- 5 months ago
Sir James Dyson can’t stand bad design. Instead of complaining, he channels that frustration into building machines that make the rest of us wonder, “Wait… why wasn’t it always done this way?” And he doesn’t stop at vacuums. From high-tech farming to championing the next generation of innovators, Dyson shares how relentless curiosity (and yes, 5,127 failed prototypes) can power a lifetime of breakthroughs.
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00:00Every day, you do experiments and they fail, and you just have to get used to that failure.
00:04I always get quite excited the more failure there is, because you realize it's a difficult
00:09problem to solve. So if you manage to solve something that other people can't solve,
00:14then it's quite a strong pattern.
00:19Hey everyone, I'm Dan Bova, writer and editor at entrepreneur.com,
00:23and welcome to How Success Happens. So you know, on this show, we often speak with great inventors
00:29who are inspired to create a revolutionary product because something in their life sucked.
00:34Well, today's guest was spurred into action because something didn't suck enough. Sir James Dyson is
00:41the creator of a Dyson vacuum cleaners and a whole lot more, and I'm thrilled to have him on here
00:47today to talk about following a spark of inspiration that leads to founding a company that changes the
00:54consumer landscape and makes billions of dollars in the process. So I am so excited to learn a little
01:01bit more about how his brain works. Welcome, Sir James.
01:05Good morning, Dan. Very nice to be on your show.
01:08Great to speak with you. I remember those first Dyson commercials very fondly when you came on our TVs
01:18and you told us all that vacuum cleaner you has stinks. This one's better. So I remember those
01:25days well. I wonder if you could, if we could start. So business ideas, that is the, by far the
01:34most
01:35searched term on my website, entrepreneur.com. So as a person who has come up with your fair share of
01:42good and great ideas, can you talk a little bit about that process and finding inspiration?
01:50Well, I always find that inspiration comes from being angry about something. Something doesn't work
01:57properly or something doesn't do what it should or something breaks or whatever it is. And there's nothing
02:03wrong with that. There's nothing wrong in a little bit of anger about something. And we all have it and
02:09sort of
02:10forget about it. It tends to linger with me, uh, being, uh, operating as an engineer. So I want to
02:17know
02:18why it's like that. And, uh, is there a way around it? Is there a way we can, we can
02:22get rid of that
02:22problem? So that, that's, that's how it starts. And if you like, it starts from a negative, uh, sorting
02:30something out that needs sorting out. So, uh, of course, of course, in my case, it's product and technology
02:37fakers, right? Other, other people, it's something else altogether, something to do with the service
02:42industry or whatever. So, but, so I can only really talk about, uh, products and, uh, technology and
02:48how to develop that to solve problems. So basically what you're telling me is don't grit your teeth and
02:55bear it, fix it, be annoyed. Yes. Nothing wrong with that. Yeah. It's not breaking things or anything like
03:02that, but I mean, it, you know, but it, it, it sets the sort of, uh, sort of, um, an
03:08anger, not anger is the wrong
03:09word. It drives you to solve it. It's the motivation. It's the motivation. Cause if I feel that other people
03:16will feel that. So, right. Excellent. Excellent. So, um, with the, uh, with the vacuum cleaner, um, uh, my
03:25understanding is you had the idea, you sketched it out. It was perfect. You nailed it and off to the
03:31race
03:32is right. There was no iteration. You just did nothing like that at all. Nothing like that at
03:36all. No, the, the, the, I had the idea obliquely actually, because, um, we had to install a cyclone
03:44in a factory. I had spraying, uh, powder paint onto frames for my, the wheelbarrow I was making.
03:51And, um, we, we, we had originally had a cloth filter, which clogged. And then we learned that the
03:56type of thing that didn't clog was this thing called industrial cyclone. So one, two
04:01over two weekends, we built one. It was 30 foot high. We copied one. We saw on a local lumber
04:06yard.
04:08And, uh, amazingly it worked. It collected this very fine powder all day long without clogging.
04:13Now I had been made to vacuum when I was a child from the age of about seven, because my
04:18father died.
04:19And so I had to help the housework. And I remember this, um, sort of cloth bag on an upright
04:25machine.
