Mar 07 2024 45 mins
This week’s guest is Mark Dixon, the founder and CEO of IWG - formerly known as Regus - which is the largest flexible office network worldwide.
Mark is a serial entrepreneur. He dropped out of school aged 16 to start his first business selling sandwiches from a butcher’s bike. Next came a hot dog venture, then a bakery which he sold aged 28 for £800,000. He then set up Regus, which he self-funded for the first 10 years, becoming a billionaire (in share value) aged 40, then losing it in the dotcom crash.
He now has regained his billionaire status and lives in Monaco. He has a “Saturday job” running the largest rosé wine producer in Provence but is still laser-focused on company detail. So much so, he still reads every customer complaint: “That’s how you understand how your business is really doing. You see faults in your setup that you can fix. It’s a good discipline.”
We cover a lot of ground in the interview. Dixon discusses his latest ambitious plans to create an “Uber for offices”, and how he is changing his business model to support this vision. He explains why the dizzying rise and fall of rival WeWork harmed his business because by creating “negativity” among investors.
We also discuss why he is considering leaving the London Stock Exchange for a US listing. He says the “return to work” narrative is not real, why the best way for leaders to improve their staff’s productivity is to cut their commute and why he sees people’s homes as a competitor.
He also discusses his key leadership advice, why he felt like a “total failure” after he read Walter Isaacson’s biography of Elon Musk and why he’s most worried about unforced errors and the business not reaching its potential.
Credits:
Presenter: Kate Magee
Producer: Til Owen
Artwork: David Robinson
#management #leadership
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