Colin Sprake ran a carpentry company at 18 in South Africa and offered workers double pay for zero rework. His father warned it would distort local wages, but Sprake believed paying well was right. Later, Richard Branson told him the same thing: find great people, pay them well, look after them.
The strangest business lesson I learned really early on, and it still saddens me to this day because I'm a person that always believes in being really good to people. And I was running a carpentry company. I was 18 years old running this amazing carpentry company, building cabinets for equivalent of Walmart and in South Africa. And the biggest lesson I had was I had guys working for me, Africans from South Africa and native guys. And I would say to them, if there's no rework on the cabinets we're building, I will double your wage for the day. And my dad came to me and he said to me, son, you shouldn't be doing that. I'm like, why? He said, you're screwing up the market for the wages in this area for those people. Bless my dad's soul, he's no longer on this planet, but that was not the best advice he gave me because I've always had a deep peace inside of me of do good for people. And that lesson I learned and I've always kept it with me. And then of course I got to meet Sir Richard Branson and he said to me one clear thing. Always find great people and pay them well and look after them, and they will go nowhere else. And you know what? As much as my dad didn't teach me that, but it gave me a perspective on things. I've always lived by the principle, and I hope you do when you watch this video, live by the principle of be good to people and the rest takes care of itself.
