Leaders List interview: 60 seconds with Clive Dixon, Moore Dixon

Date: 05 Jun 2024

Ashleigh John

This week’s 60-second piece is dedicated to Clive Dixon, Partner at Moore Dixon, Isle of Man

Tell Citywealth readers a bit about your role.

On paper, my responsibility is the firm’s strategic direction and overall client relationships. In practice, my job is to be surprised. Like being surprised by amazingly bright ideas. Like being surprised by exciting new developments, such as our expansion into the last of the pink bits on the map, Gibraltar, the Falklands Islands, and other small but wonderfully ambitious British outposts. My job is also to watch and listen. To watch the market, to watch the world, to listen to the firm itself – it’s constantly changing. To judge when the time is right and to know when the time is wrong. To quietly exercise control without being controlling.

What does a typical day look like for you?

When I was a hungry young chartered accountant my day used to start early and would usually finish late. Now my day usually starts early from home and finishes whenever I want. The team has learned not to mistake my absence for my finger not being on the pulse. Everything must run with ISO precision. And in a firm of chartered accountants, everything needs to be tickety-boo, so in a sense I am Head of Tickety-Boo. I must also constantly explore new ways to add value to our clients, adapt to regulatory changes, and drive growth for the firm.

Tell us about some recent, interesting client instructions you have received.

Although not specifically client instructions (as I am not really at liberty to talk about them), it would be hard to top the excitement of establishing Moore Dixon in two British outposts around the world. I am talking here about Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands. We have established offices in both territories and, in the Falklands, we will be the only global accounting firm to serve local clients from a local base. We believe there is a great deal of understanding and synergy between our office in the Isle of Man and these two determinedly independent jurisdictions. We feel we’re small enough to provide a bespoke, personal service, yet large enough to have a broad specialist expertise, and with our association with Moore Global, a truly global perspective.

What challenges do your clients face and how are you helping your clients to overcome them?

Everyone knows, or very quickly learns, that finance, in any sphere of endeavour, is complex, highly regulated, and ever-changing. As a business, trying to run your financial affairs without the kind of expertise we can bring is becoming increasingly more challenging. A bit like a visit to the dentist, we always urge clients to talk to us regularly. Definitely they should talk to us at the earliest stages. Being in business can bring a whole ugly raft of new challenges and regulatory issues that can – and often do – swamp the average business owner. My recommendation to any prospective client would be, you can’t put a price on the right advice.

What is your proudest professional achievement?

Pride is said to come before a fall. However, I am fortunate and grateful for having founded a firm some 35+ years ago that has grown into a respected organisation with three offices around the world in uniquely and determinedly British locations. My pride is of the paternal kind. I have worked with some incredible talent and love being surrounded by such capable people. The team I work with makes coming to work a joy, and it’s why I still love the job and I intend to keep going for as long as I can. (I do hope that doesn’t invoke an inward groan from any of the team reading this!) I know that many people look back at their time at Moore Dixon fondly and that in itself tells me that we must be doing something right.

What do you consider to be the most important attributes for a leader?

In 60 seconds? Really!

Here are some… You have to give enough rope to each employee, but not necessarily to hang themselves. If you don’t give individuals the space and the environment to learn for themselves, they will not truly grow. That said, good leadership involves having a system in place that guides and informs. That’s why we have Investor in People and ISO 9001 accreditations. With excellent guidelines in place, which are rigorously adhered to, employees know exactly what’s expected of them. In turn this reduces stress and anxiety. With the right amount of nurturing, you can smile as you see team members grow and achieve. But another attribute of a leader is to watch that progression but know exactly what to do when things go, shall we say, a little askew.

Who do you most admire and why?

I have had the good fortune of working for and with some incredible and well-known business leaders. I couldn’t possibly choose among them.

Where was the last place you travelled to for work or pleasure?

Mallorca. It’s a place I love visiting for both work and pleasure. I first met an artist in Palma who was on the Cathedral steps selling his work. I asked him to recreate five pieces of the work he had produced, but I needed them five times larger (our Victorian offices have high ceilings and big walls). We became friends and his pictures have pride of place in our offices.

If you weren’t in this industry, what else might you be doing?

As a teenager, if I hadn’t failed the audition to be a recording engineer at EMI, I may today have been a music producer (retd). Stockhausen may not be to everyone’s taste, but his experimental compositions were just the kind of thing that I wanted to be involved with. Ring-modulators and electronics at the ready, a muso friend and I auditioned to work with a band who would go on to be utterly, massively famous. Sadly, we were not invited to be part of that journey. However, around the same time, my father decreed that I should go into Accounting. In his view, youngsters should be encouraged to follow careers beginning with A or B, such as Accounting, Agriculture, Army, Banking, Barrister or Business. With a few exceptions, he reckoned there’s rarely a need to go any further down the alphabet.

How do you relax after a long day?

This may sound pretty annoying, but I am lucky to be in a job which is fun and gives me so much enjoyment, I don’t really feel the need to relax. Having said that, I do like to mull over an aged single malt whisky (but no iodine, smoke, or peat, please).

You can view Clive’s profile on the Leaders List here.