Lessons from Georgie Delaney MBE

October 2022?

Georgie Delaney MBE is one of those inspirational CEOs, someone with a clear mission, a compelling vision underpinned by a gripping set of values. The story of how The Great Outdoor Gym Company (TGO) came to be is a great one, but what's even better is hearing how Georgie’s mission and vision is driving her and the team to constantly innovate, keep pushing harder, and drive towards their North Star.

As I was listening to Georgie speak I was reflecting back on my own business, looking at the agency and the wider community around us, realising how important it is to constantly be true to myself and to my North Star of ‘delivering lasting change in lives, businesses and communities’.?

Here are just three of the key things that I took away from this episode with Georgie.

Capitalising on the opportunity?

TGO got a big break (no spoilers here, you’ll have to listen to find out what it was!). For many of us, we get a bigger contract or project which can often be all consuming, and if we’re honest sometimes doesn’t lead to ongoing success or scaling. Georgie and her team used their big break to move into different industries, geographies and product offerings.?

We often help to launch or scale startups, and getting traction or product market fit can be difficult to achieve. Building on a current client base, and using your learnings and insight to diversify can often be a vital component to ongoing success.

For more established businesses we work with, it can be easy to rest on your laurels, with the mindset of ‘we know this industry and we’ve always done it this way’, meanwhile younger, more hungry startups come in with the promise of a different way of doing things.?

The older I get the more I think that business is built layer upon layer, building on each opportunity and relationship. The ‘unicorn contract’ isn’t always a reality, so we need to look each day at what opportunities we have that we can capitalise on.?

Staying true to your mission will mean you need to innovate?

Georgie is the co-founder of TGO and as such is always looking ahead. For those founders or business leaders reading this, you know that you’ve always got one eye on the future, as well as the competition. Innovation however is hard. I know, as I’m on this journey with our data performance and insight platform OmniBI. In my mind, it’s clear - our mission is to deliver lasting change, and data insight is vital to this. However, getting the product into the market, and getting product market fit, whilst taking the team on this journey is harder than it sounds! It was therefore so encouraging to hear Georgie say she knows she needs to innovate to achieve their mission, and although it can be met with mixed responses she knows why she’s doing it.?

I sometimes feel like starting some kind of ‘I’m a leader trying to innovate, but no-one understands’ club (I bet there’s already something similar in the murky world of LinkedIn), but I left this episode with fresh vigour that as a leader sometimes you have to innovate to achieve your mission, even if its slower and harder than anticipated.?

Community can bring unity?

The saying ‘your network is your net worth' is a well trodden phrase in business circles (especially on LinkedIn), but it was really interesting to hear how the gyms have unified diverse communities and people groups. For many businesses it’s hard enough to build a community around the right customer base, but Georgie has managed to tap into different communities, some of which are seemingly opposed (by religion etc), but who have come together to serve a greater purpose around health and wellbeing.?

Not all businesses have the ability to make the direct impact that TGO has in the community, but it did reinforce my belief that every business can and should endeavour to make a tangible impact in the wider community. Whether this be in the form of helping younger people get into your industry, charitable endeavours, supporting local causes or any other way you see fit, business can be measured on more than just the bottom line of profit.?

We are in the process of applying to become a B Corp certified company, which measures the triple bottom line impact on ‘People - Planet - Profit’, and this journey has been transformational for the agency. We have always ‘tried our best’ but having a framework like B Corp has changed the way we do business. We are excited at the prospect of measuring the triple bottom line and the positive impact on our team, stakeholders, beneficiaries and the planet.?

As always, I would love your feedback and thoughts on this episode or newsletter, and if you want to chat through all things B Corp please do message me.?

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Take care?

Dan x

Georgie Delaney, MBE Phil Jones Clare Jones