1 min. with a Superhero: Anthony Farr, CEO of Allan Gray Orbis Foundation
by Yolandi Janse van Rensburg on 16/03/10 at 12:30 pm
1 comment
Anthony Farr, CEO at the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation, recently wrote an article on Instilling entrepreneurial thinking into Corporate Training and Skills Development could yield staff retention. Here at Ideate we get all happy when we here the word Entrepreneur so we decided to have a chat with Anthony Farr and ask him 5 questions on integrating entrepreneurial thinking and business. Here’s what he had to say:
1. Anthony, you are very encouraging to entrepreneurial thinking within an organisation. Is there not a danger that you may encourage talent to leave the organisation to start their own companies?
I think the bigger issue related to this is the attraction of the right talent in the organisation in the first place. Ultimately this will go a long way in determining the success of the organisation. By creating an entrepreneurial culture within the organisation, firstly you are more likely to attract a higher calibre of talent and secondly you are more likely to retain high capacity talent who will respond well to the opportunities that an entrepreneurial culture will provide. Someone who has the thought of starting their own company one day will have that process (of leaving to start their own venture) accelerated by a company that stifles their entrepreneurial instincts and delayed by one that encourages it.
2. We at Ideate believe the entrepreneurs can save the world. What is being done in SA to entice or encourage talented smart people to venture forth on entrepreneurial adventures?
Entrepreneurs can change the world by being the catalyst and key driver of growth in the economy. There is a repositioning that is needed in SA where often entrepreneurship is thought of as a secondary option for the best and the brightest, rather than being the primary aspiration. One of the more important ways this is being done in SA is by giving more attention to entrepreneurial heroes. These role models will hopefully influence the perceptions of future generations towards entrepreneurship and bring it more into the mainstream. Influential publications, such as the Financial Mail are telling the stories of entrepreneurs to broad audiences, while competitions such as E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year and organisations such as Endeavor, are recognising and publicising entrepreneurial excellence.
3. How can a small business go about creating an entrepreneurial mindset among its employees?
Small businesses almost have a greater platform to introduce an entrepreneurial mindset as they will not be tainted by the bureaucratic tendencies of larger organisations. Employees at small organisations can be given the sense of co-creating the future of the company much more easily than in a larger firm. It is almost inevitable in the context of a small company with limited resources that significant projects will be given to employees. If this can be communicated in the context of harnessing their entrepreneurial energies, rather than something that is done begrudgingly because of limited resources, it should have a significant impact on attitude and the resulting productivity.
4. Where do you draw the line when it comes to offering employees the opportunity to apply their minds creatively to problems, perceptions of the market and the manner in which the organisation creates value?
Entrepreneurial encouragement should be in support of the overall vision and focus of the company, not in competition to them. A very clear line needs to be established in terms of the direction and strategy of the company. Once this is clear and these boundaries have been fixed, a company can allow individuals to play creatively within that framework. As in life, clear boundaries do not limit freedom, but actually encourage it.
5. Any entrepreneurial endeavour means a departure from the norm; together with that departure comes the risk of failure. How could an aspiring entrepreneur avoid failure – or, to a lesser extent, contain the extent of failure that might occur?
The risk of failure is inherent in the entrepreneurial adventure. However that should not translate into a comfort with failure. Aspiring entrepreneurs should do as much as they possibly can (and more) to reduce the risk of failure to only those scenarios totally out of their locus of control. This means they should understand their market, preferably have worked in the particular industry for significant period of time, have put together detailed plans, have understood the enterprise’s genuine comparative advantage and the real need it intends to serve. Success should not be left to chance but emerge from the disciplined application of a very clear vision.
Thank you Anthony for the great advice and the comprehensive explanations!
Yolandi Janse van Rensburg writes about social media, marketing, life and, of course, cars. We say “of course” because Yolandi is nuts about anything on 4 wheels and runs Autofemme, a blog about cars. Our Ideate sub-editor is also the Heavy Chef girl at World Wide Creative. You can follow her on Twitter @Yolandi_JvR View more articles by Yolandi Janse van Rensburg.
Tags: entrepreneurial thinking, superhero interview
Wanda
Mar 17th, 2010
As entrepreneur and small business owner operating predominantly with large corporate clients, I find Anthony’s work particularly interesting. Entrepreneurs (whether employed at larger corporates, innovating and leading) or (within smaller companies hungry to give their businesses the edge) will undoubtably be the drivers for growth. With many years in recruitment I believe that the move towards an integrated and holisitic Talent Strategy is key to all business, irrespective of size and incorporating entrepreneurship-thinking into this stategy could produce huge positive impacts.