Happy MBA

When setting out on the journey of building a totally new business it’s important to focus on making progress rather than seeking perfection. You’re a pioneer doing something that hasn’t been done before and so there’s no set template for success. You’re on a voyage of discovery that can take you down many dead ends.Luckily we have tools to help us explore what works such as design thinking, customer development and the Lean Startup. These tools help us discover the problems worth solving and iterate towards the best solutions.However, while it’s important to find problem/solution fit and then product/market fit we also need to keep an eye on product/founder fit. As our business ideas evolve we, as founders, also evolve along the way. As we discover what the market wants we also discover what we want (and don’t want) which is also foundational to the success and sustainability of the businesses we create.If we don’t be build a business that aligns with our own personal needs we can end up following a path based on other people’s definitions of success. We then run risk of building a successful business that makes us feel tired, trapped and tense. The opposite of being a Happy Entrepreneur.In this episode of the podcast I talk to Veronica Fossa, founder of WeFactory. She shares the story of her 6 year journey of building her business and why closing it this year made perfect sense for her.If you’re a business owner struggling with meeting the expectations of what a successful business should be then I hope this story will give you the courage and inspiration to rethink the direction you’re going in.

Recently I caught up with Beccie d’Cunha, founder of Courage Lab, a consultancy that helps founders and organisations build more resilient and higher performing teams. She shared with me a tool that she uses a lot in her work called Lumina Spark. It’s a psychometric profiling tool that measures the level to which we exhibit different personality traits.I’m always curious about new tools that help us unpick the spaghetti of thoughts and emotions that make up who we are. Knowing more about ourselves can help us design the right businesses for us. It’s hard to define what success means for you if you don’t know who you are.Building a Happy Startup isn’t just about making money while creating a positive impact in the world. It’s also about going on a journey of self-discovery. Discovering our limiting beliefs and being aware of our unconscious biases can help us become more intentional and powerful in business. It allows us to act despite our fears and make big decisions even though we don’t have all the information.During this episode Beccie tells me more about Lumina Spark and how it works. We also discuss our own individual Lumina Portraits (these are the psychometric reports created by the tool) and what we learned from them.If you’d like to learn a little bit more about Lumina and how it could help you then listen on.To find out more about Beccie's work and how she could help you develop your own Lumina Portrait check out here website - https://www.couragelab.co/

This episode of the podcast is another window into the worlds of the people who join our Happy Startup tribe. This time I'm in conversation with Lyndsay Lucero, founder of Baxley Goods. She tells the story of how she started her business and why. Unlike other startup stories Baxley didn't begin because Lyndsay wanted to make money but because she wanted to make something for herself and her children.Baxley Goods currently creates beautifully designed and hard wearing bags that have little environmental impact and provide workers a living wage. Through the business Lyndsay is satisfying her need for creativity while also trying to preserve the planet for her children. At the moment she's designing bags but has ambitions to make other products too.During our conversation we touch on the power vulnerability, authentic storytelling for business and why it's so important to be able to admit that you don't know and ask for help.Lyndsay ends with some questions for anyone who's looking to work on something more meaningful:What's your vision?What lights you up?What are you NOT good at?What assets are available to you?How does all this align?What's the bigger picture?

In our community of purpose-driven entrepreneurs we have many founders who want to create a positive impact with their valuable products and services but are hampered by how they price. This affects both their financial and energetic sustainability.Do you feel unconfident and apologetic in the way you price your products and services? Are you struggling to grow your business because you’re always scrabbling for new customers?If so, this episode is for you.Laurence and I are joined by Ben Johnson - founder, investor, mentor and pricing coach. He shares with us five principles to help you price well. We discuss what they mean and share stories from our agency days to illustrate each point.This is an incredibly valuable conversation no matter where you are in your entrepreneurial journey. You'll find some useful tips and stories that will unlock your pricing challenges and help you become more confident and therefore more profitable.The principles we cover are:1. Get out of your own way 2. Price the person and not the job3. Give different price options4. Provide a pricing anchor point5. Always deliver value

It's perfectly possible to be shy, quiet, or introverted and get on in the world. However on social media all we seem to see are the loud-mouthed extroverts who are smashing it and trying to sell us another transformational program that will help us make six-figures in sales. Unfortunately those voices have dominated the world of entrepreneurship making the less assuming ones of us feel inadequate and not knowing how to market ourselves authentically.In this fun and informative conversation with Pete Mosley, author of The Art of Shouting Quietly, we hear an alternative story of success. What if getting known and marketing yourself wasn’t about shouting loudly, but shouting quietly. In his book he asks “What if it is as simple as employing your best listening skills and learning the art of well-crafted questions?”During this conversation we talk about different models of success and being aligned to our true values. We discuss the importance of sharing our ideas with others who show ruthless compassion rather than well-meaning criticism. And we also cover the idea of getting help from others to market what we do so that we don’t feel like we’re always having to talk about ourselves.The invitation to introverted entrepreneurs is to find a way to get your message out into the world that aligns with your nature and rises above the noise. In this episode Pete shares how you can do this.

If you’ve written down 7 top priorities you’ve got no priorities which means you’re going to find it hard to be productive. According to Graham Allcott, founder of Think Productive and author of Productivity Ninja, productivity is ultimately about making space for what matters. This means creating clear intentions and focussing your attention on what you need to do.During this episode Graham shares the different things that can affect our productivity and what we can do about it. This conversation is also within the context of a global pandemic and only just starting to come out of lockdown in the UK.Whilst we may have had all the best intentions of using our lockdown time more productively Graham also reminds us that we’re only human. The challenging emotions caused by the uncertainty we’re facing means we can’t be as productive as we’d like. And that it’s ok.There are some wonderful nuggets of wisdom in this episode as well as pointers to some really useful materials to help you with your productivity such as Graham’s weekly checklist and Think Productive’s working from home pack of resources.The weekly review - https://thinkproductive.co.uk/the-weekly-checklist-the-key-to-ninja-productivity/Working from home resources - https://thinkproductive.com/wfh/

When Laurence and I closed our digital agency it seemed like the natural thing to do. At the time we had beautiful studio, a talented team and clients with ongoing projects but we’d lost the creative energy to keep it going. We weren’t clear about its future and we were being drawn to grow the Happy Startup School. While it wasn't plain sailing closing Spook Studio was a lot less traumatic experience than what many other founders have had to go through.In this episode of the podcast we’re joined for our Friday Fireside by Tom Nixon, author, coach and founder of Maptio (a tool to help develop self managing organisations). He's on a mission to support founders and research what it takes to create (and close) impactful companies.Tom shares his story of entrepreneurship, how he closed his company and why some businesses have a natural shelf-life, and that’s fine.We talk about the taboo connected with closing a company and how we’ve lost sight of the creativity and the humanity at the core of business. Businesses may be legal entities in themselves but in reality they’re just a collection of people brought together by the creative energy of the founder. When we forget this we can easily become imprisoned by the structures we’ve created.If you’re a founder thinking about closing your company or at the beginning of a startup journey we hope that this conversation will give you a new and more energising perspective on what it means to be an entrepreneur.

