Corporate Vision October 2017

10 CORPORATE VISION / October 2017 , on significantly less than the usual executive 50 hours plus, whilst being in my early 30’s. When I tell people how I have designed my life, I find they are either envious, think I must have no idea what is going on in the businesses or am coasting on the success of my father, by joining his business. “As my father was in his mid- 70’s, when I joined and is now in his mid-80’s, I have been given free rein to run the businesses, as I see fit. We have a great team, many who have been with us for most of their careers and it is due to their persistence and care for the business, that we have ridden the waves of a long and painful recession. If you take nothing else from this, I hope that you can see it is entirely possible to have everything you want in life, provided you are prepared to dream big and work towards that, one day at a time.” My role and leadership style Neatcrown is part of our group of family businesses they own, Benjamin tell us, which includes a trading company and an e-commerce business. He reveals more to us about his current role as CEO and offer his thoughts on technological advances as well as an insight into his own leadership style. “My role is to look at what operating models, technologies and sectors our companies will need to be in 20 or 30 years’ time. As well as our businesses, I sit as a non-executive chairman and advisor for businesses in renewables, energy technology as well as health and safety coaching. I have found that the more diverse the industries I have exposure to, the better I can lead our family businesses. Due to a varied workload, I have made sure I ‘work on the business’, rather than ‘working in the business’. “The technological advances in the past 20 years have been incredible, so to predict up to 2037 would be foolish. However, I believe that if you are selling a physical product, then creating an emotive marketing strategy, keeping your costs under control and developing teams to make great decisions, will always be the pillars of a successful business. “Our perception of ourselves is usually a little too positive and naïve, but I would hope that my leadership style allows the teams to have autonomy to make the decisions that are best for the business. I truly believe that if you are hiring great people and paying them well, why would you micromanage them? If you have set a clear vision and strategy, then it gives them the opportunity to turn that vision into day-to-day actions. “Others perceive that I do not know what is going on, but if anything, I think the opposite is true. When you learn what the true levers of your business are, you don’t get distracted and can focus clearly on what needs to be done. I truly believe that distractions are the difference between achieving your goals and merely dreaming about them.” Key to success and attributes of a leader Success is a highly-overused word and seems to mean so many things to different people, Benjamin goes on to say. He proceeds to develop this fascinating point to us. “In business, it tends to be associated with how much profit you make, but I think this is oversimplifying things. I judge myself to be successful when I have balanced my work with my family life and am aiming towards goals that scare me and seem impossible to others. “Anyone can be lucky once, or even a few times, but to consistently perform at a high- level, you must build both regular and focused routines. I was a serial offender of procrastination and I finally decided I needed better focus throughout the day and as such, to connect to my long-term goals more regularly. I had spent a lot of time deciding where I want to be in 50 years’ time, but to make it a reality, I knew I needed to change my approach. Through trial and error, I found that three routines incorporated into my daily schedule have transformed my health, given me more energy than I thought possible and the businesses have all benefited greatly. “Everyone has a favourite flavour of suffering they prefer. For some it is anxiety, others sadness and for me it was frustration. I know as I write this, there will be critics that will justify their anger or outbursts as being productive, helping them ‘see through problems’ and ‘motivate staff’. My experience is that people tend to avoid angry people and gravitate to people who listen, help with their problems and give them authority to make decisions. For 95% of the time, I would be calm and collected, but I could see that working on that 5% could be the difference between success or failure. “The one constant in life that you can control is your attitude and there is always going to be a situation that irritates the heck out of you, but I wanted to ensure that my response was a response that I had chosen and not a knee-jerk reaction. I have found that focusing on my breathing for 10 minutes first thing in the morning, has had profound effects on my attitude and focus, throughout the day.” For 30-60 minutes, every day, Benjamin listens to audiobooks and podcasts, or he simply reads. The topics will range from digital currencies to anthropology to autobiographies, he adds. He goes on to tell us more about this secret of his success. “The topic is largely irrelevant as I find that absorbing a subject I have little interest in allows me to learn how to become interested in anything and more importantly how to learn at a break neck speed. I finish the day by planning the tasks I want to accomplish tomorrow. I then write down my long-term goals and check that my to-do list moves me closer to at least one of them and if it doesn’t, I take it off the list.” Benjamin adds that his long-term goals are very simple: • To have a great marriage and happy family; • To make the businesses a success no matter what; • To help others and; • To have great energy and health. Benjamin is in early 30’s and he fully intends to be doing what he is doing now, in 60 years’ time, so focusing on these goals now will ensure that he has everything he wants in life. Benjamin then reveals to us his key quality of persistence, a point he goes on to develop in some detail. “By reviewing them daily helps me ensure I am never off track for more than one day. Academically, it would be difficult to look back and say I had been successful, but this lack of comparative academic success has been the most important lesson I have learnt. “I have never believed that formal education alone is a solid basis