Guest

For whom the bell tolls

2012-05-02T07:33:43Z

One of the small, but very special features of our HQ in Tring, is the bell suspended on the outside wall of my office, facing into the heart of the building. Like our first office in Tring our central office was built in the time of Queen Victoria and had lain untouched for half a century until my mad plan to take its dereliction and turn it into a very special space. A place to inspire all those who entered into its womblike shape.

The bell has a special significance, a gift from a dear friend, it serves as a gathering call for special staff announcements, long service presentations and in the past to mark the acquisition of new clients. In a very practical way, it is the best, certainly the simplest form of recognition we have, apart that is from the pat on the back.

The use to proclaim an important win has been revived and MD Andy Lister has the responsibility and joy of picking the reason and moment. His promise to me is to record such events and ensure I hear the sound bite wherever I may be. It’s been ringing a lot recently with some large contract wins. So despite the economic doom and gloom, some folk realise that sitting on your hands gives you pins and needles.

In the beginning there is the word

One of my late Mother's favourite movies was "My Fair Lady", a musical interpretation of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion. A play about relationships, but also about words and accents and class difference. The meaning of a word and its acceptance by any group can define a group. The English language is massive, flexible and in many ways difficult.

I had an off-site event with one family branch management team. They had been studying the competition, the major players they considered important enough to keep an eye on. The work was thorough and well presented. One of my observations to them was the importance of words and our definition of them, one man's incentive being another man's recognition.

With the Grass Roots family now so widely spread, we have ever greater need to be very clear with one another in order to be clear to all others we may encounter. This may seem obvious but it's surprisingly difficult. The joy and pain of the English language and its flexibility.

This also speaks to the need for solution bricks that can be readily assembled anywhere in the world, a world where we now provide services in 92 countries. The work to achieve this wonderful thing should never be underestimated or undersold. Just imagine, if you will, the effort just to enter that number of countries, let alone provide regular service. So offer not this heritage cheaply.

What did we do last year to make us feel proud?

The fiscal year ends when the calendar year ends, but it seems to take forever to get to the point where the auditors have finished with us and agree what we achieved in that theatre called a set of published accounts. The UK is special, if not unique, in legally demanding we show our stuff in public. In many places around the globe your results are a private matter. Not so in the country of our birth.

Such scrutiny has some positive effects, both on those that check our counting and upon us, the authors of our situation. It should bring about a prudent view and one which doesn't count things of lesser value. It can be painful to watch and indeed debate the matters that unfold in the process, but in the end a clean set is the best set.

Apart from the numbers game, we have done some outstanding work in many areas of our services and in many geographies. I will try to get a special publication out just as soon as the accounts are signed. In the interim, if you feel pride in any one project please let me have details, materials etc, to include in the "What did we do in 2011" publication.

Finally

I am with the family of the Eastern Empire this week. Out to Singapore Monday back Thursday. The great delight of flying with Singapore Airlines on an A380 and staying with the marvellous folk of the Shangri-La Group of Hotels.

Have a good May!

The Curate's Egg Month

2012-03-14T11:30:58Z

The Curate's Egg Month

There is an old English expression “Like the curate’s egg; good in parts” which means the result is entirely spoilt. Modern usage has evolved to meaning good and bad mixed. Well, February for me was a curate’s egg and here is why:

Let’s start with the good, where I always start. It began with Matilda’s birthday. A school day, she had to play netball for the school against another school, of what her chums called “giants”! Her chums set her an incentive score and “we will all sing Happy Birthday”, and she did so. They sang and the giants were stunned by the performance! But Tilly’s team were beaten but unbowed.

We had a birthday lunch on the Sunday. It had snowed heavily, she fell heavily and the following day she had an x-ray. Nothing broken, apart from her pride, so a happy ending. The moral of the story, no playing in the snow at night, even with the flood lights on. I’ll keep the basketball/netball kit in its box for a sunnier day.

Only one overseas trip this month. A trip to see the family in Madrid. Mar and the whole team in great form. Talk of the great news that a global giant software firm have renewed their contract for a major event, including, Spanish, German and British branches of Grass Roots family. As part of the trip, I visited with another major software company, the major software company, about rolling out a European programme across the globe.

Madrid was so cold that the elegant fountains that grace the high tech park were frozen. The meeting was a curate’s egg, which I peppered with a mock induction to the senior team assembled by the client. My intention being to for these to gain greater understanding of who we were, why we existed and our role as a partner, not a slave. I will keep you posted.

I have been attempting to ensure that all family members understand the what, why, when, the how and the where and the who. I am currently on course to have covered hundreds of colleagues, who have not had the chance to hear the ‘old man’ tell the story. One of my Human Resources colleagues has heard it many times over and tells me that I never do the same speech twice, so it’s always fresh to her ears – how kind.

This month I did all the colleagues in Fleet at Grass Roots DMS. I had a half day and evening with the leadership team, then a very full day with rolling 90 minute slots with groups on the history, philosophy, physics and geography of Grass Roots. Those are great moments for me personally, watching faces light up in surprise at what we are, what we do, what we have achieved.

Doing four masterclasses in a day with 15 minute breaks is quite strenuous and taxing, made all the more difficult for me by the news that my dear old mum passed on in her sleep that morning. The reception I had from the team was in a very real sense inspiring on my ultimate curate’s egg day.

Thanks Mum

We had some friends round for supper and I was inspired to dig out some CDs (yes, I still have them for I have little spare time to upload to my Apple instruments). Most of the music is nostalgia, stuff I had heard as a kid - Fred Astaire, Ambrose and the Ink Spots. Ok who were they?

My mum was raised during the Great Depression and died during the current great depression. In the Second World War, she served as an air raid warden, helping the emergency services get to people trapped in burning house, all the horrors that war brings. Much of the area in which she lived was devastated by war. My brother and I grew up in the same area as it was painfully rebuilt.

She worked most of her life, rose early each morning and I rose with her (the habit is still with me). The places we lived in were kept clean and tidy, my task was to ensure that they remained so, that habit is still with me. She was the voice of discipline, of Christianity and of practical endeavour. I think most of that remains with me.

One of the songs I played on the weekend after her passing was by the Ink Spots, a close harmony group that started in the 1930s. The song is entitled “Into each life some rain must fall” and featured a very young Ella Fitzgerald and was recorded when mum was young.

One of the nicest things I did for my mum after my father had passed on was to take her on a trip to Ireland. I had two good reasons: my lovely wife Kate is half Irish and my mum’s grandparents were Irish. She had a great time on tour, I have some wonderful photos and you will have little or no doubt, that she is at one with her grandparents as I write. Thanks to all those who, on hearing my rumoured news, were lovely enough to sympathise. No sympathy needed, they don’t make them like my mum anymore.

Opportunities can be missed

Last weekend I had a day with some mates, all male, all with either whole or part, Welsh blood. The occasion was the International Rugby match between England and Wales in England, at the games statutory home, Twickenham. For those outside the orbit of this particular sport, nothing quite compares.

The game has been described as a game for hooligans, played by gentlemen. All the violence is on the pitch and none amongst the crowd, although I was abused by an English supporter verbally in the toilet, who insisted on explaining to me how lucky we Welsh were to have won this particular game. This means that those who have Welsh blood in their veins (my name is a dead give-away) now hold the Triple Crown, having beaten England, Ireland and Scotland, over the last month or so.

The game was brilliant, a draw would have been fair, but in a game where a range of points 5, 3 and 2 can be scored, a draw is rare. It is often a trial which contains a story of missed opportunities and such was this game. That makes rugby a great metaphor for life. You prepare well, meet to do battle in favourable conditions, yet you end up on the losing side. So, never let an opportunity go begging, in sport, business or life in general.

An opportunity almost scored

Back to the music theme. In this case, popular music through much of my mother’s life. French music does not export well, one notable exception was the wonderful voice and exceptional character known as Edith Piaf. A short life of only 47 years, lived to the full, yet equally full of tragedy. She had a prolific output and was the lyricist of much of her work.

Her career was one like a roller-coaster and towards the latter years her output and she herself weakened. She acquired a dislike for a man who wrote popular music and he was equally in a difficult time in his life. He had a moment of inspiration and through a connection and good fortune got an appointment with Edith in her Paris apartment. She had tried to cancel the meeting, but as fortune dictated the songwriter and the lyricist were allowed to play for Madame.

The song is called " Non Je Ne Regrette Rien”. Possibly the most iconic French song to come out of France, with the exception of La Marseillaise, their national anthem. A song of poignancy for Edith Piaf and a piece that resurrected her career to its greatest height. When I hear it sung by the great Edith, I still have an emotional moment (see youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laWIjgWDesE&noredirect=1).

Finally

Well, I have not had one of my best months, but as I said at the beginning a curate’s egg of a month.

By the way, Happy St David’s Day, the patron Saint of Wales (see the March 2011 blog for more details).

Fraternally

David

Late Start

2012-02-02T08:29:16Z

January started late, I took some days holiday with the family in North Wales in an amazing Georgian mansion, the one-time home of a branch of the Tudor family, i.e. Henry VIII et al. Restored to some of its former glory in the 1990s, it was acquired by a rock impresario who sadly passed on before he could have years of enjoyment.

The house is sited in an area of natural beauty near the Snowdonia National Park, so with various branches of the Evans family, I was able to revisit sites my father had taken me to see 50 or more years before. The weather was kind to us and much exercise was taken in the mountains. Nearby to the house was part of Offa’s Dyke, a Saxon king’s attempt to keep the Welsh in Wales; another monumental government failure like many great walls.

Emotional Indulgence

In mid-January I had been invited to go to Jordan to receive an award on behalf of Grass Roots. I get many invitations to visit places and have so little spare time, I rarely accept. In this case it was irresistible. The time was tight, out on a late flight, arrive in Amman at midnight. Get driven to the south to Aqaba with a 7am start, deliver a speech in the evening, contribute to a seminar on Sunday morning and then my reward – a visit to Wadi Rum.