04:25I won't mention the manufacturer that, uh, stank. It always stank of stale dog and stale dust.
04:31It screamed and it didn't pick things up. So here, here I am, you know, 20 years later,
04:37I've got my own house and a young family and so on. And I've got, I went out and bought
04:40the most
04:40powerful vacuum cleaner you could buy. So it said, and, um, I'm finding the same experience,
04:46exactly the same experience I had when I was young. So I, um, it said the bag was full.
04:51So I couldn't find a new bag. So I tipped the dirt out of the bag into the garbage can
04:57and then gaffer taped it back together again, put it in the machine.
05:00Still no suction. I said, wait a minute, the bag's empty. Why is there no suction? So I opened the
05:07bag
05:08and looked inside and I saw this fine layer of fine dust all around the inside of the bag.
05:14And I suddenly tweaked as to how a vacuum cleaner worked. You create airflow,
05:19which goes through the bag. And the bag is not a collection device. It's a filter.
05:26And the filter is being clogged. I mean, I, I hadn't really thought about how a vacuum cleaner
05:31worked like, you know, like everybody else. I just used it and hated it. But suddenly I discovered that
05:36there's a big problem with a vacuum cleaner. You know, the very first dust that goes into it
05:40goes straight to the little holes in the, in the paper bag and blocks them. And, and the, the light
05:48goes to red bag full indicator. It's not a bag full indicator. It's a bag clogged indicator.
05:55Um, so, so there's this annoyance and sort of anger. You know, I bought the most powerful one I could
06:01buy and it's not picking things up off the floor. So, um, and then just by coincidence about the same
06:07time,
06:07we had the same problem at our factory with this fine powder spraying onto the frames and we built this
06:13cyclane.
06:14So as I was building and welding this 30 foot high cyclane, why aren't, why don't vacuum cleaners have this
06:20marvelous thing? So I rushed home and, and with cardboard and gaffer tape and a bit of hose,
06:27I replaced the stinking bag on the back of my upright vacuum cleaner with this cardboard and hose cyclane
06:35and pushed it around. And we had a retriever dog. So a lot of dog hairs and all the usual
06:40and three children mess in the house. And, uh, it appeared to work. So I thought this is a good
06:47thing to do. So I started developing it. I mean, actually what then happened to answer your original
06:52point was I had to build 5,127 prototypes over a period of about four years to actually make it
06:59work.
06:59So that's, that's incredible. So, you know, I think sometimes, uh, an idea hits us and we think
07:11this is so obvious. Someone else must be doing this and we just drop it, but it sounds like you
07:17didn't
07:17drop it. No, I mean, I, I was lucky because when I went to find my pattern, I saw that
07:23people had had
07:24the idea of using a cyclone in a vacuum cleaner before I wasn't unique in that, but theirs hadn't
07:30worked. I didn't know other people had done that, but that almost, almost every invention, when you
07:35go there, someone's had a go at it. In fact, there was a famous controller of the US patent office
07:40who said in 1901, everything that's going to be invented has been invented. There's no need for
07:45the US patent office any longer. So it's, uh, so it's, it's often slightly worrying as an inventor,
07:51where you have an original idea and you discovered someone else had the same idea, but couldn't make
07:55it work. So it's frustrating, but, but no, we made it, I made it work. I mean, that's, that's,
08:00that's the difference. Yeah. Well, I think that that's a huge difference, which is the difference
08:06between having an idea and the drive to actually do it and the drive to go through more than 5
08:12,000
08:13iterations of it. Um, that's, that's, that's the big difference maker, right?
08:18Hmm. And if I can give some encouragement to would be inventors, uh, I enjoyed every minute
08:24of those 5,127 prototypes because I was learning all the time, you know, that didn't work. This
08:30did work. You know, how can I make that better? Is this a, is this a good route to follow
08:35or not?
