Getting stuck into running a business, not sitting around talking about it, is part of the essence of entrepreneurship. But what about the folk who follow through on the Big Ideas to make them real, or those who never set out to lead in the first place? Pembridge is backing two new programmes that aim to consolidate the experience of “Accidental Leaders” and “Accidental Managers,” writes Hugh Mason.
There is an argument, when so many products and services have become easily replicable commodities, that it's really a brilliant idea that sets a business apart in the marketplace. The distinctive shape of a product bottle, the hook in a story, the unique design of an online retail experience ... get that right and the money will follow ... won't it?
Certainly, Pembridge programmes like gateway2investment show business owners how to build value around Intellectual Property. Yet, if I look back over the 2,000-odd businesses that we've worked with since we opened our doors in 2001, the real successes don't stand out particularly for their ideas in themselves. What's more distinctive is the way they followed through and managed execution on those Big Ideas. Consistently. With focus on a clear goal, pacing themselves to achieve it, not dissipating themselves in following up seven more ideas before breakfast. The idea was necessary and important, but was only one determinant of success.
Over a century ago, Thomas Edison captured that same thought when he famously said that genius is “1% inspiration and 99% perspiration”. Genius though he may have been, he didn't foresee was the advance of management insight and we now know how to take some of the sweat out of turning good ideas into sustainable businesses. That's what the Accidental Leaders and Accidental Managers programmes, to be launched later this month, aim to do.
North West Vision and Media has a mission to work on behalf of the digital and creative industries in the North west to grow a world-class digital and creative economy within the region. I've worked with Lynne McCadden, its Managing Director, on and off for nearly five years now and come to appreciate the knack that she and her team have for picking pithy titles that neatly capture the purpose of the programmes they run to help growing businesses succeed.
Accidental Leaders and Accidental Managers are the latest, and I'm pleased to have a small role to play in the latter, which will be managed by Pembridge Associate Greg Orme's company Kirkbright. The idea is to give 24 folk, who have found themselves in management roles by accident, a six-day peek into the toolbox of tried-and-tested solutions to problems we all face when we start to try and make things happen in a creative environment.
“Can you really teach this stuff?” is a question I often hear from creative people. They argue that there is something unique about companies built around generating and exploiting ideas, so a special approach to managing them must surely be necessary too.
I do remember that it felt a bit like herding cats when I first gave it a go. 20 years on and countless jobs, companies and business relationships later, I have come to believe that creative folk have everything to gain and nothing to fear in adapting and adopting the bits of general management wisdom that work for them.
Accidental Leaders is for company founders, CEO’s and leaders within the company and Accidental Managers is for rising stars that are now, or soon-to-be, in management roles.
The launch events (5.45pm Wednesday May 20th at Museum of Science & Industry, Liverpool Road, Castlefield, Manchester M3 4FP and 5.45pm Thursday May 21st at Tate Liverpool, Albert Dock L3 4BB) will include a ‘taster’ presentation on each programme and the chance to ask questions - as well as to mix with your potential fellow participants with a drink in your hand.
To book a place for yourself at the launch events please email accidentals@visionandmedia.co.uk including in your email your full name, company name, the industry you work in, email address, postcode of your company, contact number, your association with the programme and which launch event you wish to attend.
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