Well, nothing could have prepared me for the total joy of the weekend. My nice driver had been briefed to take me to Petra – one of the wonders of the world. My private guided tour was breathtaking and I would recommend you put Petra on your list of places that you must see. So after several hours of this amazing place, off again in the car, across mountains sprinkled with snow, to the Port of Aqaba at the tip of the Red Sea.

The evening banquet and prize giving was delightful, his Excellency the Minister great company and in my speech I confessed the reason for me being there. When at school I was top in 11 subjects in one year. I got lucky. In those days you got a book prize and could choose the volume from the big book room laid before you. Even after some rapid negotiation I was told that being top in 11 subjects did not entitle me to 11 books – my first lesson in the art and science of recognition.

The one book was uprated to two and I chose carefully. The first volume was by Lord Mount Evans. As a young naval officer he went with Scott to the Antarctic on the ill-fated expedition. There were two Evans’ on the trip, one died with Scott, the other survived to become an Admiral in the British Navy and write a book. So I have yet to go and see for myself, but it’s on my must do list.

The other book was the ‘Seven Pillars of Wisdom’ by T E Lawrence, ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ to those less familiar with the man. It is 50 years this year since the film of the same name was released and Steven Spielberg credits this movie as the inspiration for his choice to become a movie maker.

For me T E Lawrence is the ultimate romantic war hero. A real live hero with a great brain and fascinating history. He crossed the desert and helped ferment a revolt against the occupying forces of the Ottoman Empire and a legend was created. If you have seen the mighty movie you will remember the vast sweep of director David Lean’s vision of the desert – that is Wadi Rum.

My prize was lunch in the desert and a four-by-four tour, with my camera never away from my hands. Magnificent, magical and yes inspirational, my cup of joy runneth over in a historical sense.

Reflections of Change

One of the trade journals asked me to do a short piece to reflect upon the changes in our business. The magazine’s editor (and proprietor) has been in business for 25 years in March and we had lunch reflecting upon the passing of trends and characters. It will pop onto our website sometime in March so I won’t repeat the messages here, save for one key idea.

It is a book recommendation . The author is Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Lebanese by birth, so there is a link with the Middle East story above. Taleb’s book is called The Black Swan. It is about the extreme impact of certain kinds of rare and unpredictable events and mankind’s tendency to find simplistic explanations for these events retrospectively. We all do that and we all plan in the hope of coping with the unforeseen.

I have always been happy to accept and embrace the random nature of our life, seeing where I can the opportunities such things may present. So in the year 1987 when the trade journal was created by my friend Martin, who could have predicted that a meeting between Gorbachev and Regan would precipitate the fall of the Berlin Wall? Or the stock markets of the world plummeting on so called Black Tuesday? You cannot prepare for everything, other than to always be prepared to act.

Many Happy Returns

On this day February 1st 2012, I will have sent out a record number of notes regarding length of service of Rooters and I will be doing a presentation to one of them at lunchtime. This year is the year 4710 in the Chinese calendar, it stared a week ago and it’s the year of the Dragon, an auspicious symbol for power, good luck, success and happiness.

I get a number from our payroll team periodically. The number is the total length of service in Grass Roots of all of our people around the globe. It is now a staggering 5307 years. Well that’s a black swan; an event totally unexpected by me when I named the company. I did not plan for that, it’s an unforeseen event and to me a great joy.

Today is the 9th birthday of my daughter Tilly, her excitement at the thought unbridled on her way to see her friends. We were out at the Grass Roots Court Theatre over the Christmas break and she was asked by a member of the cast “would she be following in her father’s footsteps?” Her answer was “No”, she had other plans. She is a bit too young to read Black Swan. Later perhaps.

Fraternally

David

Chance encounters of the close kind

2011-12-23T12:02:53Z

With so many connections being made through the medium of social media, it’s really very nice when it’s a real person to whom you are talking, rather than the fractured framework of the internet. I had planned a busy day in the centre of London, catching up with as many people as possible in the shortest possible time. The trick lies in a bit of flexibility, but hard-nosed objectives. I started in the financial district the City of London. Here flexibility was key. All done by half past one!

That gave me time to take a walk towards the more glitzy part of town, the West End. On the way I decided that my overcoat (a very windy chilly day) must have the words ‘Tour Guide’ printed on the back. I was stopped by four groups of overseas visitors seeking directions to here, there and everywhere. Well, maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner that everyone was satisfied, I think. Half way to the West End I hailed a London taxi - a black cab.

It was a very old black cab, which gave me a chance to indulge in one of my favourite pastimes, talking with the taxi cab driver. We discussed the age of the cab and its mileage, 425,000 on the clock! But it has to go next year due to new regulations on emissions etc, etc. Next question “How long have you been a cabbie?”. “30 years Guv” was the answer. My response was “That’s about the age of Grass Roots.”

I always ask where they were born. This man was a North Londoner. I told him where I was born “Rotherhithe, South London.” “Never” he says. “So was my wife.” After an exchange of histories, we discover he was married just around the corner from where I was born. His wife and sister-in-law went to the same junior school and related senior schools. I bade him farewell, gave him my business card and asked him to check with his sister-in-law whether she knew me?

The second leg of the day, I had chosen to get folk to meet me at a hotel. A very nice hotel, tucked away in London’s Soho. I would camp in the bar and then hold court in one location. I got there early, found a comfy place in the bar, got out my papers, BlackBerry and iPad, plus a copy of The Times newspaper. A quick glance through the media misery and the paper was deposited next to me. A couple were seated on my right and the man asked could he could borrow the paper, I happily obliged and continued to do my stuff on the devices to hand.

A short time later he thanked me, I asked if he and his wife were on business or pleasure? He was on business with pleasure, she only on pleasure. “A good mix” I said. “And what do you do for business?” “I am a political lobbyist in the States” was the reply. “Fascinating” I said. “What area in particular?” “We work at the grass roots of US politics” he said. To which I said “Well that happens to be name of my company.” His face beamed with delight. He knew of us, and me, through the internet.

Now for all you mathematicians out there - what are the odds of such a meeting, or indeed, two such chance encounters in one day? Well they are dramatically increased by your willingness to make human contact, something homo sapiens have been at least 100,000 before the internet. Despite the fact that the UN have said that the seven billionth person was born just recently, my advice is reach out and touch: it’s good for you!

A little bit of light travel

I promised family members in Europe that I would fit in a visit before Christmas. The diary was organised for me to do Europe in a week. Well that sounds like fun, tiring fun. It means hitting the trail first thing on Monday and speeding around Europe trying to ensure that all in need get some quality time to discuss how we can cope with the economic situation, do good work, have fun doing it and make some money. So two trains, three flights, countless taxis and cars.

One of the themes of my visit was how to avoid getting bled to death. In tough economic times everyone wants more for less, but the golden rule of all business is that starving suppliers is ‘bad business.’ In one of my visits, I asked the management team had they ever seen the musical Little Shop of Horrors. Well it has travelled widely and well. If you haven’t seen it, give yourself a fun filled hour-and-a-half. Tilly and I just love it.

It is a story about a failing florist shop in a rundown district of New York, the unfortunate shop assistant Seymour and a plant from outer space. Not the stuff of dreams, but wait – a great cast, direction from Frank Oz (the inventor of The Muppet Show), great songs and a plant that plans to take over planet earth. Oh yes, and a sadomasochist dentist (aren’t they all).

The business moral is to avoid blood sucking plants. For food the plant needs blood. Poor old Seymour feeds the plant like a new born baby. Well folks, if it all seems really gruesome it’s not. ‘Tom and Jerry’ is violent, but you still laugh at it. We did the stage version at the Grass Roots theatre a couple of years ago. It packed the house.

Well these journeys are a bit like the plant, whose name is Audrey II. They are draining, you wonder if you have been taken over by a force you can’t control, but in the end a happy ending!

What language are you speaking?

As a kid you learn a lot by experience, an amount through mentors, teachers, coaches and friends. The sum of the learning is immense, but you can’t download it like a software programme or a vulcan ‘Mind Meld’ like Star Trek’s Mr Spock. Different age bands have different learning experiences, based upon what may seem contemporary, fashionable etc. Each one comes at you and you select something which is interesting, stimulating and hopefully meaningful in the rounding of life.

I have had an eclectic life and still acquire wide experience. I learnt to paint well, do good science, play most sports to a good standard, stand up and give a speech without fear. Such things often needed a sponsor, most had mentors and coaches, but most of all the risk of trial and error.

There is a new space for trial and error, it’s cyberspace. The language is known to many, but not really understood by all. The ability to enter is almost without any barrier. It is a space for all young, they carry it in their right hand, where I had a pen or paint brush. They subvert the real language with a short form, happily engage with folk they may never have met in real life. They are in a narrow sense the masters of their Universe.

This is the Christmas season and we Brits love our Christmas special TV programmes. A tradition from the dawn of television is that the BBC will make and indeed, endlessly re-run great comedy shows. So for those of the family in other parts of the globe, a bit of Brit fun for Christmas. One of the all-time favourites was, and still is, The Two Ronnie’s. Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett teamed up for great comedy and were funny in shows of their own. Sadly, Ronnie Barker died 3rd October 2005.

The tradition lives on, Ronnie Corbett was teamed up with Harry Enfield for a very special series. So here is a piece to their take on the language of Information Technology. It needs the sound well up, concentration on the script, but the humour is very very special: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAG39jKi0lI

Pantomine season

A pantomime - a musical theatrical production traditional to the United Kingdom and parts of the Commonwealth, performed in the Christmas period. Comes from the Greek ‘pantomimos’ and that from ‘pantos’ every and ‘mimos’ actor.

Well it’s pantomime season in the UK. I suspect most cultures have an equivalent. The French ‘farce’ and I don’t mean President Sarkozy. For whatever reason, famous stars of stage and TV let their hair down and appear in the silliest show you can imagine. Hollywood has taken a leaf out of the book in its treatment of some traditional stories like Peter Pan and many others.