08:36So it was a lovely, it was an intellectual, it sounds tedious building all these prototypes,
08:41but it's fun, actually. I enjoyed it. Uh, and I, you know, you're, you're in pursuit of something
08:46and, uh, you want to get it. You want to, you want to sort it. Well, that, that leads me
08:51to my next
08:52question, which you just basically just answered there for yourself, but you know, frustration,
08:57hitting, coming up against a brick wall, you can't figure this thing out. Is there anything,
09:03is it just innate to you or is there anything you tell yourself when you're getting frustrated that
09:09kind of pushes you along and makes you not drop it? Um, well, I, I used to be a long
09:16distance runner
09:17and I still am a long distance runner. Uh, and so I'm in it for the long haul.
09:23And, uh, you know, once you've started and you're, and you're working on it, you want to make it work.
09:29Uh, and you, you just have every day you do experiments and they fail and you just have
09:36to get used to that failure. And I, and I always get quite excited the more failure there is because
09:42you realize it's a difficult problem to solve. And when you do solve it, you'll get quite a good
09:47patent, quite good intellectual property protection because it was a difficult thing to solve. It wasn't
09:53obvious because you can't get a patent if what you did was obvious to one skilled in the art.
09:59That's what, that's what the description is. So if you, if you manage to solve something that
10:04other people can't solve, then, then it's quite a strong pattern in theory.
10:09And you, your, your passion for, for problem solving goes beyond, uh, all of the things that
10:16you've worked on. Uh, I wanted to talk about the, the, the James Dyson award. Can you talk a little
10:22bit
10:22about what inspired you to do that and what you are seeing from people who submit, um, you know,
10:30ideas and products, uh, for this award? What do you, what do you, what do you think of the new
10:35crop
10:36of inventors out there? Well, very inspirational and, and wonderful. And these are people who are
10:43actually doing something to solve the problem rather than talk about it and be a mouthpiece.
10:48These people are actually doing something about it. And very interestingly, um, I mean,
10:53there've been design awards in the past and maybe engineering awards, but no one's ever done an
10:59award for people who solve problems. And we've been doing for almost 30 years now. And in the very
11:06early days, people used to come along with wind surfers and skateboards and things like that.
11:10We don't give that any longer at all. And that's the really interesting thing. And they fall into two
11:15categories. One, medical things. I mean, not, not necessarily medical in the sense that they,
11:21um, that they're deeply technical medical, but medical to solve problems, solve diseases,
11:27discover breast cancer, all sorts of things like that. Very, very wonderful things. Or environmental
11:32projects. So they form into two categories. We don't get the sort of leisure, uh, I want a better
11:40speedboat or, or thing, or thing aqua foiled. So don't go along in the sea. We don't get any of
11:45that
11:45at all. These are people who want to solve real today's problems, Alzheimer's, whatever it is,
11:51they want to solve them often for old people. And these are young students wanting to solve problems
11:56that old people have and, and disabled people have. So it's, it's a really encouraging the spheres
12:03they're choosing to invent it, but also their cleverness, their brilliance is extraordinary.
12:10I mean, there's one, for example, there was a Philippine student who noticed there's
12:14a lot of rotting fruit in the Philippines because of hurricanes and things like that,
12:18adverse weather conditions. So he found a mixture of fruit that you could paint on a window
12:25and it would generate, create electricity. So he had a sort of normal size window pane and he was
12:30charging his iPad from it. Wow. That's incredible. That's, that's just one example I've given you,
12:37but there's lots and lots of those. Yeah. There was a wonderful American student who
12:43developed a, you know, a cycle helmet that, you know, there's some Christmas decorations that you
12:50fold out from flats to make a sort of ball. It was a bit like that. So you could get
12:55it out of a slot
12:56machine or have it in your handbag and then you pulled it over your head and it formed a very,
13:01very good cycle helmet. Wow. So there's sort of every, every extreme from, from very technical to,
13:07to practical. Wow. I, I immediately want both of those things.
13:14Well, that's such an incredible thing about when you see an invention, something that, you know,
13:19I would have never in a million years even thought about that. But as soon as you said that thing
13:25about
13:25the helmet, anyone has been on a bike. Now you got to like carry this stupid helmet around all day.
