Access: The millionaire businessman who fostered 90 children
"Life is meant to be full of uncertainty - if you always know what is going to happen next, there would be no thrill in achievement." - Sir John Timpson
Hello reader,
Welcome to the 8th edition of Access - it’s great to be here with you.
This week is Trustees' Week, so instead of the usual private equity people + hiring posts, we’re sharing a list of trustee opportunities and links to useful resources.
It’s funny how things come together. Melissa & I had already planned the subject of our in-depth piece - I’d come across Sir John Timpson’s work supporting fostered and adopted children through my experiences as an adoptive parent, and later as a trustee for We Are Family. We thought he would be an interesting person to feature this week; he’s a trustee at the Alex Timpson Trust, and there’s a tenuous link to private equity too, as I understand the post-family feud MBO of Timpson was partly financed through venture funding.
This morning, the John Lewis Christmas advert was unveiled. Unexpectedly, it features foster carers preparing to welcome a young care-experienced person into their home. Aside from grumbles about the low-energy cover of Blink 182’s All the Small Things, the reception so far seems to be overwhelmingly positive. (It should be noted that John Lewis has also made a long-term commitment to supporting young people from care, so the advert is not simply a headline grab to make sales).
Anyway - all this is to say that if you can spare a few hours a month and would like to volunteer your time as a trustee, please have a look over some of the information below. There are plenty of organisations who would love to hear from you!
I’ll leave you with a link to this excellent piece from Fiona McAuslan, about who can be a trustee. (Spoiler alert - more people than you think).
Until next time,
Liz & Melissa
In case you missed it…
Last week’s newsletter included interviews with RM from BTS and Pharrell Williams, former armed robber John McAvoy, and Bookworm Reads founder Amelia Goodman.
Our In-Depth section featured Kim Lew, the Lifetime Achievement award winner who’s only just getting started.
FEATURING:
A roundup of the very best resources for aspiring trustees 📖
Our pick of current trustee opportunities, including FoodCycle, The School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE), Whale and Dolphin Conservation, and more
In-depth: John Timpson is the millionaire businessman who fostered 90 children.
RESOURCES
❓What’s involved in being a charity trustee?
A no-nonsense guide to trusteeship from GOV.UK
NCVO has a helpful overview of charity governance for new or aspiring trustees
Sign up with Trustees Unlimited to receive their regular newsletter and register for their matching service
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🔎Find and apply for trustee positions, with:
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“I realised that being a trustee was the perfect way to use my skills and passions to help a charity and it was just what I was looking for.”
🙌Getting On Board supports people to become charity trustees, particularly those who are currently under-represented on trustee boards.
Read Anbreen Bi’s story here
Are you 18-30 years old? Register for the free Future Trustees programme
Looking for your next move?
Last week we shared a list of 87 private capital opportunities. Missed the Jobseeker’s Edition? Check out the list here 👇
THE LIST
All roles below are volunteer opportunities, listed in order of closing date. . Adverts will usually include the anticipated time commitment (if they don’t list this, please ask - expectations of trustees can vary quite a bit from one organisation to another).
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Whale and Dolphin Conservation is a leading global charity dedicated to the conservation and protection of whales and dolphins and has been a voice for these remarkable creatures for more than 30 years.
Trustee (Remote)
Closing date: 14/11/2022
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Sussex Wildlife Trust champions wildlife and natural places everywhere in Sussex and inspires people to take action for nature.
Trustee with legal experience (Henfield, hybrid)
Closing date: 16/11/2022
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The School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE) equips people to transform their communities and improve the lives of others.
Trustees, multiple (Flexible)
Closing date: 18/11/2022
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Healthwatch Lambeth is an award-winning health and social care charity that works to ensure that the health and wellbeing needs of all in Lambeth, are heard, understood and met.
Trustee with finance experience (Lambeth, hybrid)
Vice-chair of trustees (Lambeth, hybrid)
Closing date: 21/11/2022
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FoodCycle nourishes the hungry and lonely in our communities with delicious meals and great conversation, using food that would otherwise go to waste.
