Millionaire MBA Day 12: People & Teams
by
Millionaire MBA
SMASHWORDS EDITION
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Copyright © Millionaire MBA 2011
First Published 2011 by ELW Publishing Bath, UK
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Contents
Introduction
A few years back, 50 leading UK entrepreneurs and business owners were interviewed in their homes, offices and hotels. The purpose of the interviews was to find out exactly what made them successful, and how other aspiring entrepreneurs could replicate their business success.
Those digitally recorded audio interviews were turned into a 'timeless' business mentoring programme called Millionaire MBA. Millionaire MBA is regarded as one of the best programmes in the world to teach entrepreneurial thinking and the 'millionaire mindset'.
Millionaire MBA is a rich, deep mentoring programme which existing and aspiring entrepreneurs listen to over 40 days. Literally tens of thousands of entrepreneurs (like you) around the world have benefited from this programme.
In this ebook, you’ll find the actual transcription from one whole day of the mentoring programme.
To find out more about the full business mentoring programme or to listen to the audio version, please visit http://www.millionairemba.com/
Day 12: People & Teams
Tom Hunter
If you want to grow a large business, you can't do it alone. You can be a small business, one-man band, successful, make money. But if you're going to grow a big business, you can't do it yourself.
Therefore, my teams have been fundamental and are fundamental in my success. I couldn't do it without them. It's as simple as that. I wouldn't have been as successful if I hadn't picked the right people.
It's as simple as that.
Welcome to Day 12, "People and Teams."
Ask any entrepreneur what's been the main physical contribution to their success, and they'll tell you it's their team, the people they surround themselves with.
Entrepreneurs don't create success by themselves. They may be the chief architect of their success; they may be the ideas person who has the vision and drive to make it happen.
But invariably, it's other people who execute and implement the plans they've made.
In 2003 England won the Rugby World Cup. By examining their success, we can see the value of the team.
The entrepreneur and chief architect of England's success was their coach, Sir Clive Woodwood. Sir Clive designed the team's success over six years before - firstly in his mind's eye, then for real - by implementing his plan through his team.
His squad contained many players with two names gaining much public notoriety - namely his captain, Martin Johnson, for his on-field leadership, and the main goal scorer, Johnny Wilkinson.
England, however, couldn't have won the World Cup on New Zealand, Australia or South Africa in the years before without a team.
No one person can do it alone, and in the case of sport, under no circumstances can the coach do it by himself. The same is true for entrepreneurs.
Lord Harris
No question - without the team I couldn't do it. No question. The same with hospitals, without the team you couldn't do it, the same with schools without the teachers, and the same in politics.
You've got to have a team. There's no single individual that can do everything; that I've known, myself.
Sir Christopher Evans
Well, it's very important.
Although I in my early days built quite a number of companies, really on my own - here's my idea, and I'll do this, da da da da - as soon as I'd got the idea and the concept and planned it all out, I'd instantly go looking for people.
And I'd link up with my colleagues, and we'd start building these things together.
You can't do it on your own.
Any entrepreneur who says, "I built it all on my own," it's all rubbish because within days they have to have people working for them, managing, communicating, typing, whatever, you know.
And you just build this infrastructure around you. That's what we do.
If you're arrogant, you'd say, "Yes, but it's really me." Of course it is; of course you're the kingpin - you're the leader. But these people are actually very important, that they do the things that you ask them to do and do it in the ways...
And behind every successful entrepreneur, there is a team.
I think Richard Branson's got a fabulous team of talent underneath him. To be able to do the things he's done, his way, there's no question he's got great talent there.
I have here in Merlin - I've got some real talent in depth, around me. So I can have an idea, have a plan, have a mission and off we go. And I know these people can do things on their own, and do it very well, and that's important.
Stuart Wheeler
Just to start with, I had myself and a quarter of a girl, and I needed the quarter of a girl. So I needed something right from the beginning.
But I did all the things which I've now forgotten how to do, like keeping the books and making sure the telephones worked and all that kind of stuff, myself, right at the beginning.
But very soon indeed you get to the point where you need other people to help you in all kinds of ways - selling, marketing, advertising, everything. So you need teams from a very, very early stage.
Chris Rucker
One of the single most important things you can do is build up the right team around you. The right team around you makes the business. The wrong team around you absolutely destroys the business.
I'm very, very lucky, I have a fantastic, fantastic management team who... it has taken time to build up. You know, we've got things wrong along the way, and it has taken time to get the team right.
And that's probably me being inexperienced, bringing in people who haven't been quite right, and then you know, each time you learn and you sort of... I think, taking time...
I think in the olden days I perhaps used to rush into employing people.
And there was this chap who I used to talk to quite a lot, who always used to say to me, "Just give them the job, you know, and if it goes wrong, then find someone else to do it."
And it was actually a really, really bad attitude. It was really the worst possible way of tackling things.
And I've since learnt that it's really, really worth putting the time into recruiting the right people and nurturing the right people because if your team are the right team, you've - there's nothing that can compete with that, really.
And, you know, we're very lucky now. Today we have a fantastic, fantastic team. And that's come from really putting the time in to finding the right person for the right job.
Tim Etchells
Well, first of all, everyone always says, I think people say, in most businesses - unless you're making sort of machine tools or whatever or machinery - they kind of say, "Ours is a people business."
Well, to be honest every business is a people business; they're absolutely vital.
And good businesses are made by good teams, whether it's the whole business as a team, if it's a very small business, or different teams within the business.
It might be the accounts team; it might be the sales team or whatever. So teams and people are vital.
I make a point, and I didn't do this to start with - well, I did because of the size of the company - but I interview everybody who joins this company, from the telephonist through...
And if I'm away when that person needs to know whether they've got the job or not, I'll lose that person.
If I can't see them and I have to make a decision, I'll say, "Don't hire them," because it's so vital to me that I meet the people.
Not because I need to meet them, funnily enough, [but] because I want them to get a feel about me and about the company they're working for, because I want them to understand the culture of our business and the strengths and weaknesses of our business.
And I'm very happy to tell people about the things that we do and that we don't do. You know, we're not... We're a small company, so we're not huge on perks. But we're big on parties.
I like telling people that. I like to explain to people that the door's open, unless they want to come and talk to me about something that's personal or to do with money.
And I think it's very important you give people a feel about that, and for me it's a great pleasure when you have that conversation.