Peter Edwards: Words of wisdom that can point way to path of recovery

EVER since the days of King Alfred, when Vikings were a constant threat to this country, people have been urged to hold on to wealth and wisdom.

Yet in 2011 Britain appears to be lacking both.

The fault for this lies not with a group of out-of-control Scandinavians – unless you count the failed Icelandic bank Landsbanki – but with the British and American bankers, politicians and regulators whose cocktail of recklessness, excess and incompetence wreaked devastation across the Western world.

The result is that wealth and wisdom have rarely been so in need. The Yorkshire Post Business Club has been set up to tackle the shortfall and its first meeting, held last week, was an opportunity to hear from two men whose industries will be vital to the recovery.

For Chris Rea, the founder of AESSEAL, the path to wealth was lined with potholes but one piece of wisdom stood out: the importance of getting the right staff.

More credit for start-ups, massive investment and growing exports have all been important to him over the last 32 years, as he turned the seals manufacturer from a small business to a £100m turnover group, but none could compare to the significance of hiring the best people.

After an initial few years of micromanagement in the 1980s, when he “trusted nobody” and oversaw his own accounts and commercial contracts, he learnt to rely on colleagues again and let them get on with managing their individual departments.

The result was a business that grew quickly and today the Rotherham firm exports to 93 countries.

“Now my staff have told me to go home,” he said to laughter, but they could only do this because of the foundations he built two decades earlier. Victor Watson, grandee and former chairman of Waddingtons, the Leeds-based maker of Monopoly and Cluedo, said: “There was agreement in the idea that almost everything is achieved by people.

“I would add that the best can be achieved when people work as a team. Also people enjoy their work if a team effort is the order of the day.”

The next generation of Yorkshire entrepreneurs will face similar challenges to those overcome by Mr Watson and Mr Rea.

Once again, the economy is grinding its way out of recession as a new government battles a huge deficit while support organisations like Business Link and Yorkshire Forward, which came in long after AESSEAL was founded, are now on the way out.

Instead it will be to Mr Rea, and to the region’s other successful industrialists, that owner-managers will turn for guidance.

And it is not just the young upstarts who will benefit from events like the Business Club.

Doug Liversidge, chairman of Leeds-based medical device maker Surgical Innovations, said: “I thought Chris was great and he has inspired (chief executive) Graham Bowland to try emulate him.”

But do businesses have a fair chance of emulating AESSEAL when access to cash remains tight?

More than three years after the onset of the credit crunch, the first tranche of Business Club members warned that finance is still not flowing.

Richard Tufft, co-director of European equity research at Goldman Sachs, which has been criticised for its role in the financial crisis, highlighted three things that will help the British economy to return to sustainable growth: banks which make sure their lending practices are flexible, a regulatory structure which allows businesses to “flourish in terms of taxation” and entrepreneurs who develop growing companies.

On its own, the Yorkshire Post Business Club cannot tackle any of these concerns but, with the backing of companies from across the region, it can be a cheerleader for enterprise and help companies to deliver stable, sustainable and successful performance.

The club will be holding more events with more inspirational speakers from the worlds of business and politics during the rest of this year.

It will build on the fact that, despite three hard years, there is still wealth and wisdom aplenty in Yorkshire.

* Every company shortlisted for the Yorkshire Post Excellence in Business Awards automatically becomes a member of our new Business Club.

There are less than three weeks left to enter the awards so if you haven’t already put together your entry, now is the time to start.

The competition culminates in a glittering ceremony in Leeds, which has featured David Cameron, Sir Stuart Rose and Sir Ken Morrison in previous years. It will be another chance to learn from the people who have made it to the top.