The energy boss Bill Bullen pioneered the use of smart meters in the UK. As founder of pay-as-you-go energy firm Utilita, he has pledged to help customers go greener and spend less through smart data use. The engineering graduate quit a lucrative career at British Gas to challenge the Big Six. Here is his advice to power up your performance.

1. Putting customers first begins with putting staff first. It would be better if organisational charts were drawn the other way up. It’s the job of a leader to support their staff and create the space in which they can perform.

2. Replace gut instincts with data insights. The better the data, the better the decision-making. People tend to make decisions with their emotions and then try to justify them with facts.

3. Every day is a school day; you’ve got to embrace change and grow with the business and never lose the sheer dogged determination to make a business work.

4. Have more self-belief. A lot of people are their own worst enemies because we hold ourselves back, even though we can see what’s going wrong.

5. Learn from your peers. No one has a monopoly on good ideas, and no one can afford to take all risks. Copying a successful idea de-risks company development.

6. Values underpin everything you do as a business, so make your brand embody them. As Dr Martyn Newman says: “It’s not sticks or carrots that drive performance, it’s values. When you tap into the things that people feel, the things they deeply care about, you release inside them this most remarkable creative energy to achieve extraordinary things.”