The Purposeful Strategist

Sometimes commercial success can cause an organisation’s original purpose to dim over time. . That was the challenge facing Mike Astell, CEO of FCDO Services, an executive agency and trading fund owned by Britain’s Foreign Office, with customers in both the public and private sectors around the world.

Re-grounding the organisation in its original purpose unlocked a surprising amount of enthusiasm and revealed unexpected potential. The initiative also led to a new business strategy and a more effective way of communicating with the executive and the board.

Listen to Mike Astell tell Belden Menkus how he and his team did it.

https://www.fcdoservices.gov.uk/about/

Purpose is presenting business leaders with the biggest opportunity in the past 200 years, according to Sarah Gillard, CEO of A Blueprint for Better Business. And it’s going to happen fast.

But how do you change business to serve society better, while still acknowledging the need to make money? That’s the question that Sarah is helping the senior leaders of large businesses to answer.

Learn how she has evolved her own organisation’s purpose and used it to help her leadership team co-create a new adaptive strategy, designed to focus the organisation’s resources and cope with the chaos and uncertainty of today’s business environment. All in the latest episode of The Purposeful Strategist.

A purpose that serves an organisation well for over 260 years deserves respect. But can you stay true to it while developing a business strategy that tackles today’s reality? And can you keep that plan so short and clear that almost 90 per cent of the organisation’s people say they understand the strategy and where they fit in it?

That is what Tom Willis, CEO of the UK’s bustling Shoreham Port, has done. Learn how in this episode of The Purposeful Strategist.

Sarah McMath, CEO of MOSL, used purpose as a tool to transform her organisation’s performance. Learn how her inclusive approach to developing a shared organisational purpose helped the UK’s retail water market operator for business customers shape a new strategy, grow the organisation’s capabilities, craft practical operating principles, and turn around employee engagement.

Ben Quinn had a different view of what a restaurant could be, how it could work, and the impact it could have on a community and the lives of their guests.  Hear how he built a business based on positive memories for guests, while addressing the toxic culture that exists in the industry and creating a safer and more equal environment for women – and men.  And, do check out the amazing photos on their website of outdoor events they have catered: really long tables in beautiful locations.

Links  www.canteencornwall.com

In this episode, I’m very pleased to welcome Sophie Carr, the founder and Director of Bays Consulting.  She shares with us how she grew her firm by tapping into and developing a hidden workforce that is able to use maths to solve tough problems and then make the maths explainable.  Join me for a fun and informative discussion about maths, crowds, predictions, and the school gate. 

https://baysconsulting.co.uk/

In this episode, I’m very pleased to welcome Melissa Quinn, General Manager of Slingshot UK / Seradata.  Melissa wants to make sure space is an asset we can continue to use, even as it becomes more crowded. Join me for an education in the business of space, strategy development in a high-tech global startup, and the components of resilient leadership.  

In this episode, I’m very pleased to welcome Elizabeth Muller, CEO of Deep Isolation.  Liz wants to unlock the potential of nuclear power to address global warming.  Join me for an informative and inspiring discussion about what it takes to bring a breakthrough idea into the world. 

How do you stand out as a service provider and a place to work? Jo Farmer and Rich Miskella, Joint Managing Partners of law firm Lewis Silkin, share their views on how they do that.

#lewissilkin

Sara Bailey shares her path to find the real reason Trowers & Hamlins needed to grow.  It wasn’t just for the money…