Unipart is not the world’s most glamorous company, but it is one I have admired for a long time.
It was founded in 1987 by one of the UK’s leading industrialists, John Neill, from the wreckage of the old British Leyland. In the 1970s, the car company had become a byword for inefficiency and industrial strife.
Yet from those unpromising beginnings, it eventually became a beacon of enlightened capitalism. By the time Neill finally retired last year, the business – owned by its 12,000 staff – was making £1billion a year.
So I was all ears at a dinner in Oxford last week hosted by the new chief executive, Darren Leigh, where the theme was creating the right conditions and mindset for growth.
It barely needs saying, that is just as urgent a topic now as it was in the Seventies – a decade to which this benighted Labour Government seems intent on returning.
Unipart has succeeded against the odds through a deceptively simple formula. The company describes itself as a ‘supply chain performance improvement partner’.
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It sounds a little bit like something David Brent, the Ricky Gervais character in the sitcom The Office, would say.
But it’s a serious business, underpinned by a culture of continuous improvement and collaboration called the Unipart Way.
In plain terms, the idea is to encourage all the employees – who are motivated through their ownership of the company – to solve problems and come up with bright ideas.
John Neill was no softie in his business life and was not afraid to confront the rabid trades unionists of the 1970s. But the experiences of his early career taught him how damaging and costly those clashes were. It instilled a business philosophy based on the principles of respect, collaboration, diversity of thought and mutual benefit. This is in line with the thinking of American psychologist Carol Dweck, who came up with the idea of ‘Know-It-All’ versus ‘Learn-It-All’ individuals.
Know-It-Alls have a fixed, rigid mindset, are preoccupied with being right and see ability as innate and unchangeable. Learn-It-Alls are hungry for new information and perspectives. They believe in perseverance, overcoming challenges and see no shame in admitting when they are wrong.
One of Dweck’s adherents is Satya Nadella, the chief excecutive of Microsoft, who also argues empathy is a business asset. Innovation in a company, he says, comes from grasping the unspoken, unmet needs of customers. The ability to do that, he says, comes from empathy – seeing life through the eyes of another person.
In an increasingly polarised political and economic environment, it is easy to forget these are the values most conducive to growth. Conflict, division and adversarial, winner-take-all attitudes achieve the opposite. This is evident on a grand scale as President Trump’s aggressive behaviour has resulted in a loss of confidence among business leaders and a reluctance to commit to investing in US assets.
Good ideas and good deals are much more likely to emerge when people feel confident and psychologically safe than when they are on the defensive.
It has never been easier to become a Learn-It-All. Most of us have instant access to infinite knowledge on our phones and computers; we can make connections with individuals anywhere on the planet.
At the same time, the world has never been in greater danger of becoming infested with Know-It-Alls. Social media has produced echo chambers where individuals amplify their own prejudices.
Closed minds and group-think are the enemies of growth.
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