I watched Tilly and her school year, eight years old on average, put on a full length performance of Aladdin. It was wonderful, rehearsed in three weeks only two performances, more tears from Daddy and sheer delight and fun. I was reminded that when Tilly was about four years old we were in Dubai at Christmas and saw a production of Cinderella. Well the theatre had lots of Brits there, but what the Emirate audience took from it I am baffled.

The great aspect of panto is audience participation. You are expected to cheer the hero and “Boo” the villian, whenever they enter the stage. A great vocabulary of standard phrases exists to help the whole thing along “He’s behind you!”… “Oh no he isnt!”… “Oh yes he is!”… So if ever you are in the UK at Christmas give it a try you will never forget the experience. I will have seen at least three by the time 2012 dawns upon us.

Feliz Navidad and Ode to Joy

My pre-Christmas run up included visits in the 4.5 days to France, Spain and Germany, mentioned above. We had an e-card from some friends in the USA set up on one of my favourite websites jibjab.com. It consisted of the whole family doing a Mexican dance to a tune of doubtful Christmas origins, but great fun. My time in Europe included the birth of two office extensions. One in Madrid, which acted as the dining room for the celebrations of the new space, a successful year in dire economy. So to all our colleagues in Spain, “Feliz Navidad,” indeed.

The official anthem of the European Union or ‘dis-union’ is a piece from Beethoven’s immortal 9th Symphony Ode to Joy. Well there is not much joy in Europe in general, but I had a joyful series of moments with our family in Germany. We have extended our space because they have had an excellent year and are growing so we celebrated with non-alcholic gluhwein, which I would call an oxymoron. Later however, much good cheer from all at a dinner party to celebrate their Ode to Joy. Well done Düsseldorf!

Finally

I was going to end with a thought or two from, John Maynard Keynes, but it’s Christmas and you can create your own headaches without help from me.

May I wish you the best of seasons greetings, my wishes for the good health of you and your families!

Fraternally

David

’Tis the Season of Good Cheer?

2011-12-14T09:50:56Z

What cause do we have to celebrate? In my December 2009 blog I wrote about the origins of the festival which seems to have parallels in many societies. I talked of goodwill given and received. What chance is there at this time of economic doom and gloom? The answer is: take a look around you, there are billions of people whose lives are not in newly minted economic turmoil, but who lack the very stuff of life – food, shelter, freedom to grow and basic human security. This is the best I can offer for ‘good tidings of comfort and joy’.

I had a call from a politician friend, a Member of the British Parliament. He and I exchanged views and didn’t get too depressed. We talked about the challenges and the need for a clear plan and the level of flexibility required by us all. Then he said something funny. He had been trying for a seat in Parliament for more than 12 years before he succeeded in his ambition. He said that he was always cheered by my advice to him when he was seeking a role in this rare and difficult space called politics. I had told him to imitate the lead penguin in the wonderful cartoon Madagascar: “smile and wave boys, smile and wave”.

Busy by Definition

When the going gets tough, the tough get going, goes the saying and the song! I find my normally ridiculous schedule even more expanded. In parts of Europe the official working week is 35 hours. Well, double that and add at least 15% and that is my time. Well, I am not alone!

I recently had a clash of evening dates. My choice was either to go on an industry annual event, or meet David Cameron, the Prime Minister. I chose the latter for very good reasons. It was at the Prime Minister’s country residence, which is less than five miles from our HQ; I needed to see my home before midnight; it was Friday; I had never been to ‘Chequers’, home at weekends for Prime Ministers since 1917; and finally, my 8-year old daughter Tilly goes to school on Saturday mornings at 8am and I like to take her there!

So I chose the Prime Minister! Firstly, he is an example of a hard-working man. He had taken a 5am flight to Berlin, done the European heads meeting and was back for drinks with myself and other invitees for 6pm. May I say what a nice ‘bloke’ (English colloquialism for a man, a good fellow) he is, charming, witty and with a lovely family. We were told that we, the guests, had to leave by 8pm as he had to put the kids to bed! They are all very young and were moving around our gathering. The point is that his kids did know he has a hard-working job and life is not as easy as it might at first look.

Ironically, the industry awards event gave the ‘Spirit of Tring’ the top prize for a corporate social responsibility event for 2011. So, all in all a good night. On a personal note, I have now met all the Prime Ministers of the UK since 1964. So don’t try to beat me at the game called ‘6 degrees of separation’. You would have to go some to get my score in your first hand!

Budget Day

Yesterday, our Chancellor presented his autumn budget statement, an economic ‘State of the Nation’. Well, you will know now that we will all have to work longer and certainly harder to keep the wolf from the door. This was not really news, it was a Government verification of what we all know in our bones.

I am doing our budget round and, as always with a global business, it’s what we British call a ‘Curate’s egg’ – good in parts. What we would like to see and what may be realistic are two different things. Happily, we are in good shape with a sound credit rating, which is more than can be said for many. Just last night, a major US airline filed for Chapter 11 – they are broke!

For us to compete in an ever more complex and fast world requires new skills, new methods to manage the daily flow of things. Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, observed: “Every company is going to have to avoid business as usual. The only big companies that succeed will be those that obsolete their products before somebody else does.” But it was ever thus! Others have said it more elegantly, but Bill knows best.

Doing Good

We have a great reputation for doing good. The sum of the good is not measured in the balance sheet and cannot be easily sized by any measure known. We do stuff for others because, as Adam Smith observed, “how selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature which interest him in the fortune of others and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it, except the pleasure of seeing it”. Sometimes you do get recognised for good, and I am pleased to report that the ‘Spirit of Tring’ community event we ran in 2011 has been showered with recognition: two gold awards and one silver – my cup runneth over!

And Finally

I need a rest, been working stupid hours, well, even more stupid than usual. The last leg of my autumn marathon approaches and, provided my body and soul survive, 2012 will represent another challenging year, but we keep calm and carry on! It’s the climb!
Best wishes in advance for the holiday season.

David

Getting back to our roots

2011-11-04T10:56:36Z

November 1st was my 64th birthday!

I have found myself humming an old Beatles song for the past few weeks. The title: "When I'm 64". This little piece of early work starts with the line "When I get older, losing my hair", well, that came true! It was penned when I was still at school, some of my mates and I had a very poor band, and at a school gig we dressed up in the girls’ school uniforms and gave a performance as the Beatlettes. So there is a bit of cross dressing in us all, the irony is that all the band members were also members of the Young Communist League and all became capitalists at later stages in their lives. The funny thing was, the girls in the audience screamed and the boys looked on in shock! So, just to remind me that my memory has not gone to sleep, I plucked the track from a collection I have of all their music, signed by the recently married Sir Paul McCartney. It's probably on YouTube, so sing along today. The date did remind me that I have spent half of my life following my dream idea, Grass Roots. Indeed, the 5th of November was the day I finished my final 5 year plan for the business, before the kick-off on April 1st 1980! Time flies when you are having fun. One of the other tracks from early Beatles days is "A Hard Day's Night", no change there then. Music has a wonderful way of making our memories more vivid and easier to recall, but more of that later.

Getting back to our roots

As we have grown into a global business, it becomes more difficult to keep the flame burning with consistency and intensity. I do my regional rock tours and try my best. We have good folk deployed to the family units around the globe and have others come to the font to learn and understand. One of the things we do is to get my senior business heads together once a year to get a fresh injection of the essence of Grass Roots and connect each with the other. I thought you would like to know what they had to do. Well, apart from trying to keep pace with me, which means 2 or 3am in the morning, their tasks are many and end to end. So here goes: Elapsed time start to finish appox 62 hours, probable duty time 50 hours. Evening one, pep talk from me and dinner table project. Day two, 9am to 6pm presentations from around the globe, twenty minutes each pitch, ten minutes questions. All the presentations had the same core theme: ‘What has your unit done these last twelve months to make you and us feel proud?’ It was almost the best present a Founder could wish for. Thank you all who gave the pitches and importantly, those that made them in the first place. My star prize goes to Volker Weber, subject great, wonderful client case, and Volker has now entered the pantheon of those that can really entertain.

Just when they all thought they could take a breather, I said: “It's speed-dating time!” Their chance to go and make at least three family connections with promises of further action, before dinner! Their date cards were collected before or over dinner. At dinner they were set some goals to achieve before leaving the table. If this is beginning to sound like brain boot camp, then yes, that was the idea.
Next day early start, slightly longer presentations, debate and a few heated debates. The subject matter was: ‘The things we do that are capable of early and practical transfers to family units around the globe’. Lots of action to follow, all being carefully monitored. The final pitch was from the wonderful people of Google, so all are now clear what the ‘cloud’ is all about and how we might be using it where appropriate. More in due course.

Last session was held in the Churchill Room, named after the great man. It was our version of Prime Minister’s Question Time. Written questions were handed to me over dinner and I gave all the policy answers, helped where appropriate by ministers of the inner cabinet. I went to bed at 1am, got up early and drove Volker Weber, ‘king of the comedy circuit’, to Heathrow Airport across the sunlit autumn countryside.

The overwhelming response to all this was inspirational.

Cheap flights

Our lives as a business and those of our clients are bound up with the forward window upon the world. A world seemingly lurching from crisis to crisis on the economic front, uncertainty is the rule by which we must for a while live. One certainty is that you can't buy what you want cheap, without the sacrifice of quality. I have mentioned before, the words of John Ruskin, Victorian writer and philosopher. The quote is long and elegant, so to keep it in blog land, here is the last line: "If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run. And if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better in the first place.” To make the point in music, the blog contains a link to a YouTube music video, appropriately entitled ‘Cheap Flights’, by a female singing trio. Give yourself a real laugh with a singing message, millions have already!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAg0lUYHHFc

Moved to tears

My youngest offspring, Tilly, had her school end of term music event. She performed in the House choir. A House in English schools is a sort of social arrangement in which kids from all the age ranges can work on stuff that is not academic, but can give them a competetive team in which to work for the honour of the team. As fate would have it, she is in Evans House! No connection, but named after a benefactor from long ago. Coincidentally, I was House Captain of Woburn House and now live not far from that great Mansion – Kismet! The delight one gets from hearing young people do their thing with violins, piano, even the harp, cannot be bought and has to be savoured and stored in the memory. Well, Evans House were topped out in full school uniform in front of parents and fellow pupils to perform their piece. It was wonderful, I had never heard the song before, it could be a motivational song. It is called ‘The Climb’. I asked Tilly where it came from, so she grabbed the iPad, went to YouTube and lo and behold there was Miley Cyrus aka Hannah Montana. I have connected you with this in the blog. The kids’ performance was fantastic, prepped in four music lessons, it would have been on any episode of ‘Glee’, no trouble. You guessed, I cried from about the middle of their performance! I have been listening as I write this bit, hear it and weep!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpTYG_Sqqdg

A Hard Day’s Night and Eight Days a Week

Back to the Beatles. My diary is hell at the moment! So I will sign off by recommending you listen to some old tracks. ‘Eight Day’s a Week’ and, as mentioned above, ‘A Hard Day’s Night’.

