Paul Hetherington | The Room | Punk Rock Media

Who's already in the room. "The Punk Rock Playbook® should be required reading for entrepreneurs." — Paul Hetherington, Vistage Chair, Company Chair and NED, BRE Group. Paul Hetherington might not immediately describe himself as a Business Misfit. In fact, quite the opposite. With 25 years’ experience running manufacturing businesses, a university education and an MBA, his career has followed what he describes as a much more ‘classical’ executive route. He has worked across both PLCs and privately owned businesses and today combines a portfolio of board and advisory roles. He is a Vistage Chair, chairs three companies and is a Non-Executive Director of BRE Group, and has – in the past – contributed to industry and government through trade associations, including the Industrial Development Advisory Board. So, when Paul picked up The Punk Rock Playbook® for Business Misfits, he certainly wasn’t reading his own story. But he was recognising the stories of many of the people he works with today. He comments: I’m not really an entrepreneur. But almost all of my clients are entrepreneurs, and I describe many of them as being Business Misfits. Through Vistage, Paul works closely with groups of business owners. Many haven’t followed the conventional executive path he did. They’ve entered business in different ways, built companies around their own ideas and challenged some of the leadership conventions. A lot of the content in the book chimed with me because of the clients I work with. You are not for everyone – thank God One of the messages that struck Paul immediately appears right at the beginning of the book: you are not for everyone – thank God. That is a fantastic introduction to it all. The idea that you’re not for everyone and embracing that is wonderful. Punk rock meets the boardroom What particularly impressed Paul was the way Stephen draws on his experiences as a punk musician and translates them into lessons that work in a completely different environment. I loved the way Stephen uses his experiences of punk rock and music and brings the two together. He does it so well in every chapter. The fact that he has been both a punk singer and a successful businessman is fundamental to why the book works. The lessons don’t come from conventional management theory; they come from experience and are then applied to the realities of building and leading businesses. And that makes the book accessible to an audience who might not normally make it through a traditional business title. It’s easy reading for people who don’t read business books. How many people actually read all the way through business books these days? The structure helps too. Paul particularly liked the ‘Try This Today’ and ‘Final Word’ elements at the end of the chapters, which turn the ideas into something practical. He felt the framework worked well, and the signposting is clear as to next steps. Understanding the Business Misfits Perhaps the most interesting impact of the book for Paul is that it has given him another lens through which to understand the entrepreneurs he works alongside. His own career demonstrates that there doesn’t have to be a divide between the classically trained executive and the unconventional entrepreneur. Both can learn from the other. He is now adding The Punk Rock Playbook® to the ‘Boomerang Books’ he shares with others, expecting it to resonate particularly strongly with the entrepreneurs in his network. Paul’s verdict It should be required reading for entrepreneurs. Stephen is such a character. The fact that he is a punk singer and a successful businessman – he’s put together something really wonderful. He should definitely do the audiobook!