ScaleX™ Insider Podcast

In this introductory episode, I share with you my vision to inspire and enable millions of ambitious leaders of SMEs to scale with purpose, through the ScaleX™ Insider podcast, and hopefully one of those will be you. Every week, I will be speaking with business leaders, industry experts and authorities on one or more of the 10 Principles of Scaling to support you on your Scaleup journey. I believe passionately in both business scale up and personal scale up and, most importantly, the wellbeing of you: the aspirational Scaleup leader. Having spent 25 years in martial arts, and more recently in triathlon and embarking on becoming a Wim Hof Method instructor, I recognise the value of physical and mental wellbeing in underpinning your Scaleup success. To this, we aim to bring you insights to scaleup success from a host of different perspectives. I’m really looking forward to sharing the ScaleX™ Insider Podcast with you every week. You can find us on your favourite podcast apps and platforms including Spotify, Amazon Audible and Apple Podcasts. About Brendan: With a background in Finance, my first scaleup leadership role came in the technology sector during the Dot.com boom. The now infamous boom and bust of the dot com bubble led me to engineering and manufacturing joining a small Northern Irish company, then with revenues of £3m and a Team of 15 people. I had the privilege of leading the company as CEO for 12 years and being immersed in Scale Ups for 20 years. During this time, we scaled the company successfully to lead our industry growing from small to medium to becoming a large company. Establishing offices across 6 continents, from Australia and India through to North and South America, we employed almost 700 people, exporting to more than 100 countries achieving profitable revenue growth of almost £100m. Our success was acknowledged by Deloitte (becoming a best-managed company for 11 consecutive years), the London Stock Exchange in their Companies to Inspire Europe series, The Sunday Times fast-track awards where we were listed across various categories and I was honoured to receive the overall UK Director of the Year award in 2016 where our success was recognised by the prestigious Institute of Directors. We became a very successful SME who achieved the elusive status of having Scaled Up but sadly as I came to realise, only 2-4% of SMEs ever achieve scale up. Inspired to change this my business Partner Claire and I co-founded Simple Scaling in 2019. To find out more, head over to: https://simplescaling.com/

When scaling a business, what does it mean to become a liquid thinker? In this episode of the ScaleX™ Insider podcast, I’m speaking with international speaker and best-selling author, Damian Hughes. Damian combines his practical and academic background within sport, organisational development and change psychology, to help organisations and teams to create a high performing culture. He is the author of eight best-selling business books which have been translated into ten languages.  He was appointed as a Professor of Organisational Psychology and Change for Manchester Metropolitan University in September 2010. He is the co-host of The High Performance Podcast, an acclaimed series of interviews with elite performers from business, sport and the arts, exploring the psychology behind sustained high performance. He has served as a member of the coaching team for England Rugby League, Scotland Rugby Union and a wide range of international and national sporting teams. His innovative and exciting approach has been praised by Sir Richard Branson, Muhammad Ali, Sir Terry Leahy, Sir Roger Bannister, Tiger Woods, Jonny Wilkinson and Sir Alex Ferguson. We cover many insights and topics in this episode including: What Damian has learned from working with elite sports professionals 5 different types of culture and what defines a high performing culture How success leaves clues Why not to leave the conversation at values What to do when fear and anxiety grips you Contact Damian LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/damian-hughes-a376121/  Website: https://liquidthinker.com/about-damian   Get the book Liquid Thinking: Inspirational Lessons from the World′s Great Achievers mybook.to/Liquid-thinker High Performance: Lessons from the Best on Becoming the Best mybook.to/high-performance Simple Scaling Book Check out our book, an Amazon Best-Seller: Simple Scaling: 10 Proven Principles to 10X Your Business About the Host Director and Founder of Simple Scaling, Brendan brings 25 years’ experience of scaling businesses. Previously, Brendan spent 16 years as a global business leader with CDE, 12 of those as Group MD, steering the company through the global financial crisis to considerable strategic growth success with offices now in 6 continents employing almost 700 people across the world (from 15) and 25X revenue growth.   https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendan-mcgurgan-11854a13/ https://simplescaling.com/meet-the-team 

Our debut episode features Adam Hale, Chair of The Board of Directors for the ScaleUp Institute and author of the online blog Lobster Tales who joined us for a fascinating discussion on: The Five Key Areas of focus for a scaling business How to discover the Why and the What of your company Why talking to customers is critical for success The important characteristics of scaleups The secrets to staying positive even in challenging times How to nurture the next generation of scaleups. You can listen to this podcast on Apple, Amazon Audible, Spotify and Google.  New episodes on Wednesdays. You can also subscribe via the show’s RSS feed. Please rate, review, subscribe and share the podcast if you enjoy it and have gained value from listening. In the meantime, grab a pen, notepad and a cup of tea and make yourself at home for this insightful and engaging chat with Adam. To find out more head over to: https://simplescaling.com/   

When scaling a business, what does it mean to become a liquid thinker? In this episode of the ScaleX™ Insider podcast, I’m speaking with international speaker and best-selling author, Damian Hughes. In our chat, we discuss the fundamentals of great leadership, which behaviours are non-negotiable, and how exceptional cultures are characterised. Damian shares how he has combined his practical and academic experience in development and change psychology; revealing how he supports leaders to create a high performing team culture in scaling organisations. His innovative and exciting approach has been praised by Sir Richard Branson and Tiger Woods and he’s one of the smartest and most humble people I know. We cover many insights and topics in this episode including: What Damian has learned from working with elite sports professionals 5 different types of culture and what defines a high performing culture How success leaves clues Why not to leave the conversation at values What to do when fear and anxiety grips you To learn more head on over to: https://simplescaling.com/