13:30Yeah. Um, immediately you're like, yes, that is an incredible idea. So it's, it's amazing. Now,
13:36did you create these awards just so you would have a front seat to see all this cool stuff people
13:40were
13:41coming up with? Well, that would be a very good reason for it. Yes. But no, we did, we did
13:45it to
13:46encourage, um, and we get, oh, I mean, thousands, tens of thousands of entries. And we're in about,
13:53we do it in about 30 countries. We did it to encourage people at the, in this case at universities,
13:59we do work in schools as well, because there's a very interesting thing happens in schools.
14:04Um, this is to encourage people at university to do serious inventions. We get, we give them a prize,
14:09uh, which enables them to carry on and hopefully put it into production or find someone to manufacture
14:15it for them. But we don't take, we're not doing it for commercial reasons. So we deliberately don't
14:20take a stake in this or, or, or finance them, but hopefully we're giving them publicity so that other
14:28people will pick it up. So we don't want to profit from it in any way. So you're not saying
14:32that's a
14:33brilliant idea. I'll give you 10 bucks for it. And I'm going to have 90% of the equity in
14:38the
14:38company. That's not your style. That's exactly the kind of thing we wanted to avoid.
14:42Yeah. So we, I hope we give them publicity. I hope we attract other invent investors to them
14:48and we give them money to enable them to, to go on and do more work on it.
14:53Um, tell me about your, we have a country winner and then we have a world, two world winners.
14:59Oh, okay. Uh, so they, there are two levels of publicity if you like. So, so there are,
15:05there are like 60 country winners and then two world winners. It's a bit like the Miss World contest.
15:12Yeah. Okay. Well, I'm going to start thinking cause I want that. I want that award. Um, uh,
15:25can you tell us a little bit, I'm intrigued about, uh, about your farm? Uh, why, what,
15:32what spurred that? What spurred your interest in that? Uh, you know, designers, you're, you make these,
15:38uh, these products, these electronic products. Uh, I'm just curious where the interest in it
15:45came from and you know, what, what's your hope with, uh, the James Dyson farm?
15:50Well, I, I grew up in the country and worked on my friend's farms, other people's farms. So
15:56farming isn't exactly in my blood, but it's in me. So when I was able to, I wanted to buy
16:01farms
16:02and do farming because I believe in it. I believe in growing food. It's a bit like manufacturing.
16:06You're manufacturing food. Right. And I wondered if we could use technology to improve it.
16:12And we started to do that with our strawberry growing venture, uh, where we, we have anaerobic
16:19digesters that mulch down crops, create gas, drive, um, generators. And we feed that electricity
16:27into the grid for 10,000, 20,000 homes. Um, so that's green electricity.
16:35Uh, but, uh, the, you get 6% electricity out of the generator and 40% waste heat.
16:42And we'll be using the waste, waste heat to dry grain, which is a perfectly good thing to do. So
16:46you get free drain grain drying. Um, but we, we, we still had a lot more waste heat that we
16:52weren't
16:53using. So we thought, let's put it into a massive greenhouse and grow strawberries. So we get all the
16:59year round. So you don't have to fly in strawberries that we can provide strawberries all year round.
17:05And they're delicious by the way. Well, I was just going to ask, how are they?
17:09No, they're absolutely delicious. And, um, and because they're, you know, in a very controlled
17:14environment, uh, you know, you don't get APHIS and all that sort of thing. And we have,
17:19it's all robotic. We're even picking them mostly robotically. Now we develop robots to do that.
17:27Um, and, uh, and in fact, it's been so successful, we've doubled the size of it.
17:31And now we're talking about increasing the size again. So we've got about 32 acres of glass house.
17:37Wow. Um, uh, and you know, it, it's, um, it's not quite vertical farming. That's the next stage.
17:45We're developed, we're developing that as well so that we can get, um, nearly three times the number
17:50of plants in the same space using the same heat. Um, so, um, and we're, you know, we're, we, we,
17:58we're doing, um, we have drones flying over the fields, uh, with a software program we've developed.
