The Tinker Bell Principle

WHEN TALKING ABOUT BUSINESS PRACTICES, I’VE HEARD YOU REFER TO THE “TINKER BELL PRINCIPLE”. CAN YOU EXPLAIN WHAT THAT IS?

I was talking to Tim Schmidt of the Eden Project, and three of his key principles are ones I like to operate by. The first is that you must believe in Tinker Bell, in that you must believe that everything is possible – because if you don’t, no-one else is going to! You have to believe something for it to be achievable, especially when the going gets tough. My PA has been known to put her head round the door and say: “Remember Tinker Bell!” The second thing is that you can’t afford to be associated with people who habitually have negative thoughts, and you certainly can’t afford to employ them. You need to get them out of the way as quickly as you can. It’s difficult, but we’ve all come across people who are negative all the time, and it can have quite a draining effect on other people. The third thing is: if you see a problem, head straight for it, and sort it out. So many people try to put off dealing with difficult issues, but the quicker you deal with something the less damage it can do. And, above all, I have a real passion about everything I do.

HOW IMPORTANT IS TO HAVE THAT PASSION?

You’ve really got to believe in what you do, and understand what you’re trying to achieve from what you’re doing. It’s really important to have a good team of people who you can take with you on a journey because you can’t do anything by yourself – you can provide the leadership and the strategic guidance, but you need really good people to make it happen.

PEOPLE OFTEN HAVE A PASSION FOR THE PARTICULAR PRODUCT OR SERVICE THEY’RE SELLING, BUT DO YOU HAVE A PASSION FOR BUSINESS FOR ITS OWN SAKE?

It’s going back to fundamentals and understanding that it all starts with wealth creation. Nothing else can happen or be supported – including looking after people less fortunate than ourselves – until we understand that business is the only wealth- creator that we’ve got. A lot of people don’t want to think that, but it’s actually absolutely key, especially with the challenges we’re having in the economy. We need businesses to generate wealth as quickly as possible. It’s the only thing that’s going to get us out of our current circumstances. Sometimes politicians don’t want to acknowledge or accept that, and try to play to audiences rather than deal with the fundamentals.

THE TEMPTATION WHEN TIMES ARE HARD IS TO DRAW IN THE HORNS AND NOT BE PARTICULARLY DYNAMIC…

It is. Confidence is what it’s all about in business. One of the things we do is try to generate confidence. Certainly what I spend a lot of my time doing is explaining to people why the economy we’ve got in the area where we operate, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, is very much more positive than the scenario we see on the news nationally. A lot of the business people I know are cautiously confident but because of what they hear on the national media, they’re just a bit reluctant to put on the accelerator. But that’s what we need – to get businesses to start investing in order to create the wealth and drive the economy forward.

YOU WORK WITH CAMBRIDGESHIRE CHAMBER TO HELP ACHIEVE THAT. WHAT DOES THAT ACTUALLY INVOLVE ON A DAY-TO-DAY BASIS?

We have five local chambers, with Cambridge, Peterborough, Huntingdon, Ely and Fenland – so, local involvement. My role is to try and ensure that we get the best economic conditions that we can for businesses. To do that there are quite a number of things we have to do. One is networking – getting connections between businesses and individuals who can help each other and provide leads to increase sales and profitability. Another is to provide a whole range of services to help people through the plethora of red tape and challenges you have when you’re trying to run a business every day: a legal helpline, HR helpline, templates for people for all the different documents they need. And, thirdly, it’s actually dealing with a lot of policy issues to try and get government and local authorities to understand the real needs from business. Having worked in big companies and also in a family company, I understand the challenges and what a lonely place it can be at times. We try to enable businesspeople to meet, share their challenges and problems, and ultimately help each other to understand that they are not the only ones with these issues and that they can help each other to overcome them.