Today's episode features Sebastien Tondeur, CEO of MCI Group. In 1997, he joined the family-businexss, MCI based in Geneva, Switzerland. He brought with him his deep conviction into the company mantra: "When People Come Together Magic Happens". Since then the company has grown from 30 > 2,000 employees in more than 60 cities globally - making MCI one of the world's largest groups in the events sector. In this episode we discuss: The importance of purpose and sustainability Your personal brand as a business leader How setting and sharing a vision gets results Why it pays to be transparent and how that helps you scale How you can increase your recruitment effectiveness Sebastien's simple Diamond Model to measure performance You can listen to this podcast on Apple, Amazon Audible, Spotify and Google.  New episodes on Wednesdays. You can also subscribe via the show’s RSS feed. Please rate, review, subscribe and share the podcast if you enjoy it and have gained value from listening. In the meantime, grab a pen, notepad and a cup of tea and make yourself at home for this insightful and engaging chat with Sebastien. To find out more head over to: https://simplescaling.com/ 

Today's episode features Enda McNulty, best-selling author of Commit! and Founder and CEO of McNulty Performance which specialises in organisational performance, culture and wellbeing. Its vision is to inspire their clients to achieve their full potential whether that is in business, sport or in life. Enda has worked with some of the world's biggest companies such as Amazon, Microsoft, Digicel and Intel.  In this episode we discuss: The importance of culture and surrounding yourself with the right people The key to be agile and getting things done The ability to bounce back and develop resilience How mastering the power of the mind and believing in yourself is essential for success How success leaves clues You can listen to this podcast on Apple, Amazon Audible, Spotify and Google.  New episodes on Wednesdays. You can also subscribe via the show’s RSS feed. Please rate, review, subscribe and share the podcast if you enjoy it and have gained value from listening. In the meantime, grab a pen, notepad and a cup of tea and make yourself at home for this insightful and engaging chat with Enda. To find out more head over to: https://simplescaling.com/   

Today's episode features David Jenyns, author of the wonderful book Systemology, a proven step-by-step business systemisation framework that even the busiest business owner can deploy. His mission, and motivation for writing this book, is “..to free business owners worldwide from the day-to-day operations of running their business.” In this episode we discuss: The 7 steps of the Systemology Model How business leaders can free themselves from the day-to-day operations of the business How to create time, reduce errors and scale your profits How systems allow you to create space What systems are required to scale How and why you extract knowledge from high performing people The importance of having a process and a systems focused culture You can listen to this podcast on Apple, Amazon Audible, Spotify and Google.  New episodes on Wednesdays. You can also subscribe via the show’s RSS feed. Please rate, review, subscribe and share the podcast if you enjoy it and have gained value from listening. In the meantime, grab a pen, notepad and a cup of tea and make yourself at home for this insightful and engaging chat with David. To find out more head over to: https://simplescaling.com/ 

Today’s episode features Emmie Faust, a Digital Growth Specialist and founder of Growth Co Lab which helps connect female service-based founders. Emmie’s clients include Mr & Mrs Smith, Groupon, Sky and Country & Townhouse as well as smaller start-ups. Her clients have a common thread - they are already doing great things and want to accelerate their digital growth and revenue. She has many achievements ranging from launching an online business that secured £200K funding on Dragons’ Den through to successfully scaling and selling a digital media agency and tech/digital agency to larger independent companies.   In this episode we discuss: The power of marketing and the importance of reviewing your customer’s journey How to find the right marketing approach for scaling The components of digital marketing The marketing ‘must haves’ for a scaling business What a good marketing strategy and plan looks like How to hire a good marketing manager You can listen to this podcast on Apple, Amazon Audible, Spotify and Google. New episodes on Wednesdays. You can also subscribe via the show’s RSS feed. Please rate, review, subscribe and share the podcast if you enjoy it and have gained value from listening. In the meantime, grab a pen, notepad and a cup of tea and make yourself at home for this insightful and engaging chat with Emmie. Useful Links: https://ultimategrowthaudit.com/ - Complete the Ultimate Growth Audit and uncover the areas to focus on and accelerate your business to the next level. https://simplescaling.com/   

David Marquet, a former Nuclear Submarine Commander is a student of leadership. Named as one of the Top 100 leadership Speakers by Inc. Magazine, David is the Author of the Amazon #1 Bestseller: Turn the Ship Around! A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders and The Turn the Ship Around Workbook. Fortune magazine called the book the “best how-to manual anywhere for managers on delegating, training, and driving flawless execution.” David imagines a workplace where everyone engages and contributes their full intellectual capacity, a place where people are healthier and happier because they have control over their work – a place where everyone is a leader. His Intent-Based Leadership model is turning around all types of organisations—from big manufacturers to start-ups and sports teams to government. In today’s episode, he discusses the importance of decision making as a leader, how a team can be an extension of your own brain and what you need to do to help them make better decisions, the challenges of the traditional leader / follower model, lean decision making and his own model, The Ladder of Leadership. Listen out for: Self-control is the only control we have I was the greatest control freak, order giver known to humanity. That’s why I rose rapidly to the role of Submarine Commander. I could see that there was a problem with that In poor performing cultures, we play follow the leader. In high performing cultures, we all follow the principles. Everyone at all levels feels that connection We have a scarcity of thinking and an over abundance of doing and compliance. What we need are people who can think, for an organisation to survive. We talk about lean in manufacturing, but what about lean decision making? Businesses need to map the decisions in their organisations and identify where there is waste and lag time. Organisations that pay less for decisions are going to get more out of their people The D2A2 Model – Once you detect a problem, then you describe it, then you assess it and then you act on it Timeless Takeaway: Push authority for making the decision to where the information natively lies If you want to scale, think about scaling your decision-making capacity Resource Links: http://www.youtube.com/c/LeadershipNudges And, If you like movies, you might get a kick out of this… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv9aaTJVIxA About the Host Brendan brings 25 years’ experience of scaling businesses. Most recently, Brendan spent 16 years as a global business leader with CDE, 12 of those as Group MD, steering the company through the global financial crisis to considerable strategic growth success with offices now in 6 continents employing almost 700 people across the world (from 15) and 25X revenue growth. He currently acts as a Non-Executive Director to CDE Asia (part of the CDE Group), a company he co-promoted in 2006. In 2019, he co-led the successful private equity funding round which secured investment from IIFL, India’s leading integrated financial services group to support the company’s future growth ambitions throughout the Asia region. In 2016, he was awarded the Institute of Directors UK Young Director of the Year and Overall Director of the Year. An avid sportsman and advocate of self-leadership through good well-being practices, Brendan is also training to become a Wim Hof Method instructor.