David

Swiss Role

2011-10-03T08:19:53Z

One of my tasks for September was to select a new leader for our family group in Zurich! This Swiss city is one of the world's great economic centres but, unlike most of the others centres, has a quiet calm which belies the amount of work that goes on in the city and the delightful country as a whole. The history of the Swiss state is, for a history geek like me, quite fascinating. The Switzerland we know only dates back to 1848. This disguises the depth of its real history which is well worth examination, but not in this blog. If you ask the average person what they associate with Switzerland, you get words like banks, cuckoo clocks, chocolate. Switzerland has one of the highest gross domestic products per capita on the earth. Their reserves are awesome and none are from the benefit of oil wells!

The Swiss maintain a practical independence from global alliances and an interesting constitution which balances the political weight of the regions with that of the need for a touch of central government. In fact, Switzerland is a confederation of very small states called Cantons. With 3 languages at play: German, French and Italian plus one very minor tongue only spoken by a tiny group in the eastern mountain valleys.

All this history and cultural diversity makes the job of any leader interesting. In fact, the Swiss did not invent the cuckoo clock. It is a German Bavarian innovation, banking was invented by Italians and chocolate by the ancient south Americans and the chocolate bar was invented by an English man, Dr Fry! However, the things that the Swiss have become famous for are the result of quality work by patient people. Interestingly, the fame of the Swiss for watches comes from people who were political migrants - Huguenots - who fled from their native France and settled in the less attractive valleys of this lovely country.

So back to a new leader. The process was practical but a little different! We had a lot of applicants and Mark Handforth, who has done a great job keeping the seat warm and getting a bit more Roots into Zurich, cut the applicants to a list of 6 prime players. Before they turned up they had a letter from me giving them a leader brief and being plain speaking about what Grass Roots and their Chairman was looking for, it was intended to draw a distinction between a manager and a leader!

The final was a panel interview plus an informal appraisal of those they would lead! The final six were appraised and the following day I asked the Zurich folk for their opinion. Remarkably they shared the same views. So far so good. We had 3 finalists and I asked them all to deliver a response to a clear but creative brief to some basic needs we have. So this week I will be introducing the new leader to clients and staff at an event in Zurich.

Ideas win

There is nothing that wins like an idea whose time has come. When the opportunity arises I will talk with Rooters about the importance above all things that ideas play in our success! Grass Roots was an idea which became a company and now enjoys billings of over $1billion. Its traditional strength was taking a problem or perception of a client opportunity and finding a creative solution that we can offer and deliver!

I had a few creative sessions with some of the Young Lions of the family and got a great buzz from the energy created by giving them the wings to create solutions that gave me the joy in this business. One of them recalled a story I told which has inspired:Before the Internet and its instant communications we had to live with lesser tools. The problems of business were the same, engaging staff in the strategic desires of their employer, getting third party partners to see the opportunity and engage with the plan, finally to spread the idea to a customer audience. This story was about a major car company. Traditionally, car companies sold from stock, stock was selected by the National sales company and sold on to the dealers. Get the stock plan wrong and the results could be expensive! All production was and still is based upon a set of instructions and in the early 80's it was a practical software programme. So I asked the simple question, how long between instruction and delivery? The answer was 6 weeks! The implications were practical but seemingly obvious we could sell off plan. I will not bore you with the detail, you can write and ask if you are interested.

Safe to say the young Lion who heard the story is now selling successfully to big clients with big ideas. Ideas geared to their issues.

You next bag of groceries

We ran a client plan many years ago that gave me the chance to meet the world's greatest salesman, according to the Guiness book of Records. Joe Girard was a car salesman from the Midwest of the USA and in my view a guru! Joe invented CRM before computers, he did it all with a rotadex and practical effort. He was quite a character, he had an approach which had all the virtues of a good business plan but without the fuss. I have carried his thoughts with me for nearly 30 years. Every customer is my next bag of groceries and keeping the ones I have is essential. His practical approach to meeting new ones has been my guide and I do it every day. This month has been no exception. At all the dinners, events etc, etc I have gathered more prospects. I made contact with an idea and will make sure they know why we exist.

Everyone in business needs help and welcomes those who think of their needs before their own. All you need is a desire to make your contact feel you care and show you understand. So if you have a chance to meet a new person, take it with both hands. The value of contact is the most vital, you do not need a mail shot or an e-shot if your contact is good and your idea interesting!

And the winners are?

When I enter our HQ in Tring, on the left-hand side there is a trophy cabinet, not quite the size of Man United or Barcelona but impressive by most corporate standards. It's a form of recognition which has become ever more popular with industry and commerce and to some degree should be encouraged. We have had a fair amount of success in many such contests. The International Visual Communications Association has been one such body where we have won gold and silver awards which sit proudly in the trophy cabinet.
This year we entered two programmes - one for the excellent BIG Bang event, designed to engage young people in Science and Engineering, and one that our colleagues in Worcester did with assistance from the team at Fleet. The other entrant was the Spirit of Tring, an event that was started to celebrate our 30th anniversary but now has a life beyond. Well, they were both winners with the Spirit beating Lloyds Bank and BP to the top prize in the category! Ideas are the thing!

Cold comfort

We cannot ignore the fact that the world economy is still in turmoil! Our clients are sitting in their offices thinking about their strategies whilst we ponder ours. It gives me no comfort to raise the subject, but raise it I must. At the height of the recession we were able to hold our nerve because we have no debt, except loans to our own family members. This is a rare position and one born of 30 years of saving what you make for a rainy day. It's raining hard again and we must all do the very best we can. What I can promise I will, but the frequency of an immediate 'yes' will have to be tempered.

I had a call from a friend on Friday about a meeting we had set in the Far East. He has to cancel because of a ban on long haul travel imposed last week. He is a CEO. Cold comfort!

Retirement

I have a huge circle of connections. I love to meet folk, learn and sometimes teach, but mostly learn! This gets to a point where some of them have retired. Retirement is not 'stop' but 'adjust to' a different way of making some contribution that was valued and added value. I have a portfolio of life, helping business and social entities do their work more professionally. I have that pleasure as the founder of a business, our business! Asked recently when I would consider the word retirement, I had no answer, except that with an 8 year old daughter I may have to delay any such discussion to pay the school fees. The truth is that if George Bernard Shaw could make it into his eighties why not I?

The change in so called retirement point from a given year to some time beyond is driven by economics and the fact that we are living longer. I have a view that I explain as often as I can. The idea from the Chinese that a man who finds a task he loves will never work a day in his life! Rock on!

Madness or Mad Bread

2011-09-01T16:25:15Z

We British folk gasped in shock and disbelief as parts of our cities were ravaged by seemingly mindless groups of people who rioted, burnt and looted their own neighbourhoods and neighbours. Why in a civilised, caring society should such behaviour ignite and spread with the speed of a bush fire? We have been paralysed with media analysis, political posturing and no shortage of blame-niks! When the arrested started to appear in court the range of those being taken to law for their crimes, for crime it was, was bewildering in its range. This was not the raging of the poor or disenfranchised, it seemed to be a viral madness. Social media was cited as the carrier of the speed, but that is not the reason. I will read and listen to the debate as it unfolds and clearly, in a society that values free speech, opinions will be widespread.

As someone born just after the second world war into an area of London still heavily scarred by the long conflict, I will not hear arguments about total lack of opportunity for the young. Perhaps the moment of madness was generated by a lack of what we as a business strive to foster and provide services to support those key words: inspiration and, yes, basic motivation. Can we do something more? Can people like me do more? We are now a world business and I get inspiration from seeing the growing economies where less than 3 decades ago the chances of a long life were slim, the chances of a life beyond one of grinding poverty were lotto like! There are still vast numbers in these countries living on a dollar a day, but I never get a sense of violent solution or protest. The so called Arab spring, still waiting for a broad autumn harvest, was about a moment when freedom was the inspiration. We live in a free society and one where opportunities are there, yes there are inequalities, but a society has yet to exist where we could expect total equality! Earlier this year we decided to create an apprentice scheme (we have been running an unofficial one since 1980). Many of those from the early years are still part of the family, doing important roles. They have families who are now seeking opportunities in the great wide world. Our new scheme was launched with an open night at HQ and was well attended by the young and hopeful! All who attended have applied, so we have increased the number of places. It struck me, talking with some young people near our summer home in France, that they have much in common with their English counterparts. They see a difficult economy before them, uncertainty is the general feeling. If all the small and medium size companies in the UK, France, Spain etc, would simply take one young person on incentive, what a difference it would make to everything. We will do more than that - but that's freedom and inspiration for you!

