18 minute read
Thought Leaders
Leading by example, one opinion, one idea, one lesson at a time, our thought leaders are significant in the Leicester and Leicestershire business scene.
With authority in their field of expertise, passion for sharing ideas, and commitment to helping others, they’ve been asked to express their most current brainwaves in print.
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Selected organisations and individuals share how and why they go about their business, reveal their ambitions, provide clarity on matters within their industry, educate on complex or novel subjects, inspire with their forwardthinking and progressive perspectives, or look backwards to evaluate what’s been learnt.
Got something you’d like to see our team of thought leaders cover? Send your topics of interest to kerry@crossproductions.co.uk.
Emma Ward
Partner at Nelsons
The importance of IP Audits
The UK Intellectual Property Office recently launched an Intellectual Property (IP) Access Grant, extending its existing IPO Audits Plus Programme, as a way to support SMEs. An IP audit is a review that helps identify existing IP and opportunities to create IP rights within a business, providing that business with a competitive advantage in the market.
There’s always a risk that once a product is on the market, a competitor will copy it. But if an audit has identified the rights that might accrue to, or might be available to, protect that product, the business could be in a stronger position than it otherwise would be to prevent unauthorised copying.
An IP audit may identify existing, unregistered IP, or opportunities to register/ create IP. Unregistered rights tend to be less extensive, more difficult to prove the existence of, and be of a shorter duration than registered rights. However, they’re worth knowing about, as are any opportunities to register IP, so as to strengthen the protection, and thus the commercial advantage that might be available. An expert should be brought in to conduct the audit, as they’ll be better placed to spot the potential to create and protect IPR. They’ll also be able to help support with IP strategy and advice.
The new IP Access Grant is an ‘add on’ to the support that’s provided through the Audit Scheme, which provides funding of £2,500 to qualifying businesses for use in obtaining an audit. The Grant sees the government pay up to £5,000 to businesses, which can be put towards a number of costs including professional fees, to help protect and commercialise IP. Both provide businesses with confidence and financial support – allowing them to develop and grow securely as they recover from the pandemic.
Jay Webb
Managing Director at Jay Webb Consultancy Services
Creating workplace fairness
As we start a New Year full of hope and expectations, it’s a good time to reflect on where we are and the future of our businesses.
If you employ people, good employee relations and culture can make such a difference to your success or otherwise.
Towards the end of last year, I attended a CIPD Workshop with several of my HR colleagues to hear about new research and work that has been undertaken into workplace fairness and the impact fairness can have in creating positive, inclusive, and productive workplaces.
It gave me time to reflect on some of the excellent managers I have had the privilege to have worked for and some who, shall we say, had development needs.
Over the years I have witnessed that for some who are perceived to be good and fair managers, staff will go that extra mile. Staff benefitted from being told by their manager that they are doing a good job and generally enjoyed their job, so both the employee and employer benefit.
Unhappy staff who don’t believe they are being treated fairly tend to only do the basics. The atmosphere at work is not always conducive to a happy workplace. When the chips are down, that’s when the manager realises just how badly their staff feel about the workplace. There are so many benefits to developing a workplace founded on fairness, such as wellbeing, attendance, job satisfaction, connection and commitment to the business, with the resulting improved performance, retention, and productivity.
Why not start the year off with a review of your workplace and your management style? Are you a fair boss? Do you treat people in an ethical, unbiased, and morally right way?
How can you improve and benefit your staff, yourself, and your business?
Krupa Joshi-Bhatt
Development Officer at Voluntary Action LeicesterShire
Valuing the value of the charity sector
The charity sector is often forgotten about in their contributions to the economy, but the last two years have shone the spotlight on how significant a role they play. Whilst the social impact of these organisations is highlighted, it is important to appreciate their financial position within the community. There are currently over 168,000 charities across the UK, with additional social businesses and not-for-profit organisations unaccounted for. Most of these charities are small; around 75% have income less than £10,000. This is significant, considering the impact these charities have on the local community – both directly and indirectly.