I’m delighted to introduce Kingsley Aikins, CEO of The Networking Institute whose mission is to help individuals and organisations achieve their goals through Networking. He is a recognised expert on the topic and has written and spoken extensively on the benefits of Networking and how to get better at it. He has run workshops and developed online and offline training programmes in the areas of Networking, Public Speaking, Philanthropy and Diaspora Engagement. To date he has trained over 10,000 people in more than 100 organisations in 22 countries and has worked across industry from major accounting to law and from non-profit and government organisations. In his career he has worked for 10 years for the Irish Trade Board and IDA Ireland. He then led The Ireland Funds for 21 years mostly based in Boston. In his time with the Funds over a quarter of a billion dollars was raised for projects in Ireland. He was awarded a CBE for his work on British – Irish relations. In today’s episode, Kingsley discusses whether traditional networking still works, the importance of having diversity in your network, the benefit of cultivating and using network intelligence to scale your business, the PIE approach to networking. Listen out for: • Now is the time to shine online and to serve, not sell and to give, not take • People think that networking is about getting a job or a sale. It is about the opposite. It is about what you can give to other people and how you can put your network at the disposal of other people • We are the average of the people we hang around with • There are some characteristics that good networkers have in common: they work hard at it, they are humble, they don’t brag and they don’t keep score. They know that their network is a living, breathing thing that will grow and if you exercise it like a muscle, it will grow stronger, but if you ignore it, it will wither and die. • Great networkers are curious people. They ask great questions like who, what, when, where and how • They are two types of information – formal and informal. You can’t compete with information that everyone knows. • Great networkers are bridges between different clusters of types of people. They work hard to spend time with unlike minded people, to seek out people who are different. • Introverts can be better networkers than extroverts • If you are looking for an opportunity, you are looking for a person • Companies should encourage their people to network • We live in a world where it’s not who you know, it’s not even what you know, it’s about who knows you. Timeless Takeaways: • Life is a game of inches. The difference between success and failure, winning and losing is miniscule, but the implication can be gigantic. • You need every little competitive advantage you can get and your network gives you that competitive advantage • One introduction, one connection can change your life • Hard skills get you on the ladder. Soft skills get you up the ladder • Create funnels of serendipity • The number one skill in networking is being a good listener About the Host Brendan brings 25 years’ experience of scaling businesses. Most recently, Brendan spent 16 years as a global business leader with CDE, 12 of those as Group MD, steering the company through the global financial crisis to considerable strategic growth success with offices now in 6 continents employing almost 700 people across the world (from 15) and 25X revenue growth. He currently acts as a Non-Executive Director to CDE Asia (part of the CDE Group), a company he co-promoted in 2006. In 2019, he co-led the successful private equity funding round which secured investment from IIFL, India’s leading integrated financial services group to support the company’s future growth ambitions throughout the Asia region. In 2016, he was awarded the Institute of Directors UK Young Director of the Year and Overall Director of the Year. An avid sportsman and advocate of self-leadership through good well-being practices, Brendan is also training to become a Wim Hof Method instructor.

Today's episode features Niall O’Murchu, an official Wim Hof Method Instructor. Niall has had a huge impact on my own life and the lives of 1000’s of others and strongly believes that you can transform how you feel and think by using your breath, nature and the Wim Hof Method. In this episode we discuss, the Wim Hof Method, why it has risen to prominence in recent years, how the Wim Hof Method improves focus and the ability to maintain clarity and calmness amidst chaos, the application of the Wim Hof Method for leaders of scaling businesses, how to lock out fear and surrender, the importance of self-leadership and why exposure to the cold is one of life’s great teachers Listen out for: • How Wim Hof is a simple, highly effective, scientifically proven way of improving your health, strength and mood. • Wim Hof is centred around three pillars: learning how to breathe in a very specific way, combining breathing with a gradual exposure to the cold and using the cold and breathing to sharpen and strengthen the mind. • One of the deep lessons of the cold is that it teaches us how to surrender, it teaches us to let things unfold and to not try and control them. • The beauty of the breath is that it works both ways. We can simply change how we breathe and that changes how we feel and how we think. • The most effective way of dealing with stress, uncertainty and worry is changing how we breathe. • You can develop greater mental resilience by getting into the cold. • For any person who wants to improve their performance, whether that is in the boardroom or on the basketball court, being able to use your breath and cold together to sharpen the mind is like having an unfair advantage. • ‘The limit is not the sky, the limit is the mind’. Wim Hof • The mind is the master of everything. The mind is the master of the breath. • For the business leader to scale up that mountain, the vision has to be there. The vision isn’t muddled by tactics. So, we are either in the tactics or up in the vision. • The more we practice the breathing, the more we practice the cold, the more we realise the mind is an ally, rather than an enemy. • ‘You never get your best ideas in the office’ Brendan McGurgan, Simple Scaling About the Host Brendan brings 25 years’ experience of scaling businesses. Most recently, Brendan spent 16 years as a global business leader with CDE, 12 of those as Group MD, steering the company through the global financial crisis to considerable strategic growth success with offices now in 6 continents employing almost 700 people across the world (from 15) and 25X revenue growth. He currently acts as a Non-Executive Director to CDE Asia (part of the CDE Group), a company he co-promoted in 2006. In 2019, he co-led the successful private equity funding round which secured investment from IIFL, India’s leading integrated financial services group to support the company’s future growth ambitions throughout the Asia region. In 2016, he was awarded the Institute of Directors UK Young Director of the Year and Overall Director of the Year. An avid sportsman and advocate of self-leadership through good well-being practices, Brendan is also training to become a Wim Hof Method instructor. To find out more head over to: https://simplescaling.com/   

