Darling has left entrepreneurs no incentive to take the risks involved in wealth and jobs creation. That was the message being conveyed by most at this year’s IOD convention. Alongside the recession, it was one of the most hotly debated issues throughout the day, which saw a 2000-strong crowd of delegates pour into the Royal Albert Hall to listen to the sage advice of business behemoths such as Stuart Rose, Michael Dell, Luke Johnson, Sebastian Coe, a couple of Dragons’ Den panelists as well as the Chancellor and London Mayor.
IOD director general Miles Templeman kicked off the day by telling the audience how appalled he was by the chancellor’s measures to claw back some of the country’s debt by increasing the top rate of tax to 50%.
He certainly wasn’t alone. Speaking to Startups after addressing the crowd, former Pizza Express CEO and current Channel 4 chairman Luke Johnson said he thought the Budget measures were “pretty dumb”.
He argued: “People have a choice about whether to allocate resources to Britain or elsewhere and there comes a time where people say ‘why should I bother? The marginal benefit I get is not worth it’.”
However, Darling remained unrepentant, despite facing a sea of unconvinced faces (probably because most of them are likely to be handing over their 50% in the near future): “No chancellor wants to raise tax if they can avoid it. But in a situation like this where we’re in extraordinary circumstances, it’s necessary to raise revenue. I think it’s fair to ask those with the broader shoulders to shoulder some of the strain.”
One speaker who certainly has those broad shoulders is Peter Jones. He told delegates a heart-warming rags to riches story. “I’ve been there, 28 and carless,” the BBC tycoon recalled.
But it wasn’t just tales of youthful poverty Peter had in store for delegates. There was also advice for those in the grip of the economic crisis. “I want to take failure out of the dictionary and replace it with the word feedback,” he proposed.
Hmmm – not sure the guys at Collins would be that keen on the idea Peter. Tim Smit’s outlook on failure was a tad more realistic and a lot less stomach churning. “If you haven’t failed, you haven’t tried very hard,” the Eden Project founder insisted. “I never trust a CV without some evidence of failure on it.”
Luke Johnson echoed Tim’s sentiments, pointing out that Mr Mars had gone bankrupt twice before inventing the famous bar. “Failure is part of life,” he told us. “In business you have to learn to pick yourself up, recover and start over.”
So there you have it: failure is not only a bonus, but in fact a powerful weapon in the successful entrepreneur’s arsenal. Sorry, I meant FEEDBACK.
