Secret Diary of an Entrepreneur

Secret Diary of an Entrepreneur: The upside of August

2010-08-27T08:55:00Z

I know I've moaned about August a lot. But this week I realised that it also has its advantages.

I know I've been whingeing a lot lately. But not this week. This was one of those weeks when lots of things (some big, some small) go right, and you end the week in a much better position than you started it. I think entrepreneurs desperately need that from time to time, because it reinforces your belief that you're on the right track, and it infuses the whole place with a bit of positive momentum - particularly useful after the slower summer months. Anyway, these were my three highlights:

1. Contrary to my expectations, and after a suspiciously slow start, it looks like we've had a really good August. I guess the good thing about everyone going away this month is that some people come back (unlike me, as discussed last week) with a renewed sense of enthusiasm and vigour - determined to make real inroads into the nether regions of their to-do list. And in some cases, that means they'll hire us to do some work for them. We've won three quite chunky projects since I got back from holiday, and although the money won't all show up in the August numbers (since we won't do all the work straight away) it definitely leaves this quarter looking a lot healthier.

2. My new COO (aka Fixer) started on Monday. And I've already managed to dump a load of stuff on him that I've been wanting to do for ages but have never got round to (my general principle is that sales trump everything else, though it's more of a guideline than a rule). The other good thing about August and the summer months, I've realised, is that you have a bit more time on your plate (not a lot, but a bit) to think about these things. And because I knew he was coming, I've been able to concentrate on planning it all in principle, safe in the knowledge that I could foist the nitty-gritty onto him when he arrived. He's only been here a couple of days, so it's a bit early to salute him as my greatest ever hire, but first impressions have been very good - he seems incredibly competent and, in his quiet way, seems to be getting on well with everyone else.

3. And speaking of which... Perhaps the most surprising event of the week came yesterday, when my HR manager dragged me and Fixer into a meeting room and actually apologised - completely unprompted - for her crazily passive-aggressive behaviour at their first meeting the other week. She said her nervousness about her own prospects just got the better of her. Now arguably this was the only sensible thing for her to do, given that she must know that she didn't exactly hit it off with her new boss, and now he's in situ he (theoretically) gets to decide whether or not she has a job. And unfortunately for her, I get the impression that Fixer did indeed see it as little more than a fairly desperate self-preservation measure. But knowing her as I do, I really don't think she's the calculating type; in fact, her big problem is her tendency to go with her heart, not her head. So I believed her apology, and - as I said to Fixer afterwards - I think it earns her the chance for a fresh start with him. If nothing else, it takes the heat out of that situation a bit.

So there you have it: a week of surprises, almost all of them pleasant. Maybe I was wrong about August after all.

Secret Diary of an Entrepreneur: Suppressing post-holiday blues

2010-08-20T08:35:00Z

Should business owners ever admit they hate coming back from holiday just as much as everyone else?

Do you know what I hate about coming back to work after a holiday? Everything. I hate the weather, I hate the early starts, I hate the commuting, I hate the air, I hate being inside, I hate having to make decisions... I basically hate all the things you have to do that you don't have to do on holiday (which was lovely, incidentally - thanks for asking).

But SD, why are you boring us with this self-indulgent whining, I hear you ask? Who doesn't find it hard getting back into the daily grind after a week in the sun? Tell us something we don't know, you may well scoff.

But the difference is, I think, that when you're in my position you feel almost duty-bound not to admit it. Every time I get back from holiday I lie through my teeth to people about how much I'm looking forward to getting back into the swing of things, possibly even suggesting that my typing fingers were getting twitchy towards the back end of my week away (I mean this metaphorically, of course - you don't really think I'd go away without my BlackBerry, do you?).

None of which is true, of course. But I feel as though I have an image to maintain. It's partly personal: if I want people to see me as a positive, driven, highly motivated leader, I can't afford to let that slip even for a second. But it's also corporate: I want people to think this office is such a great place to work that you'd have to be mad not to enjoy being there. In practice, of course, you can get sick of the sight of the place, and everyone in it. I know I do. But I feel like the MD's role in setting the atmosphere and culture is so crucial that I can't let up on the positivity for one minute. So even on those days (particularly common post-holiday) when I'd rather be anywhere else than in the office, I always feel as though I have to look and sound happy to be there. After all, if I'm not, why should anyone else be?

But I do find this pretence very wearing. And ironically, it also makes the problem worse: pretending not to hate coming back from holiday makes me hate coming back from holiday even more.

Now, maybe this is just me. Maybe it's just insecurity on my part. Maybe it would actually be better if I did admit to post-holiday blues, because my staff would find me more human and easier to relate to. I'd be interested to know your thoughts (secretdiary@managementtoday.com) - even if your advice is just to belt up, stop feeling sorry for myself, and accept that this is the price you pay for being in the big chair...

