Caught the Fletcher Jones Story on SBS last night, a documentary about the man who built, established and ran his clothing design/retail/manufacturing company...(Warrnambool in Vic).
Although I lived in Port Fairy and Warrnambool for some years I never realised the full extent of the story behind the man and the business. An amazing and inspirational person. David Fletcher Jones.
http://www.warrnamboolcam.com/fjstory.htm
"Born in 1895 in Bendigo, David Fletcher Jones left school just before his thirteenth birthday and started work in an auction rooms before moving on to grow tomatoes on a small plot of land on the outskirts of Bendigo .
He joined the Australian army in 1915 and served in Egypt and then on to the Western front in France. A shell burst just meter's away left him with severe injuries and he was invalided home with a C3 (Totally and Permanently Incapacitated) classification, and never expected to work again. He refused to accept the pension and started to look for work. His doctor suggested that a sales job might be good for him and it may also help with his severe stammer, and he eventually found work selling soap door to door.
After some success he then decided to set up his own business selling drapery and manchester door to door and purchased a small horse drawn hawkers van and set off around the Western district of Victoria. This proved to be even more successful and despite his severe stutter, his honesty and integrity shone through and he quickly built the business to a point where he had several trucks and a staff of six.
To boost sales he began renting temporary premises and held one and two days sales in towns around the countryside and in 1924 he rented the Oddfellows hall in Warrnambool and held a sale that proved to be so successful he was persuaded to settle in Warrnambool and lease three shops in the main street."
....and
"During the next decade, despite the financial hardships of the depression years the business continued to prosper, and It was at this stage FJ began to question the distribution of wealth between the rich and the poor and he looked for a way to address the imbalance.
His reading and research eventually led him to the writings of Dr Toyohiro Kagawa ( who had often been described as Japan's Ghandi ) and his work with setting up cooperative projects in Japan.
In 1935 Kagawa visited Melbourne and after numerous letters, FJ managed to convince Kagawa to visit Warrnambool and speak at the local town hall and then in 1936 FJ visited Japan to study Kagawa's social innovations first hand, and he returned convinced to set up a similar structure in Warrnambool."
"He also wanted to create a pleasurable working environment for everyone who worked in the factory - something that had never been attempted before.
He then approached Neil Symons, a local solicitor to help in setting up the business structure for this new company, and Neil promptly told FJ that "he didn't need a business advisor, he needed a psychiatrist" , but FJ's dream was so infectious than not only did Neil Symons set up the new business but he left his job and went to work for FJ, eventually becoming Managing Director and continued in that capacity until his retirement some twenty five years later.
When the new company, "Fletcher Jones and Staff. was finally put in place ( 1951) the staff owned 51% of the shares and Fletcher Jones had become a minority shareholder in the company he had created and by the mid 1970's staff ownership had grown to over 75%.
Not only did the staff benefit financially from the FJ's vision, they were also taking part in a workplace revolution as employees were given more control over their jobs and sections within the factory were run on a team cooperative basis while outside the factory site the rubbish tip was being transformed into landscaped gardens."
Might be? a video clip playable here on this link:
http://www.abc.net.au/abccontentsales/s1876610.htm
Wiki link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fletcher_Jones
Documentary was first shown 2007, then repeated last night, but well worth a watch if you can get your hands on it.
Although I lived in Port Fairy and Warrnambool for some years I never realised the full extent of the story behind the man and the business. An amazing and inspirational person. David Fletcher Jones.
http://www.warrnamboolcam.com/fjstory.htm
"Born in 1895 in Bendigo, David Fletcher Jones left school just before his thirteenth birthday and started work in an auction rooms before moving on to grow tomatoes on a small plot of land on the outskirts of Bendigo .
He joined the Australian army in 1915 and served in Egypt and then on to the Western front in France. A shell burst just meter's away left him with severe injuries and he was invalided home with a C3 (Totally and Permanently Incapacitated) classification, and never expected to work again. He refused to accept the pension and started to look for work. His doctor suggested that a sales job might be good for him and it may also help with his severe stammer, and he eventually found work selling soap door to door.
After some success he then decided to set up his own business selling drapery and manchester door to door and purchased a small horse drawn hawkers van and set off around the Western district of Victoria. This proved to be even more successful and despite his severe stutter, his honesty and integrity shone through and he quickly built the business to a point where he had several trucks and a staff of six.
To boost sales he began renting temporary premises and held one and two days sales in towns around the countryside and in 1924 he rented the Oddfellows hall in Warrnambool and held a sale that proved to be so successful he was persuaded to settle in Warrnambool and lease three shops in the main street."
....and
"During the next decade, despite the financial hardships of the depression years the business continued to prosper, and It was at this stage FJ began to question the distribution of wealth between the rich and the poor and he looked for a way to address the imbalance.
His reading and research eventually led him to the writings of Dr Toyohiro Kagawa ( who had often been described as Japan's Ghandi ) and his work with setting up cooperative projects in Japan.
In 1935 Kagawa visited Melbourne and after numerous letters, FJ managed to convince Kagawa to visit Warrnambool and speak at the local town hall and then in 1936 FJ visited Japan to study Kagawa's social innovations first hand, and he returned convinced to set up a similar structure in Warrnambool."
"He also wanted to create a pleasurable working environment for everyone who worked in the factory - something that had never been attempted before.
He then approached Neil Symons, a local solicitor to help in setting up the business structure for this new company, and Neil promptly told FJ that "he didn't need a business advisor, he needed a psychiatrist" , but FJ's dream was so infectious than not only did Neil Symons set up the new business but he left his job and went to work for FJ, eventually becoming Managing Director and continued in that capacity until his retirement some twenty five years later.
When the new company, "Fletcher Jones and Staff. was finally put in place ( 1951) the staff owned 51% of the shares and Fletcher Jones had become a minority shareholder in the company he had created and by the mid 1970's staff ownership had grown to over 75%.
Not only did the staff benefit financially from the FJ's vision, they were also taking part in a workplace revolution as employees were given more control over their jobs and sections within the factory were run on a team cooperative basis while outside the factory site the rubbish tip was being transformed into landscaped gardens."
Might be? a video clip playable here on this link:
http://www.abc.net.au/abccontentsales/s1876610.htm
Wiki link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fletcher_Jones
Documentary was first shown 2007, then repeated last night, but well worth a watch if you can get your hands on it.
