditional business world is built on Alpha values - the vast majority of the world's wealth controlled by a very small number of very powerful people; the pursuit of wealth at all costs having reaped huge damage to the environment, as well as issues like exploitation of child labour, horrific animal farming methods and so on.
However, the most powerful people in the business world are ultimately the customers - and because 70% of purchasing decisions are now made or influenced by women, and because the explosion of communication has revealed what is really going on, women are becoming more and more drawn to Zeta brands - who trade with ethics and integrity, not the pure 'Alpha' profit motive.
The 'Zetas' are also increasingly finding/intrinsically know that happiness is not found in material possessions (as the advertising world would like to make them believe), hence the retailers having to work harder and harder to maintain the sales of things that for the most part people do not actually need.
Of course the traditional Alpha businesses have recognised the trend, and are desperately trying to re-brand themselves as 'green' and 'ethical', yet at the heart of it they are run by the City, which is only interested in short term results.
Meanwhile, some of the most enlightened wealthy are now devoting an increasing amount of their time to Zeta causes (Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Branson)
And we are starting to see an increasing polarisation between the two groups.
If you don't believe this, take a look at some of the footage coming through from the Far East - lorries of soldiers heading for Tibet horrific scenes of violence against religious and intrinsically peaceful people, and the Dalai Lama declared a 'Jackal in monk's robes' by the Chinese government.
Meantime we see stock markets in meltdown and hoards of 'Alphas' on telephones desperately trying to protect their money as The Establishment tries to stop the credit bubble bursting - imaginary money which was provided to keep fuelling a sales lead economy.
Just to bring this back to small business, which is the sector I am most active in, I would say to people going into business, look at these trends and think ahead to the natural consequences of what is happening.
A shift away from materialism, a growing desire for harmony peace and self-understanding and a customer base which is increasingly being drawn to ethical and honest brands.
Look at any projection of the future whether it is Star Trek or Stanley Kubrick and you will see minimalism and the search for knowledge and understanding, not more 'stuff'.
And if all this sounds 'bitter', no doubt 'anonymous will let me know...
Alpha values = pursuit of money & power which leads to desires like control, revenge. These are traditional male values (although there are many 'Alpha Females').
Zeta values = pursuit of harmony & collaboration which leads to ethics, integrity and desire to help others. These are traditional female values (although there are many 'Zeta Males').
The traditional business world is built on Alpha values - the vast majority of the world's wealth controlled by a very small number of very powerful people; the pursuit of wealth at all costs having reaped huge damage to the environment, as well as issues like exploitation of child labour, horrific animal farming methods and so on.
However, the most powerful people in the business world are ultimately the customers - and because 70% of purchasing decisions are now made or influenced by women, and because the explosion of communication has revealed what is really going on, women are becoming more and more drawn to Zeta brands - who trade with ethics and integrity, not the pure 'Alpha' profit motive.
The 'Zetas' are also increasingly finding/intrinsically know that happiness is not found in material possessions (as the advertising world would like to make them believe), hence the retailers having to work harder and harder to maintain the sales of things that for the most part people do not actually need.
Of course the traditional Alpha businesses have recognised the trend, and are desperately trying to re-brand themselves as 'green' and 'ethical', yet at the heart of it they are run by the City, which is only interested in short term results.
Meanwhile, some of the most enlightened wealthy are now devoting an increasing amount of their time to Zeta causes (Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Branson)
And we are starting to see an increasing polarisation between the two groups.
If you don't believe this, take a look at some of the footage coming through from the Far East - lorries of soldiers heading for Tibet horrific scenes of violence against religious and intrinsically peaceful people, and the Dalai Lama declared a 'Jackal in monk's robes' by the Chinese government.
Meantime we see stock markets in meltdown and hoards of 'Alphas' on telephones desperately trying to protect their money as The Establishment tries to stop the credit bubble bursting - imaginary money which was provided to keep fuelling a sales lead economy.
Just to bring this back to small business, which is the sector I am most active in, I would say to people going into business, look at these trends and think ahead to the natural consequences of what is happening.
A shift away from materialism, a growing desire for harmony peace and self-understanding and a customer base which is increasingly being drawn to ethical and honest brands.
Look at any projection of the future whether it is Star Trek or Stanley Kubrick and you will see minimalism and the search for knowledge and understanding, not more 'stuff'.
And if all this sounds 'bitter', no doubt 'anonymous will let me know...
Thursday, 29 November 2007
Re-defining 'Success'
And so we have the latest publicity stunt from Peter Jones and Theo Paphitis, proudly standing in front of their shiny new gas guzzling Maybach cars (the cost of which could each feed an African village for a decade), like two pin-striped dinosaurs still churning away on the golden hamster wheel of ostentatious wealth.
Meanwhile, the true Ultrapreneurs (think Branson, Gates, Gore and Buffet) are busy fighting climate change, re-distributing their wealth to fight third world disease and famine - as well as rescuing beleaguered British banks.
In fact, the results of my Entrepreneurial Profiling Test show that only 4% of the 2000+ people who have taken the test since September, profile as 'Alphapreneurs' like Jones and Paphitis i.e. people who are prepared to put their desire for money and the trappings of material wealth above all else, in their desire to achieve 'success'.
The remaining 96% would of course like to be rich, but are not prepared to sacrifice everything - for example time spent with family and friends, or risking everything they possess including their health - in the relentless pursuit of money.