18:05And the drone can see where you need fertilizer and where you don't. It can see where the weeds are
18:11and it can see where the marsh harrier is nesting. And then the tractors are not driven. They're
18:17driven by a card that we put in them and we have beacons and GPS. Uh, so it can go
18:23along and it will
18:24only put fertilizer where you need it and only put weed killer where you need it. And it'll avoid the
18:28marsh harrier's nesting point. Uh, so the, you know, we're trying to apply technology
18:35to farming to make it more efficient, to make it better, to produce better food and so on.
18:41And it, we're very lucky to be able to invest in farming because most farmers operate on such
18:47small margins. They can't afford to invest. Um, so if you like, we're doing research that they're
18:54not able to do. So, and we share it all, we share it all on, on, on our website. Um,
19:01so it's, it's, uh,
19:02just, you know, trying to improve farming, trying to grow things locally. So they're not imported
19:07and to make us food secure and have better food. So it's just like a side hobby of yours, you
19:15know,
19:15just a, a fun little thing that you don't put much thought into. That's what I'm picking up.
19:20Something like that. Yes.
19:24Yeah, no, our, our engineers are involved in, of course, you know, I'm 98% full time on, on the
19:30other
19:30business, but we've got a very good team of farmers. Yeah.
19:33And we're trying to do things better and trying to help farming in general,
19:39in a very small way on behalf of every person who eats food. Thank you.
19:46We appreciate the efforts for sure. Um, I'm sure you must get asked a lot of questions from,
19:54you know, whether it's people who are applying for the awards or students or young inventors,
20:00like what, what are the most common questions that you get asked a lot? And, uh, maybe you can
20:06answer it here once and for all, and then they'll never ask you again.
20:10Well, the first thing is I never give advice. And that's not because I mean, it's because, um,
20:18every, every person is in a different situation. And I want to, I don't really want to talk about
20:23people who start businesses for business sake, you know, or people who do service business,
20:27all that sort of, so people who want to do products. Um, I, the, the only thing I would say
20:34is that you've got to bounce back from disasters. You've got to experiment. And if you experiment,
20:40you'll get failures and you've got to bounce back from the failures. So that's the first thing. And
20:45the second thing is just to believe in yourself and not listen to anybody else. Because you'll get
20:51all sorts of people telling you that won't work, all sorts of experts saying you can't do that.
20:56Uh, in the public, in the form of, uh, focus groups and re market research will tell you
21:01they don't want that, or you can't do that. So you, you've just got to believe in yourself and
21:06ignore everybody else.
21:08Is there, uh, can you think back over the course of your career, uh, of some advice that you were
21:15given that you ignored and you're happy you ignored?
21:19Yes. Yeah. One very good example, very graphic example, actually. Um, as you know, with the Dyson,
21:26you see the dirt. And when, when I went to try and sell this to, to retailers that you can't
21:32sell that
21:33thing where you see the dirt. I mean, A, it'll look disgusting in the shop and B, nobody wants to
21:38see
21:39the dirt. So we did, we did some very crude and a lot of money. So we did some very
21:43crude market research.
21:44And they were absolutely right. No one wanted to see the dirt, but we, we as engineers had really
21:50enjoyed seeing the dirt, seeing it spin round and seeing it collecting. Yeah.
21:54And the satisfaction you get as you use it. So we thought, um, I'm sorry, but you know,
22:00everybody's telling us we're wrong, but we're just going to ignore everybody. And we sold it with this
22:04clear bin. Uh, so, you know, you, sometimes you just have to trust in your own staff, what,
22:13what you believe to some extent. Um, and if you're doing something new, people want to be surprised and
22:19shocked and how they think now is absolutely not how they're going to think in the future.
22:25The future is going to be different. Uh, so you can afford to be different.
22:31I love that. That's fantastic. Um, what, uh, what are some of the new products that you have
22:38that you're particularly excited about? Oh, uh, all of them. I wouldn't launch them if I wasn't,
22:44but the, the, the pencil that vacuum cleaner, you know, you know, we, when we did battery sticks,
22:51as you might call them, but our format for vacuum cleaner, as opposed to an upright or canister vacuum
22:56to, you know, that was, uh, nobody believed in that and they wouldn't buy it at first.