But first, if we talk about the direct economic contributions of this sector, which is easily measured by statisticians and policymakers, the sector accounts for over 900,000 jobs and creates more than £15bn in GDP. However, this doesn’t take into account the wider social value created by the sector, and its volunteers: almost one in two adults volunteer at least once a month, equating to over two billion hours of volunteering support each year. So, charities need to become better at recording their social value and evidencing the wider positive impact they deliver to the communities in which they serve, all the while gaining public support and reassurance of their true charitable purposes.
In a recent report by The Charity Commission, it was noted that charities are being closely examined in the way they deliver social outcomes and are not automatically given the benefit of the doubt. It also states that the charity sector is a powerful vehicle to manoeuvre human endeavours to do good, with a significant importance of their actions for the Government, economy and society. The sector is the vital bridge between different communities, but needs to be more transparent in the way charitable endeavours are delivered. As a brief recommendation, the charity sector needs to embed trust through meeting high standards of conduct and behaviour, provide locally rooted activities and to establish stronger local links, use their local knowledge and expertise to influence and advocate for positive change, and provide a voice for the most vulnerable.
The full report can be found on the Charity Commission website.
Rik Pancholi
Managing Director at Pattersons Commercial Law
How do you pick your corporate lawyer?
Here’s the scenario… you’ve built up a very successful business and you’ve decided you’re now ready to sell. You know you need to build a great team around you to guide you through possibly one of the biggest contract negotiations of your career and are looking for an amazing corporate lawyer to work with. So, how do you choose the right person (and team), and do they have what it takes to get the job done?
There are many lawyers who will want to work with you, but what should you look out for?
I often make the point that you should be able to get along with your lawyer and feel confident in being able to ask all those questions, which may seem silly and trivial but are actually fundamentally important to you. Remember that your lawyer attended law school, so they should be technically up to the challenge, but do they have the business experience and commercial acumen to understand what this means to you?
They need to be approachable and able to explain things in simple terms. This will help build trust and confidence in them and the process.
There are always two things you will want to know: How much is this going to cost and how long will it take?
Legal fees can appear to be high, but it’s important to remember that a great corporate lawyer will add tremendous value to the process and in negotiations. If you appoint them early on, they will be able to shape the heads of terms and potentially negotiate a stronger position for you (or avoid potential pitfalls early on such as securing confidentiality obligations). It’s easy to pick the lowest quote you receive but you’ll never know if it will cost you more in the long run… until it’s too late.
Regarding timescales, it really depends on the transaction, the experience of the advisors involved and the motivations of both the buyer and the seller.
So, what should you do? Interview your lawyer and find out if they are experienced, understand your own commercial objectives, and if they will be able to deliver on time and to budget. Do they have what it takes to be your lawyer?
Jenny Cross
CEO at Cross Productions
The foundations of your marketing
With 70% of buying decisions made before ever speaking to a company, it’s no wonder businesses are upping their game when it comes to marketing.
You’re wondering why is it that you’re still getting nowhere? No calls, no emails, no engagement?
The answer is simple. You don’t understand your audience. If you’re trying to speak to a wide audience, you’ll end up not being heard by anyone. All your efforts will be white noise. If your messaging is so broad, the reality is that it’s actually being missed by everyone.
My advice would be to firstly have a think about what you’re actually trying to achieve here. Brand perception, increase awareness, generate leads? Now give it some numbers. Without a benchmark, how will you know if your marketing is successful? It doesn’t matter if your benchmark is plucked out of the sky at this point. By starting to measure, you can review and adjust once you have tracked results and begin to gain some idea around realistic expectations.
To stand out from competitors, you must talk in a language that a) your target audience understands and b) produce content that’s relatable.
Once you have established your goal and your audience, have a think about the pain points faced by your potential new customer/clients.
How can you talk about those pain points and showcase you have the answer? You’re making life better for them? Easier for them? How are you adding value? You need to demonstrate how easy it is to work with you, and how much better life will then be.
Marketing is like playing an old school computer game. Every time you nail one level, you unlock the key to the next. What does the next level look like? Perhaps consider thought leadership content. This is a tactic that enables brands to produce content that genuinely influences and inspires their audience.
