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Member in the spotlight
Optimise your working day
Helen Nuki, founding partner at Monkey See, on the behavioural economics of consumerism
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How and where you work can have a direct impact on your productivity and success
I n f o r m e r Issue 25
March 2019
theclubhouselondon.com
THE IMPORTANCE OF SLEEP How effective leaders prioritise sleep to enhance their performance
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Meet. Work. Grow.
Risk is good Disruption is the law of tomorrow The rules of business and society have changed. Only 12% of Fortune 500 ďŹ rms from 1955 still exist. Creative disruption is crucial to economic growth. How will you embrace the opportunities? Discover what you can do with the law of tomorrow, today at mishcon.com
Business | Dispute Resolution | Real Estate | Mishcon Private
INTRODUCTION
ADAM BLASKEY FOUNDER & CEO The Clubhouse
W e l come This month is our 25th issue of The Informer, our magazine dedicated to members of The Clubhouse. Produced by a small team, I hope you agree that The Informer punches well above its weight. Each month we share details of what’s happening in and around The Clubhouse and our events calendar will continue to build over the coming months through a series of curated members’ breakfasts, interactive workshops and inspirational guest speaker evenings. Since we launched in 2012, I have always been incredibly proud of the diverse nature of our membership base and the wide range of businesses we have as members, with almost every business sector represented in some shape or form. The Informer also gives us the opportunity to shine the light on one of our members each month and this month, we introduce Helen Nuki, founding partner
at Monkey See, a leading behaviour, brand and communications market research company which puts behavioural economics at the heart of everything they do. In aiming to make our members and their businesses more successful, each month we strive to bring insightful, thought-provoking content to not only help you meet and work more productively but to help you grow. We have been working with Potential Project for a number of years and ahead of a Leadership Masterclass taking place at The Clubhouse, Holborn Circus on 20 March, Rasmus Hougaard, founder of Potential Project, writes on page 4 about one of the most important factors in leadership performance: sleep. If you want to be an effective leader, the importance of high-quality, restorative sleep isn’t to be underrated. And when the working day comes, turn to page 7 to read about the
impact of how and where you work on productivity levels. In order to be productive we have to also recognise when we are most productive and how the working environment can influence this. Finally, we have two more not-to-be-missed events coming up later this month: on 26 March, we will be hosting an interactive members’ breakfast with insights into cyber attacks and how you can take control should this happen to your business. Then on 27 March, an evening with Guy Singh-Watson, founder of Riverford, the veg box delivery business which now delivers to 50,000 customers each week. Usually this event is free to members, however, this time we are asking you to make a small donation to Send A Cow (which The Clubhouse will match), a charity which helps families in Africa to grow their own food.
THE CLUBHOUSE P R O D U C T I V I T Y T I P #25
See this as a step-by-step coaching opportunity to overcome concerns that a task may not be done to your standards. While time consuming, ensuring each part of the process is understood will result in trust and growth.
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EFFECTIVE DELEGATION
DESIGN & ART DIRECTION
Christian Gilliham_christian@cgcreate.co.uk_07951 722265
To partner with The Clubhouse or promote your business in The Informer please email adam@theclubhouselondon.com Copyright. The Clubhouse London Ltd
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PERFORMANCE
SLEEP SECRETS OF RESILIENT 21ST-CENTURY LEADERS The greatest factor in your performance could be the quality and quantity of your sleep, explains Rasmus Hougaard, founder of Potential Project
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t’s no secret that most of us don’t get enough sleep and suffer for it. If you’re between the ages of 16 and 64, and don’t get seven to nine hours of sleep per night, your logical reasoning, executive function, attention, and mood can be impaired. Worse, severe sleep deprivation can lead to depression, anxiety, and symptoms of paranoia. In the long run, sleep deprivation is a contributor to the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s. Surprisingly, one group that doesn’t need to heed these warnings is executives. In our assessment of 35,000 leaders and interviews with 250 more, we found that the more senior a person’s role is, the more sleep they get. There are two possible explanations for this. Either senior executives, with the help of assistants and hard-working middle managers, do less and take more time for sleep, or senior executives have had the wisdom and discipline throughout their career to get enough sleep and thereby maintain a high performance level without burning out. Our conclusion is that the latter is the case. But in contrast, our data found that 68% of non-executive leaders get five to seven hours of sleep per night. When there are not enough hours in the day, they steal some from the night. Many leaders stay up late to catch up on email or other tasks. According to our research, this tendency is widespread, regardless of gender. This is a problem. For leaders, sleep is not a luxury. Research has found that there is a direct link between getting enough sleep and leading effectively and that sleep-deprived leaders are less inspiring. The key message: If you want to be an effective leader, and rise in the ranks, get enough sleep. Of course, it’s one thing to make a commitment to go to bed early, and another to actually get seven or more hours of quality sleep. For many leaders, going to bed is only part of the problem. The other part is getting high-quality, restorative sleep. Fortunately, a good night’s sleep is not a random event; it’s a trainable skill.