On a lighter note, at the turn of the millennium I read a great little book, a translation of a monastic work at the end of the Saxon period on British history. Basically it was a diary and included details of diet. England in latter Saxon times was a relatively successful place, a stable economy, one of the only stable currencies, a good legal system, in fact the envy of its European competitors. This probably explains why the Vikings and the Normans, who had the same origins, were keen to take a piece of the action. In those days the primary grain crop of England was barley. The efficient Saxons would generally manage their stores of the grain until the next harvest. But just about now, in August, stock would be low. It seems that barley at the bottom of the store would get a little mouldy. It would be mixed with other grains and berries to make the bread. It seems that it was a potent mixture causing what I will describe as light headed behaviour! This ‘mad bread’ contained a crude form of LSD, a drug popular in the hippie period. I chuckle to myself with the thought of the Saxons, who were bearded and long haired, being 'cool' in the heat of August. Perhaps our little difficulties in the summer were down to a modern form of mad bread. Now there is a theory - supermarkets were to blame!

Be careful what you wish for

I spent part of August with the family in France. We have an old presbytery dating back many centuries and in need of regular tender loving care. My wife Kate runs the house for the summer vacation as a house for guests. Family and friends from all over find their way here to sample the calm and Kate’s good cooking and warm welcome. I potter about, being the handyman, doing stuff I don't do in work weeks. This year I have been getting fit or at least fitter, there is a difference! I have been cycling in the early morning along the wonderful Canal du Midi. I tell this story for a reason. This canal enables anyone with the time and the will, to travel from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean by boat or barge. Plans for such a waterway dated back to Leonardo da Vinci, who was commissioned to do what we might call a feasibility study, but such things need an inspiring character. This task fell to a rich French farmer who was determined to start the enterprise. It took longer than expected, it cost much more than planned but is quite magnificent. My cycle journeys down its tow path have been inspired by the fact that this brave farmer was 63 years of age when he started the project, the same age as the writer of this blog. The only sad point is that he seems not to have had the shrewdness of a farmer for he was not paid properly by his king and country. Indeed it took his family estate 100 years to get the debt paid!

Important date

This month's blog could not pass without mention of the man credited with the creation of the world wide web. The recognised date when an Englishman, Tim Berners-Lee, published his inspirational solution to universal and largely unfettered communication was August the 6th 1991. So in twenty years we have become connected in ways we could not imagine. The printed word, the telephone, television all have changed our lives. You will have your own opinion as to if they have bettered our lives. The Web has changed much of what we do, it provides information from which you can choose what you believe. It provides a platform for opinion, again you have to make a choice. Information and opinion are the stuff of life in all its aspects. The Internet cannot feed you but it can act as the source of information on how to do so. I monitor its growth each year in all the markets in which we function. It can and does act as the conduit for change, sometimes making such changes more rapid than we are able to reasonably cope with; but it is now a major factor and the means by which my thoughts will reach you all today. I regularly look out of my internal window at our HQ and note that much time is spent by folk looking intently at their screens and I wonder if I should switch them off once a month and see what happens. Perhaps I will do so with a small diet of mad bread.

Things to come?

As a kid I was an avid reader of H G Wells. Most people remember him for his book The War of the Worlds, which has been interpreted by movie makers to excite cinema audiences. Wells has much more to offer, predicting the making of diamonds, but we have yet to see The Invisible Man! Yesterday’s science fiction so often becomes today's basic facts. You don't get to the future by letting someone else blaze the trail, but reading outside your experiences can help you imagine a future. Albert Einstein observed that imagination is more important than information - so perhaps we should surf less and inspire more?

Reputation, Reputation, Reputation!

2011-08-02T07:45:17Z

I suspect that in all parts of the globe people have been aghast at the amazing events surrounding the alleged behaviour of journalists at the 168 year old newspaper, bought by millions of British people every Sunday? It was a paper that found its way into more homes than any other in the UK and had done some important work in seeking out people, who in their view, and in the views of many, had broken reasonable moral codes that make up civilised society. I am not offering judgement, but I do reflect upon the frailty of that word reputation! When I speak with members of the Grass Roots family, especially the newest recruits, I always make a point of reminding them how long has been spent building our reputation. It rests with each and every one of us and is much more easily lost, than gained. As usual you will find it well expressed by William Shakespeare: "The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones."

Continental Europe

Just when you think the recession has receded, you find the quality press and the not so quality news, filled with dire warnings of doom! We have to take these factors into consideration each and every month. We work in more currencies than the average Bureau de Change and each one represents a different challenge. The pound is not at its strongest and thus our work around the globe presents risks to our business in many forms. The Eurozone is facing the biggest challenge since its inception and given we are trading even more on a regional and quasi global basis, we need to be very careful in areas which hitherto, will have been low on the profile of concerns.

Getting Back To Our Roots

I am on holiday with my family in France. My home is not far from Bordeaux, in a small rural community. For the whole summer, it serves as a visiting point for friends and family alike, their trades and professions as diverse as the participants we serve everywhere. I try to avoid too much business chat as it’s the only real break I get, but at times the wine flows and the conversation turns to the problems we all face, income! One friend visiting with his family from America is the head man at a UK consultancy, but at the US arm! We were bemoaning over some very good wine from the region, the fight we all have with invitations to tender. He had been on his BlackBerry, iPhone and laptop with his team in Texas and New York, on what to do when you are in the last two for a bid and the client says: “Can you cut your rates further?” Well, we have all been there and I will not tell you what I said, either in English or in rural French, safe to say that you can't buy quality at a crap price!

Whilst on vacation, I get a bit of time for thoughts of the future, rather than the needs of the day. I have been discussing with my executive group ‘getting back to our roots’. This is easier said than done! When you grow to the size and geography that we have, the tree can get out of shape very easily, too many demands on our skills, which at first look inviting, but which may well turn out to be more time consuming than income generating!

Speaking Out

My speaking engagements continued right up to the last moment before the summer break, this and other pressing matters, meant that my family went out to France before me and I drove down via our Paris office, but more of that later. I was asked to speak at an Oxford College, to an audience of about one hundred HR professionals. I was preceded by some distinguished academics who had interesting views on improving the performance of people in the work place and other matters associated. My task was to make practical the art of inspiring people and what that means in practices, when you are the entrepreneur. Some in the audience were from our large base of clients and all were very kind and complimentary about the work we do! Others, who were less familiar with our work, were equally kind in their praise of my inspirational presentation, so I left for the vacation in high spirits.

I took my trip to the family via the Paris office. Meeting Xavier Coq, manager of our team here, is always a delight and we spent time in philosophic debate and discussion about the Tour de France cycle race, which was to have its finish the following day. This is the world’s great cycle challenge, where the winner will have ridden for over 80 plus hours to claim the yellow jersey that is worn by the leader and then the eventual winner! It was clear that victory was to be an Australian, who carries the great name ‘Evans’. I claimed ancestry and thus shared the glory. What was so odd and confusing was that a distinguished French newspaper got the result completely wrong. What is also quite odd is that it ignored the fact that the winner of the sprint competition was not mentioned. That maybe because he is British, or maybe they just have poor journalists. So you can get a reputation for corruption on moral grounds and loose your total image, as with the News of the World newspaper, or you can just be poor at your job, as with Le Monde in Paris last weekend.

The Cost Of Public Services

The great debate in the developed economies is the cost of public services in relation to national indebtedness. When 40% plus of all gross domestic product goes in tax to pay for those services, something eventually has to give. This morning before my early morning bike ride along the Canal du Midi, I tried to get the BBC news, but the journalists are on strike over redundancies! That is their right and is part of the reasonable freedom of any democratic society. In private enterprise, the failure to react quickly to adverse conditions results in death of the business, not so very often with public services. For those of you who were fans of the great British TV series ‘Yes Minister’, there was a famous line; "Asking a town hall to slim down its staff, is like asking an alcoholic to blow up a brewery." I hear the sound of explosions!

What Can Go Wrong?

There are three things that can go wrong with projects; they can cost more, they can take longer or they can make matters worse! So said the former Auditor General of the UK government! When times are you good you have some slack in the system for experiments that take more time and as time in business is cost, you can exercise more patience. Making matters worse is something no one can afford at anytime. In our businesses we are taking a much more robust approach to risk review, not to stop innovations, but to get the best thoughts more support. The UK has put on the statute books a law on bribery. The one thing about the British is that in general, we follow the rule of law. When you don't, you may end up like the News of the World newspaper, extinct after 168 Years!

Making The Most Of Our Human Resources

When Grass Roots was founded I believed that was my responsibility, both internally and externally was to our clients. That has not changed. Niccolo Machiavelli who was part of my university studies observed: "Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity." I believe our organisation now behaves in this manner. However, Machiavelli went on to obverse, that entrepreneurs were "able to turn both to their advantage." That makes economic survival and growth possible.

I will say once again, that recent visits with a number of our businesses has shown how our people cope with obstacle and opportunity with practical enthusiasm and skill, has been a real boost for me personally. I read somewhere in the mists of time, that to do good business, you should speak to those people who are already predisposed to talk with you. The funny thing is that much of the forward movement in the places where we have been in a tough spot are making progress, because they are seeing those who think well of them already and are now ready to commit.

I have many conversations that hover over the word strategy! Like many often used words, it means too many different things to many different people. For Napoleon it was about time and space! A famous Chinese writer observed: “that strategy rarely survives engagement with the enemy!” For Woody Allen: "If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans!" What most people want is a degree of certainty, sufficient for them to make their unique contribution to a positive outcome for the enterprise and themselves.

So I end with the words of Jack Welch, a famous CEO: "If you pick the right people and give them an opportunity to spread their wings.....you almost don't have to manage them."

Global audiences

2011-07-05T09:41:42Z

I delayed this month’s blog to coincide with the 4^th of July – American Independence Day! Having had yet another month where I have been attempting to emulate the life of my contemporary Mick Jagger by appearing on stages more often than a rock legend, I thought I would re-connect with the land where services for motivating people were first commercialised, i.e. the good old USA!

My audiences have had a wide range of backgrounds and interests, a wide range of nationalities, languages and experience levels. All had one thing in common: they could all understand English and that can be quite humbling, perhaps rock music should be given more credit than Shakespeare, who knows?