In today’s episode I’m delighted to introduce JT McCormick, President and CEO of Scribe Media (formerly Book in a Box), a publishing company that helps aspiring authors write, publish and market their books. Scribe has worked with more than 1,000 authors and Entrepreneur Magazine recently ranked it as having the Top Company Culture in America. Previously, JT was the President of Headspring Software, which he helped grow to a multimillion-dollar, 100-plus person company that was repeatedly ranked as one of the best places to work in Texas. JT is also the author of 'I Got There: How I Overcame Racism, Poverty, and Abuse to Achieve the American Dream.' His book tells the story of how he worked his way out of poverty, starting with his career cleaning toilets and eventually becoming the President of multiple companies. In addition to his role at Scribe Media, JT has mentored at-risk youth in the juvenile justice system, as well as youth in low economic communities. JT’s work has been featured on CNBC, Entrepreneur, Forbes, Inc, and many others. He lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife, Megan, and their four children. In today’s episode, JT talks about his unique life experience and how being the son of a pimp and an orphan made him the leader he is today. He also discusses how an organisation’s culture is everyone’s responsibility and more importantly how you should develop it as you scale, the importance of having belief coupled with core values and how he selects the very best people for his organisation by hiring for culture first. Finally, he provides his unique insight into the transparent world of Scribe Media and the importance of vision and execution Listen out for: • Vision without execution is worthless. A vision without a plan or execution is a wish. • It doesn’t matter what you do in your life – be the best at it. • I don’t like the word ‘unfair’. Nothing is fair. I don’t look at fair, I look at possibility. • I can’t change what happened in the past, but I figured out that I can change the next hour, the next week and year. • The one thing that is most important for me is that I am consistent. I was always consistent. I was always willing to do the things that the next person wasn’t willing to do. I was always willing to go the extra mile and willing to be consistent with follow up and follow through. • At Scribe, we don’t have direct reports, we have direct supports. If you are in a leadership position your role is to serve and support the people you work with. No one works for me, people work with me. • Our number one value is our people. The number two principle is to do right by people. I truly believe that if you have great people, you can build great processes, you can make great profits and as an added bonus you can do great things for the community you serve – but, it all starts with people. • The most unpredictable thing in the world is also the most important thing in business – people. • It is easier to get into an Ivy League school than it is to get into Scribe. Our hiring process, while not perfect has served us very well. It is a process of a series of video interviews, phone interviews, in-person interviews with multiple people from Scribe Media. We hire the very best people, the most qualified and people and those that will serve the culture as well. • For people to be successful at Scribe Media – perform in your role, drive results and uphold the principles and values. • We hire for culture first, skillset second. • We don’t train people. We coach and mentor. We don’t have job descriptions, we have career descriptions. • A note for HR – Stop using the word retain. Retain means possession. No one wants to be retained. • No one should be surprised that they are doing a great job. We have 30-day check-ins. We go through what is going great, we review what we need to stop and start doing. I always ask, if you were the CEO tomorrow morning, what would you do? • Ask questions. My whole career has been built on asking questions. Timeless Takeaways: • Celebrate life • Don’t grumble about work if you are not doing anything to change your circumstances • Don’t live your life with ‘comparisonitis’ through the lens of social media • Be consistent • Replace, hope, wishing and luck with belief, goals, hard work and execution About the Host Brendan brings 25 years’ experience of scaling businesses. Most recently, Brendan spent 16 years as a global business leader with CDE, 12 of those as Group MD, steering the company through the global financial crisis to considerable strategic growth success with offices now in 6 continents employing almost 700 people across the world (from 15) and 25X revenue growth. He currently acts as a Non-Executive Director to CDE Asia (part of the CDE Group), a company he co-promoted in 2006. In 2019, he co-led the successful private equity funding round which secured investment from IIFL, India’s leading integrated financial services group to support the company’s future growth ambitions throughout the Asia region. In 2016, he was awarded the Institute of Directors UK Young Director of the Year and Overall Director of the Year. An avid sportsman and advocate of self-leadership through good well-being practices, Brendan is also training to become a Wim Hof Method instructor.

