Today’s guest is Martin Gleeson, a co-founder of The Electron Workshop and Serversaurus, two companies that sit under the umbrella of Arktisma, which is one of the founding members of the B Corp movement in Australia.
Serversaurus, which promotes an equitable workplace, was the first 100 percent carbon-neutral Australian web-hosting company, partnering with Greenfleet Australia in 2007 to offset their carbon emissions. They’re also part of the One Percent for the Planet movement, donating one percent of their sales to environmental causes.
We recently changed hosting to Serversaurus primarily because they’re a B Corp, and we’re working towards achieving B Corp accreditation.
Join our chat as we discover and discuss:
- Martin's awareness of a fair workplace at the age of 12 and why he gives a damn
- Principles of a fair workplace: respect, autonomy, equality
- Treating people the way you expect to be treated
- The psychology and effects of men asking for higher wages than women
- Pushing equality between men and women in the workforce
- The advantages of working four days a week
- Creating a more equitable workforce and other issues they need to face
- About the B Corp movement and why they chose B Corp
- How to become a B Corp: Learn the process of becoming one!
- Getting help from The Intern Group
- Resources small businesses can tap into (business templates and handbooks)
- Martin's advice for success in business partnership
- Processes and channels they've used for effective communication
- Various challenges they've faced and solutions they've applied
- Organisational tools they use (Apple Calendar, Highrise CRM)
- The demographics of clients they serve
- What makes Serversaurus different from other web hosts
- The company's green initiatives
- How they're supporting their employees to engage in environmental causes
Quotes:
Money is the oxygen of business.
Treat people the way you expect to be treated and that should be the default position.
If you're negotiating something, the first person to get their deal on the table is the one who is going to do best out of it.
You say you're B Corp then they know what you're about. It's a shorthand way for sharing your values.
The key to any effective relationship is communication.
Don't be afraid. Be prepared to be yourself and to put your values and your ethics way upfront.
We worry more about the opinions of people that we don't respect than those that we do.
Episode Resources:
- Connect with Serversaurus on Twitter or