A few weeks ago, a good friend asked me to do an after-dinner talk for a private annual dinner where he hosts MDs of various privately-owned companies he’s invested in. My remit was wide – he told me to speak on anything I wanted to. Given the audience, the obvious topic was entrepreneurship. The result was pleasing, an assessment you’ll hopefully agree with when you read the full text of the address on Biznews.com this morning.
The most important aspect emerging from my research into the subject was the expectation that good entrepreneurs will begin to thrive disproportionately as the world normalises over the next few years. The injection of artificial capital via Quantitative Easing raised all ships, making it easy for almost any business to succeed. With that going into reverse, competence will once more attract a premium and the opposite exposed. We are about to see who wasn’t wearing swimming trunks when the QE tide came in.
The new period of meritocracy will ensure well-run businesses flourish. That is good for the market, society and the nation. Because the easy pickings of recent times are not sustainable in our highly networked world.