Over the past 23 years Claire has worked as a partner to business leaders, founders and entrepreneurs of high growth businesses helping them to scale through their people. As the former Talent Director on the Board of a rapidly growing global organisation, Claire built the optimum people centred structures and systems to enable the company to significantly scale across 6 continents. Prior to that, she spent almost 15 years with an award winning, technology SME, which operated in a highly competitive environment. The company was growing 30% year on year, first organically and then through acquisitions, winning major contracts and attracting some of the best talent in the industry. A growing awareness that finding great talent is the #1 reason why businesses are unable to scale drove Claire to explore this further and in 2019, Claire and I became business partners and started out on a journey of discovery to extensively research exemplars of scaling to identifying the key attributes that made them successful. Our research culminated in us writing a book, SIMPLE Scaling, Ten Proven Principles to 10x Your Business, which will be published later this year. In today’s episode, Claire and I will be recapping on our favourite moments from the series, the lessons that can be learned from the guests on the show, the takeaways we will adopt moving forward and how people are our greatest enabler when scaling a business. Listen out for: The #1 reason as cited by business leaders for their inability to scale up their business is lack of talent. From an HR perspective, I’ve never been one to reach for the rulebook as it doesn’t get the best out of people. Once you work out the vision of the company, your greatest enabler is your people. One of my favourite quotes is by Zig Ziglar, “You don't build a business. You build people, and people build the business”. In the world of HR, once you go down the road of compliance, the best you can hope for is mediocracy One of the key themes that came across in the series was consistency and discipline. People respond really well to rhythm and building up a regular cadence because they learn to know what to expect. This is particularly important when scaling a business where there is a lot of change. Sebastien Tondeur referred to the fact that ’routine set him free.’ As a business leader it is important for you to understand yourself and do the inner work. David Jenyns referred to it as ‘work harder on yourself than you do on the business.’ Other key themes that that have come through from the podcast series are kindness, decency, humility, and respect. It is not often that you hear kindness and business in the same sentence. Innovation is important to those organisations that have aspirations to scale, but it is not solely the domain of the product development function, it is being innovative in all aspects of the business including being innovative and creative about how you recruit people. The top three key attributes in top performers are ability, likeability and drive. To test for ability, we may ask a candidate to present on their area of expertise. To test for likeability, you can look for a good cultural fit and understand if their values align with those of the business. You can test for drive by looking at an individual’s network. Look at their outside hobbies and interests and look for signs of passion for what they do. When working in competitive environments you must be creative in your approach to recruitment. Process is critically important to freeing up the founder, CEO or leader and allowing them to get back to the creative genesis of the business as opposed to getting choked and working in the bowels of the business. In terms of what I will introduce into my life going forward, I will be incorporating the pre-mortem referred to by Damian Hughes. I think it is important to understand what could go wrong before you start anything so that you can address it quickly if it arises. Timeless Takeaways: “Think big, start small, scale fast. Change can be minor but the results can be enormous”. Sebastien Tondeur “Now is the end of the beginning”, Adam Hale. What got you here won’t necessarily get you there. Business leaders need to constantly refresh and do things differently. “Love your team like they are your children”. Emmie Faust “If your business depends on you, you don’t own a business – you have a job. And it’s the worst job in the world because you are working for a lunatic”. Michael E. Gerber About the Host Brendan brings 25 years’ experience of scaling businesses. Most recently, Brendan spent 16 years as a global business leader with CDE, 12 of those as Group MD, steering the company through the global financial crisis to considerable strategic growth success with offices now in 6 continents employing almost 700 people across the world (from 15) and 25X revenue growth. He currently acts as a Non-Executive Director to CDE Asia (part of the CDE Group), a company he co-promoted in 2006. In 2019, he co-led the successful private equity funding round which secured investment from IIFL, India’s leading integrated financial services group to support the company’s future growth ambitions throughout the Asia region. In 2016, he was awarded the Institute of Directors UK Young Director of the Year and Overall Director of the Year. An avid sportsman and advocate of self-leadership through good well-being practices, Brendan is also training to become a Wim Hof Method instructor.  

In today's episode I'm delighted to introduce Paul Akers, the Founder and President of FastCap which started in Paul’s garage in 1997 when he simply “fixed what bugged him” and developed his first product: the Fastcap Cover Cap. From humble beginnings, FastCap has thousands of distributors worldwide in over 40 countries. He wrote his first book, 2 Second Lean, about creating a fun, lean culture which is now available in 15 languages. In 2015, he wrote his 2nd book, Lean Health, in 2016, he wrote Lean Travel and in 2019, he wrote Lean Life and Banish Sloppiness. In 2016, Paul’s book, 2 Second Lean, was recognised by the Shingo Institute and won the Research and Professional Publication Award.  In today’s episode, Paul talks about: The concepts of lean and how it changed his business How he took a 45-minute process to five minutes The eight deadly sins of waste His unique approach to recruiting people His simple test to identify star players Developing and learning together as a team The three characteristic traits of great leaders Three pieces of practical advice for growing your people. Listen Out For: Lean is the ability for someone to tap deeply into their weaknesses and address them aggressively Lean is the greatest green concept in the world. If you become a lean thinker then you're going to save the planet We have a very mature culture. It's like a university for us where we talk about our problems, we show our solutions and look at other leading companies around the world Every day, for the first two hours of business, we just develop our people and the way we think I have a daily ritual and it’s simple. I treat every person that I meet with respect and dignity. Be kind and appreciative. Don't feel like anybody ever owes you anything Recruitment - We don't accept resumes. They are all lies. We ask for 60 second videos. If we like the potential candidate, we bring them in for a paid test day. We then ask for the opinions of eight or nine staff and if we don’t get 100% of those people indicating that they want to work with them, we don’t hire. It's a bulletproof system Our people get more done in six to eight hours than the average person gets done in 48. I'll take six hours of my people against 40 hours of anybody else We don't have a marketing, sales or HR department and our CFO works 4 days a month. We have six people in our office managing a very complex business with 800 products around the world. In any other business there would be 50 people managing what we do with six. About the Host Director and Founder of Simple Scaling, Brendan brings 25 years’ experience of scaling businesses. Previously, Brendan spent 16 years as a global business leader with CDE, 12 of those as Group MD, steering the company through the global financial crisis to considerable strategic growth success with offices now in 6 continents employing almost 700 people across the world (from 15) and 25X revenue growth. https://simplescaling.com/meet-the-team

