John Nichols has been managing director and then chief executive of H&T, the pawnbroker, since 1997. He was commissioned in the RAF but left after failing flying training. He then spent two decades with the Rank Organisation, rising from trainee to bingo club manager to commercial director and operations director, setting up Rank Amusements. In 2004, Nichols led a management buyout at H&T, where he oversees 900 staff in 136 shops. It has just reported pre-tax profits up 37.7% to £25.5m on revenues of £126.4m. Nichols, 60, is a rally co-driver and was MSA British Historic Rally champion in 2005 and 2008. He spoke to Andrew Lynch.
When did you first become a boss and how did it feel?
It was when I took over my first bingo club in Swansea, with 40-odd staff, in the mid- 1970s. It was quite daunting, particularly because a lot of the staff were older and much wiser than me. It was a failing business I was supposed to close but didn’t. We turned it round in a couple of years. I moved on to area manager three or four years after that.
What have you learnt about leadership and how has your style evolved?
Leadership is about showing people the way to achieve more. I found early on that you can’t do it alone. You have to allow people to do their jobs to help you to do yours. And you have to trust people. You can provide guidance, you can provide help, but no matter how big or small your workforce, the staff are the ones who are going to do it, so they are the most important people. Next to your customers, that’s all that really matters. You have to understand the customers and the people who are serving them.
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Have you been inspired by any one person or theory in the way you manage?
Ernest Shackleton, for the way he led his men through all those endeavours — the way he kept that group of people together in appalling conditions. Politically, Nelson Mandela has been iconic for me. Someone who overcame so much hardship in prison and was able to come out and forgive and lead a country.
What’s the worst part of managing — and the best?
The worst part is when things aren’t going well for other people, when they are not achieving. The best is when you can see people whom you have nurtured from university and they start to become leaders themselves. Or maybe someone working in our shops, who never thought she would be anything more than a shopgirl, becoming manager of that shop and subsequently an area manager because you have provided a framework of learning.
What do you look for in hiring senior staff?
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They have to be nice people. It goes without saying they have to have the qualifications for the job. They must have empathy with the coalface and the people who are working directly with the customers.
Is there one question you want answered in job interviews?
Why do you want to become a pawnbroker? There is still a stigma attached to it. Believe it or not, people don’t leave school to become pawnbrokers. If someone hasn’t been in our shops they won’t get the job because they haven’t wanted to understand the business we are in.
What’s the best career advice?
You can do whatever you want to do if you try hard enough. You’ve got to have the desire to want to do it.
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Managers or MBAs?
Difficult. I don’t know.