PLEASE TAKE ONE*

I had the pleasure of chatting with our dear Hub member Mike Dickson, a successful social innovator and great source of inspiration. Mike co-founded the popular children’s charity Whizz-Kidz as well as the recently launched global charity The Rainmaker Foundation. He advises individuals and companies on charitable giving, is the author of the two books The More You Give, The More You Get and Please Take One and much more. Mike has been in the business for a long time, ‘hundreds of years’ according to himself, and he kindly agreed to share his thoughts on everything from how to become a successful social entrepreneur to how to balance professional and private life. Interview by Sophie Johnsson.

Can you tell me about your career?
I started off creating a business, a retail company, which did quite well. One day when I was 40, I went to a Christmas party and was challenged to run the London marathon. Since I’d had several glasses of wine I accepted the challenge. Ten days before the marathon a young girl came into one of my shops in Covent Garden in a powered wheelchair. She pressed a button and raised herself up with the wheelchair to pick something up to buy, and then whizzed off around Covent Garden. I was amazed by the independence this equipment gave her, and decided to buy one of these wheelchairs for a disabled child. I went to meet a child with cerebral palsy, about which I knew nothing then. She was very poor, couldn’t walk, and had severe speech impediments. I was profoundly moved and I got a picture of her, which I sent to all of our friends saying that we were going to run the London marathon to help a young child who wasn’t able to move. We set off, and, 6.5 hours later, I finished. Some even sponsored us to get to get over the starting line, but we managed to raise £9000. This led to a young girl getting an electric wheelchair made for her, and that led to the formation of a charity called Whizz-Kidz, which helps disabled children to move, go to school and to the shops. Whizz-Kidz has raised over £75m and helped over 8000 disabled children to move. So, from a heroic start of madness, it’s now an established charity.

Could you use any of your previously acquired professional skills in the creation of Whizz-Kidz?
Very much so. The co-founders consisted of me, a businessman, a friend who was a doctor, and my wife, who was in marketing. We knew nothing about the charity world at all and I think it helped us a lot. We weren’t constricted by what should or shouldn’t happen, and we basically had a plain sheet of paper on which to write exactly what we wanted to do. Furthermore, from the beginning we had order, we had management accounts, and we employed people in the proper way. We were doing it with a sort of a mad dash enthusiasm, but we really drove it like a business, a social business, from day one. Every year everyone in the charity was asked what they wanted to achieve, and then we set realistic targets for that year, so we didn’t just ‘do everything’. Every year we did better, and the result was happiness; everybody in the charity was happy. We do the same thing now in The Rainmaker Foundation.

Why do you think Whizz-Kidz became so successful?
We now see about 100 different charities a year coming to us asking for advice or help. It’s almost always about raising money because without money you can’t run any charity, but it’s also about management and growth. Basically, a charity in its best form is a business run for social benefits. In our case, Whizz-Kidz was run as a business, to make money to help as many disabled children as possible. A charity should be very well managed and very well financed. People who work in a charity should be paid, but the end result is a considerable profit given to whichever cause it’s helping.

Have you felt there are many obstacles along the way professionally?
Every week. It isn’t possible to create anything worthwhile in life, be it a charity, a restaurant, a Hub, without an enormous amount of hard work, self doubt, disappointment and insecurity. The Rainmaker Foundation was launched at the Ivy club this year, and I spent one year of planning it with a lot of people. Two weeks before, I went for a walk and I said to myself: ‘Are you sure that you are not completely mad? Is this actually going to work?’ I worry about everything. It’s just when you’ve done it everyone looks at you and says ‘Isn’t that heroic? Isn’t he or she wonderful?’ I don’t know anyone who has achieved anything in life without grief. We are all insecure about one thing or another, but it’s also realistic; fear of failure is a huge motivator.

What gives you energy during your darkest hours?
To start with, I’m very happily married and I have two fabulous children. I also have a faith (I’m a Christian). But most of all, when you make up your mind to do something, it’s important to do it. If you’ve got a vision, it isn’t necessary to know how to do it, you just need to be determined to do it. You have to adjust the plot as you move from one to the other. And if someone says, ‘This is nonsense’, or ‘Why don’t you do it this way instead?’ you have to stay focused and determined to carry it through and learn on the way. This isn’t rocket science where all the answers and knowledge is already out there. When you focus on something and are determined to do it you succeed, but obviously you have to work hard.

What advice would you give social innovators starting their careers?
Work out a plan and find some mentors. Today I don’t have mentors in that respect and I’m a mentor myself, but I’m surrounded by brilliant people. When I wrote my book Please Take One, I wrote the first draft and sent it to the 12 cleverest people I knew. I asked them to read it and to tell me which bits sent them to sleep, and which bits inspired them. They all sent me back their comments, and every single one of those people improved the manuscript. With The Rainmaker Foundation we’ve got a great team lead by Hollie Carr, and 200 very brilliant people helping us create a charitable foundation. So while a social entrepreneur has to have a vision, a drive and to be determined, they also need to persuade as many intelligent people as possible to help them achieve their dream. And finally, they need to have monthly management accounts. It might sound tedious, but it’s important.

What typical traits do successful social innovators have?
They have to have a brilliant dream, a vision, and, critically, they need to be completely determined to do it. Working with philanthropists we meet a lot of wealthy people, and they always look for these two things. An inspiring idea combined with someone who is heartily determined to do it. You can get business plans, accountants, lawyers, PR firms and marketing companies, but you can’t substitute for someone who has a clear vision and determination.

Why did you start The Rainmaker Foundation?
We decided to start a global charity organization to inspire people who are wealthy enough to give money to charities that we know around the world; that is, matchmaking between cause and philanthropist. It’s what we call the difference between success and significance; we make successful people significant. It’s going very well. This year we have helped about 25 charities and we’ve only been going since January.

What has been the biggest struggle during your career?
Being a good father. Running a business is a doddle compared to running a charity. Running a charity is doddle compared to being happily married. And that’s a complete doddle compared to bringing up two happy children. Fortunately I got away with it. When my wife and me got married we decided to work very hard all week, and to socialize with each other during the weekend. When we had children, it was a rule to have children time every weekend. What’s the point otherwise of having a family, if you don’t spend time with them?

After this question my time with Mike was over. Leaving him, I had more questions than when I started, but I had to let him whizz off to do his work. How to describe Mike? A humble man in his best years who you just want to hug, combined with a street-smart social businessman with a mind of steel. No wonder he’s doing wonders!