So my question to you this Thursday morning is: which of the two groups in your opinion is the most 'successful' ?
Monday, 6 August 2007
How To Create A Vast Fortune, In Three Easy Steps
One of the greatest luxuries of my new existence is having the time to read all those business books that I have seen reviewed or have had recommended to me.
Two I've just finished (hey, I know I'm way behind the game here - both were released back in March) are Richard Branson's latest update of his Screw It, Let's Do It and The Tao of Warren Buffett , a collection of Warren Buffett's reflections on investing - which led him to become one of the world's wealthiest men.
There are now hundreds of books on wealth creation out there, all promising to reveal the magic 'Secrets of Success', but to save you a little time and money, here's my 5 minute simple guide:
1) All great fortunes are built on GIVING great value
...whether through creating companies which give customers brilliant products, fantastic services or unforgettable experiences (like Branson), or investing in them (like Buffett).
The judge in this process is always The Customer - whose perception is your only reality - so if what you're offering isn't turning them on (or enough of them on), then you need to change what you're offering until it does.
[There are virtually no exceptions to this rule, apart from a few dotcom millionaires. Then again, if you think about it, the commodity the dotcoms were selling which made them rich was actually the SHARES in their companies, which their 'customers' (the investors) held the perception would make them very rich. The promise of quick wealth is, in itself, a very seductive product... even if totally illusory.]
2) Most fortunes are built on 'One Big Thing'
Branson = Virgin, Gates = Software, Sugar = Electronics, Murdoch = Media. Even Buffett admits the majority of his vast fortune was built on major investments in just 10 great US companies. The moment most entrepreneurs start to diversify is the moment they tend to run into trouble. The problem most entrepreneurs have is that they throw off an idea a minute and consequently spread themselves far too thin. You're far better to choose the one thing that really turns you on - and then focus, focus, focus.
3) It takes time...
In Branson's case, probably at least 20 years until he really got past the point of worrying about money - according to the book even his purchase of Necker Island was highly leveraged. In Buffett's case, he always played the longer term, buying vast tranches of stock in great companies when they had fallen out of favour with the stock market and holding them often for over a decade while the market corrected itself and the underlying value continued to grow.
Take a look at The Rich List and you'll see that the vast majority of those included are 50+.
By the way, three small corollaries to the above:
- Many of those Rich List 'businessmen's' fortunes were not based on business at all - but on the underlying value of the property contained within their companies' balance sheets. Probably not such a great bet now, but over the long term, property is a great base upon which to build your wealth.
- Most of the people who you think are wealthy, aren't really wealthy at all.
- Most people who achieve great wealth see that it's all an illusion - and end up giving it away anyway.
So, to me, the more I read the more it reinforces one great fact: don't chase money; spend your time in business doing the thing that you love - and everything else will come to you naturally in the end.
Have a great day!
Rachel
Two I've just finished (hey, I know I'm way behind the game here - both were released back in March) are Richard Branson's latest update of his Screw It, Let's Do It and The Tao of Warren Buffett , a collection of Warren Buffett's reflections on investing - which led him to become one of the world's wealthiest men.
There are now hundreds of books on wealth creation out there, all promising to reveal the magic 'Secrets of Success', but to save you a little time and money, here's my 5 minute simple guide:
1) All great fortunes are built on GIVING great value
...whether through creating companies which give customers brilliant products, fantastic services or unforgettable experiences (like Branson), or investing in them (like Buffett).
The judge in this process is always The Customer - whose perception is your only reality - so if what you're offering isn't turning them on (or enough of them on), then you need to change what you're offering until it does.
[There are virtually no exceptions to this rule, apart from a few dotcom millionaires. Then again, if you think about it, the commodity the dotcoms were selling which made them rich was actually the SHARES in their companies, which their 'customers' (the investors) held the perception would make them very rich. The promise of quick wealth is, in itself, a very seductive product... even if totally illusory.]
2) Most fortunes are built on 'One Big Thing'
Branson = Virgin, Gates = Software, Sugar = Electronics, Murdoch = Media. Even Buffett admits the majority of his vast fortune was built on major investments in just 10 great US companies. The moment most entrepreneurs start to diversify is the moment they tend to run into trouble. The problem most entrepreneurs have is that they throw off an idea a minute and consequently spread themselves far too thin. You're far better to choose the one thing that really turns you on - and then focus, focus, focus.
3) It takes time...
In Branson's case, probably at least 20 years until he really got past the point of worrying about money - according to the book even his purchase of Necker Island was highly leveraged. In Buffett's case, he always played the longer term, buying vast tranches of stock in great companies when they had fallen out of favour with the stock market and holding them often for over a decade while the market corrected itself and the underlying value continued to grow.
Take a look at The Rich List and you'll see that the vast majority of those included are 50+.
By the way, three small corollaries to the above:
- Many of those Rich List 'businessmen's' fortunes were not based on business at all - but on the underlying value of the property contained within their companies' balance sheets. Probably not such a great bet now, but over the long term, property is a great base upon which to build your wealth.
- Most of the people who you think are wealthy, aren't really wealthy at all.
- Most people who achieve great wealth see that it's all an illusion - and end up giving it away anyway.
So, to me, the more I read the more it reinforces one great fact: don't chase money; spend your time in business doing the thing that you love - and everything else will come to you naturally in the end.
Have a great day!
Rachel
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