MBS Inspiration
-
The MBS Group
is one of the world’s leading executive search firms operating exclusively in Retail, Consumer and relevant technologies, and the most successful sector-specialist firm in the UK
Turning Vision into Profit
With a career spanning over 30 years as the right-hand man of Richard Branson, Anita Roddick and Jamie Oliver, John Jackson knows how to work with highly inspirational leaders. As his impressive track-record demonstrates, he also knows how to harness their creativity for business success.
In a breakfast session organized by The MBS Group, a small group of founders, chairmen, CEOs and non-execs gathered to hear about his experience.
Inspirational leaders often have a passion to explore and hold strong social values. Branson, Roddick and Oliver are a all great examples of natural risk-takers and communicators, uncompromising in their views. However, that high-level of creativity often comes together with complex personalities – and it is the role of the CEO to manage those peculiarities to underpin business growth.
But how? How can an entrepreneurial business achieve scale and success without losing its spirit? What are the subtler challenges of working with a hugely successful founder? And, more importantly, what can chairmen and boards do to help the business with that transition?
These are some of the things we learned:
1. Trust them and gain their trust – when working with founders, the relationship is key, so encourage mutual respect and understanding
2. Let them be the star - build the business, brand and company ethos around them and their values. Recognise that this energy is what drives the business. As a CEO, stay behind the scenes, always there, always delivering.
3. Allow creativity and values to be at the heart of the business – consumers love a business that is genuine, so don’t change what does not need changing. Ultimately, it will lead to the success of the brand.
4. Listen and be listened to – value creative ideas but encourage them to listen to your reasons for business decisions. Entrepreneurs often make their decisions on ‘gut-feeling’ so make sure you articulate the logic behind your thinking clearly.
5. Build an engaged team that listens and reacts – founders need to feel the team’s energy, and passion is good for the business. However, that level of emotion also demands ways for people to express their frustrations. Most inspirational leaders dislike personal confrontation so as a CEO you need to build communication channels so that people can express themselves without hesitation.
6. Help them achieve their social goals – allow them to follow their passion for social initiatives and make it core to the business. Those are powerful attributes that will contribute to the brand.
7. Bring in the human element – employ managers with strong people skills and create a ‘culture’ that empowers and nurtures entrepreneurship in all employees. The best ideas in the business can come from anywhere, from a PA or from a top director – you need to nurture them at every level.
8. Build a legacy – help your business icons leave a legacy by building a brand that embeds their values and can grow beyond its founder.
It was this last point which led into a discussion. How can you in fact make sure that a brand can exist beyond the founder and their personality? “There is no doubt that, in the beginning in these sort of businesses the brand is, in fact, the founder, their personality and values. And that is necessary at that early stage” says John. “The key, however, is to go beyond, to extract those values and embed them across the whole organisation – products to services and even into the way the organisation behaves. It is then that the brand can start to thrive on its own.”
But is this level of creativity and flexibility only possible in a privately-owned business? “I don’t believe so,” says John. “You can nurture creativity and inspiration in a plc, but you need strong management and, what’s more important, a clear proposition to go to the market with”.
As the discussion drew to a close, one question was in most CEOs’ minds – how, after having worked with such creative people, can he cope with being the ‘No Man’? “This has never really been a problem, as people often recognise that my role is to ensure that the business works well”. Shy of publicity, his recipe for management success is clear: “The key is consistency. If you are consistent when managing people, whether they agree with your decisions or not, you can be sure to gain their respect.”
Category:
Event: Panel debate
Click here for more inspiration.