In this episode of the podcast Laurence and I were given a masterclass in empathy. As part of our Friday Fireside series of webinars we were joined by Christine Raine, empathic coach, entrepreneur and founder of Conversable, a transformational movement on a mission to share how empathy can transform human relationships, and therefore the world.It was a very timely conversation given how the world seems to have turned upside down over the past few weeks. Fear, division and blame are driving behaviours more and more. And so we explored how can use empathy in our lives and work to be able to address the challenges we face and the inequality that exists.According to Christine empathy starts by being fully present with people; serving as a mirror to what they’re saying and feeling; and reflecting what their feelings and needs may be to help then connect with their own inner wisdom. It’s about helping people move from a head-centred approach to communicating to a more heart-centred one.At the centre of Christine’s work is teaching Non-Violent Communication and she teaches us what it’s about and where it comes from.I found this an incredibly empowering conversation that touched on empathy and privilege and how we can use our deeper understanding of both to contribute to the changes that need to be made in society to make it more equitable for all.

This episode is a departure from our normal format and is an experiment suggested by one of our longest standing members and a big advocate of our work, Peter Krishnan. Peter has been to every Summercamp and is also the leader of our Happy Startup London group. During this episode Peter shares his story of startup along with 3 music tracks that have been important to his journey.

In this episode of the podcast we’re in conversation with John Parkin the author of F**k It: The Ultimate Spiritual Way.We hear about his journey of self healing and how saying f**k it was core to it. It’s about not holding on so tightly to ideas and concepts and being more aware of the unfair expectations we place on ourselves, situations or events.When it comes to saying f**k it to fear John talks about accepting the feelings rather than pushing them away.He says “we’re scared of sadness, pain, vulnerability and grief… in normal times we’re all too busy and we don’t experience significant pain or joy and so the nervous system is almost frozen. But when you allow people to be more vulnerable and relaxed the ice starts to melt and they get to feel that pain and joy again.”There are so many gems in this episode and so if you struggle with dealing with the high and lows of the entrepreneurial journey then listen on and learn how the f**k it way can show you the path forward.

When faced with a crisis how do you respond? When your mind is filled with anxious thoughts and worries it’s impossible to find the right answer. But if you let your mind settle and be at peace then that’s when insight arrives.In this episode of the podcast we’re joined by Elizabeth Lovius, entrepreneur, leadership coach and wisdom teacher. She shares her own insight about where inspired action comes from and how we can find it within us. We relate this to our own experience of handling a crisis when we discovered just 3 weeks before our annual signature event that we didn’t have a venue.According to Elizabeth, no matter what we might be experiencing on the outside, inside we are safe and we can claim the peace we need at any time. This is our spiritual side, the side of us that we need to be using more in business, particularly now.

"The whole world is suddenly in a state of total improvisation, and no-one has any idea what will come next"In this episode of the podcast Laurence and I talk to our good friend Laurence Shorter. He’s a coach, comedian and author of The Lazy Guru’s Guide to Life.We be explore the idea of not having any idea. For Laurence, this is the essence of true creativity and from where clarity emerges. When we settle into a space of doing nothing we give an opportunity for our inner voices to quieten and stop. We stop thinking and we start feeling into what's needed next.For many of us this is a scary place to be. We’re so used to going somewhere, achieving something and doing work. We believe that we can think and do our way out of any problem.But what if the situation becomes so complex that you truly can't think of what to do next? At that point maybe "doing" is the last thing you should do.If you’ve been looking for an excuse to do nothing then make sure you listen to this episode.

In this episode of the podcast I talk to the lovely and super positive Gayle Berry, business mentor and founder of Blossom and Berry.Gayle has been running her own business for over 18 years now. When she first started Blossom and Berry, her baby massage school, she was sending out binders and CDs to people via the post. She's now transitioned everything online and has clients across the world.We talk about what it takes to run a sustainable business and the importance of authenticity and love. She believes that by being intentional about what you want and making sure you align your actions accordingly you'll build a business that you'll love.

This is another recording of the live webinar that Laurence and I are hosting during lockdown in the UK and across the world.We're joined by Christina Kisley, our long time friend and Alptitude alumnus. She’s co-chair of Conscious Capitalism in Atlanta and is an executive coach for leaders, executives and entrepreneurs with 20 years of experience.For this episode we talk about loss. When we downplay loss and don't allow ourselves to grieve we store up that emotion so that next time we have a loss we feel exponentially worse. This is because the new loss, even if it's relatively smaller, lights up all the grief that's still in our system.We're all currently suffering from a loss of some kind whether it may be as tragic as the loss of a loved one or even the loss of a dream.Rather than push those unpleasant feelings away we need to lean into them and just feel. We can't think our way out of grief we can only feel our way through it.Many people try to "silver line" the loss and try to find something positive from the event. But there's no actual need to do so, it can just feel bad, and that's okay.With the help of the amazing Christina Kisley we share the Kubler-Ross model on the different stages of grief and relate them to what we're seeing around us and experiencing ourselves.We hope it helps you deal with any loss that you're experiencing in your businesses and personal lives and gives you a way to process what's going on.

Georgee Low is a sales and marketing coach from Vancouver and she helps purpose driven entrepreneurs build their businesses and make them profitable. She works with people who really want to make a difference in the world but struggle with marketing and sales.During this podcast we talk about what it takes to be authentic when selling as well as what it means to be an entrepreneur.Most people think that to sell well you need to be an extrovert and if you’re an introvert you’re going to suck at it. But Georgee believes that it doesn’t matter what your natural personality is. What’s important is whether you can listen and whether you care. Those are the qualities of great sales people.Be curious, ask questions and don’t take offence if they don’t want to work with you. It’s fine, it just means there’s someone else out there who’ll be a better fit for them and a better fit for you.I also talk to Georgee about her own entrepreneurial journey and what it means to her. According to her, making money is all well and good but if that’s all you’re here to do then you’re just taking up space.She became an entrepreneur because it was the only way she could get what she needed: to always be there for her children; to put a roof over their heads; and to make a difference in the world.She also says that being an entrepreneur is the best personal development program you could ever follow.

This episode is the audio recording of the live webinar that Laurence and I have committed to broadcasting every Friday during the lockdown period in the UK.We were joined this time by one of the funniest and kindest people we know. His name is Shamash Alidina and is the author of Mindfulness for Dummies as well a being an ACT trainer and a keynote speaker on wellbeing and resilience.ACT, also known as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy or Training, was around before mindfulness became a thing. It’s a highly flexible evidence-based model that can be used by everyone from coaches and consultants to school teachers to therapists and doctors.At it’s core ACT is about feeling the feelings rather than pushing them away. As Shamash says during the webinar the more we try to push unpleasant feelings away the more they’ll grow. If we’re able to accept these feelings and give them space the less likely they’ll hijack our actions.Understanding how this works is essential for first time entrepreneurs. When you’re launching a business fear and self-criticism are your worst enemies. By applying some of the principles in ACT we believe you’ll be better equipped to deal with the highs and lows of entrepreneurship.I hope you enjoy this episode, particularly the little meditation Shamash shares towards the end.