23:01But we thought, you know, with a battery, you don't have a cord, you don't have to keep unplugging
23:06it. You don't have this heavy thing. It's very light. Uh, but we stuck with that and it worked.
23:12We've now taken that one stage further with our pencil vac, which is, um, because we've been developing
23:19these small high-speed motors, we can get the power you need for a vacuum cleaner, you know,
23:25in a, in a stick, you know, that's, that's pencil back. Wow. Uh, for, for everyone who's
23:33listening and not seeing this, it's very, it's very skinny. So I, I'm showing you, um, that, that,
23:42both these are 38 millimeters diameter and that's the hairdryer, which is where I'm actually holding
23:48the motor there and I'm holding the motor here. Wow. It's the thinnest we can get.
23:56Uh, and they're, they're built around this motor. Holy cow.
24:03So developing the motor enabled us to do a lovely hairdryer and it enables us to do a really thin
24:11vacuum clean. That is incredible. When you use this, um, you can't go back to an ordinary,
24:18it's so easy to use and it's, there we are. Uh, that's, uh, wow. We're striving all the time to
24:26make things lighter. Um, sorry, blew my pencil off the desk. Make things lighter, make them smaller,
24:33make them use fewer materials, uh, just drive everything down to being light, simple, small,
24:41and cleverer. That's what we said. Would you say that that's an important part, uh, for you and for,
24:48for, um, for really anyone as I know we don't give advice, but you know, you have that sort of
24:54guiding
24:55principle, like this is, this is the ultimate goal that we're always striving for.
25:00Yes. Yes. Yes. You have to have a, yes, you have to have a vision about what you want and
25:05what you
25:05believe people want. Uh, and we, we, with it, with our light, very light vacuum cleaners, that's not
25:13actually what people wanted. Uh, until they started, people started using it and started to realize you
25:20don't need that big, heavy machine that you're pushing around your house with great difficulty.
25:25You don't need that. Yeah. So often we're not pushing an open door necessarily when you bring
25:30out a new product, uh, because people often don't believe it, but they have to see it and try it
25:36out.
25:36Yeah. Yeah. Wow. What other people are saying about it. Sorry. The other thing we're doing with
25:41our farms is, um, making our own ingredients for formulations for hair and skull. Oh, really?
25:49This, for example, which we call Amiga, um, we grow sunflowers for sunflower oil because it's the most
25:56important ingredient of, of, uh, we've got about six or seven Amiga rich elements here. Uh,
26:02so that's going to grow my hair back. Is that? It will indeed. It will indeed.
26:07Can you ship it over immediately? You and I must rub it in all the time.
26:12Um, uh, so we are, we are starting to, to use what we grow in Dyson and Dyson products,
26:21which is nice and nice adjacency. Yeah. Wow. That's fantastic. Well, uh, you are a very busy
26:27man. You've got a lot going on. So why don't we get to the speed round of this, uh, conversation?
26:33I'm going to ask you just a couple of quick questions and, uh, we'll see what you have to
26:38say. Uh, are you ready? Sir James? Yes, I am. Okay. As I ever would be. I've had quite a
26:45few
26:45cups of coffee. Yeah. All right. Tell us about your workspace. Uh, is it neat and tidy or are you
26:53a
26:53mad scientist? No, it's pretty neat and tidy. Uh, I'm a designer as well and I want things to be
27:00where they should be. So it's pretty, pretty neat. And I clear it up every evening.
27:05Oh, okay. Okay. Great. Um, what is a habit that you are happy to have and one you wish you
27:12could
27:12get rid of? Ah, well, um, the, the, the habits, when I see things don't work, that, that is a
27:25habit.
27:25I wish in a way I could get rid of because, uh, I don't start thinking, how can I solve
27:30that? So
27:31it sets me off on a, on a train of thought and I wish I could ignore it. Uh, so
27:37that, that would be
27:37a habit. Um, and, um, I think a habit I like is, is looking for well-designed products, looking for
27:45well-designed things. I like to have those around me. Uh, I think some people can put up with things
27:53that
27:53are not well-designed and not aesthetically pleasing, but I can't. Okay. Okay. Uh, well,
28:02along those lines, is there anything that most people love and you just look at and you're like,
28:09I hate that thing? Well, you know, it's a funny thing. Uh, sometimes objects that are not
28:17aesthetically good looking, but work well end up pleasing you because they work well. And then
28:24you get the same thing in reverse. You get ones that are stylishly designed, but they work and you
28:29end up hating them. So it's a very complicated relationship. And of course the ideal is not to
28:36have something that's nasty to look at and doesn't work, but to have the opposite.
