JOHN TIMPSONCBE

THEINTERVIEWTHE MONTHLY INTERVIEW FROM CARDIFF BUSINESS CLUB

Read ourpre-eventinterviewwith thismonth 'sspeaker

APRIL 2016

CARDIFF BUSINESSCLUB INTERVIEWS...

On 11th April 2016, CardiffBusiness Club was granted apre-event interview with JohnTimpson CBE, former CEO andcurrent Chair of Timpsons. Hereis a transcript of that interview.

CBC: You were keen to vocaliseyour thoughts on a possibleBrexit recently in an interview onRadio 4’s Desert Island Discs andin The Telegraph, where youargued that Britain leaving theEU is a ‘risk worth taking’. Whatmakes you think that?

JT: There is a risk in the sense thatin the short term we don’t knowwhat is going to happen shouldwe leave. But on the other hand,when I think about my businessand the advantages that I havehad by being free of havingshareholders and by allowing ourpeople to have the freedom to dotheir own thing, the last thingthat I want or would feelcomfortable with is being toldwhat to do by someone milesaway.

That is why I say a person’sdecision on whether to remain In

THE INTERVIEW I APRIL 2016

or Out is very often anextension of their ownpersonality: If they are process-driven, like to play it safe and stickto the rules they will be the oneswho will want to stay in the EU.

However, if they are mavericks,entrepreneurs and - like me - theyenjoy the opportunity to reallyhave the freedom to do it,especially if they see that toomuch power could finish up withthe bureaucrats in Brussels, thenthey are going to want to go Out.

All the arguments that we arehearing mostly come from the Incamp and from people who havealready made their mind up onwhere they stand. That said, twoweeks ago I emailed each of mygrandchildren and I had twosurprises.

One was that they replied to myemail in the first place and withinan hour, which is most unusualfor my grandchildren! Butsecondly, more seriously, they allfirmly responded by saying theyare in favour of remaining in theEU. I think this bears out to what I

AboveLeft to right: Huw Williams,

Geldards; Guy Clarke, Secretary ofCardiff Business Club; Gerald Davies,former Chairman of Cardiff Business

Club; John Timpson CBE; DavidMyrddin-Evans, Divisional Director &Head of Brewin Dolphin in Cardiff

and sponsor of the event; and, ScottWaddington, Chairman of Cardiff

Business ClubPhoto: Richard Bosworth.

"The last thingthat I would

want or wouldfeel

comfortablewith is beingtold what to

do bysomeone

miles away"

believe is a generationalconcern – I am of an age when Iremember how it was before wejoined the EEC as it was then.

CBC: How do you think Britainwill vote?

JT: I believe that the majoritywill vote to remain In. I don’tthink that the opinion polls inthe run up to the referendumwill agree because quite simplythey need to create ‘news’, as wesaw with the Scottishreferendum last year and thelast election too. Too close tocall makes great headlines.

CBC: Do people have enoughinformation to hand to be ableto make an informed votingdecision?

JT: I don’t think the informationis around. The danger is thatthere was perhaps too muchinformation which was by andlarge based on fantasy – a“think-tank has come to theconclusion that…” or “a group ofexperts” or a “body ofeconomists have shown”…noneof this means anything. I studiedEconomics at university and Idon’t trust what they say.

There aren’t any facts about thefuture. The In versus Outcampaign is not about money inmy view, it is about sovereignty –

'Am I allowed to do what I wantto do?'

CBC: The company has reportedstrong growth over the last 12months, what do you put thisdown to?

JT: The reports published by TheTelegraph were actuallyincorrect, as they cited thefigures from one division of thecompany (Timpsons Ltd) andnot the total figures for thewhole Group, which were £210

million (VAT incl), with a profitof £16 million.

The success is quite simplydown to having great people.

We have been consistent inpicking people with ‘personality’

and giving them the freedom to‘get on with it’. But we have alsobeen good at buying poorperforming businesses that weknow what to do with.

