The Bookspeed Story - An interview with our Managing Director
We speak to Lewis on his career so far with Bookspeed
Bookspeed was founded in 1986 by Annie Rhodes & Kingsley Dawson. Their son, Lewis Dawson, joined the business in September 2008. Now the Managing Director, we speak to Lewis about his career so far and his vision for Bookspeed for the future.
Tell us about your career so far with Bookspeed?
I joined Bookspeed straight from school when I was 17. Neither of my parents had ever imagined I would want to join the business but throughout my teenage years I’d always enjoyed buying and selling things (to varying degrees of success, I should add!) and I had a keen interest in all things relating to business in general. I guess it’s just what I grew up around.
As it became time for me to decide if I was going to go to university or not, likely to study something related to business if I did, I decided to make the case to my parents to let me join Bookspeed to learn about how a business actually works before deciding if I was going to go on to university to study it.
They took some persuading, but eventually they gave in and agreed that I could join the business. So, on 1st September 2008, I started work with the customer service team. After that I moved into sales looking after customers in the North West of England, then later the North East of Scotland. In 2011, whilst still working with customers, I took on the buying side of the business, working with colleagues in Stock Control.
Working on both the customer and supplier side of the business gave me a solid understanding of where Bookspeed sat in the supply chain, how we added value to our customers, and where the opportunities were to grow.
In 2014 I became Commercial Director. This saw me continuing to oversee the buying side of the business, whilst working on broader business development projects with colleagues across the company. Over the following years Bookspeed went through a real growth spurt as we got better at how we positioned ourselves in our customer markets, while also going through a period where books were becoming an increasingly popular product category for retailers. This period was incredibly exciting and challenging in equal measure! From 2015 to 2019 we doubled our revenues and expanded our customer base very significantly; we opened a second warehouse and welcomed many new colleagues to the Bookspeed family.
In late 2017 I took on the role of Managing Director. To have the opportunity to lead the business, and more specifically the fabulous people that I get to work with, is something I am very grateful for and that still feels like an enormous privilege. Since becoming MD, my focus has been on supporting our continued growth by creating a scalable structure for the business, and crucially working to make sure my colleagues across the business are supported in line with the values that Bookspeed was founded on.
It’s been a pretty steep learning curve at each step in my Bookspeed career – and my goodness I’ve made some awful decisions over the years! – but I guess that’s what it’s all about. Providing you learn something from every mistake or misstep!
I think if you’re clear on an organisation’s purpose and then support your people to do their best possible work, a lot of the other stuff will take care of itself. This is of course still a work in progress and is something that will never be finished!
Why are you passionate about what Bookspeed does?
What gets me out of bed in the morning is the books. What we do, which at a fundamental level is to help retailers sell books, is something that I really care about. Getting books into the hands of readers, and specifically those who might not go into a bookshop or consider themselves “readers”, I think is really important. Finding the right book for someone can genuinely change their life. That may sound like a grandiose statement, but I think it’s true. The right book (at the right time) can change the way one views the world, understands oneself and others, or simply provide some escapism. Books are about ideas, change, inspiration, and the sharing of perspectives. It’s a fantastic industry to work in, and it’s always changing, which keeps it exciting. Trends are constantly emerging and developing, and they often give a real insight into a nation’s psyche, and societal changes more broadly.
I’m also a passionate believer in the concept of stakeholder capitalism over shareholder capitalism. I hold what most people would consider to be progressive social attitudes and a general left-leaning view of the world. However, I strongly believe that private enterprise has an important role to play in society as we work towards a fairer and more sustainable future. Capitalism often gets a bad rep, and it certainly is in need of some sort of reset and a good dollop of reform. My vision for Bookspeed’s future is an organisation that embodies what I think capitalism needs to look like for the twenty first century: purpose-led, people-centred, and environmentally conscious.
What book do you think everyone at Bookspeed should read?
That really is an impossible question, as any book recommendation is something very personal. However, if I had to mandate the reading of one book and one book alone – it would be The Lorax by Dr Seuss.
What is the biggest lesson you’ve learnt so far in your time as MD here at Bookspeed?
Definitely to speak less, and listen more…..but I’m still working on that!
Looking to the future, where do see Bookspeed’s direction of travel heading?
I think physical books have a bright future, and an increasingly important role to play in an ever-digitalising world. I also believe that bricks and mortar retailing has an important role to play too in complimenting the way that e-commerce has revolutionised how we buy things. What I think is becoming clearer, is that retailers (physical or virtual) who provide a curated offering or experience can be very successful as more of our day-to-day purchases are done via larger “everything” retailers (Amazon/supermarkets etc) and in the future I expect many of these purchases will be done in a far more automated way.
I’m confident that retailers who are clear about their purpose, and what experience they’re trying to deliver to their customers, will continue to do well and books can play a really important role in helping them to tell their stories, inspire their customers or visitors, and create those moments of delight that good retailers are exceptional at making.
Bookspeed will continue to evangelise about the importance of books in the world, and to help retailers sell books in a profitable and sustainable way.
To read more about The Bookspeed Story you can read more in our blog here or in our 'Our Story' section here.