Every Friday Laurence and I have been hosting live discussions about what's been going on this week for us and our community.It’s our opportunity to process what's going on in the world right now and tackle some crunchy topics around life and business, and the overlap of the two.Each week we have a different theme and for this episode we were joined by the amazing Charles Davies, one of our teachers & guides and also the founder of How to Be Clear. Charles has devoted most of his working life to trying to understand what clarity is and how it works.He joins us to talk about money and what it means to us. Not in terms of the mechanics of value exchange but about how our relationship and attitudes to it gives us insight into our inner world.During these uncertain times our relationship to money is going to manifest itself more strongly in the way behave and the decisions we make. Learning more about how that works will help you make better decisions.

This is the third in the series of weekly episodes of our live podcast with myself and Laurence reflecting on the past week and what's going on in theres uncertain times.The core message of this episode is around how we navigate our internal world to better navigate the external one.This week we're joined by Lana Jelenjev, a learning experience designer and community alchemist. We discuss the idea of recalibrating in this time of chaos and Lana shares her thoughts and ideas on chaos and the opportunities it offers. She talks to two aspects of chaos. The chaos we are experiencing ourselves and the chaos experienced by our clients.During the conversation we offer thoughts and ideas on how to deal with the internal chaos and also how to help others who find themselves in chaos too.To find out more about Lana go to her LinkedIn profile - https://www.linkedin.com/in/lanajelenjev/

This is the second of our weekly live transmissions where Laurence and I reflect on the past week and our thoughts and ideas.During this session we talk about:our covid coping strategies and what we've done to get through this weekanti-fragility and how we can build resilience in times of uncertaintyhow entrepreneurship can be seen as a journey of personal growthWe go live every Friday at midday UK time and you can join the Zoom or watch via our Happy Startup Summercamp Facebook group. We'll share links to the session via our various social media channels.

I’ve learned from talking to coaches and business owners, and also reflecting on my own experiences, that the biggest obstacle to growing a business is the founder.Our beliefs and values, without proper examination, can stop us from making the best decisions for our businesses.In this conversation with Dirk Bischof I learn about how his passion for stories and his drive to understand himself have helped him grow as an entrepreneur.In particular I found fascinating the tension between his need for freedom and his need to create more impact.In order to grow his impact he needed to grow his team, but in order to work as an effective team he needed to create structure.But Dirk hated structure. He’d always run away from it. Sticking with that belief would have limited his ability to create more impact. However he discovered that structure can also create freedom.Through self-reflection and questioning we discover the beliefs that are getting in the way. By learning to accept and reframe them we avoid creating inner conflict that stops us from making the impact we want.For many entrepreneurs the idea of looking inwards sounds self indulgent and a waste of time.However, when things get really tough and you need to make some big decisions knowing more about yourself will help you overcome those challenges more effortlessly.

During this time when we're going to feel more apart this video call is our way of pulling us together.Laurence and I are committing to doing a live video call every Friday at midday UK time.We'll talk about what's been going on for us and invite community members to jump on the call and share their stories.We're working it out as we go along and so we need all the help and support we can get.

Podcasting and vlogging are great low cost ways to get your message out to the world. If you’re a purpose-driven entrepreneur being able to share your story and activate people who want to join your mission is fundamentally important. I think of the work of Marshal Ganz and particularly his principle of story of self, story of us and story of now. Check out Seth Godin’s take on this idea and how it’s important for marketeers - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=he1Vji1n8z0.Even though telling your story and talking in public is so powerful many of us don’t believe we can do it. We say “no-one wants to listen to me”. However, according to Matt Matheson this is just a story you tell yourself and once you know that story you can change it.This is why I was eager to talk to Matt. His mission in life is to help people find their voice and he does this by coaching people who want to do public speaking. During this conversation we talk about how he was called to do this work and how he helps people overcome the fear. He shares some fundamental principles to move past the fear and also what makes for a compelling talk.Two simple questions to ask yourself when you’re thinking about speaking in public are:What’s the feeling you want to give people?What do you want them to take way with them?If you’re considering talking in public for the first time or you’re wanting to become a better speaker then this episode is for you.

This is the last episode of 2019 and a bit of a milestone for me. The podcast started in February as a bit of an experiment and I'm proud to have now recorded 50 episodes.Recording and producing each episode has taken a lot of time and effort but at the beginning of the year I had set myself a one word intention of learning and this podcast has felt so aligned with that.When I first started I didn't know what I was doing. The first few episodes were very raw but the podcast evolved after each recording and over time I discovered the style and format that felt right. Also, sharing these stories with listeners has allowed me to exercise my own practice of listening. I've learned as much about myself as I have about my guests.I'd like to thank everyone who gave up their time to join me on the podcast and also to everyone who's taken the time to listen.On this 50th episode I'm joined by one of our good friends and an alumnus of our first ever Alptitude retreat, Haje Kamps. He's had an eclectic career taking on the roles of journalist, entrepreneur, author, podcaster, VP of a VC and pitch coach. He's also one of the most well-read and knowledgable people I've ever met with ideas and thoughts on just about every subject you can throw at him.Through my work with the Happy Startup School one of the most common questions we're asked is about getting funding. In this episode we talk about venture capital and what it does to founders. In the startup world VC backing is seen as a badge of honour but I've come to understand that it isn't for everyone.I learned from Haje that being backed by VC funding can be brutal. They'll support you with their time and money but only if they can make a massive return on their investment. If you don't look like you're going to go big then you might as well go home.Building the unicorn businesses that VCs are looking for can make you rich beyond your wildest dreams and a household name, but at what cost? While many entrepreneurs appear to be after the money and the status, what's really motivating them?During our conversation we talk about intrinsic and extrinsic motivations and the importance of self knowledge for entrepreneurs. Haje shares some of his own journey of self knowledge and we talk about the value of deep conversations and vulnerability.

This episode is a meaty one in which the conversation covers 10 year plans, cottage renovations, business goals, life goals, selling companies, self-awareness and leadership.My talking partner on the podcast is Ray Richards, founder of Do Something Different. He's fascinated by behavioural flexibility and is on a mission to make the world a better place by helping people make better behaviours. He's also an experienced entrepreneur who's sold two businesses and is now in the process of growing his third.Along the journey he's learned many things not only about business but about himself. He says he's "inherently lazy" but what he really means is that he doesn't want to spend all hours of the day on work, as he's got other things he wants to do. So what does that mean when it comes to leading a business? What makes a leader?When we think of great leaders we associate them with traits such as drive, charisma, resilience, clarity and clear communication.However, I believe that we can all lead in our own way. To do so we need to ask ourselves some probing questions. What are my personal (emotional) needs and where do they come from? What does my organisation, business or work need to be to address these needs?With that deeper understanding of ourselves we can develop a style of leadership that feels authentic and purposeful. We may not become the next Steve Jobs, but we'll build a business that does the job of making us happy.And that's what Ray wants. To do work and build a life that makes him happy. Listen on to hear his thoughts about leadership and how he needs to lead now.

