Letters from a perfect imperfectionist: The recipe for success

There’s no predicting who will make a successful business owner.

I’ve met people with brains the size of a planet who couldn’t make a go of it and drop-outs who made millions.

I’ve met people with a heart of gold who have lost their shirts and some souls black with villainy who have reached the top of the pile.

I’ve met those who have started with nothing, others begin with wealth and make more.

There has simply been no correlation between intelligence, integrity and inheritance that have predicated business success.

In my own case, I feel as if I’m a reasonably bright bloke, that I genuinely try to do my best by other people and I sure as hell started with nowt.

But over 43 years in work I’ve made some money and lost some money, experienced a roller coaster ride and find myself at 61 happily working as hard as ever, with one of the best teams I’ve managed to gather around me, doing stuff I enjoy immensely and with no end in sight (mind you, the idea of not working fills me with a combination of incomprehensibility and dread).

So what the devil does generate success?