The Informer July & August 2019

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Member in the spotlight

All together now

Jo Geraghty, director of Culture Consultancy, on the new challenges facing companies

T h e

How to help your business address the needs of a multi-generational work force

I n f o r m e r Issue 29

July/August 2019

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TAKE TIME TO READ Our summer reading list to inspire and inform

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Meet. Work. Grow.

OFFER STRAPLINE

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M e mbe r r e f e r r al offer

Many of our members join The Clubhouse having been referred by existing members or contacts, for which we are always immensely grateful. If you have any friends, clients or other contacts who you think would also benefit from becoming a member of The Clubhouse, please let us know.

In return, if the individual or organisation you refer becomes a member of The Clubhouse, you can choose from either:

£500 of FREE meeting room use A free night’s stay at The Stafford London for two people with breakfast £200 Amazon Gift Voucher A one month extension to your membership at The Clubhouse Furthermore, the person you refer receives £200 of FREE meeting room use or a £100 Amazon Gift Voucher. This offer can be used as many times as you like (T&Cs apply).

Visit TheClubhouseLondon.com/refer-a-member to refer a member.

Our full Terms & Conditions are also available on this page. theclubhouselondon.com

INTRODUCTION

ADAM BLASKEY FOUNDER & CEO The Clubhouse

W e l come Summer is often a good time for reflection.

In business, we always face a variety of challenges and hurdles – rarely is business life plain sailing. It’s important, therefore, to take time off and give ourselves a well-earned break; it’s often when we take time away from our day-to-day business that we find the ideas and inspiration which could unlock the future and help us to further achieve our aims and goals. To help with this, on page four of The Informer this month, we feature six mustread books.

One of my personal favourites is Shoe Dog, a memoir by Phil Knight who created Nike and a truly inspirational story full of grit, tenacity and determination. For inspiration and to find out what drives some of the most successful people on the planet, Tim Ferriss’s Tribe of Mentors is a fantastic read. Our reading list also includes books by Michelle Obama, Mark

McCormack, Safi Bahcall and Brene Brown.

One of the most interesting challenges faced by many businesses today is a result of the evolving needs and attitudes of a multigenerational workforce. More generations than ever before are working together, each with differing preferences in relation to communication styles, the way we work, where we work and our work-life balance. We explore this dilemma on page seven and the effects that workspace can have on the levels of engagement, motivation, productivity and company culture.

Our member in the spotlight this month is Jo Geraghty from Culture Consultancy, which specialises in assessing, designing and embedding successful organisational cultures.

Jo’s business works with organisations of all shapes and sizes helping to align cultures with multi-generational workforces, to unlock

growth, and as a result of business changes, such as M&A activities, an IPO, or changes in strategic direction.

On page six are details of events taking place in and around The Clubhouse over the coming weeks. Our members’ breakfasts and evening events take a break over the summer but will return in September with an informative and inspiring series of seminars, workshops and talks.

Finally, we are delighted to announce the launch of our long-awaited app. The Clubhouse app, which is available for Apple and Android devices, is packed full of features and benefits enabling members to connect with one another, check availability and book meeting rooms, keep up to date with events, manage your account and to connect more easily with members of our team. This can be found in the AppStore by searching for ‘The Clubhouse London’.

THE CLUBHOUSE P R O D U C T I V I T Y T I P #29

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STAY GROUNDED

When things are hectic, help yourself to remain focused and maintain your wellbeing by allowing time for both personal and professional reflection, relationships, and your physical and mental health.

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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BOOK REVIEW

Our top reads Summer is the perfect time to be inspired by a new book or revisit an old favourite

Shoe Dog

Loonshots

Phil Knight

Safi Bahcall

In 1962, fresh out of business school, Phil Knight borrowed $50 from his father and created a company with a simple mission: import highquality, low-cost athletic shoes from Japan.

Selling the shoes from the boot of his car, Knight grossed $8,000 in his first year. Today, Nike’s annual sales top $30 billion. A memoir rich with insight, humour and hard-won wisdom, this book is also studded with lessons – about building something from scratch, overcoming adversity, and ultimately leaving your mark on the world.

Big breakthroughs require two things. First, an idea so bold and crazy, it is widely dismissed.

Second, a big group of people who can transform that idea from impossible to inevitable. The success of that process depends on “phase transitions”: the scientific principle whereby small changes in structure (comparable to changes in temperature that cause water to freeze or become liquid) make people more or less open to disruptive thinking. Bahcall, a physicist and entrepreneur, explains how to optimise organisations so they don’t suffocate their most disruptive employees.

