Winner of the 2016 Sunday Times Top 100 Companies Lifetime Achievement Award, Dr Johann Rupert said the biggest mistake he made in business was “being too conservative and not doing deals that I could have done at the time because I listened to other people”.
A missed deal he regrets was when he was eager to buy half of Gucci for $175-million, but his board advised against it and he listened.
When he saw another opportunity with Panerai, the board again tried to discourage him, but he went ahead regardless. He bought Panerai for $1.1-million in 1997. Today the company is worth about $1.5-billion (about R20.15-billion).
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Rupert’s advice for business leaders and entrepreneurs is pretty simple: “Follow your gut”.
In conversation with Jeremy Maggs - watch the video below - Rupert shares some of the other leadership lessons he's learnt:
• Understand the value of creating a culture and tone that resonates with employees and customers, and set it right at the top in the head office. “If you set the right culture for an organisation, then the loyalty that must go both ways can set in.”
• "Don't do anything that you don't want to see on the front page of the Sunday Times".
WATCH: Dr Johann Rupert in conversation with Jeremy Maggs
WATCH: Rupert's full acceptance speech upon receiving the Sunday Times Top 100 Companies Lifetime Achievement Award
Full results of the Sunday Times Top 100 Companies will appear in the November 13, 2016, edition of the Sunday Times newspaper.
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