United, we are far more powerful than individually

One of the founding Be the Business individuals, Richard Baker’s goal has always been to create a business-to-business, peer-to-peer support system that enables success on all fronts.

Richard is no stranger to the intricacies and potential pitfalls of running a business.

A long-term employee of BAE Systems, he has held a variety of senior roles, each of which has informed and empowered him in this next stage of his career.

As an example, Richard cites an experience he had during his involvement in the ground-breaking Typhoon military aircraft programme. The interaction would cement the importance of engaging with a product end-user with Richard forever.

“I went to RAF Coningsby to shadow the operational squadrons and try and understand the challenges they face,” he said, “and I talked to the crew chiefs about the things that cause them their biggest problems.”

“I couldn’t believe the answers, because they were so easy for us to fix. We just never knew that what they were saying was even a problem.”

The possibility of any kind of disconnect – no matter how small – between business and customer should be a concern for all organisations, says Richard, ever more so as a business expands.

“You’ve got to talk to your customer,” he said. “If you understand what they want, not only will you get satisfied customers, but they’ll keep coming back to you and recommending you to others.”

It’s a lesson Richard has been keen to emphasise ever since.

After working on the Nimrod aircraft programme and Typhoon, Richard spent five years as director of BAE Systems’ HR services. At the end of this tenure, he was approached by Nigel Whitehead, the company’s director of external relations, about a secondment opportunity to The Productivity Group, which would ultimately lead to Be the Business.

“The challenge was to create an organisation from scratch,” said Richard. “To take a concept, bring it to reality, and make it a fully functioning organisation, covering everything from creating the legal entity, achieving the charitable status, determining the mission statement and operating model to recruiting people, setting up the website, setting up the social media accounts and getting it going.”

“It was a tremendous opportunity, and I learned an awful lot,” he reminisced.

During this period, Richard found himself aligning with the purpose and values of Be the Business.

“The aims of Be the Business absolutely fit with what I value in terms of businesses helping other businesses and peer-to-peer support. United, we are far more powerful than individually, because everybody’s got something that they can teach others and that they can learn from others.”

It’s a mindset that correlates in many ways with the BAE Systems approach to business. Richard also believes that one of the reasons behind the company’s level of support for Be the Business stems from its connection with multiple SMEs.

“We absolutely recognise that we’re only successful if they’re all successful,” added Richard.

“We’re so reliant upon the wider business community and I think that drives us to be inclusive. Every two years, we produce a report about the value of BAE Systems to the economy and it illustrates how symbiotic a relationship it is.”

Get the data right and the rest will follow

One of the aspects of business that Richard is keen to emphasise is that of data and how businesses both large and small can leverage it to become successful.

“One challenge that we’ve got,” he said, “is that there is absolutely tons of data available. What we need to be able to focus on is the right data.”

It’s not just focusing on the right data, however, but how a business can access that data and turn it into actionable intelligence.

“If a business is identifying what it wants to achieve,” Richard explained, “and the leaders understand what the data tells them about where they are and where they need to get to, they can make the right decisions to get there, taking everybody along with them.”

And Be the Business can help – of that Richard is adamant.

“Getting the data right and then democratising it so that you take everybody along with you ties in with two of the key themes of Be the Business: leadership and technology adoption. They’re both key parts of our overall activity.”

Richard is currently the project, programme and portfolio support director in BAE Systems’ office of the chief technology officer. He has been with BAE Systems for over 30 years, having started with the firm after graduating from university. A leader with a track record of delivering operational performance and change programmes, he helped establish Be the Business in 2017 while on secondment to The Productivity Group.

Quick-fire questions

If you had a rallying call to the UK business ecosystem, what would it be?

I will echo what Tony Danker said at the Be the Business launch back in the summer of 2017. It seemed appropriate then and I think it’s probably even more appropriate today, and it was: “If not now, when?” So, if you’re thinking of doing something to improve, to grow, to expand or whatever, if not now, when?

Who is or who was your business inspiration?

I’d say my BAE Systems colleague Nigel Whitehead. He’s not just the speaker of common sense, but also the motivator and the person that gets me to buy into stuff.

Do you have a personal productivity tip?

If you’re looking to streamline a process, the first thing you ought to ask is, “Do I need to do that process at all?” You can spend a lot of time refining and polishing, when it might be better to cut it out entirely.

What was the best piece of business advice that you’ve been given?

Talk to your customer. If you understand what your customers want and can deliver that better, then not only will you get satisfied customers, you’ll get customers coming back and recommending you to others. It’s really easy, especially in a large organisation, for people to believe they’re doing the right thing in the best interest of their customer, but when you talk to the customer and they want something different.

If you had taken a completely different career path, what would you like to have been?

My dream job is to be a cricket commentator – and I’ve not ruled it out yet! I was never too much of a player, but I do love the game and I love watching it – and the idea of being paid to watch cricket in the Caribbean, Australia or Sri Lanka. In fact, I’d pay to be able to do that!