Blog

Making Business Better with Formality and Quirkiness

November 21st, 2023

mch has always tried to operate a four-fold approach to business. We believe sustainable success lies in resonance and harmony between:

1. Providing a great service to clients
2. Treating people well: those who work for and with us
3. Having a positive impact on wider society
4. Minimising mch’s negative environmental impact

How we formalise this approach is detailed in the Corporate Social Responsibility reports we publish every year. mch is committed to sharing the steps it is taking to develop its four-fold approach further. In keeping with its culture, these steps can be both formal and quirky. Here is an example of each:

The Formal

mch has recently become part of the Better Business Act Coalition. This coalition aims to change the law that governs how businesses act. Specifically, the aim is to amend part of the current Companies Act to ensure businesses are legally responsible for benefiting workers, customers, communities and the environment, while delivering profit.

In signing up to the coalition, mch has voluntarily changed its governing documents, so it now has the legal responsibilities the coalition wants all businesses to have.

Ideally, all businesses would voluntarily choose to do the same. Realistically though, change will require a collective effort, which is why mch is supporting this campaign for government to make change mandatory.

The Quirky

The proposed Better Business Act aims to empower directors to exercise their judgement in weighing up and advancing the interests of all stakeholders. To help with this process, mch has (informally) enlisted the help of two new Directors:

(i) My recently seeded wildflower meadow

To help biodiversity, I recently converted a part of my garden into a wildflower meadow.

(ii) The Garibaldi fish

For various reasons, this is one of my favourite animals.

By bringing the meadow and the Garibaldi fish onto the Board, mch hopes to make better decisions, particularly in relation to the environment. When faced with both strategic and operational issues, it is hoped that better decisions will be made, simply by asking ourselves;

“What would be in the best interests of the wildflower meadow?” Or “What would the Garibaldi fish prefer?”

If this proves successful, more Board members may be added, to help broaden our perspectives further, particularly in relation to social issues. If you can see the value of such a thought experiment, who or what would you add to your Board to better represent the environment and broader society?

Book Week 2023

July 18th, 2023

I will shortly be embarking on my annual book week. Above are the main books I’ll be reading this year.

What I read and watched in ‘Book Week’

July 26th, 2022

I have just enjoyed a great ‘book week’: reading books and watching films that have direct and tangential relevance to my work.

‘Die with Zero’ was a particuarly thought provoking read and chimed with my animation series which aims to encourage those with more than enough to give some of it away to those who don’t: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zP_SuC_2Cuk&list=PLcNtPqI6xz2AXrJw0Vgk5nuAE-GSVfo3R

Leadership Insights from My Sabbatical

May 11th, 2022

As part of my sabbatical I conducted some work shadowing and had the privilege of shadowing or conducting in depth interviews with:

• A dairy farmer
• A clinical psychologist
• The owner of a construction company
• A charity CEO
• A fundraising team of a national charity
• A CEO of a social enterprise
• A priest

I knew these people personally or professionally and consciously chose to shadow a diverse range of people and professions. The only qualification was that I considered each individual to be consistently successful in their roles (using an ad hoc mix of subjective and objective measures).

The motivation for the shadowing was a genuine interest in fundamental questions, such as:

• Why do people do what they do?
• What does it take to be consistently successful in a role?
• Are there any common characteristics in top performers, regardless of their role?

Here are just three of the insights I gained from the experience.

1. The Importance of Purpose

A trait shared by all I shadowed was that their purpose was bigger than themselves. For example, when I asked the dairy farmer why he did what he did, he responded;

“I’m part of a story …. to make organic farming mainstream.”

He went on to say;

“My role is to ensure that if a cow ever leaves my herd, they do so in the best possible health.”

Given the costs of organic dairy farming are often double non-organic farming, but you can rarely charge double the price at the point of sale, there is an explicit need for innovation and consistently high performance. Also, if you do your very best to ensure cows stay fit and healthy, they’re more likely to produce good yields of milk. Both these factors are likely to improve the financial bottom line. However, for the farmer I shadowed, the financial benefits genuinely seemed to be an ancillary benefit to his primary goals of promoting organic farming and taking care of his cattle.

2. Values as a Driver

In many cases I was struck by the clarity of values and the lengths some of the individuals would go to live by them. To illustrate, the clinical psychologist I interviewed had worked with victims/survivors of rape. She was appalled by how often they were poorly treated by the court system. What she was observing ran completely counter to her value of justice.

Her response? Whilst still holding down a full time job as a clinical psychologist, she spent several years completing a law degree on evenings and weekends. This enabled her to engage with the legal profession, to bring about much needed change, in ways that wouldn’t have been possible if she weren’t a lawyer herself. Values drove outcomes.

3. Balancing Enough with Constantly Striving

One of the CEOs I shadowed had led their organisation through a period of expansion. As a result, the organisation’s Board felt it appropriate to award them and their senior leadership team and salary increase, in recognition of their increased remit and responsibilities. While the CEO did not oppose the increase for their team, they did not accept their own salary increase. Instead, they requested that their increase was reinvested into the organisation. This request was actioned very discreetly.

For me, this was someone who had taken the time to reflect on what was enough for them financially and then lived within those parameters. While at a micro level, I believe it sets a very important example for society as a whole, if we are to have a sustainable future. I also think that this individual understood that while their salary prevents them from feeling unappreciated, it does not provide reliable ‘fuel’ for continually striving to improve.

More than anything, the successful people I shadowed were humble. They were very aware that they would never be the finished article as a leader/practitioner, but they were deeply, intrinsically motivated to continue on the journey of improvement.