High: You have spoken about the necessity of trial and error, and how the “failure” of a number of ideas led to breakthroughs in unexpected places. I have read that you made 5,127 prototypes for your Dyson vacuum cleaner before you got it right. How do you create a culture that is conducive to such tinkering and accepting of failure?
Dyson: I encourage people to make mistakes. I like to put the graduates we hire in positions where they must make decisions early on. They don’t get everything right the first time, but people learn to think, rather than follow. It is far better to show interest and creativity from day one than to let yourself be trapped under the dead hand of corporatism.
High: Yours is a private company. As such, you do not need to report earnings on a quarterly basis or at all. As such, you do not have to worry about natural ebbs and flows of business cycles. Do you believe that public companies are naturally less well-structured for innovation?