Spirit of Tring

We are headquartered in a very old town. The estate on which our HQ sits dates back to Saxon times and was gifted by William the Conqueror to his brother-in-law. I share one other thing with William I, my middle name is William, after my late father. The great question he faced upon winning this land was how to get the native peoples to understand the new regime. This happens at Grass Roots when new people, new companies join our happy band. William’s method was to put a Norman in charge. Our method is quite the opposite. Where at all possible, we leave the founders in charge but make it as clear as possible, what our belief system stands for and how best to follow the principles.

One of the things we do try to achieve is connecting with our community. We have been doing this for over 28 years. We started by running the town’s famous Shakespeare Festival and have done an enormous amount to help the arts, sports and schools in this community. A short video will be on YouTube soon, made by an independent film company.

This year, on the 2^nd and 3^rd of June, we ran again the Spirit of Tring, a fundraising community music festival. 6,000 people came and if the film and survey are the crucial evidence, they had a great time. We did good work and they raised money for their causes. The event on the Friday 2^nd June included a display by a World War II Spitfire – people were in tears!

Do you speak Chinese, German of fluent Hebrew?

Because English has become the global language, most audiences I address have been kind enough to have some knowledge of English. So this year I have addressed audiences in China, India, Spain and many other locations. This month I did a talk in Germany. English has its roots in German, French and Nordic languages. It has absorbed words from all over the planet and each year, the leaders of the Oxford English Dictionary meet to agree what new words should enter the lexicon. The prime condition for inclusion is that they have widespread use and clear understanding.

However, how they are pronounced by different people in the UK, let alone the rest of the world, can result in some local difficulties. Here is an example: In Germany, I gave a speech on my 30 years of the evangelism on the word ‘incentive’. I was delivering the last full-hall speech of the event and was faced not just by an interested group of Germans, but a mixed audience, which included Americans, Irish, English and Israelis.

Throughout the first day I had listened intently to speeches in German through a translator in a transmission booth. The one word that troubled me was the word ‘coupon’. A common word which is by origin French, thus the emphasis is on the ‘coup’. However, the translators – two of them – made it ‘coo-pone’. What the hell are they talking about?

The word ‘entropy’ came to mind. This is the measure of the rate of transfer of information in a message. So, as the busker speaker, I told my audience the origin of the word and asked them to enter an instant competition. The ‘coupon’ as we know it has many uses but in the commerce of marketing was invented by the men who created Coca Cola in about 1886. You bought a glass of their ‘health drink’ and you got a coupon for the next one! Hopefully, the word will spread to the USA where they pronounce the word ‘cue-pon’.

In China, I found during my visit in May that the fast food company with the greatest number of outlets had its own version. You may recall my mention of the statue of Chairman Mao in Shanghai facing ‘Subway’, the ubiquitous sandwich retailer. Well, Subway has the largest number of shops in its sector globally. In China they pronounce it ‘Sub-a-way’, so go with the flow!

Back to ‘coupons’. Since their commercial application in US drug stores in the 1880s, they have been used in most societies. The purpose has not changed, but the method of delivery has amplified! The delivery now can be instantaneous and connected to the very location where you stand through your mobile device, knowing you are in proximity of the store offering the coupon, or even the brand in a store.

Do unto others!

I sometimes warn an audience that, as a speaker, I am the result of a very Christian mother and a Communist father. The bible and the communist manifesto may seem like strange bedfellows, but we are what we experience. The belief I have always had is that Jesus Christ was moved by a socialist thought process, but that would be heresy to some. I am reminded of the important expression of these principles by the Sermon on the Mount – “do unto others as you would have others do unto you”. This has been expressed in a different way in our values statement, but the sentiment is the same.

In a world where every corporate entity is concerned about its economic future, behaviour can be less than Christian and I have seen colleagues get very concerned that firms behaving badly have been on the increase. Well, so be it, in the medium and long term you cannot sacrifice a great reputation with short-term behaviour – we won’t do it!

And finally!

The great joy of being an entrepreneur is the people you meet and work with in the enterprise of being enterprising. What you learn is that the process has some key things, a good diet, plenty of exercise and the pain barrier.

Employment is made by risk takers! If all the entrepreneurs in all the countries in which we work hired one more employee, recessional talks would evaporate. But most, but not us, rely upon some form of backing by banking institutions. Well folks, when banks lend money, they have a ‘coupon’ or ‘voucher’, this is the interest they expect for the risk they take. So you drink a glass of their cash and they want something back, it’s not for free! The trouble with banking is that the man who writes the advertising is not the man who lends you the money!

I found a quote from the founder of McDonalds: “You have to be ready to carry your cross if you want to become the head of a large business, but you’ll lose many of your friends along the way.” Grass Roots has won and kept many friends, long may that be the case!

Fraternally

David

Made in Americas

2011-06-01T13:45:44Z

I wrote to colleagues recently about my visit to the branch of the Grass Roots clan in Miami, upon reflection it was like visiting the whole of the Americas. So many nationalities are stationed in Miami, that you can get a real sense of the complex of cultures that is the Americas. Miami is a melting pot for the peoples of South and Central America and the Caribbean.

The Grass Roots team are full of the natural exuberance of the Latin temperament, with a smattering of European and classic Anglo Saxon cool! Their enthusiasm for the business was clear and their sometimes latent desire to connect with the family became ever more apparent during my visit with them. The fact that some of my messages were less than comfortable, did not in the final analysis, undermine their willingness to absorb, contribute to the debate and recognize the needs.

The US business was created from an acquisition with a history, attitudes and habits. As Warren Buffett once observed; “Chains of habit are too light to be felt, until they are too heavy to be broken.” The chains of their past have at times been a problem, but if their hearts and minds are unchained the rest will follow. So if the best way to predict the future is to invent it, they are now embraced in the invention process of the whole family of Grass Roots.

Two small social stories. As always there is a taxi story. Miami has ‘yellow’ cabs, just like New York. Not usually the most lovely of vehicles, but driven by a wide diversity of peoples. Amongst my handful of drivers was an Ernest Hemmingway character. Anglo Saxon by origin, he came to Miami after leaving the US Navy! Apart from his lecture on the economic management of taxis, he turned out to be a writer for local newspapers, the only odd thing was, that he wore surgeon’s rubber gloves to drive his old yellow cab. That’s Miami for you!

The other social observations were related to food and the impact of social media. Food first, I took advantage of trying a dish I had never sampled. At the aptly named ‘Meat Market’, I had ‘Buffalo’. More delicate and finer than the finest steak, it cuts like butter. We had a cocktail party for the team around the pool of my hotel, the day time temperature had been in the 90s Fahrenheit. Midway through the evening I had an e-mail on my BlackBerry from a former Miami colleague observing that he saw that I was in Miami – how did he know? ‘Facebook’, naturally!

Made in China

When I was in my early teens, cheap goods came from Japan or Hong Kong. Little transistor radios were stamped with a little label. Over the last 20 years, China has become the place for the manufacture of so many things, that you’re surprised when it’s not ‘Made in China’. Major brands have been practically seduced by the economics of manufacture offered by the return of the power of China.

200 years ago China was the world’s largest economy. It is now the second largest economy with the world’s largest population! I went to China twenty years ago when it was still the land of bicycles and Mao work wear. The signs of change were apparent, but not abundant. Returning just five years ago, it was not the same place.

When we were considering opening a family branch, I did my usual thing: read history, geography, economics and philosophy. China has an abundance of all these disciplines. In a couple of public speaking engagements I was bold enough to make some predictions. One of which was, that the growth of the middle class would create opportunities from home grown Chinese brands. Indeed, the future of the whole economy rests on the satisfaction of the growing internal market, not the all consuming export markets.

My visit last week was to both Beijing and Shanghai. Our small team in China’s capital organised a ‘full on’ visit, client meetings, supply meetings and a sizable press conference. It was an exhausting few days, but made worthwhile by the generous attention of all those that my colleague Andrew Wilmot and I met on the visit. The most engaging thing is that the Chinese people want to listen and learn. They like people with a philosophic heart and mind, showing their appreciation for one’s efforts warmly. What was clear is that the idea of capitalism purged from China forty years ago, is well and truly back in fashion. When it is combined with the Chinese’s ability to get a robust infrastructure in place, it’s not hard to understand why they have become the world’s second largest economy in less than a decade. Thank you all in Beijing, you were wonderful.

On to Shanghai! This city was the cosmopolitan centre of European commercial in-roads in China in the late 19th Century and until the 2nd World War. The old city has been preserved and is being lavishly restored. In contrast, the new Shanghai’s buildings are a New York skyline, testament to China’s new found economic prominence. A statue of Chairman Mao stands within 50 yards of a ‘Subway’ and a ‘Costa Coffee’. The city is more frenetic, more capitalist in every way than Beijing. The little red book replaced by bright red lights! A brief social moment in a bar on a roof top of a wonderful 1920s building, designed and built by the British, now populated by Chinese and London bankers and traders, Chinese and cockney accents mingled in the air.

A similar round of meetings, with plenty to ponder and opportunities to savour. Amongst them was one with a senior bank official who had studied at Loughborough University and is a real Anglophile. A meeting that went from presentation to semi-workshop. The numbers are really staggering. A bank that has only offered a credit card for a few years but has 10 million holders already!

Taxis and drivers. The dominant taxi of Shanghai is a VW Santana, not a car for comfort, but the roads are excellent. However, they could do with the introduction of the London taxi drivers’ ‘knowledge’ in both Beijing and Shanghai. So perhaps we can get the introduction of the London cab and the cabby! Ironically, the London black cab is ‘Made in China’ and assembled in England!

So I came back after five 18 hour days, tired but exhilarated by the vast opportunity our global footprint presents to us all.

The Shape of Things to Come!

At the press conference I entertained the journalists with the game of heads and tails. A silly quiz game, but designed to help concentrate those gathered away from their laptops and mobile devices. In short, to focus their attention. The result of the quiz had one important outcome. I established, in an entertaining way, that 80% of those present were born after the birthday of Grass Roots!

Clearly we did grab their attention, within 24 hours our event was being reported across China, including the 9th most visited website on the planet! So whatever we represent as a business is resonating with people whose culture and history would at first glance be far from ours, but perhaps it may not be as far as we think.