Secret Diary of an Entrepreneur: Holiday hang-ups

2010-08-13T08:58:00Z

I hate going on holiday in August. But this year, I decided that if you can't beat them...

Would you believe that by the time you read this, I'll actually be on holiday? It's so long since I had a proper break that I'm not sure I'll remember how to do it. So not much of an update on the last week today, I'm afraid, for the obvious reason that - hopefully - I won't have seen or spoken to any of my staff all week. I'm not sure who's happier about that prospect, me or them.

I always find going on holiday an incredibly stressful experience. Not the trip itself, but finding the right time to go. There's always something going on at work that you feel like you ought to be there for, or you worry about someone else being away at the same time, or... Well, ok, some of them are probably just feeble excuses for the fact that you just don't want to leave your baby all on its own. But it is hard to find a good time.

Also, I hate going away in August. It seems completely perverse, when you have the choice of the whole year, to go away at a time when a) it's the sunniest month of the year in the UK (supposedly), b) holidays are twice as expensive as normal,and c) everywhere you go is chock-full of Brits abroad (which is exactly my idea of hell).

But I'm increasingly feeling these days like I haven't got a choice in the matter. It's become a vicious circle, a sort of nationwide conspiracy - because so many decision-makers go away in August, for the benefit of their children, all kinds of business activity basically grinds to a halt for the whole month.

I was in a meeting the other day, which had gone really well, and when we were working out next steps this guy said, 'Well, why don't we pick this up early September, most of us disappear for August.' I mean, how ridiculous is that? That's just writing off an entire month - one-twelfth of the year.

The thing is, though, what I think doesn't really matter. As long as people keep treating August like a holiday month, and refuse to do anything useful, I might as well fall into line and go on holiday too. Chances are that I'll be missing less this week than at any other time of the year (with the possible exception of Christmas week - the only period more expensive than this one). And so, slightly against my will and completely against my better judgement, I find myself paying through the nose to go away this week.

Still, I don't intend to let any of the above spoil my enjoyment of the whole thing, you understand. In fact, I'm quite excited about the fact that I'll hopefully be sipping on something with an umbrella even as you read this. I really need to take more holidays...

Secret Diary of an Entrepreneur: Does chemistry matter?

2010-08-06T09:30:00Z

Can two people work together successfully if they have nothing whatsoever in common?

I'd been feeling guilty about upsetting my HR Manager over the hiring of my new COO, so this week I arranged for them to meet, ahead of his official start date (which is TBA later this month). I wanted it to be as informal as possible, so instead of having a meeting in the office, we went for a drink in a bar round the corner, after work on Tuesday. It's fair to say that it wasn't a resounding success.

I guess to some extent it was my fault, in that I obviously didn't make it clear enough to her what the purpose of the occasion was. In my eyes it was a nice, relaxed, 'getting to know you' type of thing - a chance for them to bond over a glass of wine and reassure her that she was still very much part of the loop. But she obviously saw it as being only one step removed from a final round interview. I'd say this was slightly odd of her, given that he's already been offered and accepted the job. But then, she's a slightly odd girl.

Anyway, the three of us had only been sitting there for a few minutes, our wine virtually untouched, when out of nowhere she says to him: 'So what are your initial impressions of our HR strategy?'

'Excuse me?' says Fixer.

Now this question couldn't have been any more pointed if she'd wrapped it in barbed wire and stuck a javelin on the end of it. She might as well have just come out and said: 'What the hell can you possibly know about our HR that I don't?'. Frankly, I've no idea how I would have answered it. I'm not sure we even have an HR strategy, or at least, not one that can be summarised in a sentence - 'Keep our best people and make them better', is, I suppose, what it basically boils down to. (I actually asked her later what answer she would have liked/ expected; she said she didn't know, but just wanted to see whether he'd given it any thought.)

'Our HR strategy. What do you think of it?' And worried though I was about the potential car-crash unfolding before my eyes, I was interested to see how Fixer would handle it.

'Well, to be honest,' he says, 'I haven't given it much thought.'

'Really?' she says, virtually recoiling in horror. If she could have got away with arching her eyebrow and putting her little finger in her mouth like Dr Evil without looking ridiculous, I'm sure she would have done.

'No, not really. My view's always been that it's very dangerous to pre-judge this stuff. The last thing people like you need is someone like me coming in and trying to impose some pre-conceived ideas that might not even be appropriate for the business. Don't you agree?'

'Oh... Yes, of course,' she says, looking flustered.

