The economic outlook for the prime minister and the chancellor is challenging, to say the least. If they are looking for answers, they could have learned a lot from a recent gathering of many of Britain’s finest entrepreneurial brains in London.
The setting was the May Fair Hotel and the occasion was the Gala Reception for E2E, the business mentoring and networking organisation founded and chaired by Shalini Khemka. E2E has upwards of 24,000 members and specialises in bringing entrepreneurs together, so they can share their experiences and advice with each other.
We were marking the culmination of its series of Track 100s, produced in association with The Independent. Each Track 100 ranks the country’s best-performing private companies in a particular field, among them exports, turnover and job creation. The latest and final listing concentrated on arguably the most significant of all, profits.
Several chart-topping stars joined me and E2E’s partners in two lively panel discussions. First though, the audience, who comprised leaders of companies drawn from the Track 100s, senior politicians and business figures, heard from Ms Khemka, Cobra beer creator Lord Bilimoria, and Ajaz Ahmed, founded of the digital design and communication consultancy AKQA.
The elephants in the hotel’s large, packed auditorium were Starmer and Reeves. If only they had come in when Lord Bilimoria asked for a show of hands of those who thought the Budget was good for British business. None were raised. The whole event was devoted to highlighting the best of business, to celebrating genuine achievement. There was so much positivity in the room you could touch and feel it. The only jarring note was the impact of that Budget and the uniform belief it would stifle growth.
Henry Engelhardt, founder and CEO Emeritus of Admiral Insurance, made the keynote address, imparting gems from decades at the pinnacle of business. He queried how many present wanted to be “a great leader”. In notable contrast to the absence of enthusiasm for the Budget, hands shot up. To earn that stellar accolade, they had to be great in three areas, he said – making decisions, getting the best out of people, and being creative and innovative.
In a speech full of inspirational lessons, one in particular stood out. This was when Engelhardt described the importance of setting an objective and remaining focused on achieving it. He drew on the analogy of Apollo 13 and the movie about the crisis-stricken space voyage. In real life and the film, the astronauts lost much of their power and guidance systems and hand to hand steer their capsule back to Earth. The trick to staying calm and focused, Hanks says, is to keep “Earth in your window” – if it’s directly in your line of sight, the ship is on the right path. Business leaders could learn much from that example, suggested Engelhardt.
The panels were drawn from E2E’s partners: Dhaval Patel from Universal Partners, Christopher Evans of Collinson, Franklin Asante at Coutts, Lord Howard Leigh from Cavendish, Arora Group’s Surinder Arora, and Matthew Hayes from Champions. From the Track 100 for Profit: Sat Sanghera of P Integration, Peter Yeung from Optimizely, La Fosse Associates’ Simon La Fosse, Deepak Nangla of Brightsun Travel, Sara Daw from The CFO Group, Travel Counsellors’ Steve Byrne and Colin Shute of SBFM, all sharing their experiences and strategies for success.
It’s a pity that Starmer and Reeves weren’t there to hear them – they could have learned some important lessons.
