Dynamic Duo: Dyson and Who?

All the world knows about the brilliance and business success of the British engineer, James Dyson. Widely celebrated as the creative genius behind, amongst others, the bagless vacuum cleaner that showed Hoover the door. Charismatic and articulate front-man. He who talks with prime ministers and presidents.

But, hey, what is it that accounts for the dramatic rise in the company’s business since 1996. The company has grown since that time from £50 million to a staggering £770 million, a fifteenfold increase. At the same time, the company has diversified into 50 countries and is number one in the USA, Japan, much of continental Europe and the company’s home market, Britain.

It was in 1996 that Martin McCourt joined Dyson as a senior manager, becoming CEO in 2001. Clearly Dyson and McCourt make an absolutely outstanding team. What are the ingredients?

“I’m an engineer,” says Dyson, “and I need to know what people might want and where the market might go.” So that’s clear enough. Technical expertise, customer insight and imagination.

But what does McCourt bring to the party? He has described himself as “driven, approachable and questioning.” Three great qualities. But qualities shared with many other top managers.

So what does he look for in new hires? “Come with ideas and have the guts to push for them,” he says. “I like problem-solvers and people with high levels of inquisitiveness.”

Now we’re getting somewhere. Especially as recent research tells us that less than one third of British companies have anything to do with ideas, or problem-solving, or inquisitiveness in their recruitment processes.

I wonder what else there is in their particular mutual chemistry?

Support for Creative Leaders - I don't think so

Our Centre for Creativity at City University yesterday held a “Creative Leadership Summit” at Cass Business School – a select group of leaders assembled to explore the implications arising from IBM’s recent global study of Chief Executives.

That survey revealed for the first time that “creative leadership” is now the number one requirement from CEOs around the world, 60% of them naming it as their top priority. It is an extraordinary rise in the perceived importance of creativity to leadership, quite unprecedented.

But how well equipped are British organisations to recruit and support creative leaders? The meeting concluded that Britain is at risk in two key areas that effect creative leadership.

First, current research conducted by Social Science colleagues at City makes it clear that less than a third of British organisations (29%) include innovativeness or creativity in their recruitment selection criteria. Yet the vast majority of our businesses (78%) recognise that innovation is vital to their future survival and success.

And second, less than one in three British organisations build innovation and creativity into their appraisal and reward programmes. This is quite tragic! Every company’s appraisal and reward processes need consistently to enhance creative potential.

In short, unless these issues are addressed, we will simply not have the creative leaders and innovation needed to get Britain moving decisively out of the current economic doldrums. CEOs in both the public and private sectors need to understand these issues and take decisive action to remedy the situation.

But not only CEOs. Government can also play a much more dynamic role in re-shaping attitudes and behaviours.

Innovative vs Conscientious

“Find good people”. “Set them free”. Two of the basic rules set out by Richard Branson in his recent book Business Stripped Bare: Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur. Simple? Or not so easy as it might appear?

One of the most interesting findings in a major new innovation study undertaken for NESTA by my City University colleague Professor Fiona Patterson and her team is that, at work, “innovativeness” as a personal characteristic has an inverse correlation with “conscientiousness”.

One way or another, most organisations treat conscientiousness as a basic given in the recruitment and promotion of staff. The question that arises from this is: are we effectively screening out highly creative people and thus restricting our chances of developing breakthrough innovation?

I wonder if Branson’s Virgin has this cracked? Or you and your organisation?