As you can imagine, this set the tone for one of the most excruciating half-hours of conversation of my adult life. She never quite recovered from being out in her place, while Fixer was obviously distinctly irritated by her general tone and demeanour. I suppose he probably expected her to be going all out to impress him, rather than exploding in a cloud of passive-aggression. And all my stumbling attempts at chit-chat foundered as it rapidly became clear that these two people had virtually nothing in common in terms of outlook, interests or character. It was like being present on one of those horribly embarrassing episodes of Blind Date, when the two people clearly hate each other.

The question I was asking myself on the way home (after hoovering down my Pinot Grigio and wrapping things up as rapidly as possible) was whether it's possible for two people to have a productive working relationship when they clearly have so little chemistry. Of course you're never going to like everyone you work with, and being professional means finding a way to co-exist with them. But with this kind of reporting relationship? I'm not convinced.

Secret Diary of an Entrepreneur: Pointless fretting

2010-07-30T09:35:00Z

This week, I've mostly been fretting that my new COO shares my disdain for contracts.

Let me ask you something. If someone doesn't do something that you don't actually care about, are you still justified in working yourself into a tizzy about it?

I'll elaborate: I realised this week that Fixer, my super-duper ass-kicking COO-designate who's due to start next month, hasn't actually asked to see his contract, with confirmation of his salary/ bonus/ options/ notice periods etc.

Now, here was my dilemma. Personally, I think contracts are the most tedious, soul-destroying things in the universe (how lawyers cope them with all day is beyond me). So if the situation had been reversed, I probably wouldn't have asked for it yet either. We'd agreed a deal, and shaken hands on it, so if I trusted the person hiring me (and if I didn't, I wouldn't be taking a job like this), I'd have seen the contract as a formality. In fact, if I hadn't even signed it when I started the job, it wouldn't massively bother me. In my eyes, the agreement is the important thing, not the piece of paper.

On the other hand, that's kind of why I'm hiring a COO. I might think contracts are deathly dull, but they're also quite important - so I deliberately hired someone who was likely to take more interest in them than I do. What's more, this guy is a qualified City lawyer: he spent around half early twenties sweating away in those horrible datarooms eating pizza and checking over contracts for corporate deals. So you'd think he ought to be pretty hot on this stuff (or, I suppose, ready to commit hara-kiri the next time he sees one).

Naturally I tried to convince myself that this was actually a good thing; that he clearly had so much confidence in my word that he didn't need the contract. Or perhaps - and this is one for any lawyers among you - I'd technically already agreed a contract with him when I wrote his salary number down on the back of that napkin in Starbucks (ever the pro, I am). But neither of these stopped me fretting about it. Was this indicative of a previously unseen slapdash, lackadaisical approach? Had I hired the wrong guy after all?

I stewed over it for a good 48 hours or so, and then, being the bad stewer that I am, decided to call him about it. 'Oh, hi SD,' he said, when he picked up the phone. 'I was about to call you later, I've just got back from my holiday.' (Holiday? Did he mention that? Maybe he did, come to think). 'Listen, sorry to be such a bore but I was wondering if you'd had my contract drawn up yet? No rush, of course, just a formality anyway - it's just that old habits die hard, I suppose...'

And that was that. I wonder what proportion of my life I spend pointlessly worrying about things that never actually happen?

Secret Diary of an Entrepreneur: Bursting my bubble

2010-07-22T16:16:00Z

My HR manager manages to turn a good news day into a headache day.

I don't know if it's just me, but I've always found as an entrepreneur that business has a habit of biting you in the bum just when you think you've got it sussed. And so it was this week. The good news first: Fixer accepted my offer, and is starting in August. It sounds like the other place offered him slightly more money, but it was a fairly boring industry (I won't say which) and he thought he'd learn more working for us (though he might just be saying that last bit to butter me up). I was obviously thrilled - mostly because he's great (even if I did pick him up in a bar), but partly because I'm ludicrously competitive, even in things like salary auctions that I actively dislike.

So there I was, patting myself on the back about how clever I was to wait for the right person rather than hiring the first one to come along, and about how well he'd complement/ spur on the rest of my senior team, and about how much time I'd be freeing up for myself once I handed over all this stuff to him, when my HR manager asked for a meeting. Where she proceeded to tell me that Fixer's appointment made it absolutely impossible for her to continue in her role at the company, and that I'd clearly demonstrated just how little I value her contribution. And so on and so forth.

I have to say - to my shame - that this took me entirely by surprise. I may have mentioned previously that this girl is a little on the bonkers side. But in the previous conversations I'd had with her about it, I'd thought she was actually quite pro the idea of someone coming in at COO level, because it would give HR a bit more strategic clout. And at no point had she ever seriously suggested to me that she wanted to be considered for the job; if she had, I'd have gone through the whole interview process with her (don't get me wrong, there was no chance in hell of me ever giving her the job, for the reasons mentioned above - but I'd have jumped through all the right hoops).