In today’s episode, I’m delighted to introduce Sam Rathling, one of the world’s experts in social selling strategies. Sam is the Chief Visionary Officer (CVO) at the Pipeline 44 Group and Linked Inbound and is a Best-Selling Author and International Speaker.   Recently named by Yahoo! Finance as a Top LinkedIn Expert to follow, Sam and her team are on the ambitious mission to generate over £1billion in new sales for their clients. Her book 'Linked Inbound' became an Amazon Best-Seller in just 6 days!   In today’s episode, Sam talks about:  Her vision to help her customers reach £1 billion revenue by 2025 through LinkedIn and how she helped one client reach £1.2m in revenue.  How to create a great LinkedIn profile  The three things that business leaders should be doing every day on LinkedIn   How you can find great talent using LinkedIn  LinkedIn’s Social Selling Index (SSI), what it is and how to improve it to become a true thought leader  Why LinkedIn has become a vital tool for sales teams   The future of LinkedIn and digital interaction post COVID What a butterfly can teach you about the journey of a scaling business owner and entrepreneur Listen Out For:  98% of the people you reach out to will not be ready to buy today.  Once you connect with someone, use LinkedIn and content to build your brand and stay top of mind with those people.   Make sure you have a great profile. Use a professional headshot and the new cover story feature where you can film a 30 second introduction.  Identify your target audience and understand who your ideal client is and what their pain points are. Be Specific. Create amazing content that speaks to your ideal client such as the journey that you are on, what's happening in your organisation, your culture and values and case studies.   Use keywords as your LinkedIn profile acts like a web page. Your LinkedIn profile can drive organic search.  By the time potential buyers speak to you they are 57% of the way through the buying process.  CEOs and business leaders have so much expertise and value to give to their customers and potential customers. It’s imperative that leaders of businesses get onto LinkedIn and lead from the front. The CEO or the leader that decides to take the leap and build their personal brand and audience will win every time.  Embedding social selling throughout the organisation is vitally important. If every employee was empowered to build their personal brand it would amplify a business 100,000-fold. To become viral and visible, challenge the norm and create content that polarises opinion. LinkedIn creates a sales pipeline and develops your talent pipeline.  The Social Selling Index score (SSI) is a metric out of 100 points. If you want to be positioned as a thought leader or an expert in your field, then this score is critical.   Salespeople have had to up their game in terms of learning how to sell in a new and different way. Tools such as LinkedIn are important for sales because they can't knock on doors anymore. They can't do the lunches. They can't network. Post pandemic, it's the brands and companies that choose to leverage LinkedIn that are going to be the ones that win, and they're going to be the ones that take market share. They are going be the ones that get ahead of their competition.  About the Host Director and Founder of Simple Scaling, Brendan brings 25 years’ experience of scaling businesses. Previously, Brendan spent 16 years as a global business leader with CDE, 12 of those as Group MD, steering the company through the global financial crisis to considerable strategic growth success with offices now in 6 continents employing almost 700 people across the world (from 15) and 25X revenue growth.  https://simplescaling.com/meet-the-team   

I am delighted to introduce Dan Lowes, a former RAF Fighter pilot and Executive Officer of the world-famous Red Arrows. Dan has made it his life's goal to consistently operate at a world class level and is immersed in the power of effective communication and the art of debriefing.  In today’s episode, Dan talks about: The importance of self-reflection when creating a high-performance culture Mentally preparing for flying at 1300 mph Why planning is important Fear of failure Tasting failure, accepting it and preparing for it and moving on from it How self-reflection can make you highly motivated How you can learn from people in your field that you admire Three principles to live by when you're a Top Gun graduate How his attitude and mindset earned him his place in Top Gun school How he stays grounded and humble What you can learn from a Red Arrows debrief and how you can apply it to your business The importance of communication Listen Out For: I would not be who I am now or achieved what I have achieved if I hadn’t failed. I accepted failure, I learned from failure, and I moved on. I pinned my life ambition on joining the Royal Air Force and being a fighter pilot at 18 but didn’t get into the Air Force on my first interview. I had to go away and reassess what was important for me in life and what I really wanted and grow into that which meant that one year later when I reapplied, I was successful. Failure is just a data point on a journey towards your overall goal. It depends on what you do with it which ultimately determines whether you achieve the goal or not. I love reading about the people who have been there and done it already. I have clearly defined goals and aims. I work out how I can get there. I then choose someone that I really respect in the area and then I model myself on them. To be the best in the room, you don’t have to shout about it, you don’t have to hang banners, you don’t have to have badges, you don’t have to have the big office and you don’t have to have the big car parking space. You just have to be the one that everyone knows when the chips are down, you are going to come running through. Do not make assumptions. You have no idea at any point in time what is going on in somebody’s life - how they left the house that morning or what information they had or did not have. It is all about asking the right questions before you jump to conclusions. Do something that you love and when you stop loving it, work out why and find something else even if that means you have to do something completely different. You need to constantly love what you do because that means you will relentlessly pursue it to the highest levels. When you expect something from someone, expect it to be the same all the time. Be consistent across the board which will mean that expectations can be managed and people understand how to operate to the best of their capacity. About the Host Director and Founder of Simple Scaling, Brendan brings 25 years’ experience of scaling businesses. Previously, Brendan spent 16 years as a global business leader with CDE, 12 of those as Group MD, steering the company through the global financial crisis to considerable strategic growth success with offices now in 6 continents employing almost 700 people across the world (from 15) and 25X revenue growth. https://simplescaling.com/meet-the-team