You can reposition a brand, raise awareness, ignite conversation, and build relationships simply by sharing your unique perspectives and industry analysis.
With great marketing, there is no limit to what you can achieve; every success opens up a new level, a new road in. However, like anything in life, you must start somewhere and having the right foundations is key. Know your goals, know your audience, and know how you make their life better.
Darren Willoughby
Managing Director at 2XL Commercial Finance
The art of negotiation and adding value
I’m often asked why people should use a broker. Having been MD of 2XL Commercial Finance for 15 years, I’m now well versed in responding. However, in a world that is increasingly more automated, it got me wondering if technology has removed the art of negotiation and adding value.
Automation in the residential mortgage space is quite a frequent thing, but in the commercial lending arena, lenders don’t have – in most cases – a rigid policy or pricing structure. One of my mentors in my business banking days said that policy is a ‘guidance not a rule’. This has stuck with me and ensures my belief that if you’re justified in challenging an offer or a credit decision and can back this up with evidence, then it’s worth the negotiation. One of my mantras to my team is ‘show me don’t tell me’, and this is never a truer word in negotiation.
It is estimated that the art of ‘bartering’ goes back as far as 6000 BC. It’s believed that the barter system was introduced by the tribes of Mesopotamia. This system was then adopted by the Phoenicians, who bartered their goods to people in other cities located across the oceans. People used to exchange their goods for weapons, tea, spices, and food items. In The UK, I see this disappearing – and often in our culture, people feel insulted when attempting to barter or negotiate. Yet in some cultures it’s the norm to do so. A quick trip round the bazaars of Africa and India will illustrate that, as will the chess board I purchased in Turkey some 15 years ago for £40 negotiated from £800 (smiley face).
In an economy that is currently seeing a shortage of goods, a rise in inflation, a pending rise in interest rates and the general costs of goods and services increasing, including fuel and food, maybe it’s time we look back for a few lessons from the Phoenicians and seek out value, not just accepting the norm. This doesn’t mean we can’t still command a premium for our services. If people see the value, they will generally pay for it. This leads me on to my favourite ever business story.
A man runs a factory making boxes and on one Friday afternoon in the lead up to Christmas, his machine breaks down, causing disruption to production. He drafts the staff in, some working overtime to try and fix it, but to no avail. He is losing thousands of pounds every hour that passes. He calls in an expert repairer who arrives immediately. He reaches into his tool bag and grabs a hammer, walks around the machine for a minute, then hits it with the hammer. The machine springs to life with cheers from the staff and owner. The expert repairer hands him an invoice for £2,000. The owner gasps: “But you were only here five minutes! That’s not value, you only hit it with a hammer – anyone could do that.” The expert repairer responds: “But you’re not paying for the five minutes I was here; you’re paying for the 25 years of learning where to hit it.”
George Oliver
Director at 1284
Where Leicester led – and where it goes next
The Guardian’s leader column on April 17, 2011 took the view that Leicester’s decision to directly elect its own Mayor may be the shape of things to come in other places.
Ten years on and it hasn’t played out quite like that – but things may be changing again, with the Levelling Up agenda and the emerging reorganisation of regional governance.
I’m interested in these things, so I was pleased when Rory Palmer, himself a former Leicester Deputy Mayor, suggested we get together again to discuss the matter with a panel at Leicester Business Festival.
For context, Rory and I staged a similar event, hosted by my company 1284, at the 2020 festival and featuring Niche’s own Jenny Cross among our guests.
On that occasion, we discussed Leicester and the emerging Build Back Better agenda (which was being discussed by DMU in the context of social recovery from the pandemic long before the term had entered mainstream conversation).
So, what was said this time around as Rory and I were joined by panellists Sir Peter Soulsby, Helen Donnellan and Dr Kate Broadhurst?
