Karmic Capitalist - businesses with purpose

From Chris Froome to wellness in your office.

That's the journey that Phill Bell and Paul Smith undertook to co-founding ART Health, a company that helps employees and employers to improve workplace wellbeing using evidence-based techniques.

It was fascinating to have Phill join me on this edition of the Karmic Capitalist podcast to share the story.

Phill is a sports scientist. He earned his PhD in Exercise Physiology, and landed what would be a bit of a dream job working with international athletes the likes of Chris Froome, Jenson Button, and members of the national rugby team in the GSK Human Performance lab.

(They also worked with extreme sportspeople - like the nutters who would do the marathon de sables. But that's another class of human entirely!)

The lab conducted exploratory research on how to improve their performance (ethically - exercise and physiology, not drugs!), with probably all the kit that a sports-scientist could dream of.

GSK eventually dropped that business, and Phill and Paul went on to co-found ART Health. Passionate about improving performance alongside health and happiness, they felt that workplace wellbeing had become a bit of a tick-box exercise, and one that was more informed by fashionable trends rather than by fact and evidence.

By capturing and injecting data from 4 areas - physical health such as activity and sleep; cognitive performance and brain health; mood information through surveys; and environmental data such as lighting, acoustics and air quality - the co-founders knew that they could make evidence and research-based recommendations and interventions scientifically proven to improve wellbeing.

The company is evolving on a fairly well-worn path of going from primarily being consulting-based to one that is more heavily product-based. Phill talks candidly through what that's looked like, with investment along the way to allow them to develop product, rather than the bootstrapping involved in a consulting-based model.

He also discusses his own route to CEO, which wasn't their original plan.

Sadly, Phill's co-founder and close friend Paul was recently diagnosed with motor neurone disease, and Phill has transitioned into the CEO role. The way Paul has continued his dedication and stoicism has been an inspiration to Phill and the team - but it remains a tough succession when you're also coping with the emotions of having your friend and co-founder dealing with the challenges of the disease.

ART Health is very values and mission based. Their vision is of a happier, healthier, higher performing workforce. And they set about it in a scientific manner.

This is a real warts-and-all story, and Phill's story is fascinating.

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I host a weekly online workshop with CEOs of SMEs (10 to 100 employees approx) about scaling up, allowing them to step back and do more strategic work, and doing it in line with their values. Max 6 per session so we can have a real conversation.
If you'd like to join me, find a date that works for you here. They aren't charged for - you and I will both get value from the conversation.
Only CEOs / MDs apply - strictly peer-level conversation.

There’s a moral case for your company to give equal opportunities for your team regardless of gender (or background, or sexual orientation, or ethnicity, etc). And there’s a business-performance one in terms of the improved decision-making that results from cognitive diversity.
But although we are without a doubt making progress, it can feel slow.
Recruiting women into senior roles is welcome. But we need to go much deeper if we're to systematically right the balance.
For me, one of the key actions is to grow paths for women right from when they are young through into junior, mid and senior roles in business. So rather than recruiting at a senior level, companies create more opportunities for women to rise through the ranks, grow their own talent, and promote from within rather than having to look outside.
My guest as we launch Series 3 of the Karmic Capitalist podcast is The Girls'​ Network founder, Charly Young MBE.
Charly set up the Girls' Network because she saw how many talented girls were not seeing or given opportunities because of what she terms the "double disadvantage" of being girls and coming from less privileged backgrounds. The Girls' Network matches those girls with women mentors and organisations to give them support, guidance and critically, role models to grow their self-belief and open up their opportunities.
Charly’s an engaging and passionate speaker and advocate, and it is insightful to see the entrepreneurial way she started the organisation (think MVP), the trajectory it’s been on, the impact it’s making and the opportunities to work with them.
(Disclosure - I loved this so much, I've been asking many of the super-talented and successful women I know if they'd get involved. The first one, a CEO of a consultancy I work with, has just completed training, and her mentee will be in for a real treat!)
Enjoy.

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I host a weekly online workshop with CEOs of SMEs (10 to 100 employees approx) about scaling up, allowing them to step back and do more strategic work, and doing it in line with their values. Max 6 per session so we can have a real conversation.
If you'd like to join me, find a date that works for you here. They aren't charged for - you and I will both get value from the conversation.
Only CEOs / MDs apply - strictly peer-level conversation.

Giving to charity is one of the easiest ways to do good. But have you ever wondered what impact your donation actually has?

Enter my guest on the Karmic Capitalist podcast, Rachael Murray, founder of a company appropriately called Making Impact Matter (MiM).

Making Impact Matter helps charities figure out how to measure impact. But doing the work has more outcomes than just measurement.

• Figuring out how to measure impact is essential to secure funding. So MiM's work helps charities get more funding.
• The process of working through how to measure impact itself can focus how the work is delivered. So MiM's work helps charities focus their efforts even harder - i.e. deliver more bang for the buck.
• There have been occasions when the measurement process itself has increased impact, such as when Rachel talks through the beautiful projects they've supported for kids who loved the engagement in the measurement cycle.
• And obviously, the measurement also allows charities to learn and continually improve their delivery.

