New ideas can inspire the jaded
27 May 2008
It’s not often a CEO truly evangelises, but after meeting Rob Anders, I was convinced that new ideas fuelled by energy can be a motivating force that carries all in its wake.
I only knew Mornington Crescent, where I met Rob Anders, as the victory cry in the eponymous game on radio’s I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue, so I was intrigued before I even opened my notepad. Buildings on the short walk from the tube to the offices were a mix of the hip with the traditional. I walked past a couple of typically Camden music venues to reach the quaint little mews which houses the HQ of Anders Electronics.
I arrived determined to know more about Rob Anders, who, at 33 years of age, was appointed CEO of Anders Electronics last August. The company which designs and supplies display components, not the displays themselves, is part of the Anders Electronics Group which Rob’s grandfather founded in 1952. I was not sure what 'type' I was to meet; would it be someone who grew up knowing his role was to run the company and take over from his own father Nicholas, when he retired in 2007? As a rule, I try not to form an opinion before an interview but whatever I was expecting, I was unprepared to meet someone who changed my view on establishment ideas.
Anders was brought up and educated in London and studied Human Communications and Communications Disorders at the University of Manchester. After a year in a leadership scheme to help children with speech difficulties, he went to Israel to join a kibbutz for six months. He met his wife and stayed. Israel is responsible for Anders’ real enthusiasm for business. After the kibbutz, he joined a business management company for e-commerce. Anders’ face lights up talking about Israel in the 90s. The attitude was “get finance, set up a company,” he enthuses. “It was different in terms of work and culture. It has the highest concentration of start-ups and the whole attitude was ‘yallah, yallah’,” he says dipping and sweeping his arms to his left. “It means ‘let’s go’, ” he explains. “The whole place was in a hurry to move along with a ‘let’s go’ mentality."
Until last year, he was the company’s commercial director in Tel Aviv, where the company has R&D facilities. Anders is bringing the country’s young start-up mentality to the 56 year-old company. Our interview was held in the ‘Really Serious Meeting Room’ according to the label on the door. There is also a People Room, where meditation and reflexology sessions are held, and a Creativity Room.
Anders is bringing lots of new ways of getting things done to the company. His communications/language background serves to present those ideas and to enthuse his listeners. He has worked in Ohio and Atlanta in the US, moving to set up offices of the companies he started or joined in Israel. Before commerce, he was lecturing in communications and believes “business is people communications”. The Creativity Room has Lego which can be used for problem solving, a lateral approach which typifies Anders’s methods. He peppers the interview with quotes from books which analyse and list practices which make businesses and organisations successful. He has introduced a mentor and coach system, NLP training and is a member of the Ideas Centre, where ideas are shared. The company has ACE, Anders Cultural Evenings too. It is not just words, though. “Come on, let me show you the new M2C [mono to colour] displays,” he says springing up from his chair and bounding into the Creativity Room next door. That’s when I realise he is full of energy - and incredibly tall.
Seated again, he concedes that it is hard to take an established company and inject new ideas, but he is determined to create a young start-up environment in an older firm. Normally, I greet with justified suspicion a boss that feels his role is a bullish bootcamp redcoat, commanding staff to stay late to enjoy themselves –whether they like it or not. Anders’s enthusiasm for everyone to be a part of the business and to enjoy the eight hours spent at work seems genuine, though. When I asked him what his goals are they are a delightful mix of hippy-ness and commercial ambitions. In 2009, Anders wants to see the company recognised as a great company to work for; he wants to sell 10,000 to 15,000 intelligent displays; he wants to generate profits of £1million and wants to continue the company’s sustainability push. Low-energy light bulbs are used throughout the building, paper is re-used and a brick is placed in loo cisterns to save water. Finally, he wants to continue to sponsor children in China.
With the displays market, he believes it is easy to distinguish oneself. The company will evolve as it identifies technologies like M2C, touchscreens, icons and menus and software in displays. Now it is focusing on ergonomic aspects of displays and their usability.
Leaving the offices, I am convinced that new ideas and ways of finding out what customers want and how this can be delivered and will be actioned. I believe when Anders says he wants a passionate and creative business model. His values, he says, are people, passion, creativity and integrity. From anyone else, I might sneer and dismiss this as marketing babble - from the amiable and relaxed Anders, I believe it is a company profile.
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