APPENDIX 3

Chairman's preamble from the 2004 annual report

In my various guises (chairman, chief executive, school governor, parent, visiting professor, beer drinker) I am regularly asked: how’s work, or how’s Games Workshop doing? I usually just shrug and say we’re trucking along like normal. Good, steady linear growth; no surprises, no problems. That’s how it feels. The actuality is, of course, very different. During any year – and this last has been no exception – there are crises, major and minor; local restructurings; plans for new buildings; development strategies; plans for new markets and all the other fun stuff that everyone in business meets all the time.

The reason it feels so smooth and effortless to me is because of the truly remarkable staff we have. This isn’t just me talking, it’s everyone who takes the time to come and visit us and walk around to meet these people.

Good staff. Every organisation should have them. But how do we get them?

Firstly you can’t have good staff if the working environment is poor. Either physically poor or emotionally poor. The physical environment is relatively easy to get right. The emotional environment is tougher. Nowadays we refer to this environment as the culture of the business. I would like to tell you why I think Games Workshop has a healthy culture.

We set high standards. That seems so obvious that it shouldn’t need saying, but we actually mean it. We set ourselves high standards willingly and enthusiastically and we take them seriously.

In our internal handbook I wrote this about our corporate culture:

“I believe the culture of the business is founded on these things:

  • A determination to be cheerful and confident and passionate about this, the best of all possible jobs
  • An absolute commitment to the quality of our products and services
  • An absolute commitment to the niche market business model that requires that quality, that requires intense specialisation and that delivers our subscription model of profits and cash
  • An absolute belief that it is better to do what is right rather than what is easy
  • A problem solving ethic based on our belief that we can do anything
  • An ego-free environment, especially at senior levels; this leads to
    • Management who put the business first
    • Management who do not have private agendas
    • Management who welcome newcomers that bring skills we need with open arms
    • Management who are willing constantly to be self-critical but who are rightly proud of their achievements
    • Management who are willing constantly to criticise the business but who are rightly proud of its achievements
  • No fear

It’s important to say what you believe in. Until you do you cannot have ambition or agreement. At Games Workshop the vast majority of our managers agree that these things are worthy ambitions.

Recruitment, as you would expect, has to be done carefully. The more senior the recruit the more careful we have to be. If we are to maintain our healthy emotional environment we need to recruit more attitude rather than skill. We need the skills, of course we do, but we have to see skills as a given rather than decisive, and recruit for attitude. The attitudes we are looking for above all others are:

Honesty, Courage and Humility

The honesty to face up to reality, to know who you are, and to admit to your weaknesses. Without any of these you cannot learn or grow. This takes courage, as does much else in life. The humility is not self-abasement but the understanding that although we all stand proud as remarkable individuals the good of Games Workshop has to come before self-interest. When you join this company leave your overblown ego at the door.

When I give this speech to the various people to whom I am asked to give speeches, I am invariably asked about recruitment. Recruitment can be hard. At most levels within the organisation our staff are getting pretty good at it, but we still find difficulty finding the right kind of senior staff. It isn’t just that we ask for high standards, we don’t know of a foolproof way of finding the right people. We rely, instead, on a long-winded process that involves candidates spending time with us until they’ve met most, if not all, of the senior staff, and as many of our spiritual leaders as possible. It’s a wearisome process for the candidates.

The reaction I often get when trying to explain these things is sceptical. No organisation can be that good. Of course it can’t. We don’t say we are all these things, what we say is that we aspire to them. These are our ambitions. This is how we would like to be, both as people and as employees. Aspiration is good for you. Both physically and metaphysically.

My role here is as chief aspirant. If I don’t work hard to learn and improve, why should anyone else? But I am really only chief aspirant. The serious day-to-day work is all done by the great management and staff we have. This is why I don’t like publicity, especially photographs – it’s not because, as Rick Priestley keeps reminding me, I am a seriously ugly man, or because I am shy – it’s that it gives the wrong impression to the world. Games Workshop is a true gestalt. It has value and credibility and a life that far transcends any one of us. It’s simply my turn to be caretaker.

The signature of Tom Kirby.
Tom Kirby
Chairman and Chief Executive

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