Do I Pass The Branson Test?
Richard Branson is being quoted on the BBC about his ten tips for success in business.
So as someone, who likes to think he’s been successful at times, how do I think I stack up?
1. Follow your dreams and just do it!
Guilty as charged!
2. Make a positive difference and do some good
I argue, that I was part of the movement, which of course included the mighty Artemis, had a lot to do with transforming project management, so that important projects are now more likely to be implemented on time and on budget.
Unfortunately, some people, who tend to be mainly politicians and government employees, don’t abide by the principles we laid down.
But it did deliver the London Olympics and it looks like it’s going to deliver Crossrail in the next few years.
3. Believe in your ideas and be the best
Guilty as charged!
4. Have fun and look after your team.
I certainly had fun and it is not for me to say, if I looked after my team.
But I will say that many people, who I worked with in the past, are still friends. Some also looked after me, through my troubles of the last few years.
5. Don’t give up
Many people after what I had been through with the loss of my wife and youngest son to cancer and a serious stroke, would have taken the easy way out.
But then London mongrels have more fight, than a whole kennel-full of pit bulls.
6. Make lots of lists and keep setting yourself new challenges
I managed bugs in Artemis with lists and I still use them extensively on a card for each day. But then my father was the master of creating paper-based management systems, so it must be in the genes.
7. Spend time with your family and learn to delegate
Not sure about this one, but I’ve always organised my work from home since 1971. I can’t understand those who commute!
I don’t know about delegating, but if I have a problem that needs solving, I usually delegate by finding the best and getting them to do it.
8. Try turning off the TV and get out there and do things
I always have the TV on and have done for years, as I created Artemis, whilst watching the box.
But I’ve always been open to distraction by a pretty woman, who wants to take me somewhere to enjoy ourselves. C was a master, at coming in and saying that we perhaps go out to see a play in a Cambridge College.
I am obsessive about completing major tasks, but very easily distracted.
9. When people say bad things about you, just prove them wrong
I use criticism as a motivating tool and generally go on to prove people wrong.
10. Do what you love and have a sofa in the kitchen
C and myself, generally did what we loved and lived in the kitchen. We had a sofa there since we moved to Debach about 1980.
Even today, I live in a large living room, with a bedroom behind and a kitchen in the corner.
I can’t understand why people want to live in houses with masses of rooms and an eight figure price tag.
I certainly do what I love, too!
So I think I followed Branson’s principles pretty well!
Would I add any of my own? Yes!
1. Experience as much as you can of life
So if someone offers you a trip in the sewers of East London, don’t turn it down!
Branson is certainly not short on experience.
2. Never forget anything
I have an elephantine memory, but there are successful people, who make sure everything they have read, written or said is archived.
You never know, when you might need that information.
As an example, I went on a Health and Safety course at ICI. Some of what I learned has been invaluable since my stroke, when navigating my way around streets with impaired vision.
3. Don’t get divorced.
Branson hasn’t! But I suspect, he’s not always been a Saint, where the ladies are concerned.
4. Steal ideas from the public domain or experience
Two things in the design of Artemis come to mind.
The report writer of the original Artemis broke new ground, but I stole the template from a dead IBM program called 360-CSMP, that I’d used at ICI.
The other was perhaps more trivial. When I developed the PC version of Artemis, I needed a strong well-designed interface. So I mimicked the keyboard and the function keys on the old IBM-PC and used the bright colours from a BBC Television program called Three of a Kind, which used jokes on the screen in a system they called Gagfax.
One of my colleagues disagreed with my choice and said we’d employ an expert to choose them. But we didn’t and I won the argument by default.
5.Don’t trust lawyers, accountants, bankers and patent agents
I could add a caveat here, in that if they have a stake in the success of the venture, then in many cases it turns out for the better.
I’ve only met one accountant and one banker that I would ever trust. Sadly both, are sorting out God’s problems!
As to lawyers, I got to screw my own for forty years and luckily we bred a good one. So if I need a good one, I can generally get a good recommendation.
On the other hand, the biggest mistake, I made in life, was when after C’s death, I didn’t sell everything and move to something like a two-bedroom flat in Docklands or the Barbican!
I’d love to hear Branson’s view on what I call Professional Theft
But
The Elephant In The Stand
Watching the arguments about the performance of Manchester United this season, gives me a very much a sense of deja vu.
The talk is just the same as it was, when Wilf McGuinness succeeded Matt Busby, except that with social media it is in more places.
