RESILIENCE, FACING UP TO YOUR FEARS AND TRUSTING YOUR INSTINCT

GLYNIS WRIGHT MBE DEMONSTRATES COURAGE, STRENGTH AND DRIVE IN REAL TIME WITH THE RECENTLY BROKERED SALE OF HER LAW FIRM GLYNIS WRIGHT & CO TO EAST MIDLANDS BASED NELSONS – AN £18.5 MILLION LAW FIRM. GLYNIS TALKS CANDIDLY ABOUT HER BUSINESS JOURNEY FROM INCEPTION TO SUCCESSFUL SALE them blossom is one of the best things in the world.”

Glynis Wright MBE is the name in family law. She has won multiple awards over the 12 years since the inception of her family law firm Glynis Wright & Co. In addition, Glynis is a well-known and respected figure in society having had leadership roles such as President of the Leicestershire Law Society, Chair of the Advisory Board of the Faculties of Business and Law at De Montfort University. Recently, she was given the honour of becoming an MBE in the New Year Honours List for her contribution to Female Entrepreneurship.

You might be forgiven for assuming she is a tough, no-nonsense type with arms crossed in a power suit and you wouldn’t be far off, however, there is also a true warmth to Glynis. Where she undoubtedly can be a tough cookie and has a reputation for ferocity in action, what is perhaps more surprising is her genuine humility when being asked about her success as a lawyer and businesswoman.

Needless to say, she has a very loyal and committed lawyer team who, a year into the acquisition, have already gone above and beyond targets by bringing in a turnover of over a million. Given how complex acquisitions can be, and the level of fallout of staff that often follows an acquisition, this is an impressive feat.

Resilience And Adaptability

Glynis came to law relatively late in life at the age of 40. I asked her what influenced her to choose law and business. She recalled: “My father was raised in poverty in the North East of England and had no formal education. However, he worked his way up to become a Senior Police Officer. When he retired from the police, he decided to set up a business in Abu Dhabi in the field of forensic sciences which was hugely successful for a number of years.

Words by Emily Miller

She told me that she “prefers to think about the success of her team” rather than her individual success. So, I asked her what the key skills of a successful leader are and she replied; “A leader should support rather than criticise when a team member messes up.” And “that it is crucial to reserve rash judgement wherever possible and that to share your own hard-won wisdom generously with others so you can watch

“I went to a comprehensive in Essex and was the first girl to get into University from that school in seven years. I was driven to achieve and I think that was hardwired into me by my father. He taught me not to let anyone or anything hold you back no matter where you came from and that you can reinvent yourself, as he had done. He started in law and then became a businessman. I started with law and became a businesswoman.”

Growing up as the child of a senior police officer meant that Glynis never had a secure homelife. She and her sister were forced to uproot and move homes constantly, often starting at new schools mid-term. “We learned to make new friends quickly. It taught us resilience and adaptability.”

I asked Glynis if those lessons had carried into her work as a lawyer and businesswoman. “You could be right there Emily. I connect with people swiftly and enjoy human interaction very much and I think it was the human factor that attracted me to family law.

“I do genuinely have a desire to support others and in order to help people going through marital breakups, you need to understand what they need from you as a lawyer to move forwards. You need to empathise and relate. It’s way more than lawyering.”

She continued, “Business is the same. To be successful in business you need to understand the human dynamic, you need to be astute about why someone would choose to use your services. What it is about the brand that resonates, how you get your unique message across multiple media platforms about your core values and how you ensure your team replicates those values. Ultimately it is about how we tick as human beings and what attracts us or repels us.”

Glynis is keen to bust the myth that a lawyer should look and sound a certain way and told me about the time she put her face on a billboard in the city, “The first time I went up on a billboard, many in the legal sector were critical of the fact I had used a real image of me, well actually they were critical that a lawyer would go on a billboard at all – which still makes me chuckle.

“But I didn’t want the public to see a stock photo, a bland corporate image of what a lawyer is supposed to be like. I wanted them to see the authentic me, I wanted to send the clear message that this is who I am and this is who you get if you are divorcing.

The billboard went viral and brought in a vast amount of business to Glynis Wright & Co over the years which also included her team who soon joined her on the billboard. “They magnified the brand. This is who we are. We are not bland lawyers peering over our glasses at you from behind our desks. We are real, we are in your community and we are ready to serve you now.”

Joining Forces

Glynis carries the same ethic of service and openness into her leadership approach. I asked her how she felt when she told her team that she had sold her law firm to Nelsons.

“My team know that my style of leadership is based around honesty and transparency. However, when you start negotiations to sell your business, you have to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement at a very early stage. That means you cannot tell any of your staff what is going on. That was a hugely uncomfortable experience for me. It kicked against all of my instincts.