Well, this being a business festival, we chose to look at the role of Elected Mayor in the context of business and investment. In (broad) summary there were three key points made: ◆ Agree with the model or not, Elected Mayors have enabled a more businesslike approach in decisionmaking. Examples given by Sir Peter and Helen – who spent four years as the city’s inward investment director – demonstrated investment which would not have come to Leicester without a political leader with an executive mandate. ◆ The role has enabled the Mayor to forge a consistent long-term vision, outside of pre-existing political cycles, and has provided the stability needed to bring together multiple agencies. ◆ The role enables more innovative decision-making and a more nuanced approach to risk.
Helen – now, of course, DMU’s Director of Enterprise and Business Services – described how investment analysts often start by examining the local political leadership when considering places for investment.
Consideration is also given to ONS data, workforce availability, universities and supply chain as analysts start sifting places to spend money.
But it was agreed that access to senior political leaders – leaders with the authority to make swift political decisions – supports inward investment.
So, DID Leicester Lead in 2011?
I think that the panel’s view was that it did, although fewer other cities followed than The Guardian expected in 2011.
Now, with the Levelling Up White Paper imminent, things may change again.
As Dr Broadhurst, a lecturer in International Business, Strategy and Innovation at Loughborough University and researcher in economic development and place-based partnerships, noted that the detail of Levelling Up remains loose – however, its regional governance agenda could soon become a whole lot clearer.
Jennifer Thomas
Development Manager for Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, and Rutland at Federation of Small Businesses
Sustainability: a ‘need to do’ business
Setting up and running a small business requires entrepreneurs to think outside the box, take on new challenges, and face issues that had not been apparent when scoping out the original business plan.
Whilst small businesses have been asked to tackle a number of such challenges over the decades, none are more threatening than the impact of climate change. However, in the face of many competing priorities, taking action on sustainability has been a ‘nice to do’ challenge for small businesses, who often find themselves cash-, resource- and most importantly time-poor. Now, however, with increased levels of environmental awareness and the pressing need to reduce our impact on the environment before it’s too late, this is no longer a ‘nice to do’, but a ‘need to do’.
Governments across the UK have set the key target of achieving net zero by 2050, or 2045 in Scotland, as well as a number of milestones along the way, such as gas boiler and diesel vehicles bans in coming years.
Recognising their role in combating climate change, small businesses themselves are already taking action to mitigate their impact on the environment. From the installation of basic measures such as LED lighting, through to becoming fully selfsufficient microgenerators, small businesses are as varied and as creative as ever in their drive to reach net zero.
Whilst the Chancellor rightly embraced some of FSB’s proposed changes in this area at the Budget, including allowing small firms to install solar panels and heat pumps without fear of higher business rates bills, it was disappointing to see that the Government’s recent net zero strategy contained only four specific mentions of small business. There is still work for government to do to recognise and harness the opportunity and challenges which SMEs have.
Small businesses will only be able to do more if they have adequate support from governments across the UK, and their local authorities. It can be a confusing landscape, and support needs to be clear, consistent. Policies and initiatives by government need to be incentive-based, encouraging and supporting businesses rather than taxing and punishing them.
While there is much to do and many barriers to overcome, businesses have already made great strides in the net zero journey.
Bhavin Gandhi
Director at Paradigm Wills and Legal Services
Family discussions over the festive period
In the New Year many people contact us to discuss their wills and estate planning requirements on the back of having some family time together over Christmas, appreciating one another and comprehending the time and number of Christmases they may have left.
Last Christmas was not an opportunity for any of us to see friends and family due to the pandemic, which meant many of those important conversations and realisations did not take place.
As the end of this year is approaching, I encourage people to have those significant discussions with family and friends about making them the executor and guardian for your children as this usually tends to delay people starting the process of wills and estate planning. This is because many people often haven’t spoken with their preferred family and friends about becoming their executor. It’s only right you check with the people that you want to take on these huge responsibilities.
It’s also worthwhile checking to make sure elderly parents have also got their affairs in order. They may have a will in place, but did they get around to updating it with any new grandchildren, or have they ever got around to making those Lasting Power of Attorney documents to appoint the people they would want to make important decisions on their behalf with regards to their finances and their health.
Whatever people have planned over this year’s festive period, I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all of us here at Paradigm Wills and Legal Services.