When a manager retires, who had a tremendous effect on a club, company or organisation, inevitably the one who follows suffers from the presence of his predecessor. You could argue that Tesco, post-Leahy has similarly suffered.
Moyes will probably go and Manchester United won’t do anything until Sir Alex stops being seen at the club.
Would Any Sane Person Bank with RBS?
RBS had yet another computer failure last night, as reported here on the BBC.
This would appear to be the third time, after this failure in March and the one referred to here in 2012.
If you search this blog for Natworst, you’ll find a few more customer service failures.
Show me someone who banks with RBS or one of their sorry subsidiaries and I’ll show you an idiot! Why haven’t they moved their account away from this complete travesty of a company? The answer must be a five letter word beginning with I.
Peer-to-Peer Lending Sites Compared
I found this page, which compares peer-to-peer lending sites across the world.
It’s interesting reading and if nothing else it shows how peer-to-peer lending sites are starting up all over the world.
There’s a rumour that a forward-thinking person is opening a toilet paper shop in the City, with a branch in the new Canary Wharf station-cum shopping centre.
You don’t need laws to curb the excesses of bankers, you need to innovate them out of a job.
A Silly Mistake Whilst Shopping
I needed to buy something from a well-known company.
However, because what I wanted was a little off the web site, in that I needed a special part, I ordered it by telephone.
The money was deducted from my credit card and I knew delivery would take a couple of weeks.
Yesterday, as I still hadn’t had the product, I phoned the company and they said the courier had been unable to deliver my goods.
It then turned out that two digits in my address had been reversed in the address used in their computer system. But the credit card details had obviously been entered correctly.
This to me says, that companies need to get their on-line businesses as comprehensive as possible.
For instance, with this special order, they need a form, where you enter your details and your requirements, so hopefully these go straight into the company’s system. Even, if it’s just a cut and paste.
An Unexpected Positive Benefit Of The New Bus for London
This story from Toy News, tells how Corgi are increasing their range of New Bus for London models.
At £36.99 each, somebody must be making some money.
Zopa Breaks The Million Pound Barrier
In the last seven days, if you ignore Saturday and Sunday, when they don’t normally distribute loans, they have lent out 5.7 million pounds, which works out at over a million pounds every working day.
Can this steady level of high lending be in part due to the troubles at the Co-operative Bank?
If we believe the stance of the Co-op, their typical customer will be an ethical person, who probably thinks seriously about their money. They will probably think, that bankers are responsible for a lot of problems. I won’t say anything about their politics as being sensible with and thinking about money, is not the preserve of any political leaning. I’m even sure that some people who might support some extreme parties, may well have some of the best structured finances in the country.
But with the Co-op banks troubles, are these thinking people deserting the bank before it is too late and for their saving and borrowing, they are going to the peer-to-peer lenders like Zopa.
Certainly, if I look at my lending on Zopa, the rate of late payments and new bad debts seems to have fallen compared to a year ago. This could be put down to better checking on the company’s part, but is it also due to the fact that those that think about their money are moving away from the banks.
So are the peer-to-peer lenders contributing to the demise of the Co-operative Bank?
Dalston On BBC Breakfast
Dalston featured in a report on BBC Breakfast this morning.
It was all about payday loans.
It is almost impossible to walk down the Kingsland Road without falling over the endless number of boards offering loans on the street.
All loans no matter where they are from, should be properly registered on a central database, which is then checked for anomalies and excessive borrowings.
The FCA is imposing new regulations as reported here on the BBC.
But no matter what regulations are tabled, it will not stop people borrowing at rates, they can’t afford. So the new regulations will probably turn out to be a business opportunity for loan sharks.
A Missed Opportunity
Was it? But some years ago, I backed a guy making something called a TEBA brush mat. The company failed, but judging by these examples in Oslo, mats are being sold under another guise.
I’ve been lucky in life, but perhaps this is one place, where I didn’t do as well as I should have.
Tumblr News Give Me A Plug
I don’t read Tumblr News but they must sometimes read my blog, as this article entitled, Former OFT boss: regulation can be a bridge to new customers, has a link to this post of mine. In that post from August 29th, 2009, I said I had over £30,000 invested in Zopa and now nearly four yeas later it is just a shade under £140,000, with total interest of nearly £140,000 and bad debts of just £650.
I think I’ll accept that!
My investment in Zopa has certainly performed better than pudence’s investment in the Royal Bank of UK Taxpayers and Lloyds TSBleed.
The Anonymous Widower 