Here are a few guidelines: 1. Catch the melatonin wave Go to bed when you’re just starting to feel drowsy (usually between 10pm and 11pm). Melatonin, a natural hormone released from the pineal gland, deep inside your brain, makes you relax, feel drowsy, and ultimately fall asleep. If you learn to notice it and go with its flow, you’ll enjoy falling asleep and have better-quality sleep during the night. 2. Avoid screens Turn off TVs, smartphones and laptops at least 60 minutes before bed. Why? Each of those screens emits high levels of blue light rays. That blue light suppresses your pineal gland and, in turn, the production of melatonin. It’s like your brain reads the blue light as if the sun is still up. 3. Enjoy only perceptual activities 60 minutes before bed Too much thinking is another enemy of late-evening drowsiness. Conceptual activities like intense conversations, replying to emails, working, or reading can arouse your attention and suppress your natural sleepiness. In contrast, perceptual activities like doing the dishes, going for a walk, or listening to music can help you better catch the wave of melatonin. 4. Avoid eating two hours before bed Eating activates the flow of blood and sugar in the body, keeping your body and mind alert and awake. Not the ideal state for a good night’s rest. 5. Practise mindfulness Mindfulness has been proven to enhance sleep quality. Do five minutes sitting on your bed before you go to sleep. Learn how to become a more mindful and resilient leader at our next Leadership Masterclass, Resilience for 21st Century Leaders, on March 20th at The Clubhouse, Holborn Circus. Delivered by our partners Potential Project, this is a unique opportunity for leaders to discover many more highly practical and research-based strategies to build greater individual and team resilience and high levels of sustained performance. ●
Our data found that the more senior a person’s role, the more sleep they get
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Meet. Work. Grow.
MEMBER STRAPLINE IN THE SPOTLIGHT
HELEN NUKI FOUNDING PARTNER MONKEY SEE
G ettin g to th e he a rt of th e ma t t e r Tell us about your company. Monkey See is a market research agency working with clients big and small, ranging from start-ups, such as Trussle, StepJockey and Farmdrop, to some of the UK’s biggest companies, including DFS, Twinings and Dairy Crest. It’s also lovely to work with those who were start-ups eight years ago when we began, and are now big and booming, like Zoopla, Funding Circle and Treatwell. Clients come to us to provide input from consumers and answer questions such as: ● Who’s our warmest target market and what do we need to say and do to attract them? ● How’s our advertising and other marketing activity performing? How’s it helping grow our brand and business? ● What do our customers think of us and what should we be doing to improve? What has been your biggest success? Probably Zoopla. They were one of our very first clients in 2011, when they were only a couple of years old. Over the last eight years we’ve conducted lots of research for them, which has provided them with guidance on: ● How consumers use the website, helping to hone the site and develop the most relevant functions ● H ow to position the brand vs competitors ● Developing advertising that sticks in people’s hearts and heads ● Understanding their clients, their needs and what they’d like from Zoopla
Hopefully our research has played a part in growing the business from a start-up brand very few had heard of in 2011, to the second biggest in the market. What projects excite you right now? We’re working with Farmdrop, an ethical online grocer, trying to take on some big companies by delivering great tasting food straight from farmers and producers. We’ve conducted one piece of research that helped them to hone their target audience, their service, offering and messaging and we’re about to start measuring how awareness and interest in the service grows. I’m excited to see how the business develops and to be a part of their journey. How has being a member of The Clubhouse contributed to the success of your business? The Clubhouse gives us a great place to come together as a team. We’re often out with clients or conducting research, so The Clubhouse gives us the perfect flexibility and exactly the right sort of place for us to get together. It’s also a super-impressive place to meet our clients. Where can members find you? Our favourite place is the comfy sofas in The Clublounge at The Clubhouse, St James’s. Although, more often than not, we can be found talking to people in living rooms up and down the country!
