THEY DIDN'T ACTUALLY KNOW WHAT GOOD WAS...

John Neill Group CEO of Unipart described this as the main failing of British Management in the post-war years. Peter Lederer, Chairman of Gleneagles, said this was why he left Britain in the 1970s. No good.

But now we’ve got adept at knowing what good is and as adept at hiding our lights under bushels.

Britain is world class at restaurants, retailing, the arts, building brands, hospitality and creative industries (and just for fun I’m including investment banking in this category.)

World class. The Royal Opera House. Glyndebourne.
World class. The Tate. Royal Academy. National Gallery
World class. WPP. M&C Saatchi. Sedley Place. Barclays
World class. BBC. Pinewood. Hat Trick. Talkback Thames
World class. Gleneagles. Hotel du Vin. Browns
World class. Selfridges. John Lewis. Fortnum&Mason. Foyles
World class. Fat Duck. Ivy. Galvins. Wolseley
World class. Simon Rattle. Kate Adey. Jamie Oliver
World class. Canary Wharf. O2 Dome. St. Pancras. London Eye
World class. Football. Rugby. Cricket. Golf. Cycling. Sailing

Yet we persist in doing three crazy things.
i)     selling our brands to anyone, anywhere with a bit of cash
ii)    outsourcing what we should do ourselves to high inflation economies
iii)    failing to improve what we do and make every single day…because good is never good enough

We have the choice of becoming third world class – Primark, Poundland, Charity Shops - or working our balls off to be best.

I was watching Jeremy King at the Wolseley the other day, chatting up his staff and walking the floor that’s what leads to world class. That’s why sensible CEOs should live in their reception feeling and seeing the face of their business. Why Sir John Hegarty, founder of ad. agency BBH said you could never take your eye of the shop for a second.

Stop for a moment just trying to be big or get rich. Start trying to be better. Start to change the game (that’s why I call Kate Adey world class – she changed the way we saw women broadcasters forever.)

World class takes perspiration, focus, trial and error and a withering disregard for anything that takes your eye off great customer service.

It takes pride, ambition and a willingness to be measured against the best, smartest and most competitive.

Welcome to New Britain….and not a minute too soon.