Being an Ethics Boy in Digital World
10 lessons in staying sane
while being successful
Andy Redfern - May 15th 2009
Introduction
• Andy Redfern, CEO, EthicalSuperstore.com
• EthicalSuperstore.com is a leading online retailer
based in the North East of England.
• We:
–
–
–
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Have 150,000 customers
Sell 8000 different products
Have a 400,000 unique visitors a month
Run shops for Cancer Research, Greenpeace, Friends of
the Earth, the Green Party, the Guardian Eco Store, Divine
Chocolate and many more
Being successful...
...it’s all about the cloud
Stuff
Ideas
Success
The x-factor for business?
Why do some
businesses successfully grow
and others don’t?
50 people
A non-deterministic problem with
seemingly random tendencies
2-3 people
10 personal lessons for bridging
the “random gap”
Lesson 1
• Loss of control is a myth...
• ....you never really have complete control.
Staff, investors and customers are just a bigger
team of people very keen to make your idea
succeed...use them!
Lesson 2
• Do what you say you’re going to....
•
...and everyone is happy!
Lesson 3
• If things don’t go to plan...
• ...let everyone know before, during and after!
Lesson 4
• Discipline is good for you and your business....
• ....sloppy planning, muddled thinking and misaligned goals will not help you grow. Quality in
all things is king.
Lesson 5
• Your idea is important...
• ...but you are even more important. The
perfect plan has a great idea and the best
team to drive it. Make sure you know why you
are the best.
Lesson 6
• Embrace challenge, hard questions and having
to re-state the obvious....
• ....you either get very polished at giving the
right answer or you make some smart
changes.
Lesson 7
• Running a business is about “selling”...
• ...learn to love “selling” as you need to do it
every day. Raising money or creating a joint
venture is simply selling with a much bigger
price tag.
Lesson 8
• Good business leaders have at least 10 ideas
before breakfast...
• ...truly great business leaders know which 9 of
the 10 should be binned along with the burnt
toast.
Lesson 9
• Love your competitors and learn from their
success and failure...
• ...they can be an inspiration, a short cut to
success, a source of great staff, an ally, a joint
venture and an exit.
Lesson 10
• [[think of witty final point that perfectly
captures everything you’ve said so far]]
• You will never complete your todo list – be
happy!
Thank you!