But it turns out that I was apparently expected to gather all of this without her needing to actually say anything. And although this might sound unreasonable, I feel like she had a point. She's not exactly subtle, so the fact that I missed her cues altogether suggests the old emotional intelligence may have gone awry slightly during this process.

One of the hardest things about bringing in senior people, I've realised in the last year or so, is that it invariably annoys someone on your current team. And quite right too, since what you're basically saying is that you don't have these capabilities in house. I think it's possible to make perfectly good arguments for why you're going outside, and what's in it for the current staff. But if you get to this point and someone feels like you've blind-sided them (however over-sensitive they may be), then you've clearly done something wrong.

In this case, part of the problem is that this girl doesn't understand what the COO job involves. She thinks it's just an HR director role, which is why she's so miffed about not being offered it. So I tried to explain to her all the other stuff that Fixer would be doing - and how it would help her (by providing more support than she currently gets from me). But she clearly thinks this says something about her, and her chances of future progress. And she may be right: the harsh reality of the situation is that although I hope she doesn't leave, it wouldn't be a disaster.

Secret Diary of an Entrepreneur: Hiring auctions

2010-07-16T08:41:00Z

If there's one thing I hate, it's getting into an auction over salaries.

Deciding to hire someone is kind of the easy bit (not that I've made it look very easy). The hard bit is actually getting them to sign on the dotted line, for a fee that doesn't leave either side feeling like they've been completely stitched up. After our successful meeting with Fixer last week, we all agreed to offer him the job, but now I have to come up with a deal that he'll go for. And we have a slight problem on that front.

The good news is that he definitely wants to leave his current place. Since that's also a start-up - and a not very successful one either - they're not paying him very much. He has some shares/options, I think, but that's not much use to him if the company isn't worth anything. So technically, it shouldn't be too difficult to match or improve his current package. And the chances are that this would still be less than I thought I'd have to pay for this role.

Unfortunately, it looks like there could be a spanner in the works. One of his old clients (he used to be a City lawyer) has put him forward for a job as a executive assistant to their CEO. Since I have a friend that went to do this a couple of years ago (when they were all the rage), I'm reliably informed that this isn't about taking dictation and making coffee - you're more like the chiefs of staff they all have in the West Wing. Obviously you get to follow the CEO round wherever he goes, which would be quite fun. And worse still, because it's a moneybags corporate, they're probably going to pay top dollar.

Now if there's one thing I hate (well there are lots of things I hate, but in this context), it's getting into auctions. I can't even do eBay. I just think it bamboozles people into paying more for stuff than it's actually worth. And that's particularly true with people. Why should you set someone's salary according to what someone who might be a complete idiot thinks he's worth?

I can see why people are tempted, of course. After all, I've spent six months looking for this bloke; it would be a shame to lose him over a couple of grand, particularly given the cost of my time if I have to do the whole process over from scratch. Nor do I blame candidates for trying to play people off against each other: a few grand either way might not make much difference to the company's overall salary line, but it can make a big difference to the person in question.

Still, I try not to get sucked in. When these situations arise, I sit down (with the help of an adviser if it's a senior appointment) and work out what I think the person's worth. Then I make the offer, and don't negotiate on it. Some people might say that's a bit inflexible, but for me, it's the only way of making sure you don't pay over the odds. Not that this will be any consolation if he ends up turning me down...

Secret Diary of an Entrepreneur: The value of a good threat

2010-07-09T10:29:00Z

I was quite surprised by how my senior team reacted to my prospective new COO.

This week, I got my prospective new COO (let's call him Fixer, because that's how I envisage him, even if it does make him sound like a hitman) in to meet my senior team, and it was unexpectedly hilarious. I expected a bit of suspicion and posturing, as they weighed up this potential interloper. But it was like watching a group of wild beasts growling at each other in defence of their territory. I half expected them to start weeing on different bits of the boardroom floor.

Now I actually almost hired another COO earlier this year. I didn't bother mentioning it, because while I was still contemplating whether or not to offer, she (for it was a girl) decided to take another job. So it all came to nothing. But we got quite far down the line, in that I met her twice and then got her in to do a similar meet-and-greet with my senior team. As in this case, it wasn't meant to be an interview, as such, but they obviously had carte blanche to quiz her as they liked.

What was interesting this time was that my lot - particularly Ace and Mammon - were much tougher on Fixer than they'd been on the girl. They asked much more difficult and challenging questions, and were much harsher about his weaknesses afterwards. I mean, they weren't negative exactly; they both said they liked him. But they did pick up on potential areas of concern in his answers, which they hadn't done at all with the girl.

