Today I visited Enterprise ‘09 and had the good fortune to hear Richard Farleigh deliver the keynote to a packed seminar theatre (standing room only for late-comers!).
Richard is a popular former ‘Dragon’ who joined ‘Dragons’ Den’ for the show’s third series in 2006, and was ranked as the 876th on the Sunday Times Rich List 2006 with an estimated net worth of £66million.
One lesson I took away from this talk was that to be successful, you need to have an element of luck on your side. Richard compared playing chess against backgammon. With chess (he plays chess as a hobby, and is an internationally-ranked player who has represented Bermuda and Monaco at the Chess Olympics), if you make the right moves you will win. With backgammon, the throw of the dice can change the outcome.
It was fascinating to hear of Richard's humble beginnings in Australia and how he came to make his (first) fortune. But the most inspiring part for me came when he spoke about venture after venture that failed! From diamond mines to an exclusive restaurant, sometimes he was lucky to get his investment back.
Learning what doesn’t work gives us valuable lessons – probably because they are often painful, we try not to repeat them.
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