QUICK-FIRE ROUND
Favourite place to go in London? Stepping onto the tennis court at Highbury Fields, kidding myself I’m a long-lost Williams sister. Who inspires you and why? My mum. She never let what she was supposed to do limit what she actually did – including upping sticks and moving from Blackpool to Tangiers on her own aged 65. Best bit of advice you’ve been given? Don’t smoke – it gives you wrinkles. If you were on a desert island, what would you bring? Lots of paper and a pen so I could write that book. Which super power would you like to have? Time travel – I’d love to peek into the future and see what my children become (it might help me to stop nagging now). What is the worst business ‘faux-pas’ you’ve committed? So many to chose from! One was meeting up with my team in the reception at Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice to give a presentation … and realising we had all subconsciously dressed in purple.
monkey-see.co.uk
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FUTURE EVENTS
The Clubhouse
The Clubhouse
BANK
MAYFAIR
MEMBERS’ BREAKFAST: Cyber-Attack Survival Guide
An evening with Guy Singh-Watson, founder of Riverford Organic Farmers
TUESDAY 26 MARCH 8:00 am - 10:00 am FREE FOR MEMBERS AND THEIR GUESTS/£25 FOR NON-MEMBERS Continuing our partnership with Mishcon de Reya, this session will provide an insight into how cyber incidents unfold, how to respond if they do and the key things to do to prevent things getting out of hand. Through an interactive scenario experts will share their experiences of managing security incidents, helping you take control of a virtual incident and sharing best practice advice. The session isn’t just about security, but the business reality of an incident including communications, financial costs and impacts on customers. This is not to be missed by anyone taking cyber security seriously.
SA V E T HE DA TE
Guy Singh-Watson
WEDNESDAY 27 MARCH 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm TICKETS £25:
ALL PROCEEDS WILL BE MATCHED BY THE CLUBHOUSE AND DONATED TO SEND A COW
Self-confessed veg nerd Guy Singh-Watson has taken Riverford from one man and a wheelbarrow delivering homegrown organic veg to friends to a national veg box scheme delivering to around 50,000 customers a week. Twice awarded BBC Radio 4 Farmer of the Year, Guy is passionate about sharing the organic farming and business knowledge he has accumulated over the last three decades, including the benefits he has reaped from employee ownership and why championing a more human and imaginative approach to business has been a formula for success.
HOW TO BOOK: VISIT THECLUBHOUSELONDON.COM OR ASK AT THE FRONT DESK
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ROSEBERYS AUCTION
LEADERSHIP MASTERCLASS
RESTAURANT
Roseberys Auctioneers will be showcasing a selection of fine jewellery and watches from their Tuesday 19 March auction at The Clubhouse, St James, on 12 March from 11am-6pm. Roseberys’ specialists have extensive knowledge and experience of the current market, which has proved a winning combination for the successful sales of modern and antique jewellery – from fine Edwardian and Victorian pearls through to classic diamonds, sapphires, rubies and emeralds from the houses of Bulgari, Cartier, Boucheron, Van Cleef & Arpels, all the way to the beautifully made, bespoke designs.
How do you build higher levels of resilience as a leader (when you are already stretched) and then show the way to a more sustainable way of working to your people? Discover a rich array of practical tools to build greater resilience and high levels of sustained performance in this half-day Leadership Masterclass. Delivered by Daniel Stane, mindful leadership expert and consultant to numerous FTSE 250 companies, and Tamzin Muir, Potential Project’s Head of Wellbeing and an expert in the neuro-science of resilience.
