Trailblazers

In the first of a four-part series celebrating true business innovators, we look at those who’ve broken free from the boundaries to build something completely new – even a better world.

When John Symond set up Aussie Home Loans in 1992, he didn’t challenge the status quo – he smashed it. By undercutting the big banks’ interest rates, he turned Australia’s mortgage lending market on its head. A true trailblazer, Symond is one of many business visionaries who have bravely left the herd to forge their own path.

Trailblazers are not just entrepreneurs; they create entirely new products, markets or ways of doing things by identifying then solving problems and pushing outside their comfort zone – way outside.

Andrew Bassat left a high-flying corporate career to co-found employment website Seek in 1997, back when newspapers had an iron grip on classified advertising. His startup lost money for five years but Seek is now a dominant global player with a market value of $5.5 billion.

Bassat could see a future that others couldn’t, much like trailblazing fashion and lifestyle retailer Nigel Austin, who has a knack for giving customers exactly what they want at the right price. In 1991, he opened the first Cotton On store in his home town of Geelong, south-west of Melbourne. Now the Cotton On Group has more than 1300 stores selling eight brands, including the stylish and affordable Cotton On Kids and Typo, across 17 countries. Through its philanthropic arm, the Cotton On Foundation, the organisation gives back, too, working with Ugandan communities to reduce poverty.

Of course, it’s one thing to have a big idea; it’s quite another to have the tenacity and courage to overcome obstacles. Trailblazers are willing to take risks and embrace uncertainty. And they don’t give up. Lonely Planet founders Maureen and Tony Wheeler endured four financially desperate years after publishing their budget-travel guide in 1973. The guidebooks were typed and collated on their kitchen table but eventually spawned a company that sold for £130 million. Exceptional at identifying problems and creating solutions, some trailblazers also set goals beyond financial success. Passionate and focused, they believe their nonconformist approach and offering – whether it be cheaper mortgages, faster job placements or more accessible fashion – will help others. Some take it even further, hoping to blaze a trail for much greater changes by building into their reason for being a culture of giving back to the community and improving the world.

Water advocate Mina Guli is one such trailblazer (see box, right). Another is Marc Benioff, co-founder, chair and CEO of global software company Salesforce, which is consistently ranked as one of the world’s most innovative companies.

When Salesforce was established in 1999, Benioff and co-founder Parker Harris pioneered a philanthropy model called 1-1-1, whereby Salesforce contributes one per cent of its technology, time and resources to improve communities around the world. In true trailblazing style, Salesforce’s groundbreaking approach has pointed the way for others: more than 1400 companies globally have pledged to adopt the 1-1-1 model.