Me And My Partner

Karen Haddon started out as a singer-actress, then had a pop hit with her sister. At 21, she joined her father, Harold Berlinski, in his new firm, Le Maitre, now the UK's largest firework business, turning over more than pounds 5m a year

KAREN HADDON AND HAROLD BERLINSKI

KAREN HADDON: I was at stage school until the age of 15, then in a TV series for two years. After that I made a record with my sister, Maxine. When she got married, I went to work for my father, who had a furniture company and a petrol station, and had just set up with somebody who'd invented the first safe pyro-flash system.

I was intrigued to watch my father and learnt a lot very quickly, listening to him doing deals and observing his business acumen. I found it fascinating and tried to emulate him. I began to feel very comfortable in that environment and to take more and more on. Three years later, I became the finance director, then a full partner and bought shares in the company. I wanted to concentrate on the displays and make them bigger: there were lots of areas we could expand into, such as the corporate market and millennium displays. I don't think I could have done a nine-to-five job, but I liked the fact that I knew what I was doing every day. That's why I stayed. My father knew that Maxine and I always wanted to become singers and dancers - we never thought of anything else - but he always made jokes about who was going to take over the family business. I think he was very pleased when I came in, because his natural flair for business has rubbed off on me: I lived at home until I got married, at 28, and I have most of his traits.

We are both very aggressive. We see what we want and we go for it, which probably isn't very attractive in a woman. We are quite ruthless. I can be very argumentative and very stubborn: in that, we are incredibly similar and we have lots of arguments in the board room, if we both feel we are right. But often we are able to change each other's minds. I think that's one of the reasons he feels comfortable with me in business.

One of our biggest shows in the 1980s was the G7 summit at Buckingham Palace, with President Bush and Margaret Thatcher. That was a turning point in terms of scale: we were getting known as one of the few companies which could do the really big displays. It was exciting, similar to the adrenalin I got when I went on stage.

Our industry is very informal. Having been in show business, dealing with rock and roll people is easier for me. But when you have Michael Jackson performing and you're setting off fireworks a few feet away, that's nerve-racking. But it's rewarding when you have done a brilliant show and everybody applauds. You can be very creative: you have to keep finding new boundaries which you can make safe, but spectacular.

Now, stars can't just go on stage and sing. People are expecting an entire show and special effects. You get some bands who want to blow up cars on stage, and you have to give them everything they want - safely. You can never leave anything to chance. We would pull the show if there was any element of danger. My father and I communicate an awful lot and I usually tell him what I am doing, what meetings I've had. We discuss the strategy we are going to use to get a job. My father is logical and straightforward, and I find that helpful. It's good business sense. We also work separately: he has responsibility for the whole company, as chairman, and I run the firework division. I think I have a particular empathy with the people who work for us, and I'll put their case to my father.

Although I have the most enormous respect for him and listen to his advice, I find it difficult to take direction and if I believe I am right, I will do it. I get a lot of satisfaction when I do a big deal, particularly if I've put together the tender and made the presentation. If my father disagrees with something, I go all out to prove it will work. You could call it high-spiritedness, but I can be a bit dogmatic.

In a partnership like this, you do lose something as father and daughter. He thinks I am very tenacious, and I have certainly gained his admiration, but I don't think it's a natural progression for a child to challenge the father in a board room. My father was always in charge and made the decisions. Now, I can't sit on his lap and put my arms round him. I miss that.

With the millennium, business is going to be manic for the next year. My father is more laid back now. He'll come in later in the mornings, or offer to pick up my daughter from school. I've seen a change in him - he's beginning to relax, and he knows what's going on in each area of the business. He's 74, but I don't think he would ever retire. He feels confident with the qualities I have, because they are what made him successful.

HAROLD BERLINSKI: Karen was very involved in the entertainment business. She had a nice voice,although she abhorred acting. She and Maxine used to do the clubs,Cleethorpes Pier and so forth. I said: "That's what you've got to do; that's your apprenticeship and that's where you learn." I made it as easy as I could for them, but if you could work in those clubs, you could work anywhere. Karen was nervous, but she was very determined.

I started working for myself at 16 or 17, after being a welder. I used to buy and sell in south London, from auction sales. Then I went into pianos, and started a little shop in Clapham. We sold gowns and second- hand clothes, but my sisters used to give the gear away. Then we turned it into an eel and pie shop. The piano game got very bad, so I started making furniture, and ended up with two factories.

I had a bit of space and my son-in-law brought me a clever kid, who was a designer and used to make dry ice machines. He worked out a system for a pyro-flash with cartridges. You've seen a genie pop out in a pantomime with a flash - it's done with powder in a bowl, set off with a hot wire - but this kid had a cartridge plugged into a box which was a long way away. It's a much safer system. That's how we started. We had another designer who had a lot of contacts, and who was a friend of one of the Queen's equerries, so we used to get all the displays.

Karen came into the office one day and wanted a job. She probably wasn't that serious about it, but I saw she had potential, and she's turned into an extremely good businesswoman. It was one step at a time: she started with secretarial work. She's very thorough and methodical, self-sufficient and dedicated. She's also good with people. I'm not good with the staff, too impatient. I have been in business for a long time, but I always had somebody looking after staff.

When I started the firework business, I wasn't all that far-seeing and we had one or two sticky patches. I am protective towards this because it's a family business, even more than if it was my own. I used to go out and get the business, but now I have very little to do with that. Karen is on that side, and my son-in-law does the sales. I have every confidence in them.

Our strength has been in research and development: for example, we had the best- designed smoke machine. If we found a hole in the market, we filled it. We also have extremely good distributors, and a sister company in Canada, so we had good expansion. In the early days, I would do whatever it took: you need dedication and determination to make it happen. I was ruthless, and in the furniture side, buying was my strong point. We used to serve the big boys then, MFI and Littlewoods.

Karen and I can argue a great deal, and we have occasional differences of opinion, but they don't get that bad. One of us changes our mind. Our relationship has always been good, and I admire her ability and love her dearly. Maybe when she started, Karen did feel she had to prove something - and she undoubtedly has done. She's had things to learn but she's learnt them. I haven't had any doubts she can do it.

I have no yen to leave the business completely, but I can take it easy now. Things can go wrong and I like to be around to see they don't, because I still feel protective of it. It's something to do. But at some stage when everything is flowing, maybe I will go. I hope Karen still considers my judgement is good - living as long as I have done, I should have better judgement. She could talk to me about anything. These days, being a woman in business isn't a difficulty. There are not many chauvinist pigs around.