- The chief executives of major companies are not there because of their specialist product knowledge. The head of IBM is not a computer programmer; the head of BP is not a geologist or a chemical engineer. They are experts at business (not necessarily their own business). Identifying the major skills needed by the self-employed is practically impossible. A market trader needs to have different skills to those of a landscape gardener. But key elements may be common to both. These might include:
- Intuition
- Decision-making
- Communication
- Selling
- Marketing
- Negotiating
- Sweat and obsession.
The best entrepreneurs seem to start early in life. Richard Branson did and Gary Withers, founder of the design and communication company Imagination, certainly did. The nine-year-old Gary Withers ran a syndicated blackberry picking company from his garage, giving children maps and boxes before dispatching them to pick blackberries. By the age of 12 he was sewing wedding marquees on his mother's machine. In 1993 his company ran projects in 28 countries and was worth £30 million. Management guru Tom Peters labeled Imagination as 'a paradigm of the successful company for the next century
But don't be put off. There aren't many people like Gary Withers or Richard Branson. Self-employed people do not have to be zany and inspirational, though it certainly helps in many businesses. The trouble is that the skills you need in the first place, when coming up with and developing a good business idea, are not necessarily those you will need as the business grows. That is why some people specialize in starting up businesses and others concentrate on other aspects of management such as saving failing businesses.
Business history repeatedly proves that it is one thing to have a bright idea, quite another to run a business. 'I was borrowing money from 30 leading banks. How could they all be wrong? I'm only a simple businessman,' said Freddie Laker when asked why his company went bust. He believed the support of his banks was validation of his idea for a cheap transatlantic airline.
Even so, we all make important decisions based on an inexplicable feeling which to others may seem a whim. 'I am a rational man but the biggest decisions you take on instinct,' said Osvaldo Ardilles when he became manager of Tottenham Hotspur (his reaction to his dismissal was more rational - 'I did it my way'). Whether taking over a football team, buying a house or moving into a new business market, we all act on instinct, gut-feeling, hunch, intuition, call it what you will. In fact, all the data in the world is unlikely to change your mind if your intuition tells you something is a good idea. Unfortunately, intuition cannot be measured and is difficult to explain. Investors are unlikely to be impressed by a business plan based on a hunch. Shareholders would undoubtedly feel a little worried if the chief executive admitted that the strategy came to him while he was in the bath.
Although it is constantly at work, intuition has had a bad press. Managers distrust it and investors run away from it. But, for many people, intuition is a critical part of their job. Stock Exchange traders don't have time to call a meeting before they sell or buy; they back their intuition. Intuition is a vital element of staff selection. Recruitment consultants need to base their decisions on objective data. This is what they are paid for. But, in reality, people are invariably selected because of intuitive judgment. All the candidates can do the job, but for some reason the recruiter feels they can work better with X than with Y. It is personal chemistry and, to some extent, prejudice.
Making the wrong intuitive decision can prove extremely costly. According to some it is an area where women are better equipped than men. While women are comfortable admitting that someone is more suited to the job without having any hard facts and figures, men tend to come to hard and fast judgments.
