Evidently, its both nature and nurture, genetics and environment. Gladwell's observations from looking at the spectacularly successful (the Beatles and Bill Gates among other) suggest that it's being at the right place at the right time, and putting in 10,000 hours of hard graft into your chosen area before things start to really zoom along.
I've just finished reading Out of the Bottle, autobiography of Graham Webb, a British entrepreneur who left school at 15, battled with Spina Bifida and low self-esteem and yet went on to build a transatlantic hair care empire with salons, hairdressing academies and a line of top-end hair care products in America. I met Graham many years ago when I was editing CBI News in London. He was a charming though tenacious man (we campaigned together to get cycling to work more acceptable to employers); I was curious to see read the history of how he reached the top of his particular tree. The book, now in its fifth edition, is a study in entrepreneurship and making the most of life.
As Malcolm Gladwell observed, the story-behind-the-story is often at odds with the myth. Bill Gates might have been a university drop-out, but he was fortunate enough to have rich parents and lucky enough to go to a primary school (in the 1960s!) with access to a mainframe computer(!). He also had the drive, as a teenager, to obsessively write code, waking up in the middle of the night to spend a few hours at a mainframe programming away, getting his 10,000 hours in. On the surface, Graham Webb's progress from an incontinent council flat kid with no O-levels to millionaire hair care tycoon is remarkable. But behind the story are parents.
His mother was the driver, she was also instrumental in him getting his first break (a hairdresser's apprentice - a position he got after 62 job rejections). His mother lived to the wonderful age of 93, to see her only child and his family all achieving success. His father settled down after an early life at sea to a long career in the Civil Service and an MBE. He was not a quitter. Graham too would be honoured with an MBE, nearly 40 years later. Both parents also left school in their mid-teens without qualifications, though his mother 'had the gift of the gab', something he inherited.
'Luck', as Margaret Thatcher observed, 'is an opportunity not missed'. Out of the Bottle is also the story of a succession of chance meetings that happened to become crucial turning-points in Graham's career, whether it be a with a shampoo salesman in a Walsall hotel bar or finding himself seated next to a US senator after being bumped up to first class on a BA flight to Washington. Graham would see each such chance meeting as a coincidence that was destined to happen, and would make the most of it.
There's a wonderful lesson in here. Keep every business card, remember all those contacts, follow up, don't forget people (especially those who've been helpful to you). The book's silver bullet business-wise is about the importance of active networking. Before reaching the end, I was already looking at the way that I look after business contacts, improving the ways in which I keep in touch with them. Graham's other talent has always been active PR. Never shy in seeking self-publicity, he is critical of the Britons' reticence to blow their own trumpet.
A propos of trumpets, music is another important part of Graham Webb's life. It has been for him a door-opener, an avenue to introductions that proved important in his business and indeed family life. Graham plays the drums. As did his father (on a P&O cruise liner where he was second steward), and his mother's brother, Uncle Barney (a famous musical act at one time managed by Lew Grade). So it's no surprise that both of Graham's sons play drums, while both his daughters are also professional musicians (the Webb Sisters, in Leonard Cohen's band). Here's the 'nature' part - the genes responsible for rhythm and musical ability.
An interesting aspect of the book to me and a part of the story that was new to me, was the contrast of Graham and his American business partner. The latter comes across as brash and bullying, aggressively driven entrepreneur, the type of boss most people would want to avoid working for. The type of personality that personifies the forces that led to the current global economic crisis. This testosterone-fuelled, hire-and-fire, 'if-you-want-loyalty-buy-a-dog', alpha-male attitude might not particularly dangerous in the hair care industry; in banking it has certainly proved to be. My hope is that one lesson that business will learn from the crisis is that shareholders, boards and HR managers spot this kind of toxic person and deny them the chance to do damage to lenders, borrowers, taxpayers or staff in the grasping race for short-term profit.
Would it have helped me to have read this book had it come out, say, 20 years ago? I doubt it. I don't think I had the maturity to appreciate the innate wisdom embedded within the narrative.
Graham Webb's success is about having the drive, energy and tenacity to keep on going, 17 hours a day if needs be - but not to be a bastard while you're on your way. The ability to work hard is, I believe, nature. Being a decent person is a mixture of upbringing and genetics. There is an adage attibuted to Groucho Marx 'if you can fake sincerity, you've got it made'. What impresses me most about Graham is that unlike so many showmen - he's not a fake. "Being a decent husband and father has meant more than anything to me in this world," he writes.
Above from left: Graham Webb, myself and Graham's best friend and wife of 36 years, Mandy.* Out of the Bottle ISBN 0-9548709-0-5, UK ₤18.99, US $29.95, Europe €25.00, Australia $42.95. Also available via www.grahamwebb.co.uk
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