CEO Today Magazine March 2018 Edition

THE GAME CHANGERS 2 “Hard Work + Time = Success (HW+T=S). If this formula is correct, and in my opinion, it is, then starting your career at 16 has obvious benefits over starting at 21 or 22. Five years of benefit to be precise. I left school at 16, not because I wanted to, but because my dyslexia held me so far back that it was impossible for me to get a place at sixth form or University. In fact, I was 30 years old before I did any formal education, and that was paid for (they don’t tend to say no when you’re paying) at Cranfield School of Management and I then did another at Stanford University when I was 34. Education without doubt is a huge positive in life and the entrepreneurs who say you should not study and just get straight to work are wrong in my opinion. It might work for some like it did for me, but I know plenty of people for whom it didn’t. Some of them are stuck in jobs which just about pay the bills or unemployed. That’s not an exciting life for anyone. Leaving school at 16 does teach you about work ethic— it means you have to start from the bottom and you have to work your way up. It can also teach you how to think outside of the box and the importance of taking risks. Leaving school at 16 gave me huge hunger to succeed, not to mention a 5-year head-start on my competition (my peers). There was never going to be a 21-year- old who would beat me to a position that did not fundamentally require a degree when I had five years hard graft under my belt.” JAMIE WALLER “University education is fantastic for certain careers, and absolutely necessary for them. It’s also fantastic for certain individuals who are more academic. However, many people are, quite frankly, stifled by the education system. In many cases, I think leaving education is a brave step, mainly because of the negativity that surrounds this area. The very wording of this question, in fact, focuses on those “dropping out” of full-time education. I feel that needs to be flipped around—further education needs to be seen as exactly that—further education, to supplement the grounding that the schooling system has given the pupils/students. I believe that 16 – 18 year olds are potentially at the best possible place to start a business. What they lack in experience, they gain in the freedom from a blinkered view based on the way that historic businesses have done things. By starting a business at an early age, you don’t have the commitments that you might have later. Once you’ve got debt, perhaps a partner, living costs, rent/mortgage, it becomes so much harder to make that leap—even if you know it’s the right thing for you. Security can be a powerful motivator—and indeed, demotivator (depending on your perspective!)” CARL READER Lastly: Jamie Waller, founder of Firestarters, a £13m investment fund for early stages businesses and Carl Reader, Philanthropist, Entrepreneur and Co-founder of TaxGo shared the perspective on the benefits of starting your career early.