In today’s episode I’m delighted to introduce Maura Nevel Thomas. Maura is an award-winning international speaker, trainer, and author on individual and corporate productivity and work-life balance and is the most widely cited authority on attention management.  She helps driven, motivated knowledge workers control their attention and regain control over the details of their life and work. Maura has trained thousands of individuals at hundreds of organisations on her proprietary Empowered Productivity™ System, a process for achieving meaningful results and living a life of choice.   In today’s episode, Maura talks about:   Why time management is outdated How attention management is the new path to productivity How to be present in the moment How we become conditioned to distractions The biggest challenge of a team’s productivity is the culture of the organisation and the behaviour of the leaders. Winning the war against information overload Managing people’s expectations Why we must control technology, or we end up at the mercy of it How we are training our brains to expect interruptions The importance of single tasking How to avoid distraction Managing work-life balance How business leaders can improve their productivity Listen Out For:   The biggest challenge that we have is distraction and you can't solve a distraction problem with a time solution. It doesn't matter how much time you have. If you are distracted and frequently task switching, you will not be able to muster brainpower momentum. It’s not the moments in your life that matter, it’s the life in your moments that matter. Productivity is about the legacy that you leave behind all the way down to the most important thing you need to do today, and anything in between.  The more distracted we are, the more distracted we will be, and. We have become conditioned into a habit of distraction. When we apply ourselves fully, when we unleash that brainpower momentum, that's when we do our best work. That's when we feel satisfied and accomplished and competent at the end of our day and happy . This habit of distraction that we all have is insidious, because it lies to us about what makes us happy Productivity has six components and we need all six to really achieve our most significant results on a consistent basis.  Burnout is such a huge problem. Every time you choose to work, you're not doing something else right. You're not exercising or you're not sleeping, or you're not spending time with your family.  Leaders have a lot more influence on the lives, the happiness, the health, the wellness and the well-being of their employees.  When people are happy at work, they tend to be happier at home which affects their kids, their spouse and their communities. When they're miserable at work, then they have nothing left to give to their families or their communities. Exhausted workers mean exhausted families and exhausted communities and exhausted worlds. Exhaustion is optional.  Just because people expect it doesn't mean that you must conform to those expectations.  The more you think about ways to single task only one thing at a time mentally, the more you will find that your ability to stay focused increases. Your habit of distraction starts to fall away, and you are reconditioning your brain.  Sometimes the best thing that you can do for your work is not work. Work Life Balance in simple terms is ‘don't work too much’ and if you wonder what too much means, studies show that productivity starts to go down after about 50 hours a week.  About the Host   Director and Founder of Simple Scaling, Brendan brings 25 years’ experience of scaling businesses. Previously, Brendan spent 16 years as a global business leader with CDE, 12 of those as Group MD, steering the company through the global financial crisis to considerable strategic growth success with offices now in 6 continents employing almost 700 people across the world (from 15) and 25X revenue growth.    https://simplescaling.com/meet-the-team  

In today’s episode I’m delighted to introduce Amy Rowlinson, a Life Purpose Coach, Podcast Mentor and a leader in purpose and fulfilment. Amy helps people to focus on their WHY with clarity, uniting their passion and purpose with a plan to create the life they truly desire. Her mission is to reach unfulfilled people who are looking for their WHY to guide them to live a life with purpose and fulfilment. Amy is Qualified as a Life Purpose Coach, Journal Therapy Coach, Master Practitioner of Time Line Therapy™️ & Hypnosis and an NLP Practitioner and works with clients to help them to design the life they desire through 'living' and not 'existing'. In today’s episode, Amy talks about:    Where to start when defining your vision and purpose How to live with purpose as opposed to existing How big and small moments have impact The importance of aligning with our values How purpose determines who we are How its never too late to be who you might have been Listen Out For:    You need to understand the difference between living and existing. Are you doing things just because they need to be done as opposed to really focusing on why you are doing them? You may get to the very top of the ladder and then find it has not been leaning against the right wall. A. Raine. People need to ask themselves what their superpowers are and link that with what the world needs right now. Then you can focus on where you can help and what you can get paid for. This should be a combination of your passion, profession, and vocational mission. Ikigai – the Japanese concept of finding your purpose and creating a long and happy life. Your purpose determines who you are. We are all driven by purpose. It’s your foundation and heartbeat. Quite often people can lose their way. It can be referred to as feeling stuck, or unhappy or not quite right. When we do things that are purposeful, they are aligned with our values. Establishing your values is an essential part of finding your purpose. When businesses apply their values and purpose right from the start, it becomes their core driver. It becomes their key focus and is at the heart of their decisions. Quite often business values are echoed from the business leader’s personal values. When employees’ values align with those of the company, that’s when the magic happens. It's the purpose, the mission and the values of a company that retains people and that's when the productivity will rise. The vision talks about the company's future, its aspirations, its hopes, and dreams, and it gives it their direction. To enhance performance, it is important to praise people, to encourage them in their roles, to provide them with great feedback and processes and give them opportunities to thrive and grow. Journaling is important. By understanding and listening to yourself and your fears, it helps you to reduce stress, boost your working memory and it helps you to become more empowered by regulating your emotions. It provides a gateway to unlock your emotional intelligence and creativity. Flow essentially is focus. When you are in flow, you're being more productive. When you are in flow, time just disappears, and you are in the zone and in a state of creative. About the Host    Director and Founder of Simple Scaling, Brendan brings 25 years’ experience of scaling businesses. Previously, Brendan spent 16 years as a global business leader with CDE, 12 of those as Group MD, steering the company through the global financial crisis to considerable strategic growth success with offices now in 6 continents employing almost 700 people across the world (from 15) and 25X revenue growth.    https://simplescaling.com/meet-the-team   

