The Joys of Entrepreneurship: "Small is beautiful"
Dr Hugh Padley - MA (Cantab), MSc (Econ), FCMA - was awarded an Honorary Doctor's Degree by Staffordshire University in 2003 for services to business and enterprise in Staffordshire.
Unusually, he was well qualified for a typical entrepreneur but redundancy persuaded him that it was time to fulfill a lifelong ambition to take the plunge into self employment. He was 40 years old and the UK's economy was in the middle of a severe recession.
Over the next 10 years, he successfully built up a business before Parkinson's Disease forced him to change direction. This put him in a unique situation of having actually experienced the highs and lows of 'doing it' and then being in a position to witness how the odds are stacked against the entrepreneur, in particular the short-term, destructive nature of the professional advisers - bankers, accountants, solicitors and business consultants.
There is little doubt that 'small is beautiful' and only those businesses, and ultimately countries, that innovate and add value will prosper.
The book is targeted at university students "to open their eyes to the opportunities available". He wants graduates to take on the business world rather than be absorbed by it. The current graduates are mainly trained to enter one of the professions but, with the advent of the 'information age' and the reduction in manufacturing in the UK, the indications are that there is going to be a surfeit with no jobs to go to.
Also, the recession has put many people out of work, but Hugh Padley has a thoughtful and intelligent outlook that suggests no one need be redundant for long, and hopes that his experience "might give them the courage to take the step to self-employment."
