Читать книгу How to Be a Financial Grownup - Bobbi Rebell - Страница 14

SIR MARTIN SORRELL

• CEO, WPP

MY FINANCIAL GROWNUP MOMENT

I was 14 years old. My father used to run the radio and electrical retail division of a big industrial holding company, which was one of the first conglomerates in the U.K. He ran the retail division. Rather like Circuit City (That was!), but it had 750 stores throughout the U.K. And the guy who ran the holding company, which was an engineering company as well as retail, had a massive country house down in Sussex, I remember, near the White Cliffs of Dover. It was called Warninglid. We were at Warninglid walking around the estate and the man, whose name was Sir Charles Hayward, as he became known, said to me: “What do you want to do when you grow up?” (It was rather like The Graduate’s “plastics moment.”) And I said, “Please sir, I want to go into business.” And he said, “Well, if you want to go into business you should go to Harvard Business School.” And that sort of stuck in my mind.

Find something you enjoy

I was at Cambridge University in 1964, going to the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City. It was the “Lyndon Johnson Coronation,” as I called it. You had the poster outside the convention with the Barry Goldwater slogan saying “In Your Heart You Know He’s Right.” It was Goldwater against Lyndon Johnson one year after the terrible assassination of John F. Kennedy. And anyway we were there for the convention and the platform hearings in Washington, DC, and I decided that I would go up to Boston, while I was in the U.S. It was the year of the World’s Fair as well, in New York. I decided I would go up to Boston and register my application for Harvard Business School, which I did in 1964, and received entry in 1966. And ’66 to ’68 I was there, so that was the moment of awakening. That was The Graduate Dustin Hoffman “plastics moment.”

MY LESSON TO SHARE

My view is find something that you enjoy. The most important thing is to find something you enjoy doing from a career point of view. Not something that is work. In other words there is all this debate about work-life balance; I am not sure I buy that. Because if you can, find something that is almost like life, as opposed to work. In other words, a thing that you enjoy. So, for example, I worked for Mark McCormack, who founded and developed IMG and managed Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus at the beginning. What he did is sort of exemplary of what I’m talking about. He was a scratch golfer. He was at Wake Forest. He met Arnold Palmer. He thought golfers needed professional advice so he thought: Wouldn’t it be good – he was a lawyer – if he advised golfers like Arnold about golf and about their career. And since he was a scratch golfer it wasn’t work for him. As he used to say, it was fun. So you find something that is fun where that division between work and life is not apparent. You develop a reputation in that industry, as my father used to say. It doesn’t have to be a reputation such that Reuters would interview you. But you develop a reputation, you know, amongst peers, and then if you want to do something on your own, which I did when I was 40 years old (which was probably a little on the late side), you go out and start something on your own.

Don’t be in a hurry. You know the conventional wisdom is to flit from flower to flower. You know, get experience in many companies. I disagree with that. I think you should build a reputation with one company, build a career with one company, then if you fancy doing something on your own, having got knowledge or a reputation in that industry or particular industry, then go ahead and do it. I’m biased because I’m trying to run a company and build long-term brands, but I think focus, rather than flitting, is probably the best.

FIND MENTORS AND ADVISORS

FIRST AND FOREMOST, Sir Martin Sorrell looked to older, more-experienced friends and family for advice when he was a teenager. He went on with his life, but he remembered that conversation from when he was just 14 and acted on it when the time came. He prioritized his education. Sorrell then focused on finding a career that was enjoyable, so that working hard didn’t feel like working at all.

Having mentors and advisors is one of the best ways to become a financial grownup. Get advice from anyone who will give it. Ask a lot of questions. Be curious. I’ve done that my whole career, and in many ways Financial Grownup is the manifestation of that philosophy. I set out to bring you, my readers, the best advice from the most successful people in a wide range of businesses. When I look at the list of incredible people who shared their experiences for this book, I can’t help but smile. These folks had a million better things to do, but they took the time to tell their stories and give advice, in most cases simply because they were asked. So ask. Find someone you admire and talk to them about themselves. Most people enjoy sharing their experiences.

Don’t be in a hurry

Use what you learn from their stories to stand on your own to make your own personal plan. That’s the advice from Steve Lacy, who is expertly bringing media conglomerate Meredith Corporation into a new digital age with old-fashioned business smarts.