28:40That's how that's on my resume. Nice to look at, but doesn't work. Um, so what is, uh, you wish
28:49you
28:49could turn off your brain. Do you have a end of the day ritual, anything that you do at night
28:55to
28:56turn off your brain or is it, uh, uh, uh, a futile exercise? Uh, slightly futile. And as you know,
29:04now,
29:05uh, uh, you know, we're, we operate all over the world. So someone's working somewhere. Right.
29:11Uh, designing and developing a Dyson or buying a Dyson. Thank goodness. Um, so, uh, you can't
29:17completely turn off and I never have anyway. Uh, but I do relax and have friends and read a book
29:23and
29:23occasionally watch films. Uh, so I, uh, I do switch off a bit and go for walks. I go running.
29:31That
29:31helps me to switch off and go for long walks. So speaking of movies, final question, uh, you have
29:37the power to cast someone in the role of you in the, uh, Dyson biopic. Who are you casting?
29:46God, I've never been asked that question. That requires an awful lot of thought
29:50for some poor person who has to represent me.
29:56I don't think, I don't think I can really answer that question. Okay. All right. We'll get,
30:01well, we'll keep George Clooney's schedule. Uh, you know, we'll tentatively put that on his schedule.
30:09Um, well, what's that? He's into coffee. I think. Yes, he is. Yes. Well, uh, James, uh,
30:18uh, Sir James, uh, it's been a delight talking to you and I have to say a delight using your
30:24products. I have many of them in my house. So, uh, thank you for, for that. My wife loves your,
30:30uh, hair dryers in particular. Oh, that's great. Thank you. Thank you very much for being a customer.
30:35Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. And thank you for supporting the cause of entrepreneurs.
30:39Yes, absolutely. So, uh, you've got your book, uh, invention, uh, a life. Is there any other,
30:48ways that people can kind of keep up with what you're up to? Um, are you posting anywhere,
30:56anywhere that people can read what you're talking about? Yes. Um, if you go to the Dyson website,
31:01there's a lot there. If you dig into it about what we're doing, what we're doing with education,
31:06what we're doing farming, discover Dyson. It's called on our website. So it's Dyson on social
31:13and discover Dyson on our website. Okay, great. Uh, and are you posting pictures of what you are
31:20eating for lunch that day or what kinds of things could we see on here? No, I'm not that sort
31:25of
31:25poster. I keep off it altogether. I just get on with my life. I'm afraid. But, um, but we do,
31:32we do show what the kind of things that we are doing, uh, that, that have nothing to do with
31:38making vacuum cleaners and hair dryers and so on. So all, all the, all the non-curriculum stuff is on
31:44there. Excellent. Excellent. And then finally, do you have any, uh, homework for someone to do is
31:50listening to this who, uh, always dreamed of, of creating that product? Is it as simple as write
31:56down the thing that's annoying you? That's a good start and build a prototype, build a prototype and
32:03not just one, but thousands. Uh, it doesn't, um, you know, uh, you don't know the solution when you
32:11start, but just start somewhere. And it's funny once you start, uh, ideas occur and you, you get,
32:21take it from there, but you don't have to have the solution when you start. It occurs and luck happens
32:28to you. If you're trying to get there, things will happen accidentally as it did. It always does with me,
32:36which solves the problem. Uh, but you can't conceive of that at the beginning. So you start the journey
32:42in hope and with the determination, but you don't know how you're going to solve it.
32:48And you don't even know you're ever going to solve it actually.
32:52So that, that's what makes it exciting and interesting.
32:57Ah, that's great. I love it. Well, that's such a, such a great note to end on. So thank you
33:03so much.
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