Captains Of Industry Give Advice To New Employees

Thursday 08 February 2001

'Never have an office affair', 'learn to say no' and 'don't be afraid of failure' are among the key pieces of advice given by Britain's top bosses to new recruits, a 3M survey has revealed.

The poll asked British Captains of Industry which one piece of advice they would give to new employees. Below are the survey results in full:

 %
Listen to your customers/clients50
Don't be afraid of failure22
Be open to new ideas19
Learn to say no3
Know who the key people are2
Divorce your work life from your home life2
Never have an office affair1

Technical details

The 3M sponsored survey, carried out by MORI was conducted with chairmen, managing directors and presidents of companies from the FTSE 500, top 500 by turnover and the largest 100 organisations by capital employed.

  • 196 interviews took place
  • Fieldwork conducted September - November 2000

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