Stairway to Seven

My seven steps for business success

Orlagh Kelly is a barrister, tech visionary and disruptor. In the past 20 years she has established two successful businesses. Her company Briefed uses cutting-edge technology and the expertise of its specialist barrister team to o er innovative self-led digital training to the legal, medical, business, education, charity and tech sectors.

Briefed’s suite of compliance products removes stress, providing solutions which empower its clients to be confi dent they are legally compliant in an ever-risky and rapidly changing world where one mistake could cost an organisation its reputation and see it shackled with heavy fi nes for non-compliance.

Equality, Diversity & Inclusion; Data & Cyber Security, Anti-Money Laundering, and Third-Party Risk are just some of the self-led digital training Briefed o ers. Briefed’s barristers work with their clients to provide bespoke solutions genuinely solving client problems.

1. HAVE CONFIDENCE

Have confi dence – In my early days as a barrister I was told ‘you won’t make it at the bar unless you’re related to the right people,’ and later, when I was launching my tech business Briefed, I was constantly met with ‘that won’t work’ or ‘that’s not how it’s done’. I no longer allow naysayers to drain my energy. Both my businesses have been very successful and when I refl ect on my 20-year entrepreneurial journey I can clearly see that having the confi dence to ignore some ‘advice’ was key.

2. DEVELOP YOUR RESILIENCE

Running a business is not easy in a fastpaced world. There are many day-to-day challenges, let alone a global pandemic where all the rules change in an instant. You need to be able to ride out the storms and enjoy the wins as they come.

3. YOUR TEAM IS EVERYTHING

The people you surround yourself with determine whether you and your business will sink or swim. To succeed, it’s crucial you foster a creative and entrepreneurial organisational culture where your team’s ideas are heard, they feel trusted (not micromanaged) and there is plenty of room for challenging conversation, collaboration and creativity. I believe in the positive stance when it comes to my team – they want to do a good job, therefore it’s my priority to support them to excel.

4. FIND A MENTOR

Being an entrepreneur often means loving bright shiny new ideas – you need a wise pair of eyes and ears that will challenge you, offer insight and ask you the hard questions. I’ve been privileged to have great mentors throughout my career, and this has been critical to my success.

5. BE A DISRUPTOR

Don’t be afraid to challenge the norm, be scared of disagreement. Be the dissenting voice in the room. See if you can break things, ask ‘why’ and fi nd a better way to create a solution for your clients. Great ideas are generated by teams who are willing to disrupt the status quo, try things never done before and merge seemingly unconnected things – this is where innovation happens.

6. BE AGILE

Embrace change and always have the ability to pivot quickly. Adapting quickly, failing fast, and being willing to change direction at the drop of a hat if necessary to fi nd a better way to move forward.

7. DIVERSITY AND DEEP THINKING

Actively seek out diversity of thought and encourage deep thinking within your business. A book well worth reading is Rebel Ideas by Matthew Sayed which tells the story of how ‘great minds think unalike’. I fi rmly believe organisations thrive when they have a diverse-thinking team. This creates opportunities to see client problems and therefore the solutions through a broader lens.