We have made the mistake inthe past of buying ‘good’

businesses that I think I knowwhat to do with, which canoften be perceived as beingrather arrogant and sometimesdoesn’t work. And we haveexpanded our presence withinsupermarkets and investedheavily in growing with them.

Our photo business has been ahuge success for us, havingbought Max Spielman at a timewhen people said that photo-

processing businesses on thehigh street had had their day –

this is now one of our mostprofitable business areas. Sincethen we have bought the Tescophoto business too.

CBC: The company hasdiversified a number of timessince you started with thebusiness in 1960 to ensure itremains relevant, but perhapsone of the most significantchanges you have made is inyour recruitment policy.

Around 10 per cent of yourworkforce is made up ofex-offenders, what promptedthis radical approach tostaffing and what have the longterm implications been for thebusiness and those who youhave recruited?

JT: Like just about everythingelse that works well in business,it happens by chance. My sonJames happened to go to a

prison where he was organisinga function and he was soimpressed by the personshowing him around that hehanded him his card and askedhim to give him and ring whenhe was released and he wouldgive him a job. And that’s whathe did.

We have learned a lot from this,we made some mistakes byemploying some people who weknew would be too tough for us.But now we have a number ofpeople who have joined us fromprison that are rising up throughthe business, ranging frombrand managers to areamanagers. It has been a verypositive experience.

CBC: In your view, arebusinesses doing enough toencourage younger workersand those from disadvantagedbackgrounds to help them get astart in the workforce?

JT: From our perspective,

speaking modestly, I think thatwe have done a lot to championthe cause of supporting thosewho have been in prison.

Indeed, the subject of givingex-offenders a start wassomething that was once nevertalked about. Now it is one ofthe first things that ismentioned whenever peoplerefer to our company.

We also positively support thoseleaving the Armed Forces too

"Like just abouteverything elsethat works well in

business, ithappens bychance."

and having such a longinvolvement in foster care, I amnow looking at how we cansupport foster carers.

We also run our ownapprenticeship scheme, which isseparate to that run by thegovernment, which in my view, isappalling, and an example oftotally muddled thinking. Ourscheme will never receivegovernment funding, and wedon’t want it.

I don’t want to run ourapprenticeship scheme accordingto government guidelines. I wantto do it in a way that works andhas a greater level of success.

I want us to be able to do sowithout the requirement to teachthem English and Maths, whichgoes against what we are tying todo with our ex-offenders – manyof whom cannot read or write.They don’t need GCSEs, they needlife skills and that’s what we teachthem.

CBC: Your 2003 book, 'DearJames…,' was a fascinatinginsight into the leadershiplessons that you wanted your sonJames to adhere to when youwere passing over the reigns tohim. If you could choose just

THE INTERVIEW I APRIL 2016

three lessons to share, whatwould they be?

JT: Firstly, always make sure thatyou have the right people.Secondly, always check the cash.Don’t bother about profit, thatdoesn’t matter. What matters iswatching the cash because cashis control. Third, always makessure that if you have somebodywho is no good, get rid of them.

CBC: What does the future holdfor you?

JT: My life has changed a lot over the last few months, with my wifedying at the start of the year. I'mtaking on more things, morechallenges and doing things that Ialways said that I wouldn't do, likeappearing on 'Any Questions?'

Having been so involved infostering over the years, I want tofurther explore the aspect ofattachment with children inrelation to its impact oneducation – something that isn’tgiven any attention on initialteacher training courses.

I have no intention of gettingback to running a day-to-daybusiness again…thank God!Business to me is still a hobby andI just seem to do more of it. CBC

AboveLeft to right: Stephen Jones, BrewinDolphin; John Timpson CBE; DavidMyrddin-Evans, Divisional Director &Head of Brewin Dolphin in Cardiff

and sponsor of the event; and, ScottWaddington, Chairman of Cardiff

Business ClubPhoto: Richard Bosworth

"Alwaysmake sureyou havethe rightpeople,

check thecash, andget rid ofthe wrongpeople."

John Timpson CBE was interviewedby Paul MacKenzie-Cummins,

Managing Director of ClearlyPR, onbehalf of Cardiff Business Club