(Reviewer: Ralph Zulman, Vol. 65, No. 3, Chanukah 2010)
Raymond Ackerman is a well known philanthropic Jewish businessman. He was rated by the Financial Times as among the World’s top 100 Most Respected Businessmen and is the first South African to receive the International Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship. He is further the author of the best-selling memoir – Hearing Grasshoppers Jump and The Four Legs of the Table, in which recounts how he built Pick’n Pay.
Pick’n Pay was founded in 1966, with four small stores. Over the years, the number of stores continually increased, and today Pick ‘n Pay is a household name with no less than 792 stores in eight countries employing more than 60 000 people and generating an annual turnover of around R60 billion. By his retirement 44 years later, Ackerman had changed the face of southern African retailing.
A Sprat to Catch a Mackerel, Ackerman’s latest book, is a brief, concise account loaded with sound common sense and based on his vast experience and knowledge. It is dedicated to “all those extraordinary human beings who create jobs, grow the economy and serve their customers, while leading the independent life they’ve always dreamed of.”
The work consists of a prologue followed by twenty chapters, each listing a set of principles – numbering 53 in total – and an appendix, entitled ‘Nuts & Bolts’. The title of each chapter is insightful. Examples include ‘The Most Vital Ingredient of All’ (Chapter 1), ‘The Real Reason You’re in Business Negotiating’ (3), ‘The Art of Persuasion’ (7), ‘Pricing – A Tricky Business’ (9), ‘Serving Your Customer –Three Cast-iron Rules’ (11), ‘Humility – Never Know Enough’ (14), ‘Marketing from the Heart’ (16), ‘Hope – The Importance of Optimism’(17), and ‘Make Mistakes, Not Regrets’ (19).
In Chapter 8, entitled ‘Empathy & Empowerment – The Guardians of your Greatest Asset’ (in describing Principle 17), Ackerman quotes these words of Winston Churchill: “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”
Principle 47 is ‘Business practices may change but principles must remain’ while Principle 49 is ‘When you come to a roadblock, take a detour’. Quoting John Steinbeck, Principle 50 is ‘What good is warmth without cold to give it sweetness?’ Principle 53 advises “take your work seriously but yourself lightly”.
Ackerman concludes the book with these wise sentiments: “Given that a business requires meticulous and ongoing research, it is finally time for me to hand over to you. It is my fervent wish that you put this book down feeling more than ever ready to tackle the admirable task of running your own business and master your destiny. Good luck!”
I recommend a reading of this most interesting and enjoyable work.
A Sprat to Catch a Mackerel: Key Principles to Build your Business by Raymond Ackerman, with Pippa de Bruyn and Suzanne Ackerman, Jonathan Ball Publishers, 2010, 215pp
Mr. Justice Ralph Zulman is a long-serving member of the editorial board of and regular contributor to Jewish Affairs.