In today’s episode I’m delighted to introduce Dr. Oleg Konovalov, the Da Vinci of Visionary leadership. Dr. Oleg Konovalov is a thought leader, author, business educator, consultant, and coach with over 25 years’ experience operating businesses and consulting Fortune 500 companies both in the UK and internationally.  In today’s episode, we talk about:    How having a vision is critical and fundamental to scaling a business with purpose How to inspire others to become multipliers of your vision How to overcome the challenge of evolving your vision over time Less than 0.1% of SME organisations have a vision Vision should involve the leadership team, not just the CEO Why being positive makes you become a giant Why it’s the CEO’s responsibility to ensure that the vision inspires and motivates the team Why leadership is an art Revising your vision Conditioning ourselves to create a vision How caviar can help organisations Why you need a clear vision for the culture of your organisation Listen Out For:    If you don't have a vision, your strategy is a bridge to nowhere. A great vision should inspire people to go beyond themselves. When we work on vision and leadership, medium sized businesses return on investment is at about 3000%. Large companies are barely hitting 1000%. When visioning, you must talk with people throughout your organisation. They will bring more value than you expect. Their input will make your vision multidimensional.  Most people are afraid of thinking about the future because they're afraid of it. They don't know what's going to happen, but they must be courageous enough to set the vision and follow it. Companies with a vision that sets out to serve others enshrined within that vision, ultimately attract the right people. They have solidity in their purpose, and they are more profitable. You must make people free by showing a clear direction where to go. If you don't know where you are going, then you are not free, and you become a hostage of doubts, assumptions, and opinions. Vision for organisations means that we have vision for the people working in the organisation, because without right people, an organisation is only a certificate of incorporation. The stronger the vision, typically the stronger the culture because you attract people to the organisation who has sight of that vision. Vision is not a gift, it just a way of thinking which can be developed. If we accept that we have infinite potential, then a vision creates the beacon for us to move towards that potential. Vision doesn't have a gender, age, or race. Ego kills vision instantly because you don't see the world or the people around you. An ambitious vision means that there is more discretionary effort from your team because there's a level of co-ownership. People become more positive about their future, and you make them multipliers of your vision and passion. We are not talking about motivating people, we are talking about inspiring people. Every team member becomes a huge power station of a future inspiration. Leadership is an art; a scientific art and vision is a beautiful construct of clearly articulated thoughts. A vision must be dynamic, practical, elegant, and simple, regardless of whether it is for now or for years to come. About the Host    Director and Founder of Simple Scaling, Brendan brings 25 years’ experience of scaling businesses. Previously, Brendan spent 16 years as a global business leader with CDE, 12 of those as Group MD, steering the company through the global financial crisis to considerable strategic growth success with offices now in 6 continents employing almost 700 people across the world (from 15) and 25X revenue growth.    https://simplescaling.com/meet-the-team   

In today’s episode I’m delighted to introduce Tom Kolditz, the founding Director of the Ann and John Doerr Institute for New Leaders at Rice University. The Doerr Institute was recognised in 2019 as the top university leader development program by the Association of Leadership Educators and named the 4th Leader Development Program in the world by Global Gurus, London.  He has been named as a leadership Thought Leader by the Leader to Leader Institute and as a Top Leader Development Professional by Leadership Excellence. In 2020, he has continued to be ranked in the global top 25 coaches and in 2021, the #6 Start-up expert worldwide. He developed the concept of in extremis leadership—an original crisis leadership model—while serving in the oil fields and palace cities in Iraq. His book on that topic, In Extremis Leadership: Leading as if Your Life Depended On It, is used in at least 8 service academies in the US, China, Japan, and Israel. His second book, Leadership Reckoning: Can Higher Education Develop the Leaders We Need, is driving a leader development reform movement in higher education in collaboration with the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.   In today’s episode, Tom talks about:   How leadership is about giving people what they need How to build trust and respect as a leader and make your team want to follow you The importance of emotional intelligence in leadership The mistakes many leaders make when attempting to win the trust of those they serve. How to identify leaders in your organisation The importance of getting to know your people Why every leader needs feedback How actions speak much louder than words. The role that education today has claimed in developing leaders for the future. Key Takeaway “Leadership is about giving people what they need. It's not about the quality of an individual or a style. People don't care about style; they just have needs. You need to see the world through the eyes of your people to influence and motivate them and give them direction and purpose”. About the Host    Director and Founder of Simple Scaling, Brendan brings 25 years’ experience of scaling businesses. Previously, Brendan spent 16 years as a global business leader with CDE, 12 of those as Group MD, steering the company through the global financial crisis to considerable strategic growth success with offices now in 6 continents employing almost 700 people across the world (from 15) and 25X revenue growth.    https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendan-mcgurgan-11854a13/ https://simplescaling.com/meet-the-team