Now in principle, I don't mind this at all. I need to know Fixer is robust enough to deal with this kind of heat - and he actually coped with it very well, remaining mild and unruffled when the questions were flying (I guess when you're used to the pressure-cooker of a City law firm, two blokes in a start-up don't hold too many fears). And I like them to be harsh in their assessments, because it reduces the chances of me missing something.

However, I couldn't help wondering why they'd given him a much harder time. To begin with, I wondered if it was just because he was a boy, and they were boys. So partly the macho posturing thing (also in evidence when the two of them met for the first time, I might add), but also that they were a bit too polite to make the girl feel uncomfortable, whereas they'd have no qualms about doing the same thing to a boy.

On the other hand, my (female) head of delivery was much the same. Which leads me to conclude that it may be be more than that... And it's one of the reasons I left the interview feeling even more positive about offering Fixer a job. I think that unlike the other girl, who was a bit less experienced and impressive, they quickly realised that Fixer could be a potential rival - hence the defensiveness. They were comfortable about their seniority to her, but it would be a bit less clear-cut with him; if the day ever comes when I ride off into the sunset with my well-earned millions (fat chance), Fixer would be a viable candidate for the top job. And I completely agree with that. In fact, it's one of the reasons why I like him: I think hiring him would give us a lot more bench strength (if you'll forgive me that nasty term), which in turn will hopefully spur on the current lot to greater heights. Sounds good in theory, anyway.

Secret Diary of an Entrepreneur: A time and a place

2010-07-01T21:11:00Z

A funny thing happened this week. I think I may have found my new COO. In a bar.

What happened was that I was at this birthday party on Saturday night at a pub in Marylebone, and found myself at the bar talking to this guy who apparently knew the birthday girl from law school. We'd been chatting for a while, and getting on pretty well, when the conversation turned to current jobs. I did my usual spiel, and then asked the question back, expecting some deathly dull tale of life as a corporate lawyer. But it turns out he got sick of the City a couple of years ago, so he jacked it in and went to work for some friends who were doing a start-up. By the sounds of it, these people were ok on the ideas and big picture stuff, but didn't have much of a clue how to run a business - so he ended up organising all the difficult day-to-day stuff while they sat around blue-sky thinking (which, just to be clear, in my book means they're not proper entrepreneurs).

In other words, he's been doing a kind of COO role. And what's more, on the grounds that he thinks it increasingly likely that this business isn't going to survive for much longer, he's looking for something new to do.

Now I suppose for some people this might have created a dilemma. After all, it's not often that you meet nice men in bars, and so arguably the last thing you should be doing on those rare occasions is trying to recruit them before you've even got to the end of your first drink together. But to be honest, I can't really switch out of entrepreneur mode quite as easily as that. It's kind of my default setting. And I'd much rather have a good COO than a boyfriend. Sad, but true.

So without a moment's hesitation, I said: 'Oh, that's interesting - I'm sort of looking for a COO at the moment'.

'How can you be sort of looking for a COO?' he asked (not unreasonably).

I explained the situation, and then launched straight into my sales pitch - high-growth, entrepreneurial environment, opportunity to get inolved in different things and provide strategic input, blah blah bah. I could see he was interested, so we arranged to have coffee on Monday to talk about it further. And then, unable to go back to our previous conversation having crossed over into recruiter/ jobseeeker territory, I slunk off slightly awkwardly to rejoin my other friends (who, incidentally, were less than impressed: 'Only you could meet a guy at a bar on a Saturday night and turn it into a work meeting,' one of them said - I suspect it wasn't a compliment).

Anyway he came in on Monday, and he was great! We went through his CV - from City lawyer to start-up general factotum - and I was really impressed: he's got just the right combination of big company polish and small company can-do, and has basically been doing a fairly similar job for the last year. Admittedly he's been doing it on a slightly smaller scale, which means he's a bit weaker on some of the people stuff than some of those I've seen, but I felt fairly confident he could handle that side of things comfortably enough. And best of all, he's relatively cheap. Hurrah!

So he's going to come and see a few more people on Friday. Now all I have to do is work out how to explain how I found him - I'm not sure 'I met him in a bar' is really the kind of recruitment policy I want to be advertising.

Secret Diary of an Entrepreneur: Sunshine on a gloomy day

2010-06-24T16:38:00Z

Did George Osborne check the weather forecast before Budget day? If not, he should have done.

I wonder if anyone has ever done a proper study of the relationship between the weather and GDP? (Google failed to enlighten me either way.) I ask because I was working from home on Tuesday, so I watched the Budget in my front room, with glorious sunshine pouring in through the windows. As a result, even as George stood there telling us how badly we were screwed, and just how much it would hurt to sort things out, I found it quite hard to be gloomy. Is it just me, or is nothing quite so bad when the sun's out?