In this episode I talk to Rob Day about the traps and pitfalls of founding an agency business.When Laurence and I started our digital agency back in 2004 we didn’t have a business plan or exit strategy. We just enjoyed doing the work and wanted to continue doing it and get paid. We grew organically taking people on when we couldn’t handle the workload.Over time we got more work and therefore needed more staff which meant finding more work to keep the staff happy (and paid).We then did less of the work we enjoyed (i.e. designing and coding) and doing more of the work we didn’t enjoy, and had never been trained to do (i.e. management and sales).Without a clear vision for the business (and for ourselves) we spent more time in the doing and less time in the being. We felt that we needed to become a well respected agency doing innovative work but we didn’t know what that meant for us individually and also what it meant for the future.Who wants to think about exit strategy when you’re doing work you love?Who CAN think of exit strategy when you’re too busy trying to feed the beast?And why even think of an exit? If there’s a need to exit why did we start the business in the first place?If this story sounds familiar to you then you’ll relate to this episode of the podcast with Rob Day, cofounder of Liquid Light, a digital agency based in Brighton. Amongst other things he now coaches agency founders by sharing his knowledge and awareness of the hidden traps and pitfalls of founding a service based business.If you’re early in your journey then you’ll learn what to look out for as you grow your business. If you’re a seasoned agency founder you’ll probably nod your head in agreement and maybe be inspired to look at your work differently.

Brendan Kearns is a designer and founder of Studio Rival. For many people his career path is already a mark of success having worked at Twitter, Invision and Google. But like most creative entrepreneurs he has his own definition of success that isn’t driven by money or status.In this episode we talk about his time working for tech giants, his view on the role of designers and what it means to him to be an entrepreneur.Brendan is definitely values driven and you’ll hear about how he puts those values into action when choosing clients. He’s also pragmatic and looks at the bigger picture of what he’s trying to achieve rather than being too strict with his values. For instance, even if there isn’t an exact values match with the client, if the money is good enough he’ll see it as an opportunity to create change in the organisation and also fund other projects that he believes in.Like myself and Laurence, Brendan took an unorthodox route into his profession, studying at a business school before becoming a designer. This has meant he’s been able to look at things differently and not be conditioned by orthodox training. Rather than being T-shaped he aspires to be comb-shaped. This means, instead of being a specialist in one area he’d rather have a good knowledge of a broad set of disciplines.If you’re a creative professional looking to make the leap or you’re an early stage entrepreneur wanting to be assured you’re on the right path then this episode is for you.

Does creating impact always have to take effort and hard work? Can you make change without forcing it? According to Rei Chou it is possible. You just have to hold on less tightly to the outcome and be more honest about why you need to be a changemaker. This takes some inner work, which according to Rei is an exploration into what you don’t know that you don’t know about yourself.Rei is a former marketing creative now Reiki master and healer and also founder of The Feast. The purpose of The Feast is to gather people who can share in their abundance (their gifts and talents) so that they can effortlessly help each other. I believe this work embodies Rei’s perspective on how creating impact can be easier and more joyful.For some people it’s hard to let go of the belief that big change takes hard work. But if you can believe that it’s possible maybe you can make it reality. While this all sounds a little woo woo I think there’s some truth to it, even backed by science. Our perceptions are governed by our beliefs and values. And so if we can change our beliefs we can change what we see and spot different opportunities around us.This episode is a bit of a deep one but I recommend you stick with it. If you’re struggling at work or in your business and you can’t see a way forward maybe the thing that’s getting in your way is actually you. Once you get out of your own way life will get a lot easier.You can find out more about Rei and her work here - https://www.thisisreichou.com/

Carrie is an author, entrepreneur, community builder and consultant and has been building online communities for the past 15 years. Her new book Building Brand Communities is about how companies can create a greater sense of belonging and therefore create more positive impact in the world.Her experience in tech startups did not create a great positive impact for her. She started her professional life in the publishing world and then moved into a tech startup where she found the step change in the pace of work overwhelming. During our conversation we touch on the idea of a calm company, as evangelised by the founders of Basecamp. Rather than trying to achieve growth at all costs we should be creating a new definition of success.However, can you have a calm company if you're not a calm founder?Lately I've been having a number of conversations about leadership and inner work. I was struck by the quote "the organisations we create bare the scars of their founders". What this means to me is that the companies we create will reflect who we are, what we believe and what we need. If we're not aware of some of the unconscious needs and behaviours that we bring to the company, they'll play out in the way our company grows and evolves.In this episode Carrie says "ultimately everyone looks to the founder, how do they work, what do they care about, are they paying attention to what I'm doing, and if not what do I need to do make them pay attention to me".In a previous podcast with Christina Kisely I discovered the idea of the "law of the lid" and that an organisation can only travel as far as the founder.So, when you're thinking about your business and how well it's working and where it's going I believe it's also important to look inwards and ask the question "where am I going" and "how am I being".

Sarah Metcalfe is the founder of Happy Coffee Consulting and a long time member of the Happy Startup School. She’s passionate about creating happy workplaces and this September she launched her very first online summit about Happiness at Work. The idea came to her in March and within 6 months it was up and running. Now that’s idea to action!In this episode we talk about her work and how she helps companies create happy work places and she shares her view about how companies focus on the wrong things when trying to bring happiness to work. We also hear how she and her team managed to pull together a 5 day summit with 40 talks and workshops. She shares her approach, some of the challenges they faced and what she’d do differently next time.According to Sarah launching your own event like an online summit is a great way to bootstrap your way to spreading the word about your work, developing your own program of learning, growing your email list, but most of all, getting to learn from amazing people that you respect and admire.If you’re thinking about growing your impact and spreading awareness about the work you do then this episode is for you.Find out more about Sarah and her work here:- https://www.happycoffeeconsulting.co.uk/- https://happiness-at-work.teachable.com/- https://www.facebook.com/happinessatworksummit/

One of my highlights from this year’s Happy Startup Summercamp was watching Laurence Shorter’s Spiritual Experience. Think of it as stand up comedy meets group therapy meets chat show meets transformational workshop. I like to call it cheerful introspection.I’ve come to believe that many of the challenges that we find in business and leadership come from a lack of clarity. This is a lack of clarity about where you want to go, but also a lack of clarity of what you stand for and what you want. Getting clear on these things can lead to very deep and very uncomfortable conversations very quickly.Laurence loves to have these conversations, including ones on God and death and he approaches them in an entertaining, engaging and educational way. I believe humour is a great leveller and helps us discuss tough topics in more accessible and less painful ways. I’d love to bring more of this to the world of work and personal growth as I know it definitely helps me to think about the big questions without spinning out.In this episode of the podcast I talk to Laurence about where the idea of his chat show came from, what he struggles with and what it means to be happy and ambitious.Next week on November 13th we're broadcasting a live viewing of the Spiritual Experience. If you'd like to join us then register here - http://ahappy.link/shorter

