Partner Selection Over Capital

"The dominant mind-set in Detroit, Gibbs discovered, was completely orientated toward high-volume manufacturing and intense specialisation. If you weren’t making 100,000 units of something, nobody was interested. And it was impossible to find anyone who had designed a car, only people who had spent their entire careers designing door handles, fuel pumps, window wipers or other such small pieces of the jigsaw. When they tried to find someone to design the electrical harness — the vehicle’s wiring — the best they could manage in Detroit was a subcontractor who offered to put together a team of 10 people to do the job. That didn’t suit a small start-up company. Gibbs wanted one person who could take responsibility for design and manufacture. Jenkins had to travel to Chicago to find someone, and he came from the whiteware industry."

"*What made them such an incredibly powerful business duo was that you had two highly competent individuals, not a Batman and Robin set-up where one was junior. Trevor was one of the very best chief executives I’ve seen in my life, while Alan was, without question, the best corporate finance exponent. And Alan wasn’t just a brilliant corporate financier; he could harness strategy alongside it. So to put the two together created an unbelievably good combination, particularly as they kept out of each other’s space. Alan would say, ‘How many people do we employ?’ ‘Aw, about 2500 to 3000,’ Trevor would reply. ‘Thank God you’re there, Trev, I can’t even manage Jacquie.’*[33](private://read/01jrsfvkjy84rkprtbz9amfvj8/#rw-num-note-477309-807254973-33)"

"The Freightways deal exemplified the Gibbs approach. It was based on understanding the psychological drivers of the people whose help he needed; understanding not just what they wanted, but who they were. James Yonge was an investment banker with a great reputation for putting deals together, who Gibbs made sure had a lot riding on making this deal work. Yonge moved heaven and earth to sell the loan to his parent trading bank. The Freightways board comprised several proud businessmen who wanted, above all, to maintain their strong reputations in the community; after Gibbs’ initial foray into the market, they were looking for a solution that took the heat off them. His ability to read a situation so clearly had made him a brilliant negotiator. This is why those observing Gibbs most closely found him an interesting character. For all his apparent belligerence, the key to his success was his insightfulness and his empathy with those on the other side of the table."

"Jenkins suggested that Gibbs turn his attention to the two places in the world with excellent low-volume, specialist cultures for car making: northern Italy and the British Midlands. Since Gibbs spoke no Italian, it made sense to look first at the Midlands. In the UK half a dozen companies, including Morgan, Aston Martin, TVR and Lotus, manufactured cars in low volumes. They were supported by engineers with the sorts of skills and mind-set that Gibbs needed. The decision was made; Jenkins merged his business with Gibbs’, and Gibbs and Jenkins became partners. The project moved across the Atlantic. In Neil Jenkins, Gibbs had found a Trevor Farmer-like figure to help him with the car project. Since the engineering challenges fascinated him, Gibbs would have a more hands-on role than he had had with his former businesses, such as Freightways and Ceramco, but he’d long since learnt that he needed a trusted and capable partner on the spot."