I do not imagine for one moment that the solutions are ‘cookie cutter’, but I do believe that the people that now constitute those with discretionary income are moved by the same basic rationale and emotions. Time will tell!

Two billion people go to a wedding

2011-05-04T07:25:15Z

As someone who has seen coronations and royal weddings over the last 60 years, what a profound change in communication links we saw last Friday when William and Kate got hitched. Apparently, for the world this was of sufficient interest, that two billion people witnessed the event through TV or the internet.

In marked contrast the death of the world’s most wanted man was witnessed by the US President in the relative comfort of Washington. Both events were significant, I leave you all to judge which has the more important influence on the world affairs. For my part, the ability to use communication for good or evil is the most difficult question left hanging.

Public Speaking

I have been a public speaker from a very early age. There is nothing like the thrill of an audience to concentrate the mind and to get a few key points to a big group. I have a range of such addresses to give over the next few months, both in the UK and in other parts of the globe.

There is always a theme for the day. There is always a hook to get the audience excited by the prospect of something they can take away and use in their business lives. What is usually apparent is that they appreciate the old principle, that less is more. Too many presentations attempt the improbable, if not the profoundly impossible. Our brain will not consume and understand too much detail in a very short period.

I was giving a presentation recently and started with a quote from the writer Robert Frost “The brain is a wonderful organ; it starts working the moment you get up in the morning and does not stop until you get into the office!” Except, that is, for those who surf the net. I find it amusing and sometimes annoying that my fellow Rooters can find time to grab hold of an opportunity to surf as their first gesture of the working day.

Just try something else, talk with colleagues first thing. Have more human interaction. We have a breakfast speaking club here in Tring, it’s a chance to improve public speaking abilities. The human interaction is the most fundamental role of all Grass Roots activities, but you have to keep practicing to get better at it.

What’s the price?

One of the most important challenges we face across the globe is the old and thorny issue of the price of anything. Things we buy and things we sell. When times are tough people seek more for less. The most difficult task is to deal with the person who knows the price of everything, but the true value of nothing. I have, I am sure, mentioned the Victorian writer John Ruskin “It’s unwise to pay too much, but it’s worse to pay too little….If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run - and if you do that, you will have enough to pay for something better!”

Trains and a taxi

I went to London by train on 11th April. I walked back part of the way from the financial district, got a chatty cabby journey discussing the merits of the London black cabs. Upon arrival at Euston Station it was a scene of chaos. The line to the north, which includes Tring was closed by fire.

There is another route from another station, but it’s another cab route. The queue was long. A call to the line of folk, “Anyone for Tring?” results in three men sharing a black cab ride all the 30 some miles to our little town. As it turned out my fellow passengers knew of Grass Roots.

One was a medical researcher, who had acted at our theatre and was on his way to a local pub to run the quiz night. The other was a senior partner of a law firm, specializing in patents and the like. The journey was easy, the conversation wonderful and I even spent an hour in the pub scoring well in Round 1 of the quiz competition, before heading home. Two new friends all from one simple question, “Anyone for Tring?”

Prophetic ‘Beatles’

I support lots of charities. On my April 11th journey I signed up with another. It’s for the homeless, it’s called Shelter. Why? Reflecting upon my father’s journey in the 1930s, I realized how lucky I have been, others not so.

When I got into my lovely car in Tring I put on a CD, an old Beatles album. I had bought their entire collection at a charity event signed by McCartney. My daughter Tilly has been learning to play ‘Hey Jude’ on the piano, so I am in a retro mode at the moment.

A track started playing. It’s called ‘When I’m 64!’ Then the thought struck me, I will be 64 this year. I will get her to learn the piece in the time for November.

Cheers all,

David

Planes, trains and automobiles

2011-04-01T13:19:02Z

My travels for Grass Roots are far and wide, the reasons many and varied. They say that travel broadens the mind, well yes, and other parts of the human frame. Here are a few anecdotes. Starting with an event covering all three modes of transport.

We have a great team of folk in the lovely city of Belfast. Bright, young, and great fun to be with. I don’t see them in their home town as often as I would wish and when I do, the pleasure is all mine. So, on a whistle stop tour that involved a range of meetings, we completed with a team dinner. This social event did not conclude until very, very late with local beer and local music.

I had to rise early and had been staying at a hotel created from the 19th century headquarters of the Ulster Bank. On leaving the hotel I asked for a taxi but to my surprise and amazement, they said “no need, there is a car waiting”. Not just any car, but a brand new Rolls Royce, one of the new ones our Group had helped launch.

The short but elegant journey led to the next stage, which was a cheap flight to Luton Airport. On time at Luton, my driver called and said he was trapped by the closure of a major road. I said I would take a taxi and meet him at H.Q. for my next journey into central London.

So the next leg was by a beaten up, very aged Nissan taxi. O well, I got back to the office. Ian, my driver, is still trapped in a traffic jam. So the next leg is by train to London! Having reached my 60s, I have an older person’s rail card. The return rail fare being less than two decent cups of Starbucks coffee.

So, after 31 years, this is what it has come to: Rolls Royce, Budget Airline, Old Taxi and an old-age person’s rail journey. They were all useful, all served the same purpose and it was a lesson in the opportunities presented by age, experience and position.

A London black cab is a special experience. To get a license to drive this icon of London, you spend about a year learning London, it’s called ‘the knowledge’. This involves driving around on a small motor scooter, working at knowing your way from place to place –education. Once you have done the knowledge, you have to be ‘measured’ on your knowledge. Only then can you, with an investment in a ‘black cab’, earn your ‘reward’.

A trip with most London cabbies presents the opportunity of doing an opinion survey. They have views about almost any subject: politics, economics, sport, etc. etc. So, for the price of a cab fare, you get an ‘event’. But only if you engage. I always do it! It’s fun, it can do you some good and, you never know, you might gain an insight into doing something that will make money!

Yesterday, I was in the financial district of London. I went by train and complained when my old person’s rail card was refused. Why? Because it doesn’t work in commuter hours. The staff at my local station agreed with my complaint, after all, you are 63 at 08.30 or 09.30, what does it matter? That aside, I got them on the way back. I journeyed by black cab in London to various meetings.

From the City to Euston station is a couple of miles, so I decided to walk back from my last meeting. I was only about half way when I saw a ‘black cab’ that wasn’t black. It was decorated bumper to bumper in the flag of Cuba! I hailed the cab and we ‘engaged’. I told the driver of my communist past, my trips to Cuba and then a great talk unfolded. This man in his ‘late’ sixties had been to Cuba 23 times, had met Fidel Castro four times and had photos to prove it! He has a Cuba-supportive website, is well known on radio and his wife, when dying of cancer, had been helped by the Cuban government. The tip I have him went into a box for Cuba and we had fun!

So, no matter where you are and what you are doing, engaging will help you, liberate you and present different perspectives from your own.

Is life too complicated?

After 31 years in the life of Grass Roots, one of my key reflections is that for whatever reason, there are too many to discuss here, life looks more complicated, but is it really? For some folk, security comes from the apparently complex nature of their problems. All too often they can be the root of their own complexity.

All good managers share one key ability. “What is that?” you may ask. In my view it is the skill to present themselves and their ideas effectively. Are you hooked? Well folks, when you are engaging with anything, the issue is human contact. With the ‘Cuban’ cab we were close, we had some common ground and established mutual rapport.

So, the lessons for the month, born of 31 years of engagement, are as follows:

a) What is the most unusual part of your subject?

b) Can you offer it up briefly?

c) What is or are the most interesting part(s) of your subject?

d) What is the most dramatic part?

e) What is the most humorous part?

I have blogged before, that all societies have a history of story telling, it precedes the written word. Our support systems are complex, but in truth, what most people – and people are our clients – are looking for, is understanding, reflection upon needs and ideas to inspire. The delivery is processes, systems, services etc. etc. The absence of a thought that inspires is what reduces success to price.

The ‘reign’ in Spain

Mar Garcia and our Spanish team are on a par with Belfast, but without the Guinness! My recent trip was as hectic as ever and included a well organized event at the Business School to a packed audience of clients and prospective clients. My speech (in English) was tailored for the occasion and even my jokes were appreciated. The reasons are honesty, creativity and delivery! It was a delight to be in the great city of Madrid, feeling the warmth and affection for Grass Roots that Mar and our family there have created.

So, another taxi story and a plane story. Upon arrival I recognised my driver and we marched to the car – Madrid airport is bigger than Wembley! I asked about the price of car fuel in Spain. High, but not as high as in the UK. Result, slightly happier driver! On my way back the driver dropped me off in good time, but there goes that old problem: communication. I went to the Iberia desk, no luggage for the hold, but a problem! This is a co-share flight and Don David should be at the BA desk – not what is on the e-ticket.

So, I hustle my aged frame along some way to BA, they have closed! I return to the Iberia information desk and, with my best impersonation of Antonio Banderas as the cat in Shrek, I plead! I am transferred to Iberia’s next flight and get home at midnight, so travel broadens a lot!

Talking about my generation!

When my student days were in full flow, I became Honorary Secretary of Entertainment – known as Ents Sec! A great unpaid – apart from free booze – job booking bands, which, in the late sixties included the Rolling Stones and The Who!

My favourite Who track is called ‘my generation’. The libretto (posh work for lyrics) includes the immortal line “I hope I die before I get old”. Well, after some 30 years we keep producing new generations. Colleagues go off to have babies or hold hands with their partner as babies appear.

So, this week, and forgive me for making special reference, Russell Clutton, our Chief Financial Controller, became a dad once again. Baby Clutton – female, no name announced – is one of many that in 31 years have appeared. My colleague of many years, Nigel Cover, was so well organized that his eldest, Ruth, was born today, 18 years ago! So that’s at least two generations – I’m glad I am not old!

The weakest link?

One of the early lessons in my 31 years is that you are only as strong as your weakest link. Obvious, but not always accepted. When we were very young, we did everything. That included any and all of the following: assembling desks, making the coffee, doing the post, etc., etc. Adam Smith (godfather of all economists) was probably the first to observe that the division of labour into specialist tasks is more productive.