Alexander Kjerulf is the founder of Woohoo Inc and is the original Chief Happiness Officer. Laurence and I first met Alex over 6 years ago when we went to a conference in Denmark for innovators trying to change the world of business. He’s an amazing guy with an infectious positive energy. When we were over there he invited us to dinner and it was my first experience of Cards Against Humanity. I can’t remember ever laughing so much.Alex’s mission is to bring more happiness and positivity to the world of work. He does this by giving talks and running workshops for companies all across the world. He’s written a number of books and built up a network of positivity professionals who use his materials and resources to impact more businesses. However, after doing this work for 16 years Alex has decided to take a break. He’s found himself having less energy and motivation and is less happy at work, which isn’t a great place to be for a Chief Happiness Officer.Listen to this episode to find out how Alex started the business, what it was like in the early days, how it’s grown and why in 2020 he’ll be shutting it down for at least 6 months and maybe, forever.

The entrepreneurial path is an uncertain one. When you decide to claim control over the direction of your work (and life) you also to take on the responsibility for the big decisions and regularly you don’t always have all the information you need to make them. You can try to think your way to an answer and systematically way up all the pros and cons but that may not be enough.It doesn’t take long to Google around and find different systems and methods for making big decisions. But using these logical approaches can sometimes take more time than you have and also not even lead you to an answer. Sometimes you have to go with your gut. But how do you do that? If you’re a thinky person like me, going with your gut doesn’t always come naturally.In this episode I talk to Jonny Miller who recently shared a Medium post about a big decision. We hear more about the two paths he had to choose between and his approach to making the decision. He shares his own values spreadsheet tool, a fear setting exercise and the idea of regret minimisation. But what I liked most about this episode was hearing about how in the end he combined these rationale strategies with a purely intuitive approach.If you’re a thinky person but also a believer in intuition you’ll find this episode really useful.Some things that we discuss:The Crossroads of Should and MustChoosing curiosity over fearFind out more about Jonny here:On LinkedInOn TwitterHis websiteHis podcast

We hear it said by influencers and Instagrammers, “find your passion and make it happen”. However when you identify so closely with the business you want to create you want to make it perfect and you fear even more that it will be rejected. And that slows you down. That’s because if you’re work is rejected doesn’t that mean you are rejected?On this episode I talk to Kim Slade founder of Unlost and Touch Video Academy. One business is a passion project born from his need for adventure and having awe-inspiring experiences that builds confidence in others. The other business is his pursuit of a market opportunity because of the skills he’s acquired and his innate creativity. One is driven by the artist in him and the other by the entrepreneur.It’s interesting to hear Kim speak about how he has been able to move fast and develop Touch Video Academy because he was less wedded to that idea. He talks about how developing the academy taught him so much more about launching a business and how he wants to use this learning with Unlost.Listen to his rollercoaster journey of having, losing and regaining his confidence and how his need to inspire confidence in others and reminding them of who they are at their core underpins all the work he does.Find out more about Kim and the work he does:https://www.unlostco.com/https://www.touchvideoacademy.com/

I love the following excerpt from this week's podcast. It fully captures our work with early stage entrepreneurs who are stumbling along trying to get their idea out into the world. Maybe they're slowed down by the feeling of imposter syndrome or perhaps it's their need to make sure their idea is perfect and a fear of failure? In the end though you just need to get clay on the wheel..."You can’t make anything if you don’t put anything out. You need something to work with. So if you’re holding everything in and holding everything back and you're stopping yourself before you've even written a line on the page then nothing is ever going to happen. If you do want to make something, if you do want to make a shape and get a bit messy then you do have to get some clay on the wheel. And it’s just clay. It doesn’t have to be fully formed yet."In this episode I talk to Sophie Develyn. She's worked for us for over 3 years and is now off on a new adventure. We talk about the time when she first joined us and about her journey with the Happy Startup School. This is a story of not knowing, confidence, alignment, feeling left out, feeling her way forward and trusting her gut. While she hadn't been sure why she should be working with us it also "felt like home".It's been amazing to have Sophie support us for the past 3 years and her contribution particularly on our Alptitude retreats and our Summercamp has been awesome.We wish her luck on her next adventure to Nepal and I have a feeling that we'll be staying connected.

In this episode I share the audio of a live webinar Laurence and I hosted where we discussed whether to change our name.We've been running The Happy Startup School for over seven years and during that time we've evolved from delivering workshops on how to build a startup to hosting transformational retreats on the beaches of Goa. We run an online community where we support entrepreneurs at different stages of their journey and host an annual festival that attracts people from all walks of life.It's been a fun filled journey and along the way we’ve made so many friends and learned so much. We have now gathered around us people who aren’t just startups but also seasoned business owners and experienced professionals. They come from diverse backgrounds but with a common need to find more meaning and purpose in the work they do. Our work has therefore evolved beyond supporting startups to also supporting individuals who want to grow personally.And so we’re wondering whether our name is limiting us because there are people out there who’d benefit from coming to our events or being part of our community but don’t identify with the word startup.So this is our effort to share our thoughts and get feedback from our members and followers. We’d love to know what you think and so if you identify with our situation or have thoughts about our name ping as an email on [email protected]'re not done with startups yet though and if you're London based why not come to our FREE event Lightbulb to Launch: From Idea to Action. In partnership with General Assembly we're hosting a one day workshop to help budding entrepreneurs launch their ideas - https://ahappy.link/lightbulbtolaunch

The Map of Meaning is a very simple map that can create powerful insights.In this episode of the podcast I talk to Lani Morris, one of the co-creators of the map and we discuss what it takes to create more meaning in our lives. Along with her fellow co-creators they’ve discovered that there are four common elements to meaning: integrity with self; unity with others; actualising self potential and service to others. By consciously addressing each of these areas we’re able to fully express what it means to be human and find more meaning in our day to day lives.Along our journey of building the Happy Startup School we’ve met many purpose driven entrepreneurs who are creating good in the world but are also burning out. They believe that they’ve defined their purpose but for some reason something is still missing.What does it mean to do meaningful work? It’s easy to conflate the ideas of meaning and purpose but just because you work in a purposeful organisation does not immediately mean that your work feels meaningful. For Lani purpose is about inspiration and service to others and if we neglect the other areas of meaning then that’s when problems arise.Being able to identify the missing pieces is the purpose of the Map of Meaning.Each of these areas can be depicted as four quadrants on the axes of being and doing. When we look at our daily lives using the Map of Meaning we’re able to identify where we’re spending too much time and how we can reclaim some balance by addressing the areas we’ve neglected.To find out more about the Map and Lani then follow these links:https://www.themapofmeaning.org/TEDx talk on meaningful workThe Map of Meaning - A Guide to Sustaining our Humanity in the World of WorkIntroductory workshop to the Map of MeaningOnline course - The Heart Beat of Business: Creating and Running Meaningful Start-ups and Small Businesses