“However, my message to all those in business is firm – be prepared to let go. It is ultimately why you set up the business. If you do not have internal succession, then go to market. Look for synergy with those who are buying you and your team. Look for shared values and approaches if possible.

“Most important of all is to plan early. Any exit strategy should be contemplated and hewn at least five years in advance if not more. It takes resilience and acumen to bring in the right deal for you and for your team and that takes planning. You also need to bury the fear of the unknown to be able to sign that SPA.”

Trusting Your Gut Instincts

Having seen Glynis delivering many speeches at various high-profile events across the city, I asked her if she feels any fear. “Oh I definitely do!” she exclaims. On a daily basis! I can safely say that there is rarely a day that passes where I do not feel fear or anxiety – whether it’s a case I really want to get right in court for my client, or a speech I don’t want to mess up in front of 200 people, or a business decision that will impact on my team and I am unsure how they will take it, the list is endless.

“Women often attribute men with levels of confidence in business that they do not feel themselves. However, my conversations with businessmen show that they have just as much fear, but they are better at covering it up. I have emulated this wonderful acting skill. I am great at covering it up, but I still feel the fear.

“My message in life is… feel the fear and do it anyway! That is absolutely the path to growth and self-empowerment. You must not let fear prevent you from doing what you need to do. Fear is the excitement of pushing yourself out there and it is to be embraced, not run away from.”

Glynis has told me before that so much of overcoming fear is trusting your intuition, trusting your instinct. She told me of a method she likes to use when she has a particular problem or fear to overcome; “Before I sleep at night I think of the ‘thing’ I have any fear or uncertainty about. Then, I sleep on it. I trust my unconscious will give me the answer and work it out whilst I am sleeping. When I wake in the morning the solution is there, and I have learnt to trust whatever solution my unconscious has given me and go for it!”

I asked Glynis if she had been frightened of putting herself at risk financially when she threw in her previous safe career in local government to become a lawyer. She answered, “I have never been scared of poverty. When I decided to retrain as a lawyer, I had almost no money, certainly nothing spare anyway, but my need for greater fulfilment in my career was such a driving force I wanted to take the risk.

“One of my biggest thrills in life has been to take risks. Whenever I feel my wings are clipped, I will do whatever it takes to move away from that situation into something that feels right.

“When I felt promotion was too slow in my local government career, I threw it all in to retrain as a lawyer which cost me a staggering £150K or so all of which had to be found from a very empty bank account. When I felt progression was too slow after I had been made a salaried partner in a local law firm, I threw in my partnership to set up my own law firm with no financial backing but a loan of £10,000 from my dad, every penny of which I repaid.”

And set up she did! Glynis’ drive for personal development resulted in Glynis growing her law firm from its humble beginnings in two rooms on Bowling Green Street to one of the leading boutique family law firms in the Midlands with a sustainable yearly turnover of just under £1.2million from a team of 8 specialist lawyers.

I asked her why she decided to sell when she did. She explained that at first, she was simply acting on instinct and dipping her toe in the waters of possibility with regards to a sale without necessarily having an immediate intention. She said: “I had developed the restlessness I have come to know and trust from the previous life changing decisions I have made. At first, I was simply testing the appetite in the legal market for an acquisition. What surprised me was that the appetite was there and very eager.

“That was a clear message to me that the time was right for selling the business and moving into a new phase of my life once again. Nelsons were looking to establish a family law service at their Leicester office. They knew of Glynis Wright & Co and the quality of service provided along with the amazing lawyers making up the team. The negotiations took place over many months and were by their very nature, gruelling, but we got there to mutual satisfaction.

“My advice to business owners who are planning an exit strategy is to get your numbers absolutely spot on. Know them inside out and have them prepared each year by your accountant as though you are about to sell. That way you will be ready when it comes to those complex negotiations for real.”

No Slowing Down

When I ask whether she now intends to slow down anytime soon Glynis reflects: “Nelsons is the right fit for me and my team. It’s been busy, demanding, and of course there has been a settling period which has posed its own challenges, but I am excited about what we have already achieved as a team and the possibilities for personal growth and development that is on offer to my team.

“As for myself, I am in love with all aspects of business development and am intrigued to see how my skills as a lawyer/businesswoman could be put to use in an £18.5 million pound law firm. Intellectually, I find that very stimulating and exciting. But slowing down is not really an option for me. I am nowhere near ready for that…”

Glynis is proof of what can happen when you are able to align with your belief in yourself, when you strive for growth and development and trust yourself to take that leap of faith to keep pushing for your own entrepreneurial vision.

For me as the journalist interviewing her, I reflected that she is also proof that you can get to great levels of success without adopting a harmful ruthlessness, that real leadership comes from being authentic and humble and never forgetting that real success lies with the team and not the individual.