Given its source is a 14th-century headmaster at Eton and Winchester, ‘Manners Maketh Man’ might be an unexpected mantra for a self-made chap who grew up in a council house in Manchester, but Sir Jim Ratcliffe likes the basic ethos behind it.
It’s why every Ineos employee is discreetly advised to acknowledge him with a cheery greeting and senior managers are expected to be brutally honest about performance. His company’s structure is famously lean, as is its HR department. Blusterers and bullshitters need not apply. Grit, rigour and humour are his other prerequisites, if you fancy it.
Aged 70 and not without his controversies, Ratcliffe is Britain’s richest man, with an estimated wealth of £40 billion. But his humble roots and the fact he found mega-success relatively late in life – Ineos was created when he was 46 – mean he retains a grounded sense of perspective.
Read more: Ineos readies small 4×4, EV crossover and luxury SUV by 2030
“I’m not frightened by noughts,” he laughs.
He is, by any measure, a man who likes to take calculated risks: Ineos’s first acquisitions were underpinned by high-yield debt and were cast-off businesses from the likes of ICI and BP. The launch of the Grenadier must surely rank as another: more than £1bn has been spent and at least three times that must be earmarked already before a single vehicle is delivered.
“What am I supposed to do, stare at my bank balance?” Ratcliffe chuckles when I ask why he keeps taking on more, from his core businesses to automotive plus Formula 1, cycling, sailing, football and more. “I do it because I enjoy it.”