Marianne is an entrepreneur, coach and author of Be a Free Range Human. I first met Marianne at our Summercamp in 2015 where she ran a workshop about escaping the 9 to 5 and creating a lifestyle that aligns with your business. In this episode we talk about her journey since then and discuss how leaving employment to create our own businesses can mean unintentionally swapping one cage for another. While building a successful business can bring you more autonomy we can also get trapped by that feeling of success and the fear of losing it. When we over identify with our businesses we lose sight of where our success ends and where we begin. We forget that we’re enough, no matter what. Marianne remembers being triggered by the question “If your business didn’t exist anymore, who would you be?” Losing touch with who we really are can trap us in a cycle of overwork as we strive to maintain our past levels of success. Marianne talks about rooting down as well as growing the business. Because without roots our feelings of success can be easily blown away. Rooting down is an inner journey of self discovery and defining your inner compass. You can see how her message resonates with what we’re about at the Happy Startup School. I hope you enjoy this episode.

Over the past 7 years of building the Happy Startup School I’ve met entrepreneurs of all shapes and sizes. Some are motivated by looking at the market and creating what’s wanted while others are motivated by an internal need to create what’s true to them. In my mind they’re at the opposite ends of the spectrum. At one end is the businessman and at the other end is the artist.In this episode of the podcast I talk to Max St. John who’s spent time at the busines end and is now transitioning to the artist way of living. He talks about the locus of evaluation. This is the place where we look to find out whether we’re doing the right work.For Max it’s less about understanding what moves the market but more about what feels true to him. While he accepts the need to make money he also believes that we can’t force work to come our way. Despite what marketers and sales people tell us we can’t control whether clients appear or not. What we can control is how we turn up in the world and where we place our energy, and where we place our energy is where things will grow.We explore these ideas through the lens of Max’s journey of entrepreneurship. If you’re a creative entrepreneur trying to understand how to straddle the two worlds of artist and businessman then you’ll appreciate this conversation and identify with Max’s story.

Learning about Non-Violent Communication has been a game changer for me. As a child I’d always struggled to deal with difficult emotions and so would either lash out in anger or, what was more often the case, would cry with frustration. I learned that expressing emotions was weak and so I decided to suppress them. However, in doing so I limited the development of my own emotional vocabulary and the ability to practice empathy. This was ironic since I had a deep need for connection and community.In a world that feels ever more divisive and disconnected the ability to practice deep empathy is fundamentally important.In this conversation with Beccie D’Cuhna, Happy Startup community member and professional mediator, we talk about the importance of empathy when helping others navigate periods of conflict and change. We discuss the difference between empathy and sympathy and how when we judge and try to fix other people’s emotions we end up invalidating their experience. We then lose the opportunity for deep connection and make it harder for them to process what they’re feeling and move forward with clarity.Sometimes we just need to sit in that turbulent space and feel what needs to be felt without judgement or resistance. This takes practice and requires us to learn more about why we feel what we feel.

Petra Smid is a consultant and facilitator who helps organisations and individuals navigate change. She believes that by living our values we’re able to overcome our fear of uncertainty and by trusting in ourselves we’re able to tackle all the challenges we’ll face.Petra joined us for Alptitude 2019 because she was looking to create space for herself. In our business lives and our personal lives we can find ourselves giving time to everyone else but not giving enough time to ourselves. By creating space for ourselves we create an opportunity to check in with what’s important to us and to reassess the direction we’re going in.Maybe you’re too busy climbing the corporate ladder or building your high growth startup but if you don’t take time to look up from the busy-ness how can you be sure that you’re doing the right thing. And if you believe you’re not doing the right thing where do you get the courage to change direction?One thing that’s in common with all the attendees of our retreats and events or members of our community is the need to live a life that’s true to what they believe. Defining our core values and believing that the work we must align with these is what binds our community together.During this episode Petra talks about her own journey to entrepreneurship. She shares how being clear about her core values has enabled her to make the jump and create work that aligns with who she really is. We discuss why she joined us at Alptitude and what she got out of being there.

Alan is a business coach and mentor on a mission to help and empower as many entrepreneurs as he can. His focus in on owner managed businesses that want to scale up and he’s been amazing support for myself an Laurence. On a previous episode Alan and I discussed the idea of building a minimum viable audience, essentially gathering people around you that love what you do. While many early stage entrepreneurs think of scaling up from the beginning the MVA approach is about first niching down and getting really focused on who you want to serve. One aspect of this is to think about demographics and targetting your audience based on traits like age, geography, education, gender and income. This helps you define who you want to appeal to. However, to understand what motivates and moves these people, you also need to think about psychographics and explore their needs, wants and behaviours. Understanding why people really want what you offer will help you communicate what you do in a much more effective and engaging way. By putting out the right messages you won’t want to have to go hunt for your customers they’ll be looking for you. Listen to find out more.

On this episode of the podcast I talk to Ebonie Allard about self knowledge and creating more alignment in your life.“No matter where you go, you’ll be there too so it’s useful to know who you are.”If you’ve ever got to a period in your life when you’ve looked around and asked yourself the question “is this it?” then you’ll be interested in Ebonie’s journey of going from misfit to maven. This story is for anyone who’s felt like they didn’t know where they fit and is searching for their unique place of contribution in the world, a place of authentic success. During the conversation we discuss the process of adulting and the idea of shifting your perspective from life happening to you to life happening for you. Enjoy the episode!Ebonie will also be speaking at our Happy Startup Summercamp and if you haven’t signed up head over to the site (http://happystartupsummer.camp) to see if you can get one of the last few tickets.I put together some sketch notes of my conversation too. Download them at http://ahappy.link/adulting

In this episode I have a very honest conversation with Ed Barton, cofounder of Curiscope, about what it’s like to build a venture backed startup. What starts off as a classic tech startup story and a window into the world of venture capital evolves beautifully into a raw story of what it's like to be a leader at a personal level.We talk about the struggle and overwhelm that comes with investment and the need to grow. We also discuss how burnout can creep up on you and how difficult it is to recognise until you're on the cusp.Ed offers some very sage advice for any founder, whether you’re running a non-profit or a rocketship, about how to make business life less hard and less effortful. Following on from the last episode on coping with struggle Ed's story is a real world case study of what it's like in and what you can do to make sure you thrive rather than just barely survive.

