Grant Petty is CEO of one of the fastest growing technology companies in the broadcast and Hollywood film industries. Over the past 15 years the company he founded in Melbourne, Blackmagic, has developed some of the most innovative products in the film and television industry. So how has Petty built a worldwide company with hundreds of thousands of customers?
Blackmagic Design CEO Grant Petty updates the media on new products launched at NAB in Las Vegas in April.
Grant Petty doesn’t see things as simply left vs right. Instead, he describes it in terms of create vs consume. Petty believes that when someone comes into a role of power, like a CEO, they should add creativity to that role. He says that we must imagine the future and then imagine your way through it.
His approach and thinking belies his rural upbringing. “Where I grew up we had only one TV station and the quality was just terrible. And that’s when I realised that things should be better than this,” he recalls.
Perhaps his motivation isn’t revolutionary, however, the way he fixes business problems certainly is.
“We seem to have forgotten what manufacturing really is, and how important it is to Australia. We have suffered decades of pop culture bagging out so called ‘joe-jobs’. The reality is, if you do manufacturing right there is a certain way of thinking that comes with it.”
Petty explains how the most obvious way of doing some things in business is the completely wrong way of doing things in manufacturing. “There is a depth to your business thinking that is required to do manufacturing well,” he explains.
“I am not talking about the same old car plant theories. I am talking about innovative and constantly changing types of manufacturing. The thinking that comes from this sort of production can permeate a new intelligence through other
industries.
“When you lose manufacturing from an economy what you are left with is a bunch of coffee-making baristas and reality-TV-like culture. Truly, that’s what we risk when do away with manufacturing.”
Known for its quality manufacturing, Petty quotes the Germans, who said you can’t have a successful economy where everyone just cuts each other’s hair.
“That’s not to put hairdressers or baristas down. But it’s true. When you look down on people in manufacturing you’re looking down on people crucial to your economy,” Petty says.
“What’s missing with most manufacturing is its link to creativity. When I started working as a post production engineer, I soon realised that manufacturers were more interested in a quick dollar than quality and reliability.
“We would purchase editing and colour scanning systems, costing almost a million dollars, and they were terrible, breaking down all of the time. I would think about the cost and what the bits in it were worth – and wondered where the rest of the money was going.”
Petty realised if things were to change then he would have to change them. He describes his original vision for his company as solving problems through creativity. He explains there are only two pathways for creativity in business.
“There is doing it the way it is already done, by simply looking at people overseas and adopting their approach.
“The other way is to hate the thing in front of you – and then work out ways to make it better.”
Petty explains there is no better word to describe his feelings for poorly thought out products that are driven by corporations focused on cost minimisation.
“When it comes to design in products you should absolutely hate things that are no good especially when a company has deliberately made it that way.”
For anyone who has bought a product that failed their expectations, ‘hate’ is perhaps not such a controversial word after all.
Petty says that life is supposed to be revolutionary, as is his business approach to his customers. “Life is not supposed to be long walks on the beach. It is supposed to be exciting and revolutionary.
“I always try to fix big problems. The bigger my company grows, the bigger the problem we can solve for someone. Because there is always something needed to be fixed in our industry our business just keeps growing.”
Petty happily shares the most important thing he has learnt in business. “I think the biggest difference with us is how we approach these things and how other companies to do it.
“The biggest problem the manufacturing industry has is business culture. That sort of culture kills creativity. That sort of culture cuts everything up and measures it. And they won’t make a decision unless they can predict the outcomes.”
Petty explains how creativity across all of his business activities has enabled him to build incredibly sophisticated manufacturing plants – all without the need for debt or venture capital. Petty has also acquired six other tech companies without external funding.
“Everything we have done comes from our own business efficiencies, which have enabled me to self fund the lot. I am not too sure how many Australian manufacturers these days, have done that!”