Q&A with Tim Smit

Tim Smit CBE
Chief Executive and Co-Founder
Eden Project

Be fair in all things and you will sleep well at night

  Q&A with Tim Smit

8th July 2009
Dutch-born Tim Smit worked as an archaeologist and a record producer before starting the Eden Project. Part garden, part educational experiment, the award-winning attraction has welcomed more than 11 million visitors since it opened its doors in March 2001.

An entrepreneur is…. Someone who can read an opportunity and not be blinded by the inherent risks, but instead works so hard that the risks are minimised through effort. Ultimately the difference between an entrepreneur and other people is the willingness to back him or herself against the odds.

The best advice I ever got was….avoid negative people and lose your fear of being disliked. Be fair in all things and you will sleep well at night.

And the worst…you have to be a bastard to be successful. Most of the really successful people I have met are kind and generous.

The most fun I’ve had as an entrepreneur was…discovering that the greatest pleasure you can have is to enjoy giving others the space to become the people they dreamed they could be. Success is a lonely place if you choose to be there on your own.

I wish I’d never….wasted so much time waiting.

In another life I’d have been…an Anthropologist.

I said it would never work, but…CDs did catch on despite them looking and feeling so awful.

Leave a comment

Log in or create a user account to comment.

Rating:
  • Currently 3/5 Stars.
View entry
Rating:
  • Currently 2.5/5 Stars.
View entry
Rating:
  • Currently 2.5/5 Stars.
View entry

by Karim Jaroudi
any info about leather tanners in Kazak?

by Looney Barameda
Hey dexter, I like the generator in...

by FishBowl Inafishbowl
Inafishbowl.com founder and entrepren...

REGISTER NOW to contribute to discussions

Rating:
  • Currently 3/5 Stars.
View entry
Rating:
  • Currently 2.5/5 Stars.
View entry
Rating:
  • Currently 2.5/5 Stars.
View entry
Rating:
  • Currently 2.5/5 Stars.
View entry
Rating:
  • Currently 2.5/5 Stars.
View entry
Anne-Kathrin Kuhl...
Rating:
  • Currently 2.5/5 Stars.
View entry
Rating:
  • Currently 2.5/5 Stars.
View entry
Rating:
  • Currently 2.5/5 Stars.
View entry
Rating:
  • Currently 2.5/5 Stars.
View entry
Rating:
  • Currently 2.5/5 Stars.
View entry
Rating:
  • Currently 3/5 Stars.
View entry
Markus count Matu...
Rating:
  • Currently 3/5 Stars.
View entry
Sandeep Manohar N...
Rating:
  • Currently 3/5 Stars.
View entry