Race is on to take the best of British sport and society to the world

Helping clients to reinvent themselves is the agency’s sweet spot. When Matt Dawson was contemplating a final season in rugby with Wasps, he was persuaded to retire and maximise his commercial value by capturing “first mover” advantage as a member of the World Cup winning team. “He won Masterchef, got to the final of Strictly and the rest is history,” says Thompson.

Flintoff, a giant 6ft 5in, began designing clothes for Jacamo, a retailer for larger men. Four years on, his collection is outselling established brands, and will this year launch in the US.

Thompson sees his job as helping clients to make sensible career decisions: “If anyone thinks we’re their agent or manager, we have failed. We try to be their partner, not money-grabbing agents. We share risk. We only get paid on success.”

Turnover has increased 30pc year-on-year, and he has a five-year plan to become Britain’s largest talent-management company through acquisitions, but they will be sub-divided into smaller businesses: sport, music, entertainment.

Thompson, 47, a former Entrepreneur of the Year, has created and sold three businesses, and believes in working with small teams.

“Always be perceived as an underdog. Break down a business into small, accountable teams rather than having a top-down management structure. Make feel people responsible for delivering. The start-up mentality is more relevant now than ever. The pace of change means you’ve always got to think like one – each year you’ve got to keep changing”.

Thompson takes the same approach across his business interests: he is also chairman of MAMA group, Britain’s largest independently owned festivals business; chairman of publisher Debrett’s; and chairman of Surrey County Cricket Club, a £35m business in its own right.

“You tend to take ideas from one to the other. I can’t think of a board meeting I’ve left without learning something new. You spot trends in one business that you think will work elsewhere,” he says.

One factor that unites MAMA and Debrett’s – two brands which, on the surface, could not be more different, one founded in 2005, the other in 1769 – is the scope for international growth.

MAMA stages weekend festivals, such as Wilderness, Lovebox and the Great Escape, which are designed for the “glamping” generation – “G & T out of a glass not Red Bull out of a plastic cup” – and is seeing double-digit growth. Rather than trying to compete with the likes of Live Nation, the company provides a more eclectic family offering. At this year’s Wilderness Festival, music will make up just 30pc of the content; comedy and food will be just as much of a draw.

But, despite the growing popularity of festivals, Thompson believes the UK market is reaching saturation, and the US is ripe for exploitation. “The market there is surprisingly folky, not as sophisticated as in the UK. Their festivals tend to be at massive venues, which lack atmosphere.

“The ambition is to become the UK’s largest festivals business. That’s a big ask, but in terms of being experience-led, we already are. Wilderness was voted Festival of the Year. Let’s take it to the US, let’s take Lovebox and Great Escape there, too”.

Similarly, he sees an opportunity to globalise Debrett’s, a classic brand that needs to become more relevant. Known as the arbiter of social etiquette, it is reinventing itself by running training courses, not least for foreigners who want to do business here or learn how to fit into British society. Debrett’s has recently opened an office in Shanghai; 40pc of clients are from abroad.

“The growth in China has the potential to be phenomenal, plus India, UAE, parts of Africa – countries who want to do more business with the UK.”

But the need for a different type of social training is just as great at home, he believes.

“The biggest opportunity is summer schools for a generation of children for whom social media is their principal form of communication. When it comes to interpersonal skills, they lack what the last generation took for granted.

“Eighteen- and 19-year-olds have more confidence and are up for doing things, but they lack the skills. This generation has the swagger without the substance. Reality TV has given people the sense of an instant fix, and you need to manage expectations.”

The training courses focus on communication and conversational skills; behavioural skills and body language; conveying a good first impression and developing business networks.

Having left school at 16, Thompson is passionate about promoting social mobility, but says it’s an issue that cuts across class. “I’ve trained some pupils at Eton. It doesn’t matter what your background is or where you’ve been educated, there’s no question social media has hampered kids’ development.”

Atrocious CVs are not the preserve of the poorly educated. And, further up the corporate ladder, nor are CVs that stretch the imagination, apparently.

As an employer, Thompson has developed a rigorous hiring technique, which might involve half a dozen interviews and presentations. “Hire slowly, fire quickly – that’s something I was taught very early on,” he says.

“One of my favourite questions is: 'In 80pc of CVs there’s a lie: are you in the 20pc or the 80pc? Because I will pull this CV apart’. When you look at The Apprentice and people say their interviews are harsh, I’d love them to sit on some of those I do, because I want people really to want the role here and feel they’ve been utterly fried.”

Thompson, a father-of-three, is a self-confessed workaholic – which is probably just as well, given his diverse interests. And he feels he has plenty of go left in the tank.

An accomplished cricketer, he became chairman of Surrey CC four years ago; commercially, it was struggling and he had to make a third of the workforce redundant. He aims to give the club a more open, inclusive image, but realises success on the field is what matters.

“I’ve got honours boards everywhere – Surrey cricketers who’ve played for England, Test hundreds scored on this ground – but we don’t have an honours board for profit before tax. As a member, your dividend is a trophy, and never forget it.”

Now languishing in the second division, Surrey haven’t won the county championship since 2002.

Thompson has big plans for all his businesses but, if able to fulfil just one ambition, there’s little doubt which one it would be – landing a trophy for Surrey.

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