Ike Bain – The Dick Smith Way
Last modified: September 26, 2010For over 25 years Ike Bain worked alongside Dick Smith as his right hand man, establishing and growing Dick Smith Electronics and Australian Geographic. In that time he witnessed Dick make his mark on the Australian landscape – as an entrepreneur, an adventurer, a philanthropist and a reformer or bureaucracy.
In The Dick Smith Way, Ike recollects his time with Dick – the challenges, the successes and the failures. In doing so he not only presents entertaining anecdotes, practical tips and insights into a business philosophy, but also how Dick Smith has remarkably defined success along the way.
‘I’ve written this book for business people, for those who might hope to be in business one day, and for people who might not have the slightest interest in a business career but would like to know why Dick Smith is so good at it. I hope you will be entertained by the sense of fun, enthusiasm and adventure that spills out of The Dick Smith Way.’
Ike Bain
This book was written by Dick Smiths right hand man Ike Bain who met Dick when he was operating out of a backyard electronics store because he had gone into receivership. Ike hit it off with the young entrepreneur and was hired into Dick’s business Dick Smith Electronics and later Australian Geographic.
This book talks a lot about Dick Smiths focus on fun and trying various marketing ideas out in the media. He is a creative mind and you can’t help but laugh at some of the stunts that he got up to whilst building the business such as towing in a fake iceberg to the Sydney Harbour or using his competitors criticism of him in his own marketing to turn their comments into advertising.
The book was written in 2002 and it is amazing to hear the amount of money that even in the late 80’s Dick Smith was giving away to various charities and causes and the amount of money one particular event had made 17 years after he help set it up ($70m).
Dick Smith is a great Australian icon and one of my fondest memories of Primary school was when he came to visit my class in grade 2.