Chair (London, on-site)
Trustee (London, on-site)
Closing date: 29/11/2022
Apply here, via Peridot Partners
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Lively Minds is an award-winning UK-registered Charity working to get pre-schoolers in rural Ghana and Uganda school-ready.
Treasurer (London, hybrid)
Closing date: 30/11/2022
Apply here, via Trustees Unlimited
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Leeds Heritage Theatres is a registered charity united by a single cause; to bring people together, create the extraordinary, and provide a positive environment in which to entertain and educate.
Trustee (Leeds, hybrid)
Closing date: 30/11/2022
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PACT is an adoption charity and family support provider, helping hundreds of families every year through outstanding adoption and adoption support services and community projects.
Trustees, multiple (Remote)
Closing date: 02/12/2022
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The British Science Association aims to transform people’s relationship with science and improve the diversity of science to ensure that it represents and benefits all of society.
Trustees, multiple (London, hybrid)
Closing date: 09/12/2022
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Magpie Dance is the UK’s leading dance charity for people with learning disabilities.
Trustee with legal experience (London)
Closing date: 16/12/2022
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Veterans' Growth is a charity dedicated to helping ex-service personnel who are suffering from mental health issues, offering horticultural therapy and support.
Trustees, multiple (Remote)
Closing date: 24/12/2022
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Trauma Breakthrough is a leading regional UK based provider of trauma-informed training, consultancy & wellbeing services for organisations & individuals.
Chair of trustees (Bath, on-site)
Closing date: 05/02/2023
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IN-DEPTH
“With all the dramas of the business and our foster children, I had no need for Coronation Street.”
The Timpson family business is a stalwart of the UK high street. Before sitting down to write this, I did a quick poll of friends and family - without exception, every single one had been into a Timpson store at some point, for dry cleaning, key cutting or shoe repair.
The story of how Sir John Timpson, CBE, became Chairman and owner of the family business will be familiar to many. He joined shortly after graduation, then watched his uncle oust his father in a board room coup. In 1983, John Timpson led an MBO to regain control of Timpson - the rest, as they say, is history.
Timpson is refreshingly candid about his entry into the family business. “They might not admit it, but all successful business people need a bit of luck. I had so much I never ever needed a job interview.” He also calls out some of the challenges he’s survived over the years, saying (and only half-joking) “The way to survive in a group is to ensure another subsidiary is performing worse than your bit”.
He’s been through more than his fair share of ups and downs, at work and at home. Timpson talks openly about his mental health difficulties and feels so passionately about the subject that he wrote a short book about how to help colleagues at work with their mental health.
“I hope that fellow sufferers who read the book will recognise the symptoms – constantly worrying about trivial problems, impatience, lack of self-esteem, not wanting to meet people, no energy and interrupted sleep.”
Along with his late wife Alex, Timpson fostered 90 children over the years. Together, they have five children, two of whom they adopted. “A common question we are asked about fostering is, ‘what affect has it had on your own children?’ I simply point out that our daughter became a primary school teacher, our son Edward [was] the Minister for Children and Families and his elder brother James, our Chief Executive, has masterminded a mind blowing scheme to employ people from prison.”
Timpson describes the life-changing experience of learning about attachment from educational psychologist Dan Hughes, and how this influenced their parenting of children with experiences of early trauma. After his wife passed away, Timpson set up the Alex Timpson Trust in her memory, to help schools better respond to the emotional needs of looked-after (fostered and adopted) children.
“But attachment isn't just significant to looked-after children; it's also important to every workplace.”
Timpson is a proponent of what he calls ‘Upside Down Management’. He explains, “it started when we recognised that our success depended on how well we looked after our customers.” There’s a page on the Timpson website dedicated to this model of management, where employees ‘do it our way’. He describes the model as person-centred, with the goal of helping each team member be the best version of themselves, achieved through a combination of trust and mentoring.
“It’s not easy for managers to delegate authority while keeping responsibility, most do it the other way round.”
Team members can choose their own job titles, handle customer complaints in whichever way they see fit, and can even choose the prices they charge. The HR department is rebadged as ‘people support’, where their main role is to help solve people’s personal challenges. In Timpson’s own words, “We train team leaders on how to help colleagues with personal problems, including bereavement, addiction, debt and relationship issues. And we talk openly about stress, lend out our training centre for outside courses on attachment, and actively recruit from prison. The main thing, however, is that nearly everyone seems to have a smile on their face.”
