Please note that this is a live blog, and is being updated regularly.
The High Growth Foundation are blogging live, at the Concorde Suite
at Manchester Airport, with 150 business folk who are here to listen,
learn and share experience and opinion on business growth, learning
and entrepreneurship.
Michael Taylor is our host this evening and introduced some of the
people who went to San Francisco in March 2012, on a
#LearningJourney.
Michael asked: Which business were you most impressed with?
Jim – For me, it was Salesforce.com, and Tom Briley from Stanford
– he’s like Brian Cox on steroids. He talked about the USA culture of
innovation and not being afraid to take a risk.
Gareth – I liked DPR Construction – it’s not a fancy name, or a
fancy business – it’s construction. But the visit inspired us and gave
me insights that I’ve come home and am implementing in the business
right now.
Janet – Surprisingly, it was Obscura Digital – for us working in the
energy industry, it was a light bulb moment. Obscura Digital takes
numbers and make a visual representation of them. And that’s what we
need in our business…
Michael then moved on to LinkedIn and Google:
What did you think when we arrived at Google and LinkedIn?
Jim: With Google, they seemed really tactile, funky and like it was a cool place to
work. But actually, they don’t take prisoners and behind the fluff,
they are working very hard, with strong targets and demanding
deadlines.
Gareth: When we met Kelsey at Google, she shared about her
recruitment process – she organised a recruitment fair, and Google
took the stack of CVs they were presented with, and asked for the
details of the organisers. It was Kelsey – the organiser – that they hired.
Janet: When we met Allen Blue at Linkedin, it was the realisation that
we were in the presence of a multi millionaire and that although it was
10 years since he’d founded it, he was still working 12 hour days, every
day. And loving it as much as the day he started…
Michael asked Jim, Gareth and Janet as to what they have
done differently since they went on the #LearningJourney.
Jim: At the Kieretsu Forum, I learnt that no matter how old you are,
no matter how experienced you are, age has nothing to do with success,
so now I’ve set up “Future Leaders” within my own business. I don’t care
that they are 16, they can piggy back and learn from us as we grow.
Gareth: Practical things, including staff and customer satisfaction surveys,
- DPR shared them with us, so it’s helped me move the projects on
within the business. From a theoretical perspective, I’m now surrounding
myself with people who share the same mindset as me – who are not
afraid of risk, and
Janet: When fearful of trying something out, try it out anyway. You have
to get on with it and try things out, make changes, and iterate, iterate, iterate.
You won’t know unless you try and we’re doing that now, within the
business.
Michael wonders if we drank too much of the Silicon Valley Cool Aid?
Gareth: I felt like I was apologising for coming back and sharing common
sense. Don’t bet the bank on one single idea. Test things on a small scale,
and work out if it’s viable. That’s nothing new is it?
Janet: Not at all, entrepreneurial spirit is alive in the North of England.
We just need to have more confidence to bring it out of the box and
sharing our experiences with other people.
Jim: No, we didn’t. We need to go for it and stop watching the 10 o’clock
news because we need to have a much more positive mindset.
Next up is Scott Fletcher, from ANS Group. Scott shared his
experiences and was very honest about his highs and lows to
date.
(Scott has grown his business within 15 years, to now have a £50 million
turnover, so everyone is listening intently…)
Scott is sharing his “why” moments, his approaches to managing his
business and talking about daring to believe that it’s possible to set
goals and achieve them within a business.
1. Delegation allowed Scott to think better. Who hangs on to finance,
because it’s something they can do? Who does the sales other than you?
How are you going to grow if you don’t delegate?
2. Scott recommended that business go for financing. ANS Group has
now floated on the stock market and is doing very well. Scott was 24,
had a business that turnover £1 million a year, and a company car.
Surely he was done and had achieved all he could?
3. Scott surrounded himself with like minded people. By not being in
the pub with people who feel like life is all doom and gloom, you can
put yourself in the right place to break through your own glass ceiling.
4. Scott set goals. Very clear goals. When he gets up in a moment, he
knows his goals, so when he sees an opportunity, he knows whether
it’s going to fit with his goals or not. Scott wrote himself a cheque for
£5 million and put it in his wallet, so that he saw it whenever he got his
wallet out. He knew that he wanted to be in a better position than his
Mum and Dad, and can now afford to take them on holiday.
5. Scott asks himself “what do I need to do to get to turnover of £100
million a year?”. He’s changed his mindset, to get out of a negative
mindset. Don’t worry about things – identify a problem and find a
solution to go with it.
6. Scott sets a good example. He looks after his staff to foster a culture
where he remembers to say thank you to staff, give them a career plan,
doesn’t do blame and gives staff opportunities to fix things. He talks
about their accounts with his staff – shouts it from the roof tops.
7. Scott doesn’t have a HR department. In his view, HR departments
create HR problems.
8. Scott looks after his body. He needs to eat good food, not drink too
much, get good sleep and look after himself. He doesn’t always
practise what he preaches, but when he’s doing it right, he has 50%
more energy for himself, his life, his business and his family.
9. Scott employs the best people. He gets the right person and doesn’t
compromise on the cost. Ultimately, you are cutting your nose off to
spite your face, because you won’t be able to grow if you do.
It’s 7pm and the formal part of the proceedings is now over and
attendees are going to a sign up table to ask for more information
on the next #LearningJourney, which will take place in September
2012. If you would like information contact the High Growth Foundation.
The High Growth Foundation is a new and exciting membership organisation designed to help you grow your business. Our aim is simple, to help hungry businesses develop ways of thinking and behaving in today’s marketplace that will deliver growth, fast. We want to make a huge difference, both to the future of our members and to the North of England.