MiM also intentionally serves as a mechanism for analysts with a passion to engage with causes they care about. She and her network of associates engage with causes ranging from domestic violence to diversity to youth engagement to local communities.

We talk through some of the work that MiM has done, and you can see Rachael's passion for making a difference through the company and with her life.

Rachael’s actively evaluating next steps for the company, and we talk through some of the thinking for what that might look like.

This is a fascinating insight into a very heart-driven business and its founder. And as a key enabler for charities to secure funding, Making Impact Matter is about as Karmic a business as you can get.

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I host a weekly online workshop with CEOs of SMEs (10 to 100 employees approx) about scaling up, allowing them to step back and do more strategic work, and doing it in line with their values. Max 6 per session so we can have a real conversation.
If you'd like to join me, find a date that works for you here. They aren't charged for - you and I will both get value from the conversation.
Only CEOs / MDs apply - strictly peer-level conversation.

What do you do if the prevailing business model is very clearly saying one thing, yet your values and what the world needs are in diametric opposition to this?

That's the dilemma that faced my Karmic Capitalist guest on this week's podcast, Seán Wood CEO of Positive News.

"Bad news sells".

We hear this mantra because it's commercially true.

But as Seán says, we've reached peak negativity. And negativity can be disempowering. It leaves people feeling impotent, that it's too late, there's nothing you can do.

Which is not only a shame, but patently untrue. There's a lot going on in the world addressing the issues that we face which doesn't get a look in.

Enter Positive News. Founded by a 70 year old whirlwind of a lady from her kitchen table, who thought people should know about the good in the world, Positive News is now a high quality magazine with a significant online presence and a reach of over 2 1/2 million. It ’s led by my guest, CEO Seán Wood and is a case study of what you can do in a world where the prevailing business advice says you shouldn't be doing what you're doing, but the reality of what the world needs says the opposite.

There's a vast amount of goodness in this episode. Aside from the key topic above, we discuss a wide variety of issues relating to growing and pivoting a business. Such as...

• Having your 1000 raving fans, but needing to pivot from how they've loved doing things in the past. And doing it while trying to keep as many of them engaged in your bigger purpose as you transition.
• And in that vein, the importance of consistency of purpose as the business evolves.
• Why the "and finally" segment that always used to grace the news with feelgood at the end was actually part of the problem.
• What if succeeding in your mission means you'd be out of business?
• The state of journalism, and the need for more solutions journalism. The shift away from a commercial model based on "hook them with a bad news headline, then sell them advertising".

And obviously, the importance of reporting what works to inspire or prompt others to do the same. Music to my ears as that is what we're doing with Karmic Capitalist.

This is one of my favourite episodes to date. Enjoy.

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I host a weekly online workshop with CEOs of SMEs (10 to 100 employees approx) about scaling up, allowing them to step back and do more strategic work, and doing it in line with their values. Max 6 per session so we can have a real conversation.
If you'd like to join me, find a date that works for you here. They aren't charged for - you and I will both get value from the conversation.
Only CEOs / MDs apply - strictly peer-level conversation.

"Move Fast and Break Things" is a terrible way to be anti-racist.
This Karmic Capitalist podcast episode is FULL of gold.
I talk to Javaughn and Jamey, VP of culture and CEO respectively of Agilian.com, a technology consulting firm that has absolutely nailed anti-racism and diversity to its mast.
When, to his enormous shame, Jamey was shown data that the black female execs on his team were paid significantly less than the white male ones, and it was not attributable to performance, he raised the pay of all those underpaid execs in one fell swoop.
....
....
... and hit the commercial reality that follows those kinds of easy but hard decisions (my words, not his).
That profitability took a dive.
Which in turn shone the light on the fact that Agilian's rates were also too low. Efficiency and rate alignments took care of the short-term hit to profits. While employee retention rose as the team saw how the leadership was prepared quite literally to put its money where its mouth is with its commitment to equality.
Javaughn's perspectives are ones that everyone who cares about diversity, and especially white male CEOs, should make the time to listen to. It reminds me of this wonderful story:
There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, “Morning, boys. How’s the water?” And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, “What the hell is water?”
The water in many workplaces is a systemic bias that's so built in that its beneficiaries don't even notice its existence. It's fascinating that even Jamey, who is as present and sensitive to racism as you could ask for, is continually learning.
As was I.
Javaughn's truth-bombs alone make this episode worth listening to. Add to that their combined perspective of the very real and practical journey that Agilian is on, how that shows up in sales, in recruitment, in ops and in delivery.
Because it's not in the PR where anti-racism is made - it's in the work itself, how it's carried out, who does it, and the opportunities that are created.
This is an amazingly insightful episode. Do give it a listen. Wherever you get your podcasts.

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I host a weekly online workshop with CEOs of SMEs (10 to 100 employees approx) about scaling up, allowing them to step back and do more strategic work, and doing it in line with their values. Max 6 per session so we can have a real conversation.
If you'd like to join me, find a date that works for you here. They aren't charged for - you and I will both get value from the conversation.
Only CEOs / MDs apply - strictly peer-level conversation.