About Timpson
Timpson is the UK’s leading retail service provider employing over 5,000 colleagues, with 1,934 owned stores throughout the UK and Ireland. Established since 1865, the Timpson business is wholly-owned by Chairman, Sir John Timpson CBE and Chief Executive, James Timpson OBE.
“We have two rules: one is look the part, the other is put the money in the till. For everything else they can do what they want.”
On Upside Down Management
“You can't create exceptional service through a set of rules the only way is to trust the colleagues in our shops with the freedom to serve each customer the way they know best. I set off on a crusade which I called Upside Down Management with shop colleagues in control and every tier of management there, not to give orders, but to help and support.”
On transforming their culture
“It took 5 years to change our culture and we learnt a lot of lessons along the way. It took time to stop middle management issuing orders and put their efforts behind giving praise, help and support rather than policing a process. It’s not easy for managers to delegate authority while keeping responsibility, most do it the other way round.”
On recruitment
“The biggest lesson was about our people. Our ‘upside down’ way of working only succeeds with the right characters. Our recruitment was all wrong, we were looking for cobblers and key cutters, we needed to pick people with personality - we can teach a guy with character how to repair shoes but you can't put personality into a grumpy cobbler.”
On writing a book about mental health at work
“I learned a lot. Most people with stress and depression find it difficult to admit they have a problem. Many are reluctant to talk to a doctor and almost all find it hard to start a critical conversation with their boss. I also started to realise how threatening some workplaces can feel.”
“You don’t have to be a tyrant to be successful - from all the evidence I see, you can do good and at the same time run a good business.”
On family businesses
"By the time you get to the third generation, there are lots of cousins and so on who are only interested in the dividend and spend their time complaining... So I was just lucky that there was a whole sequence of events that meant that although I am the fourth generation, it is like I am the first generation. I have the advantage of having the experience handed down without the disadvantage of anyone else owning any shares."
On people over process
“A lot of businesses make life more and more complicated and that's mainly caused by setting the belief that we have to create processes. I don't think it's about process, I think it's about picking the right people and giving them the opportunity to do their best.”
On employing ex-offenders
“[F]irstly, we know actually that it makes a hell of a difference if they've got a job because over half the people leaving prison, if they haven't got a job, will go back again within two years. That drops dramatically if they're employed. And secondly, because very few other people are interested in employing them, we've got the pick of the bunch so we can get some very good people.”
“[M]ost businesses need to recognise how they make money and it might seem a silly question to most businesses but a lot seem to forget it.”
On prioritising staff
“It's the people who work in our shops that make us the money so that's why I spend so much time going and meeting them. These people have to work for you and the whole thing won’t work unless you’ve won their hearts and minds. They’re the people that actually make it all happen so yes, I guess I have always been a people person.”
On building safe spaces
“My experience as a foster carer, a school governor and being part of a business that successfully employs people from prison has shown me the benefits that are created by a kind and caring organisation that understands the significance of attachment, and the need to create an environment of safety, understanding and trust.”
“Learning new techniques and gaining a better understanding of how to take care of every individual child, regardless of their circumstances, was definitely one of the most rewarding aspects of fostering for us.”
On getting out and about
“As Chairman, my time is largely spent visiting our shops and meeting our colleagues. I’ve been to two of our stores today and I’ll visit one more before I catch the train home. Looking at the figures comes at the bottom of my list. You learn much more by getting out there and talking to your team.”
On staying future focused
“Most boards are drowning in reports about past performance but we always open our pack with papers that are focused on our future… Now and then I’ll also write an Annual Report for our business in 15 or 20 years’ time; it’s far enough ahead to feel unconstrained and it’s a great way to allow your imagination to run riot.”
His best piece of advice?
“If you have a disagreement with your wife, let her win. I follow that advice today with my son James, my CEO. It helps a father and son work together in harmony.”
Speaking at a 2018 entrepreneurs' conference, Together We Can Take on the World, Sir John Timpson shares how introducing an upside down management structure was the most important business decision he's made.
Sources
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