In this episode of the podcast I’m joined by John Parkin author of the international best seller Fuck It: The Ultimate Spiritual Way. He’s also written other books in the Fuck It series as well as hosting retreats in Italy with his wife Gaia. John will be joining us at Summercamp this year to give a talk and I so I wanted to get to know him more as well as introduce him to our community. During our conversation we discuss the topic of struggling in business. While John is an optimist, he’s also aware that there will be times when things get tough. According to him, how we cope through struggle determines how quickly we bounce back and also how we develop our resilience. John shares some of the challenges he’s faced and what he does to cope with struggle.The three things that John does to help him when he's struggling are (listen from 55m 6s on the podcast):1. Look after himself by going for walks, eating well and doing stuff he enjoys2. Breaking down big jobs into small more manageable tasks and focussing on the task at hand3. Share the problem by talking to someone about itJohn will be talking at our Summercamp in September. I hope you can join us. You can find out more about the event at - http://happystartupsummer.camp

Phoebe is one of those true multipotentialite with a finger in many pies. She’s involved in many projects including being a member of the social change freelancer network Enspiral. She’s on a mission to understand what it means to be human in this technological age and sees life as an experiment with no 'wrong' answer. She believes that we could be offering a far richer, more holistic and innovative education to our young people and that we need to re-think business and work, and personal development.I found this to be a rich and at some points technical conversation but if you want to build a company but not use the outmoded hierarchical templates of the past then I recommend you have a listen. You’ll get some interesting insights and questions to ask yourself about the horizontal organisation you want to build.Seven questions to ask yourself if you’re interested in building a horizontal organisation (from Going Horizontal):Autonomy- how are you going to give people in your organisation autonomy?Purpose- what is the purpose of the company and how do you make it explicit in every interaction within the organisation?Meetings- how do you host, organise and manage meetings so that the right people are involved and everyone knows and accepts their role?Transparency- how will you create a culture of openess and fairness so that everyone has access to the necessary information so that they don’t feel manipulated? How will you encourage this?Decision Making- have you consciously chosen the models of decision making that are applicable to the decision at hand? Does everyone understand how this model works?Learning and Development- how do you empower people to take responsibility for their own learning and personal development? How do you make people feel accountable for their choices of what form that learning takes?Conflict and Relationships- which approaches and rituals will you put in place to help deal with conflict and foster deeper relationships?

This is a touching and illuminating conversation with Jerome Ribot, founder of Coglode. Coglode is a startup with a mission to help people make better decisions by making sense of behavioural research. Laurence and I have known Jerome and his brother Anthony for many years.They actually ran a workshop at our Happy Startup Summercamp nearly 5 years ago, which is coming up again this September and we still have a few places left. At that time we were still all running digital agencies and to be honest Laurence and I looked up to the Ribot brothers and what they had achieved with their agency.During this episode we talk about Jerome’s journey to launching and growing Coglode and what it meant to his relationship with his old agency, his brother and his now cofounder (and long time friend) Roxy. If you’ve ever shut down or left a company you’ve helped create, or cofounded a business with a close friends or family I think that you’ll definitely get something out of this episode.Some extracts from this episode:- Some of the biggest challenges we face are the greatest acts of kindness for our personal development.- It’s liberating to understand that while you’re not in control of the adverse situations we face we are in control of how respond to them.- How to sit with discomfort and use that as an opportunity for learning.- Coglode started off as a website that was built over just a couple of days. It was a marketing tool for the agency.- I grew an agency with my brother for 10 years and the name of the agency was our surname.- As a design agency you eventually become a digital surrogate mother constantly pumping out these children (products) that come back to you a little bit damaged.- I wanted to feel the discomfort of creating a product that we were responsible for.- As a creative director who’s responsible for creating ideas being detached from your creations is only something you can do for so long.- And so agency life can only satisfy your needs to a certain level.- With discomfort comes growth, and so if you have a need to grow as a person you need to seek discomfort It takes a strong mind to distinguish between walking away from your own company from walking a way from your own family.- When running a startup with a friend your friendship will be put under strain and so you have to protect as much as you can your friendship.- If you’re very good friends there’s a danger of bringing too much of your personal life to work.- You need to be honest about why you’re both doing it.- Knowing that you may, in the short term, lose some aspect of your friendship by tying it to your financial survival.- You implicitly trust each other You get a closeness that you would’t have otherwise.- You get to play, explore and be curious together.- You would never make a decision that would do undue harm to the other.- Be aware if you start seeing your cofounder friend just as a work colleague.- Be aware of any creeping resentment to your cofounder. Notice any drops in motivation.- Are you not being honest about your true feelings?- Sort out any conflicts about ambiguity of roles as soon as possible.- Make sure you have time away together away from the business.Find out more about Coglode here - http://coglode.com

 For much of my life I’ve been a worrier. I’ve worried about whether I was making the right decision or whether people thought I was doing the right thing. My mind fills with thoughts and judgements that can turn into a cacophony. This stops me from being able to listen to my body and therefore be able to follow my intuition. As Max St. John, founder of Being Wild Things, tells me in this episode the body will whisper to us what we should do, and then nudge us and then at some point shout. Recently I’ve been crippled by back pain which I guess is my body shouting. I guess I haven’t been listening well enough. I haven’t been creating enough space to be still. I hope you enjoy this podcast as I hear about how we can lead more autonomous lives by listening more to our bodies.Extracts from this episode:When you’re really listening to the body you’re just responding to intuition and instinctive self.One of the myths of meditation is that you should be able to clear your mind.But the mind will just do what it’s going to do.Don’t push the thoughts down with judgment.Young children live in the moment and aren’t conscious of what they should or shouldn’t do.The conscious conditioned self is the self that worries about the future, past and present.The subconscious is the awareness of being alive in the body. It’s always there but drowned out by the conscious self.Worry, stress and anxiety is the tension between what your conscious self is telling you and what your subconscious self knows what you need.The conscious self needs conceptuallise and put stuff in boxes.The fears of the future and the shackles of the past are stopping us from working well in the present.The moment we try too hard to listen to the body so that it can tell us what to do next is the moment that we lose the point.We need to let go of the expectation that listening will get us some where - “Abandon all hope of progress” Charles DaviesBy feeling into our bodies we can stop ourselves from jumping onto the train of bad thoughts and remain on the platform of presence.The judging, planning, plotting and scheming mind are just a reflection of tension in the body. If we focus on them we just reinforce the tension.If you experience tension, don’t focus on it, just focus on the possibility of letting go.The things you give attention to will grow.Rather than chase each urge to respond to everything that comes your way just, let go and then trust that you can deal with whatever comes up in the way you need to.You can’t control how other people behave, the only thing that you can control is how you respond.We should strive to live a autonomous life and stop listening to the chatter and doing what people say you should do.Get in touch with Max via email on [email protected] will be talking at Summercamp and he’ll be leading a morning neigong session to help get us more in our bodies.Find out more about Summercamp at http://happystartupsummer.camp.

