Bite Sized Business Tips

2 minute reads for the values-led business leader

Snippets for purpose and values-led business leaders about meeting our responsibilities to our team, customers, owners, communities and suppliers. Context is everything, so these aren't dogma - rather a stimulus for thought. Subscribe below.

What do you want to rebuild?

We've been forced into an opportunity. Top of mind for every CEO is team, then cash flow. Maintain sales and payment, and control cost. Rightly so. No cash flow, no business. But unless you're planning to rebuild a business that just goes from hand to mouth, you also need to ...
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This time may be testing your values

What does a values-led business do in the current climate? Well, it can do a lot actually. Reach out to clients to deepen relationships rather than transact. Explore how to provide stability for its workforce through times of volatility. Honour its suppliers where it can, or find ways to minimise ...
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Making commitments is easy. Delivering them, not so much.

A diversified portfolio is a really bad idea when it comes to strategic initiatives. A big part of my work is helping SMEs and scale-ups turn their vision, values and strategies into reality. How do we take a list of goals, or our grand vision, or what we say we ...
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Leaders grow fastest in service of something far bigger than themselves

My times of most significant growth at work always came when I was serving something bigger. Turning around a very dispirited team, the most obvious thing for me was to put myself in their service. And to do it in action, not just in words. It wasn't some grand sacrifice ...
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When is it enough?

One of the truly beautiful consequences of building a company serving a purpose bigger than itself is that the enormity of the mission can free you from unhealthy personal or financial ambition. When you build with a deep rooted desire to make a difference, a dent in something you care ...
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Netflix and Blockbuster – the key lesson isn’t the one that’s in the lore

Nearly a decade after the demise of Blockbuster, we still hear it often cited as an example of the failure to see or act on innovation. It's still bandied about as a lesson in how a dominant player can be disrupted out of existence. But that's not the real lesson ...
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I wish you a happy journey for 2020

The journey is everything. For the last 15 or so years of my life, I’ve been realising more and more that everything we do is just a journey, and that we never get to the destination. And that this is a good thing. In all areas of our lives, including ...
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Be kind in business, and not for the ROI

Given the current vitriolic and disrespectful state of politics and citizenship in the UK and US, I am worried that we're in danger of losing kindness as a core value of life and relationships. So I just did a search for "kindness in business" on Google. And the results were ...
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Don’t build a business to sell

A lot of early-stage startups that I meet want to talk about their exit strategy. They spend a lot of time figuring out how to build a company that they can sell for a good price. If exit is your goal (and remember it may not be the only way ...
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The unimportance of nearly everything

It can be sadder than it is aspirational. I see many families, including mine at times, and especially those with kids, stressing over everything. And joy disappears as everything else becomes the priority. Many companies do the same. Everything's important. Everything's a priority. I recall sitting in board meetings where ...
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Being too nice to terminate someone’s employment creates bigger problems

I remember the first time I had to deal with a team member who wasn't meeting the needs of his role. We'd gone through the support, the training, trying to find another role. But ultimately none of that worked. So I took the next step. Which was to sit on ...
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Is your team telling you what they think or what they think you want to hear?

I had a tough decision to make, and I sought the advice of a senior member of my team. He told me what he thought. As he was more knowledgeable in that space than I was (or ever will be TBH), I went with his advice. It didn't work out ...
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