Now admittedly I had more to celebrate than most after the Budget (lower corporation tax, wahey! higher entrepreneurs relief, wahey!). Generally speaking, there wasn't much good news in there for the general populace, what with all those nasty tax hikes and benefit cuts. But I reckon they were right to do it now, because bad news is a lot more digestible in the middle of summer, particularly when there’s football on.

Certainly none of my lot seemed particularly bothered about it the next day – they were far more worried about the England match (must remember for the future that this is a great time to bury bad news, if that’s not too Jo Moore). And I can’t imagine any of the boys in the pub on Wednesday afternoon would have even noticed the difference if their cost of their pint had gone up by 2.5%. Admittedly the outlook’s not so good if you work in the public sector (though I didn’t have much sympathy for those people moaning at Cameron and Clegg on the BBC about their two-year pay freeze – welcome to the real world, folks). But generally, I bet most people in the private sector didn’t lose much sleep over it. And the weather’s got to help.

As I said the other week, I like it when England do well in the World Cup (boring though the whole thing is), because the national mood improves a bit, and that usually means people spend more money. Well, I think that’s even truer of blistering hot summers. I suppose you could argue that when the weather's nice, people are more inclined to stock up at the supermarket and go for picnics, rather than standing around buying food and drink in over-priced bars. But they're also less likely to stay in their house counting pennies, even in the new age of austerity.

In other words, my theory (although obviously I have no actual evidence for this) is that good weather provides a healthy boost for GDP. Which quite possibly means that the success or failure of the Government's entire economic policy - and thus of the coalition as a whole, i.e. the entire political landscape - depends to some extent on how much sunshine we get this year. Don’t know about you, but I find that a bit disconcerting.

Of course the trouble is, the really bad news won't come until September, when they announce the results of the spending review and come clean on which public services they're going to chop. And by that time, the summer will be almost over, the nights will be lengthening, and people will generally be a lot grumpier. If George thinks he’s getting some stick now, it’ll be a lot worse then.

Secret Diary of an Entrepreneur: Can leopards change their spots?

2010-06-18T09:41:00Z

I hate it when one of my team reacts in a completely unexpected way...

If asked to nominate my favourite clichés, there's no question that 'leopards don't change their spots' would be right up there near the top of the list. Generally speaking, my theory is that most people have some character traits that are far too ingrained to respond to any amount of training, coaching, mentoring or coaxing. And since management is a lot to do with character, I tend to think that if someone is naturally a rubbish manager, they're probably never going to be a great one. You can get them to passable, or maybe even good, but that's as far as it goes.

I mention this because I've just had my chat with Ace (my sales guy) about that direct report of his - the one who told me the other day (quite presumptuously, I thought) that their relationship had deteriorated to such an extent that she could no longer work with him.

Now here's I expected this conversation to go. I say: 'So Ace, how about this situation with Miss X?' And he says: 'I know, isn't it ridiculous... I have to say, SD, I've warned you several times about X – she’s taking up a disproportionate amount of my management (for which read: sales) time, and she's not even that good anyway – I think it's time we got rid.' And I say: 'Look, Ace, you have to learn to adapt your management style and do a better job of resolving this kind of conflict etc etc etc.' And we go on like this for a while without really getting anywhere.

But here’s what actually happened. When I asked the question, he said: ‘I know, SD, and to be honest I'm very embarrassed about it. She's my report; I should be able to manage the situation without her running to you. If it's ok with you, I'm going to have a chat with her, apologise for having a go the other day, and suggest that we forget what's happened lately and start over, on a clean page.’

I've got to tell you, I was literally dumbstruck (I suspect my jaw was probably hanging open like one of those hillbillies in Deliverance). You know when you gear yourself up for one kind of conversation, and end up having a totally different one? That was me. The thing is, I can’t tell you how out of character this is for Ace. He has many strengths, bless him, but humility and compromise have never, in my experience, been among them. Could it be that my years of cajoling have finally turned him into a different kind of manager?

Obviously I’d like to think so, in some ways – although it would also freak me out, because it suggests that I didn’t understand him quite as well as I thought I did. But I did come up with an alternative theory: that his failure to deal with this girl (and her decision to run to me) have been a bit of a blow to his precious ego, so he needs to sort it out to restore his sense of self. Equally, there’s always the theory suggested by Andrea on my blog last week: that he’s just managing upwards, and telling me what he thinks I want to hear in order to make himself look better.

Still, to use one of my other favourite clichés, I suppose the proof of the pudding is in the eating: time (and this girl) will tell whether he’s really changed his spots.

