Opinion

Leaders Quest

You can find out more about Leaders' Quest here: www.leadersquest.org

If you look at the list of alumni from the Leaders' Quest programme, you'll find some very big names, people who are undoubtedly great mentors. But who are their mentors; whom do they go to for help and advice when they face challenges?

This week we're seeing a crisis of confidence at Northern Rock, and I'm sure Adam Applegarth the CEO is getting the best advice he possibly can from his mentors.

The subject of mentoring was much on my mind this week, as I attended the memorial service for my mentor, Sir Campbell Fraser, who died earlier this year.

Many of you will already know the name; he's featured in 'The Beermat Entrepreneur', 'Finance on a Beermat' and 'The Beermat Story e-book'.

After a distinguished career as Chairman of Dunlop and Scottish Television and a spell as Director-General of the CBI, he popped up as Chairman of RiverSoft, where I was Sales and Marketing Director, one of only nine employees.

I used to make a point of spending time with him early in the morning; he was typically there at seven-thirty. He helped us acquire our first customer, British Telecom, by calling up Ian Vallance, who happened to be Chairman at the time. Later, he gave us the confidence to approach publishers for 'The Beermat Entrepreneur' right after someone very important had told us it was 'unpublishable'.

His memorial service was actually quite jolly, totally befitting a man who always had a great sense of humour and a perennial twinkle in his eye. We exited the church to the sound of 'Some Enchanted Evening' from South Pacific and all the talk at The Caledonian Club (where I had enjoyed several exquisite lunches with him) was of his kindness, energy and wit.

I like to think that the Beermat approach to business continues his fine tradition of good, simple business sense, mixed with integrity and fair play. I always made a point of sending him manuscripts of all the books before submission to the publisher, to make sure they met his approval.

All the successful business people I have met have a 'Sir Campbell Fraser' somewhere in the background, which is why we recommend finding a Mentor as the first thing entrepreneurs should do as soon as they have an idea on a Beermat.

Occasionally I have a beer with friends who are running large corporations, and my overwhelming impression is that it's lonely at the top. Running a PLC has pressures I could never imagine, and problems I have absolutely no personal experience in solving.

I soon realised I was not there to come up with solutions; if it really was that easy to solve their problems, they would have come up with a solution themselves. I'm there to listen.

I remember talking to a consultant many years ago who made a nice living helping CEOs of oil companies. All he did was listen, as that's what they really wanted, someone to talk to who was impartial and who could keep a confidence. They felt they couldn't speak to their subordinates or even their board of directors; that might be seen as a sign of weakness.

My consultant friend even admitted all he ever heard was the same five problems: the global economy, the oil market, their customers, the people in their company and their own work-life balance. These were all difficult problems with no simple solution; all he had were a few minor 'tips and tricks'.

The only good news he had, which he said was very comforting to the CEOs, was that there wasn't a sixth thing that the other CEOs were worrying about that they didn't even know existed. They then happily paid his sizeable invoice....

So, all Leaders, in both small and large companies, should have a number of quests, which should include, in my view, the quest for a good Mentor.

I'm convinced that if Sir Campbell had been approached by senior executives at Northern Rock, he'd have offered his favourite bit of advice, one we put in 'Finance on a Beermat':

"Watch the cash, laddie!"



Sir Campbell Fraser 1923-2007

By Mike Southon

This article is © Mike Southon 2008. All rights reserved.
The article originally published in the Financial Times www.ft.com/mikesouthon
Mike Southon can be contacted at mike@beermat.biz www.beermat.biz