10 Things I Know
Will Butler-Adams, managing director of Brompton Bicycle
On fate, folding bikes, proving yourself, and why the best thing you can do for young people is give them responsibility.
Will Butler-Adams runs Brompton Bicycle, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of folding bikes. All Brompton bicycles are built in their factory in West London, one of only two frame manufacturers still based in the UK. The company remains in private hands and today Brompton bicycles are sold in 42 countries. Global Innovation Magazine spoke to the man credited with taking the company to the next level.
There is more for me to do and in many respects this is driven by a desire to prove myself. Academia was never my strong point. Up until the age of 13 life for me was not about learning but having fun. From 13–16 I was in the bottom class of six, so I was in the ‘fick’ classes. I suppose I am still shaking that off. I did maths, physics and chemistry A-level, and just scraped in to Newcastle University to study engineering, where I finally got a formal education and came out with a First.
It is Andrew Ritchie, inventor of the Brompton Bike, we can thank for creating the Brompton. He took the great risk and had unbelievable resolve and determination. What I have done is taken his baby and helped her grow up. How I have done this is in recognising what skills the business needed, recruiting the right people with those skills and giving them the space and support to do their job. We are a pretty honest company, everything is open.
Many years ago, Will took a ride on a bus and got talking to the man next to him who was the chairman of Brompton Bicycle, Tim Guinness. Tim was looking for someone just like Will to come into Brompton. Will put his plans for an MBA on hold and grasped the opportunity with both hands. Meeting Tim Guinness was extreme fate!
My first project for ICI was to redesign an agitator bearing housing. Basically a big bearing holder at the bottom of an enormous tank to steady a massive stirrer. I had just graduated, I had been taught everything — stress analysis, CAD etc. It was the most expensive, over engineered and nearly not on time solution to the problem. It was then that I realised that I was not being paid to do the work but instead to deliver the project on time, on budget and fit for purpose.
In my case I think innovation is a generous term. All that I did was do what others have done before me. Unless you happen to be in the most cutting edge of manufacturing technology, the chances are someone has done it and learnt the lessons before you. The trick is to recognise this and go and find the information and the things not to do and apply them to your business.
We make damn good bikes that add value to your life…it is cool!
Give young people responsibility mentally and commercially to prove what they are capable of. Be there to offer support but not to judge and encourage them to take risks.
What makes a good innovator? Do not be afraid to take risks and be confident enough not to follow the crowd.
Do you ever take time to reflect on where you are, to sit back and enjoy? I’m not there yet.
“We make damn good bikes that add value to your life…it is cool!”
From the Archive — This interview was originally published in Issue 1, March 2014 (March 2014). Roles, titles, and views expressed were accurate at the time of the original interview and may have since changed.
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