26 . Glasgow Business October 2015
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when you achieve them. Learn from those times when you are not successful.
9. SEE IT THROUGH
When you have set your bold plans and made your decisions, see them through.
10. DON’T BE SCARED
As obvious as it may sound – don’t be scared of being bold. If the most successful businesses in the world are bold, why shouldn’t you be? Te research conducted
for the Business Stream report highlights five situations where boldness is desirable and where adopting it delivers success: • When spoting a gap in the market
• When launching a new product or service
• When facing a difficult decision
• When expanding • When entering a new geographic territory.
Experience shows these are also situations where there will be voices urging caution. Te report says its
research found that very successful organisations are more likely to say they operate boldly in a wide range of areas including leadership, decision making, product or services development and management. It said: “Tese atributes,
amongst others, are associated with our bold role models – some of the most successful companies in the world – as well as the boldest sectors. “And while it’s not one of
the most commonly used words to describe businesses in the UK, based on our findings, we can’t see any reason why it shouldn’t be. “Businesses associate
boldness with success – and surely that is something all companies aspire towards?” It concludes: “So, we
challenge you, how can your organisation be bolder and braver and apply this approach in the areas that will bring real results to your business, customers and sector?”
THE GIANT IMPACT OF MICRO BUSINESSES
From left to right: Vic Emery, President, Glasgow Chamber of Commerce; Dr Kerry Kennedy, President of the Robert F. Kennedy Centre for Human Rights; Muhammad Yunus; Professor Pamela Gillies CBE, Principal and Vice-Chancellor, Glasgow Caledonian University and Stuart Patrick, Chief Executive, Glasgow Chamber of Commerce
Nobel Peace Prize winner outlines vision for social enterprises
The wider aims of business and leadership were highlighted in the Glasgow Chamber Audience with Muhammad Yunus event hosted by Platinum Partner Glasgow Caledonian University in June. Professor Yunus, the world-
renowned social entrepreneur and 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner, described the importance of and the contribution made by social businesses. For him, ‘social businesses’
are those where the owners or investors can gradually recoup the money invested but where they do not take any dividend beyond that point. Professor Yunus set up
a nursing college as a social
business, helping nursing students from poorer backgrounds receive an education for free. The trainees do not have to
pay anything until they graduate and find employment in one of the country’s many hospitals and then they use their wages to pay their tuition fees. This has proven to be a hugely effective way of venture- funding thousands of nurses throughout Bangladesh. So successful is the model, it
has inspired countless other ‘social- businesses’ across the country, including a solar-power company which now supplies 1.5million homes while employing 12,000 people. Professor Yunus gave a call to
action to audience members to do something similar at a local level – a micro level – to help solve some of the world’s problems. He urged the setting up of
micro enterprises that could help one, two or even five people in poverty or on welfare into the world of work. In each of these examples,
Professor Yunus cited there was entrepreneurship – spotting an opportunity and putting the means in place to meet that opportunity. And there was considerable entrepreneurial vision, skill and, yes, boldness displayed to put the vision into reality, albeit that the motivation is not one of traditional profit and loss.
High-fliers sing praises of bold approach
“It is only by being bold that you get anywhere. If you are a risk taker, then the art is to protect the downside.”
Richard Branson, Founder, Virgin
“We want to create engineers who are bold and commercially astute. They will use their skills to develop technology that will catalyse Britain’s economic growth.” James Dyson, Founder, Dyson
“It’s not just important for us, it’s important for all successful businesses to have a strong vision, be a bit brave, set ambitions that
are difficult to attain – be ambitious in business.”
Rob Woodward, CEO, STV Group
“One of the advantages of being bold in business is that it sets you apart from your competitors. It gives you a unique story that helps you grow your business.” Andrew Dobbie, Founder,
MadeBrave®
“Innovation is so deeply embedded in Apple’s culture. The
Johanna Dow
boldness, ambition, belief there aren’t limits, a desire to make the very best products in the world. It’s in the DNA of the company.” Tim Cook, CEO, Apple
“What came out of the white paper is that there is a clear link between businesses that are bold and businesses that are successful so we would encourage anybody to look at the paper, look at ways that you could be more bold and ultimately drive success in a new business.”
Johanna Dow,
Chief Executive, Business Stream
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