Laurence has been reading the book Nature Fix recently and it inspired him to write a post on our Medium publication entitled Hiking The Therapy Trail Where Life and Work Meet. If you’d like to have read go to http://ahappy.link/read.He says that it backs up what we intrinsically know. That when we lose ourselves in nature time stands still and we learn to behave more generously to ourselves and one another. We use our senses fully and become much more present to our surroundings. This helps us to open up, let our guard down and connect with each other on a deeper level.At our latest Alptitude retreat this story played out once again. According to one of our alumni “we’re pioneers in the art of igniting collective inspiration, support and trust, magically between strangers”. This doesn’t happen by accident. It takes careful design, curation, hosting and collaboration to create the conditions for nature to weave its magic.Just over two weeks since we came back from the Alps I reflect with Laurence about how it went and why we need these times in nature. Things we cover are:Listen to your body for the early warning signalsPeople don’t value enough the idea of stoppingIt’s almost more important to take time out when you can’t or when you don’t feel like you can’t because usually the time you need it the mostIt’s counter-cultural to step off the treadmillMost people believe that working hard is the best way to solve a problemWhen our bodies aren’t working properly and our minds aren’t clear enough we’re going to be less effectiveTo make the shift happen we need to stopChanging your environment and spending time in nature can change your perspective on the way you workWhen you’re not close to something you can view it with fresh eyes and propose different approachesPut fun at the heart of what you do, or why do it?It’s important to have a constant reminder of the values the core of what you doFocus on what you need and connect with others with similar needsIt’s so important to integrate the whole of yourself in what you doLeading a simple life is about focussing on our intrinsic motivations and core needsWhat are the positive things to simplify our lives and so benefit the planet?From Friday 13th to Sunday 15th of September we’re hosting our Happy Startup Summercamp. While we know that strictly isn’t summer the event also isn’t just for startups.At its core Summercamp about learning, play and friendship.We want to promote personal growth in business.We advocate holding our work lightly so that we can be more creative.And we know that we can’t create impact on our own. We need to work with others that give us energy and support.As well as inspirational talks we’ve got activities and experiences such as Blingo Bingo, Botannical Brewmaking, Yoga, Mindful raving, saunas, hot tubs, lake swimming, japanese swordfighting, chi-gung breathing and dancing (lots of dancing).To find out more about Summercamp go to http://happystartupsummer.campBusiness doesn’t have to be boring. And it definitely shouldn’t be lonely. I hope you can join us in September.

It’s over a week now since we got back from Alptitude, our retreat for leaders and professionals. Alptitude is for people who want to make space for themselves so that they can get clear on their next steps. It’s a time to get away from the noise of the everyday in order to hear that inner voice called our intuition. In this episode of the podcast I talk to Meghan French Dunbar, founder of Conscious Company Media. One of the things that we discuss towards the end of the episode is the need for leaders and team members to turn up as their best selves. This requires self knowledge and being more conscious about who we are. This is the work. And this kind of work requires time, space and safety. In the episode we also talk about what a conscious business is and discuss the extra challenges that come up when running one.How do we stay true to what we believe and the vision we want to create but also still make it sustainable and work within the current business paradigmThe number one thing that founders of mission driven businesses have said that they wished they had done at the beginning was have a substantiated business model that would drive enough revenue to keep goingThere are many types of conscious business but fundamentally it is a business that has a higher purpose beyond profit and takes all stakeholders into account, not just shareholdersSocial impact investors that invest because of the purpose do exists but they’re hard to find and when push comes to shove they’re still strongly influenced by ROI and metricsWhen you’re a conscious business you’re not only trying to hit your financial metrics but also your impact metrics, which adds to the complexityImpact investors have wonderful intentions but they also put double the pressure on the entrepreneur because of the extra metrics they need to hitWhen it comes to impact there are some things that just can’t be measuredWhen you have a gut feeling about an investor: listen, listen, listen. They need to walk the talkWhen you’re reactive in business it can feel like a pinball machine and you’re the pinballBe aware of your emotional stateAre you above the line or below the line - receptive or closed down?As leaders we need to show up as the best versions of ourselves: being able to consciously respond rather than just reactThe one of the most common things that business leaders say is that you should listen to your intuition and your gutGive space for that inner voice to speakMeditate and journal regularly and look for patternsAs a leader you get the organisation you deserve and your organisation can only grow as much as you doLeaders should model the behaviour that you expect in your organisationIf your behaviour and actions don’t align with the values you espouse you break the trust with your employees and partnersTop three bits of advice from business leaders: take care of yourself, take care of yourself, take care of yourself.Identify the things make you a thriving human and do themYour energy is your own responsibilityThe only thing that I would gift my younger entrepreneur self is to not hold it so heavily and bring levity, joy and fun to what you’re doingIf it’s not going to matter in 5 years don’t spend more than 5 minutes worrying about ithttps://consciouscompanymedia.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/meghanfrenchdunbar/https://stagen.com/https://ahappy.link/15commitments

Casper ter Kuile is one of the authors of the How We Gather report which is an exploration into how Millennials are finding and building communities of meaning and belonging. He’s also the co-host of the podcast Harry Potter and the Sacred Text which itself has grown into a community and business in its own right. During our conversation we discuss what community means to Casper and how our need for belonging in the modern age is being met by different secular organisations.Some excerpts from this episode:in a time of social isolation and mental health crises how do we live lives of deep connectioncommunity is a group of people where you are deeply known and deeply lovedthere’s an overuse of the word community because there’s such a need for itcommunity is not fun all of the time: it can be stifling and people know your businesscommunity is wonderful but is also terriblethe pendulum as swung to the other side where people are too free but it comes with this sense of disconnectionrelationships are held by structuresthere’s been a shift that people would rather affiliate with thought leaders, influencers and people rather than institutions and companiesit’s incredibly powerful to see ourselves in another’s storyin fitness communities people come for the body but stay for the breakthroughpeople gather around a common activity (the third thing)you can only lead others as far as you’ve gone yourselffill up yourself before you can help othersleaders need a place where their needs are met as well (which isn’t necessarily their own communities/organisations)in our culture having a hot body is something we will pay forit’s easier to build communities around fitness groups because culturally it’s more acceptable to pay for thatdonations are a simple way to generate financial sustainability for communitieshave something of value that people recognise and then have community as the second layer of value that people get as a benefitthere’s a hesitation about money and community but we shouldn’t be afraid to bring money into community and articulating its valuecommunity is a powerful healthcare strategycould we see tax breaks for communitiesin order to pay for community people need to not only justify to themselves but also to their peerscan we design our organisations based on the principles of communityif a community is only for itself only, it will die.communities need a purpose bigger than itselfmore and more of us our finding our closest friendships at workmaybe there’s something beyond the triple bottom line which is about our relational connection in organisationsa covenant is about how we’re going to be in this work that we’re doing together and can help with managing conflictit’s not just about scaling wide but also scaling deepTo find out more about Casper’s work check out:https://www.howwegather.org/http://www.caspertk.com/http://www.harrypottersacredtext.com/