Secret Diary of an Entrepreneur: I blame Gen Y

2010-06-11T08:22:00Z

A junior employee tells me she can't work with her manager. What does she expect me to do?

I had an remarkable meeting with one of my junior staff this week. Catching me at an unguarded moment, she dragged me into a meeting room, and proceeded to announce that she could no longer work with her manager - who happens to be Ace, my senior sales guy.

I have to say I was a bit taken aback. Not to discover that there was a problem - he spends enough time moaning about her attitude to make that abundantly clear. More that she would have the cheek to drag the boss to one side and start issuing ultimatums. I mean, what does she expect me to do? Take her side over his, and start drafting his P45?

I do have some sympathy for her. It's that age-old problem with him: all the things that make him a great salesman (drive, single-mindedness, thickness of skin etc) are not terribly conducive to being a good, emotionally intelligent manager. I know perfectly well that he can rub people up the wrong way sometimes, because he's done it to me. So I can well believe that this is partly his fault (and it'll certainly be added to the 'constructive feedback' column for his next review - always a good way of keeping his ego in check).

On the other hand, he's also about three million times more important to the business than some wet-behind-the-ears junior marketer. So in the grand scheme of things, you can probably guess whose side I'm going to take.

What's more, it annoys me when people are so aggressive about stuff like this; it's like they think the principal purpose of this place is to make them feel good about themselves. And I'm convinced it's a sign of the times. I wouldn't have dreamed of complaining about my boss when I was doing my first job. I suppose it might have been different if he'd come on to me or something. But if I just didn't like him much, or if I thought he didn't like me, I'd have just bitten my lip and got on with it - perhaps tried to reach some kind of accommodation. I wouldn't have demanded an entire organisational restructure.

I blame this whole Gen Y thing. Businesses are always being told these days that they have to adapt to the increasingly stringent demands of Gen Y types. But why shouldn't it be the other way round? After all, there are more of us. Some of these people need to realise that you can't always have things exactly the way you want them in life; the world doesn't exist to serve your whims, whatever the internet has led you to believe. Sometimes you just have to suck it up, and adapt to your new surroundings. I've hired some graduates in the last couple of years who've had this real sense of entitlement about working life, and it drives me up the wall.

So what I really wanted to say to her was what my grandad would have said: belt up, you silly mare. Obviously I didn't quite do that - but I did point out to her gently that it didn't say much for her influencing and conflict management skills if she had to come running to me to sort the problem out. After all, I don't need them to be friends; I don't need them to be going out for drinks together and exchanging sparkling banter (he did that with this girl's predecessor, and that all turned out to be pretty awkward). I just need them to work together, and be civil to each other. How hard can that be?

Secret Diary of an Entrepreneur: World Cup self-interest

2010-06-04T09:11:00Z

Football's rubbish. But I figure that England doing well could be good for my bank balance.

I can't tell you how much I hate football. It's not just that it's boring in itself - watching 22 pampered millionaires kick a stupid ball around a field for a whole hour and half. It's the effect it has on other people - particularly men - who can apparently talk for hours about its most tedious intricacies without getting bored, while getting incredibly over-excited over results that, in the grand scheme of things, really don't matter at all. So ordinarily, the prospect of a World Cup - which gives men an excuse to spend three solid weeks watching and talking about football - would fill me with horror and dread.

Not this time though. The way I see it, football has two big advantages. One, it gives men something to talk about on otherwise-awkward social situations (albeit it stops them recognising the inadequacies of their small talk). But more significant, at least as far as the World Cup is concerned, is that during those brief periods when England are doing well in a big football tournament, the country as a whole definitely becomes a happier place. People spend more money on food and drink and barbecues and replica sportswear and car flags, and - particularly if the sun's shining - go to work feeling more optimistic about life, business and the universe generally.

So while the World Cup has some obvious disadvantages for business owners like me - people tend to be more distracted, and even sometimes try to talk to me about football, which is a major no-no in my book - it can also have a big upside. Happier people tend to spend more money and commission more work. And as far as I can tell – sad though this may be - there's nothing like a big football tournament for raising the country's overall happiness levels. Which, let's face it, is something we really need at the moment.

Incidentally, a few entrepreneurs I know have been wringing their hands about what to do when that England game is on in the afternoon. Personally, I'm not quite sure what all the fuss is about. I don't see the point in forcing people to work through it, since they won't get much done and they'll only hold it against you. And it's only a couple of hours out of the day. So I'm just going to let anyone who wants to watch it head down to the nearest watering hole - on the proviso that they make up the extra hours at some other point in the week. In fact, I might even go myself - buy them all a drink and cheer on 'our boys'. After all, the better England do, the better I'll do. Come on Rooney, break a leg! (or whatever you’re supposed to say.)

