CASE STUDY

Sir James Dyson: Learning to Achieve Success

James Dyson, knighted by Britains Queen Elizabeth in 2006, rose to success and fame via an unusual and challenging path. Dysons life journey is one based on a desire to solve problems and learn from mistakes, to persevere and excel.

His fathers death in 1956 when he was nine years old had a profound impact on Dysons future. Dyson says, [n]ot having a father, particularly at that time, was very unusual. I felt different. I was on my own. I can't quite explain it, but I think subconsciously I felt a need to prove myself.i When Dyson entered the work world, his first boss, Jeremy Fry, also had a profound influence on his development. Dyson recalls, [w]hen I went to work for him, I'd never designed a product. I'd never sold anything. And he put me in charge of a company manufacturing a high-speed landing craft. So he taught me that someone doesn't have to grow into a job. If you allow them to make mistakes, they'll learn extremely quickly. He also taught me to mistrust experience. He was far happier to have people working around him who had freshness and an unsullied approach.ii

In the late 1970s, Dyson began developing a vacuum cleaner based on the belief that people actually wanted to see the dirt that they were collecting.iii In recalling the beginning of this venture, Dyson observes, I started with an idea: a vacuum with no bag. The bag was a problem. The bag clogs with dust, the machine wheezes, losing its puff. So, inspired by an industrial cyclone at a timber mill, I created a vacuum that used centrifugal force to separate the dust and dirt. No bag, no clogging, no loss of suction. It didn't look great, but it worked. After five years of testing, tweaking, fist banging, cursing, and more than 5,000 mistakes or prototypes, as engineers call them it was there.iv

Over the ensuing 15-year period, Dyson produced 5,127 prototypes of his Dual Cyclone bagless vacuum cleaner before developing the model that would ultimately make him a billionaire.v Dyson persevered in spite of the mistakes, disappointments, and frustrations conditions that might have caused many other people to give up.

Dyson attributes his perseverance against the odds to an important childhood realization. Quoted on the companys Web Site, Dyson recalls: I wanted to give up almost every day. But one of the things I did when I was young was long distance running, from a mile up to ten miles. They wouldnt let me run more than ten miles at school in those days they thought youd drop down dead or something. And I was quite good at it, not because I was physically good but because I had more determination. I learned determination from it. Dyson continues: A lot of people give up when the world seems to be against them, but thats the point when you should push a little harder. I use the analogy of running a race. It seems as though you cant carry on, but if you just get through the pain barrier, youll see the end and be okay. Often, just around the corner is where the solution will happen.vi

Regarding the Dyson vacuums dirt collection system, Dyson recalls, [e]veryone said that the clear bin would repulse people. By that point I'd stopped listening to everyone and went with my instinct. I'm particularly adept at making mistakes it's a necessity as an engineer. Each iteration of the vacuum came about because of a mistake I needed to fix. What's important is that I didn't stop at the first failure, the 50th, or the 5,000th. I never will. Believing that big companies would choose good technology progress over short-term profit was a big mistake. I love mistakes.vii

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Dyson tried to interest existing manufacturers of vacuum cleaners in his invention, but with no success. So he pursued manufacturing the Dyson vacuum cleaner on his own. Although the venture nearly bankrupted him,viii here too he persevered. Within 18 months the Dual ix Cyclone bagless model became the number one selling vacuum cleaner in the United Kingdom, and now sells more than four times as many vacuums in the U.K. than does its closest competitor.x

Jennifer Harris, writing in Management Today, ponders why the so-called experts like the established vacuum cleaner manufacturers that refused to produce Dysons machine are sometimes loathe to innovation. Her answer is that these experts have become so successful that they start to see success as their right, rather than a privilege earned continuously through hard work and fresh thinking.xi Sir James Dyson quite the contrarian became expert and successful through hard work and fresh thinking.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Why is the opportunity or freedom to make mistakes crucial to learning?

How can the opportunity or freedom to make mistakes contribute to performance improvement?

What advice do you think James Dyson would give to a recent college graduate who is just starting his/her career?

What advice do you think James Dyson would give to someone would is in charge of training people and evaluating their performance?