Strive for perfection

When your history is as long and storied as Rolls-Royce’s, almost every week seems to bring another important milestone or anniversary. But some have a special significance for us; and few are more resonant than today. For it was on 27 March 1863 that our co-founder, Henry Royce, was born in a small, humble house in Alwalton, near Peterborough; the youngest of five children and, although his proud parents didn’t know it, destined to become world-famous.

If Sir Henry (as he became in 1930) were with us to celebrate his 158th birthday, I think the best present we could give him would be found in the Reception Hall at the Home of Rolls-Royce at Goodwood. There, he would see, spelled out in laser-cut letters over the reception desk, his own ringing exhortation: ‘Strive for perfection in everything you do’.

It’s a bold, uncompromising, historic instruction that inspires and challenges us every single day, exactly as he meant it to. But as with everything at Rolls-Royce, it’s a matter of substance, not simply for show. Far more than just a memorable quotation from a towering figure, it is the intellectual and practical foundation of our entire business model and corporate culture.

That culture has never been more important than over the past year. In a time of extraordinary disruption, dislocation, uncertainty and change, we have held fast to our core values, which we encapsulate in two words: Inspiring Greatness. And because everyone in our organisation knows, understands and takes to heart those immutable core principles, we have been able to adapt virtually every aspect of our business in response to changing situations and demands.

We have introduced new ways of working and challenged established methods, events and thinking with entirely fresh perspectives. As well as dealing with practical issues like supporting working from home for office staff, while also managing health and safety for our colleagues working on-site, we have continued to innovate on a more fundamental level. Our new Ghost, launched, entirely virtually, to the world in the midst of the pandemic, has redefined the very essence and philosophy of luxury, with a pared-back, minimalist ethic, in line with contemporary tastes and desires. Through it all, we have remained absolutely true to our pursuit of perfection, which as Sir Henry himself also averred, ‘is no small thing’.

Upon reflection, paradoxically, in a year in which everything changed, here at Rolls-Royce all the really important things, the things that make us who we are and that our patrons love most about us, stayed exactly the same. Something of which, I suspect, our founder would thoroughly approve.