Believed to be one of the first Italian restaurants in London, Franco’s sprung to life on Jermyn Street in 1946 and has continued to serve the residents, community and visitors to Jermyn Street and St James’s for 70 years. Open all day, the personality of the restaurant evolves from bustling ‘English’ breakfast to a sharp and charged lunch, leading on to an elegant dinner setting. Franco’s is now offering The Clubhouse members a complimentary dessert of your choice with every main course bought.
The full catalogue is available on their website roseberys.co.uk
WEDNESDAY 20 MARCH, 8:30am–12:00pm THE CLUBHOUSE, HOLBORN CIRCUS
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FRANCO’S
SHOW YOUR MEMBERSHIP CARD OR MENTION THE CLUBHOUSE TO RECEIVE THIS MEMBER OFFER
£195+VAT for non-members; 20% discount for bookings of two or more from the same organisation.
Meet. Work. Grow.
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61 JERMYN STREET, ST. JAMES’S FRANCOSLONDON.COM
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PRODUCTIVITY
Optimise your working day How and where you work can have a direct impact on your productivity
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he traditional eight-hour working day was introduced by Henry Ford in 1914, at a time when factory workforces were actually working 10 to 16 hours a day to meet explosive demand. By cutting his employees’ length of hours at work and doubling their pay, Ford actually doubled his profit margins within two years. These days, more than a century later, we have an evolved, creative economy that once again demands a similar shake up of the status quo – as author Tony Schwartz explains, “Manage your energy, not your time.” In practical terms what this means is rethinking how you work, when you work, what your most productive environment is, and with whom. Sitting at a desk for an uninterrupted eight to 10 hour day is not productive for most people; few can maintain full attention for that amount of time. Our ultradian rhythm responds well to 90 to 120 minute sessions, so if you break your working day down in to chunks, you can treat each chunk as an opportunity to achieve a task. In a well-designed, co-working, collaborative or flexible workspace you can choose where is best suited to maximise your productivity. In a busy office, the distractions are endless and it’s hard to find the quiet needed to focus. Hot desks and private meeting rooms are ideal for activities which require concentration without interruption. Recognising when you’re at your most productive and having the freedom to choose when and where you work is both liberating for the individual and beneficial to the company. If you are able to work remotely then a flexible solution, such as membership of a co-working space where you can start your day at a time to suit you, with access
to all the services you need (Wifi, printers and of course good coffee), will result in increased productivity. Taking performance breaks is an important part of every working day so when you have them make them count. Strolling to the coffee machine, taking time to get some air on a r oof terrace or walking around one of central London’s garden squares, flicking through a newspaper with a fresh glass of juice, chatting to an acquaintance about a topic entirely unrelated to work – these are all opportunities to refresh and reset before your next task. We all know that unstructured meetings in stuffy, bland surroundings doesn’t breed the innovative, blue-sky thinking any fast-growing business requires. However, get the environment right and effective collaboration can happen in more informal spaces, so long as there is a buzz, readily available refreshments and a light and airy design. Get your team away from the familiarity of the office to brainstorm, sit back and watch their productivity and engagement skyrocket. For more formal occasions when
the stakes are high and first impressions count, a high-specification meeting room with reliable technology and personal service will make you and your business stand out. Every time you meet a client, you are demonstrating the values of your business by choosing where you meet. If you are speaking with an investor or looking to secure a key client, would you like to do so in a busy coffee shop or somewhere that they can be greeted professionally and taken care of? Choose a place that reflects your values and your ambitions, a place which solidifies your reputation, rather than compromises it. ●
Productivity and wellbeing How The Clubhouse helps you Access to natural light: Floor-to-ceiling windows in board rooms and informal meeting areas Access to fresh air: Outdoor spaces and roof terraces at Bank and Holborn Cirucs Light levels: Warm and calm, not stark and white, to create a homely, relaxed feel Furniture: Ergonomic task chairs in our dedicated desk areas, comfortable sofas in The Clublounge, supportive chairs in breakout spaces and informal meeting areas Different spaces: The Greenhouse for collaboration, quiet spaces for focus and privacy, buzzy communal areas for inspiration Art: Beautiful, thought-provoking artwork to provide visual respite from spreadsheets and documents
Choose a place that reflects your values and ambitions, a place which solidifies your reputation, rather than compromises it