Secret Diary of an Entrepreneur: The best things in business are free

2010-05-27T23:31:00Z

I've found a great new way of keeping people engaged, and it doesn't cost a penny.

Like most entrepreneurs, I love getting stuff for free. Now I know that's pretty much true of everyone; we all like a freebie. But there's nothing quite like the early phase of a start-up (unless you're on a Boo.com-style 'burn a load of VC cash' strategy) to boost your appreciation of getting stuff you want without having to put your hand in your pocket.

These days it's actually easier to find free stuff than it's ever been. Thanks to the internet, you can get all sorts of information, and all manner of services, without having to fork out a single penny. OK, so if it's any good, you usually only get a Lite version, and they make you shell out for the proper one. But if you're starting out these days, there's all kinds of useful stuff that you can get your hands on without making much of a dent in that precious cashflow.

That's not to say you couldn't get decent cheapo stuff in the 'old days', of course. For instance, I bought all my original office furniture for a song from a company that had just gone bust; my first computer came courtesy of a school that was junking all its old machines. OK, so it wasn't very pretty. But it worked perfectly well, and I loved it all the more because I thought I'd bagged a bargain (for me, one of the truly great pleasures in life).

These days, I don't cut corners as much. I have a proper phone system instead of a second hand one, I don't buy swivel chairs in a fire sale, and I actually employ someone to clean the office rather than doing it myself. But I've never lost that obsession with keeping costs down (stinginess, you might call it). And I tell anyone who'll listen that it's a great skill for an entrepreneur to have, particularly at the moment.

Anyway, this is a very long-winded way of getting to my point, which is that I've recently discovered one of my best ever staff benefits - and part of the reason why it's so great is that it's completely free. What happens is that one lunchtime a week (ish), we all get our sandwiches in and one of my staff spends 15 minutes telling us about something. The subject can be absolutely anything they like - their family history, something from their degree course, something they've seen on TV - whatever.

I absolutely adore it, because I almost always learn something I didn't know before and probably should have done (this week was about the origins of the Ulster problem - why have I never been taught about this?). I also get to find out more about what some of my people are interested in ouside work, which invariably makes them much more interesting. It's also really popular, which I'm sure is great for engagement levels. And best of all, it costs absolutely nothing.

So I'd heartily recommend it. Although as someone who makes a living from being paid to solve other people's problems, I'm not sure I want people to realise that the best solutions can sometimes be right there in front of you - for free - all along.

Secret Diary of an Entrepreneur: Celebrating milestones

2010-05-20T16:54:00Z

Make the most of employee anniversaries. It's good for you, them and everyone else.

It occurs to me that it's been a while since I talked about stuff that's actually going on in my business at the moment. And since I'm guessing MT didn't ask me to do this because they were desperate for my views on Nick Clegg (who I met once by the way - very dapper), I thought it was about time I did. Or before I know it, I might start turning into Liz Jones or Jan Moir, and there can't be many fates worse than that.

Anyway, you'll be pleased (or possibly ambivalent, or maybe even irritated) to hear that, curiously enough, we've just had our biggest ever month. Like, in the history of time. Now I don't think this proves that everything's hunky-dory again - by the looks of it, it may turn out to be a slightly freak result. But it's an encouraging sign, if nothing else.

That's not what I wanted to talk about, though. This week one of my staff celebrated their five-year anniversary of coming to work for me. She joined as a clueless grad who didn't really know anything about anything, at a time when the business was tiny and I didn't really have a clue, and she's been with me right the way through to the present day (when I still don't have much of a clue, but I'm a lot better at faking it). I was so excited about this momentous occasion that I both bought her a present, and took her out for lunch. On expenses, of course.

There are two things I wanted to say about this. First, I think it's really important to celebrate milestones like this. It sends out a great message to the rest of the staff both about the quality of the company (if you're capable of hanging on to a graduate for five years you must be doing something right), and about the qualities you prize in your staff (loyalty, dedication, hard work, and so on). This girl is now one of the most senior people in the company, having joined as one of the most junior. It's great for our most recent recruits to see that people who stick around and work hard can develop and progress like that. So I made quite a big deal about her anniversary, and her achievements during those five years - which hopefully she'll appreciate too.

The second point is that I found it a big ego boost - something I think entrepreneurs really need from time to time. It's amazing to think that this talented person take a gamble to come and work for me when I had nothing much to offer her but a vision, and has stayed put for five years because she clearly felt the job was doing enough to stretch her talents. OK, so I know she hasn't done it for free or anything. But it still made me feel all warm and fuzzy about my little company for a while.

Most of the time, to be honest, I find people stuff a bit of a headache. But there are occasions, like this, when it can give you a boost like nothing else.