So, when we do a big task for our clients, it often involves the individual actions of scores of colleagues. Each important to the satisfaction or our promise to inspire people.

From the creation of an idea, the planning and execution to the more practical tasks of high-quality interaction with participants and, indeed, making sure the post gets out!

Each plays a part, each and everyone holds our reputation in their individual hands. On this, the 31st anniversary since the birth of Grass Roots, may I thank all my colleagues for their personal contributions to our progress and success. From ideas people, to makers of stuff, from people who service our clients’ many and varied needs, people who take calls, to people who make sure the post gets on its way, my personal gratitude. No man is an island, that would be a lonely place!

31 years old today!

Thank you all!

Cheers

David

Connected thoughts on St. David's Day

2011-03-01T11:28:46Z

Cooperative travel to France

For a thousand years, the people of the Islands of Britain have had a love-hate relationship with the peoples who inhabit what we now know as France. Countries are not easily fixed by boundaries. Treaties by rulers do not always survive when people decide that they are incorrect. However, the inhabitants of Normandy in 10th century Europe were of Scandinavian decent – ‘Norsemen’ – but spoke the French language of their time.

Since 1066, there has been no successful invasion of a physical kind into Britain, but prior to that date, many European groups tried their hand: the Romans, Norse peoples, Saxons, Jutes, Danes, etc., etc. They all left legacies – cultural, economic and, most importantly, bits of language. The absorbent English language to which I have referred in previous blogs continues to absorb. But back to the Anglo-French relationship: love-hate, cooperate-fight – all are represented over the helter-skelter of our histories. Today I am writing this part of my blog on a symbol of cooperation. It’s the train that goes from Central London to the heart of Paris. On a good day, 2hours 15 minutes heart-to-heart travel via a deep undersea tunnel built by Anglo-French cooperation, starting from both sides and meeting somehow in the middle. It’s not the only time such a thing has happened. The Anglo-French Concord plane, the only full-service supersonic jet to show what it’s like to arrive in New York before you left London!

So, if you have not got it yet, this bit is about cooperation. It’s difficult, needs a lot of trust and is not without considerable effort to find a good way. My visits to Grass Roots businesses around the world are intended to foster an understanding that we all have much to offer, each to the other. At no time is it intended to infer that anyone has a monopoly on wisdom. If we are what we are for our experiences, then it benefits all that we share our experiences and thus, a problem shared is tutored by those experiences and hopefully diminished in size.

I am finishing the latter part of this blog on a train to Germany. The train goes to Brussels and thence through to Germany. A region of Europe that has seen many disputes over territory, from Roman times and perhaps before. I hope to be sharing with our German family some of the issues we all face, in the same open fashion as with our friends in the Paris office. Thank you Xavier and all in the French team!

We are all connected

Social networking is working, maybe not in the ways in which we were expecting it, but that is the nature of freedom in the internet age! Recent events across the world of the Arabic peoples have been given the oxygen of publicity as never before, fanning an underlying discontent into waves of protest. It’s not the first time. The people of the Philippines were galvanized into getting a regime change by SMS messages, so setting the precedent for the current wave.

So, waves and currents. No current electricity – no waves – no social networks! Does this mean anything for us? Here are some ramblings from the train as it speeds through France and on into Belgium. We now rely on generated electrical energy so much that we must, and I mean must, keep thinking about what we can do to reduce consumption. So, if the largest data centres involved with what is called ‘cloud’ technology consume more power than small cities, yes folks, cities, where does that lead us?

In my dim and distant past I played a modest role in the announcement of a major energy crisis in the UK. It was called ‘the 3-day week’. Because of a coal miners’ strike and an oil price crisis caused by a middle-east conflict, we were only allowed power 3 days in the working week! Shock, horror, drama! There were two notable results: people worked harder and had more babies. So, if you were born in 1974 in Britain, that may be the reason.

The broad point is that energy is not free, nor is it abundant. As I write, the UK crude oil price has hit $110 a barrel. Civil conflict in the Middle East and a lack of new, cheaper crude. No new light crude discovered since 1966 is a long time for an energy hungry world that gets hungrier by the day.

So what is the connection with a connected world? I turn to Sir Martin Sorrell, who, as CEO of WPP, has been one of my business partners for nearly 25 years now. In a recent address to a big audience in Davos, he used these facts: in 2010, the number of internet users surged by 2 billion, almost half of them in Asia; Facebook’s online community grew by 250 million. He added that Twitter users grew to 190 million, equaling the population of Brazil. So Tweets reached an amazing number of 25 billion, 4.5 per person on the planet! YouTube is averaging 60 billion views per month! Martin’s key point to his audience was that the age of connectivity makes a structural break in the way that corporations must organize their marketing to uphold their reputations.

There was a reference in his speech to a difficult moment for the global brand Dominoes Pizza whose spokesman noted: “Nothing is local any more, that’s the challenge of the Web World. Any two idiots with a video camera can damage the reputation of a 50 year old brand.” This comment was made when kitchen staff uploaded to YouTube a video showing themselves spitting on food before it was served. The moral of the story may be to check you Pepperoni Passion before you take a bite. The truth of the story sits in the comments I make at staff induction events: the reputation of the company I started 30 years ago now rests in the minds, hearts and actions of everyone in our family.

And finally

As you go through life, you claim a share of the world’s food (which we continue to improve in what we grow and how we grow it), of its carbon energy (which is difficult and expensive to extract or, indeed, grow!), of land (which is plentiful, but not always easy to inhabit) and of other natural resources (where harvesting is one thing, and extracting another). We make these claims by earning what we do from the great circle of economic chains, called ‘pay back for work delivered’. Anything else we get, we inherit from our past and we have shared it with our siblings. For my brother and me, it was not in any tangible form, no wealth was or will be transferred. We got good minds and a passion for what we do! A great treasure that money can’t buy!

Happy St David’s Day

Today is the day when people of Welsh blood celebrate the patron saint of that small Principality. He was a great teacher and his day has been celebrated since the Norman times. At his funeral, these words were uttered by the monks of the Abbey he founded: “Brothers, be ye constant. The yoke which with single mind you have taken, bear ye to the end and whatsoever you have seen with me and heard, keep and fulfill.”

David Evans MBE
March 2011

Passage to India

2011-02-18T15:04:48Z

I recently paid my annual visit to the Grass Roots family in India, based in the energetic ‘super city’of Mumbai. It was the usual round of meetings, speeches, press interviews and gaining an appreciation of the fast changing world of the Indian economy.

In addressing the annual conference on Loyalty, I was moved to tell the audience that when I first started taking an interest in world economics, the population of the planet was just about 4 billion and India less than 10%. The Financial Times of India carried a story that morning that the 7 millionth person alive on our planet would be born in India that day. India now accounts for 14% of that population, but more importantly for the interest of the conference was that the middle class population was now the size of the entire population when I began my studies in the early 60s.

Why is this important to you and our business? Without the middle class there is no surplus cash, little or no competition and none of the clients we need to make our business grow. The shape of our business world needs a thriving middle class where economic surplus is the key!

We have been on the planet in a form we could recognize for about 100,000 years. For about 98,000 years life was barely above subsistence. In today’s real incomes that is about £350 a year, or about the size of my annual student grant in the 1960s. Things didn’t really change until the start of the Industrial Revolution, less than 300 years ago. This growth is now impacting a wider and wider group right across the planet.

Don’t worry folks, it’s a good thing, provided a few things occur. We appreciate that we have to share world resources, we encourage and support education and we accept change. I stress this is my view and you will have your own!

The Mother of Invention!

In the first century AD, a Roman writer, Sextus Julius Frontinus, wrote “inventions reached their limit long ago and I see no hope for further development”. The truth is that population growth, coupled with economic surplus, creates the very ingredients that spur inventions and thus industrial vigor. So, despite some ups and downs, economic growth has continued and accelerated pretty much unabated for over two hundred years.

On the plane back to the UK I watched the movie ‘Social Network’, the interesting and well acted story of ‘Facebook’. The mother of invention here was a very intelligent and well educated young man moved by his necessity of meeting girls! His realization that what he created with his chums was something that was of commercial value was influenced by others. Ideas need feeding.

We, as a family of businesses, invent all the time, but we don’t always recognize the value or present its value in a way in which others see its value. The law of arithmetic says if someone eats less then there is more for someone else, but the law of economics says that if nobody wants that extra food then something, either price or an interest rate, has to adjust until someone wants it. So our business has to be very flexible and creative in our approach.

One of the great 19th century economic discoveries was the principle of ‘comparative advantage’, broadly speaking it says that people are most successful when they stick to the things they are good at! We are most likely to be more successful if we recognize the things we are good at, use our comparative advantage of a near-global footprint using common models and common IT.

On being a Rooter!

I have been awarding a special prize, indeed prizes, for our founding business in Tring for 20 years. These ‘Chairman’s Awards’ are as a result of the Exceeding Expectations programme. Nominations reach me during the year and I select from what is always a worthy group. They all get to the selection list by the recommendation of others, peer nomination in a much used programme throughout the Group. This upcoming year I am looking to spread this honour across our businesses around the world. This year’s awards are to be made on 1st March and will be followed by a slightly late blog to cover aspects of the programme and something about the winners this year – on being a Rooter.

It was a delightful interlude on a grueling trip to India that our MD, Charoo, asked me to conduct a mass recognition ceremony for all our Indian colleagues who had achieved status in the long service awards. I cannot remember the last time I kissed so many girls in such a short time. Well done to all of those recognized for their loyalty!

And finally...

I mentioned above the conditions for economic growth, but I left one out. In the long run, societies that are democratic are most likely to succeed economically. The absence of democracy, in any real sense, will be a barrier to growth. So, as Winston Churchill put it, “democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others”. Perhaps J.F. Kennedy had something when he wrote: “Democracy is the superior form of government because it is based on a respect for man as a reasonable being.”

David Evans MBE
Feb 2011