24 in ’24 Challenge – “The King of Sunlight” by Adam Macqueen

William Lever was a businessman who spotted a gap in the market and created a soap empire which eventually became Lever Brothers and is now the foundation for Unilever. Adam Macqueen’s book The King Of Sunlight tells the story of this man and his life in a journalistic and entertaining manner. The author writes about the full range of Lever’s achievements and obviously admires him but he also describes the character flaws which caused him, and his company, problems in the long run.

Lever was a driven man all his life. He was obsessed by detail and worked every hour he could to have total control over his empire. He was also a very compassionate man, although he preferred to see himself as pragmatic, and he believed that his employees should share in the profits of the company they helped to make successful. He built a model town for his employees near to Warrington which was ahead of its time and although he determined every detail of the construction he also planned the houses and open spaces to meet the needs of those who would live there.

Lever Brothers became the main supplier of soap in the UK and in areas of the world that were or had been British. They were very efficient in production and Lever understood selling and marketing very well resulting in the brands they made becoming very well known. Eventually production was started abroad, although that wasn’t as successful as it could have been.

Lever was an autocrat who really wanted the best for his employees provided that he could define what that exactly looked like. He purchased the Isle of Lewis and his proposed improvements for the inhabitants, to be paid for from his own fortune, were not well received. He was a man who liked to make decisions quickly and to make them only once so he refused to change his mind or course of action even when he was demonstrably wrong.  Eventually the way in which he ran his empire was no longer sustainable and he had to pass control to others.

I have no particular interest in the history of the production of soap but I found this book fascinating. It’s not a long book but the author shares what he knows about the subject in a clear way and is careful to show all sides of his character as well as the impact that he made on the lives of others. In order to explain what he is talking about the author uses examples and analogies with the present day a lot although that present day is now nearly twenty years ago so these references might need to be updated in future editions of the book so that new readers understand what he means.

I thought that this was an excellent biography and a fascinating subject.