This book was a great way to learn about the true value of the Dyson company, which I only knew as a company that makes expensive vacuum cleaners and hair dryers. It was fascinating to learn about the process of creating innovative products from a small problem, the story behind it, and how the company gained organizational experience from failed projects to create new innovations. Above all, the fact that Mr. Dyson himself is a chief engineer who is constantly learning and inventing new things is what makes the company unique and great. I also learned that craftsmanship is still an important value in the modern world, and how the behind-the-scenes efforts of the company’s R&D department create innovative perfumes.

Understanding Dyson’s culture of nurturing engineers, I also realized that the cyclonic suction vacuum cleaner looked amazing and the hair dryer that could quickly dry hair without damaging it looked revolutionary. I also learned that it took over 5,000 failed prototypes to create the finished model we use today. One particularly impressive success story was Dyson’s entry into the Chinese market, where they received stiff fines and trademark protection against counterfeit Dyson products, which was a great recognition of their technology. I was also surprised to learn that Dyson strategically moved their headquarters to Singapore to expand into the Asian market, and that they pay a 6% tariff to sell Dyson products in the UK market. I learned how Dyson is changing and adapting their culture to develop and sell products globally. As they say, the most British is the most global, and Dyson was the most British and the most global at the same time.

I was also impressed by the company’s decision to remain privately held in order to increase the freedom to innovate technologically and minimize the fear of failure. At first glance, it may seem ideal to take the company public and separate ownership and management in order to become a global company, but I believe that for a company like Dyson, which values technological development and innovation outside of conventional thinking as part of its core culture, it is better to remain private. I thought about what would have happened if Dyson had been a publicly traded company and what would have happened if the electric car project that they had invested billions in over the years had been abandoned, and I agree with Mr. Dyson that it is difficult for a publicly traded company with shareholders who only care about short-term results to take on riskier technology development. This can also be applied to the gaming industry, where I have worked in the past, and I am reminded of past gaming projects that have had to sacrifice creativity and fun for short-term revenue and profit.

The story of the Dyson company’s successes and failures was fascinating, but the second half of the book, written by his children and wife, gave me a deeper understanding of a family. In their eyes, Dyson was the geeky guy who wouldn’t come out of the basement for weeks at a time to build machines or climb down a wall on a gybe at a school event, but they always had faith that he would eventually succeed, and their testimony was a valuable reminder of where the power of success comes from. The Dyson book taught me how to run a business, educate the next generation, and create an innovative company culture, and it’s what keeps me up at the crack of dawn today to write my blog and take my youngest child Lego camping.