What They Don’t Teach You At Harvard Business School

Tribe Of Mentors

Mark H. McCormack

This international bestseller fills the gap between a business school education and the knowledge that comes from the day-to-day experience of running a successful business and managing people. Straightforward and engaging, McCormack (known as ‘the most powerful man in sport’ after founding IMG) shares practical business skills, technique and wisdom from his years as a top international businessman.

Timothy Ferriss

When facing life’s questions, who do you turn to for advice? Four-time bestselling author and podcast giant Tim Ferriss has tracked down more than 100 eclectic mentors to help him, and you, navigate through life. Through short, actionpacked profiles, he shares their secrets for success, happiness and meaning. No matter the challenge or opportunity, this book will give you something.

Becoming

Dare To Lead

Michelle Obama

In a life filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era.

As First Lady of the United States of America – the first African-American to serve in that role – she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history, while also establishing herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it.

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Brené Brown

Leadership is not about titles, status and power over people. Leaders are people who hold themselves accountable for recognising the potential in people and ideas, and developing that potential.

This is a book for everyone who is ready to choose courage over comfort, make a difference and lead.

When we dare to lead, we don’t pretend to have the right answers; we stay curious and ask the right questions. We don’t see power as finite and hoard it; we know that power becomes infinite when we share it and work to align authority and accountability. ●

Meet. Work. Grow.

MEMBER STRAPLINE IN THE SPOTLIGHT

JO GERAGHTY DIRECTOR Culture Consultancy

CHANGIN G T H E CULT URE Tell us about your company.

Culture Consultancy specialises in assessing, designing and embedding successful organisational cultures. We work with all sizes of company from rapid growth SMEs to large multinationals. We’re very focused on helping our clients achieve business success whilst allowing the humans who work there to thrive.

Our clients engage our services to solve a range of scenarios: • Uncover the performance blockers and enablers to help turnaround an underperforming business or division • Design a ‘fit for purpose’ culture to drive growth, diversity and inclusion, innovation, wellbeing and more • Embed a new culture to support business changes such as new leader, new proposition, M&A, IPO, Digital Transformation • Align cultures and improve working practices across multiple employee groups, departments, physical locations or suppliers • Design a culture to attract and retain a multi-generational workforce What has been your biggest success?

Most of our feeling of success comes from the impact we have with our clients, but two stand-out moments are: publishing our book Building a Culture of Innovation – A Practical Framework for Placing Innovation at the Core of Your Business, which was voted one of the top five books on Innovation in the 2017 CMI Management Book of the Year awards; and

designing and delivering culture immersion events and being challenged by the people and communications executive director of a client to deliver “the best ever events they had ever experienced”, which given what they had done before was nothing short of a huge challenge. Their response after the roadshow of events was, “You nailed it”.

What projects excite you right now?

We’re very excited about our new culture analytics tool which captures real-time culture feedback through the best understanding of humans and technology.

How has being a member of The Clubhouse contributed to the success of your business?

It’s a really enjoyable space to be in and to invite people to. There’s a type of space for everything you need to do and our clients love coming to visit us here. Being able to use the different venues is also very helpful as often we’re in different parts of the city so being able to drop in between other appointments is really convenient.

Where can members find you?

At The Clubhouse, Bank. My co-director Derek is often on the seventh floor, I’m by the window near the coffee machine on the eighth floor. We’re looking forward to enjoying the outside space over the summer months!

QUICK-FIRE ROUND

Favourite place to go in London?

Hampstead Heath for good creative-thinking walks. It is really important to take care of your mental health and take a break from your desk; spending time in nature is a great way to do this.

Who inspires you and why?

Anyone who is making a difference in the world and creating a meaningful change.

Best bit of advice you’ve been given?

Work smart not hard! This is one of the reasons we have chosen to work more flexibly at Culture Consultancy.

If you were on a desert island, what would you bring?

A radio.

Which super power would you like to have?

I love to travel but don’t have the time.

I suppose being able to pause time and go on an adventure would be a useful super power.

What is the worst business ‘faux-pas’ you’ve committed?

Falling off stage at one of our book launch events. I was unharmed physically but my ego may have been bruised just a little.

cultureconsultancy.com

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FUTURE EVENTS

The Clubhouse

The Clubhouse

ST JAMES’S

BANK

Executive business briefings 2019

How to put innovation at the heart of your organisation

WEDNESDAY 3 JULY 8:00 am - 10:30 am FREE FOR MEMBERS OF THE CLUBHOUSE AND THEIR GUESTS

SA V E T HE DA TE

Strategic Acquisitions How to drive your strategic acquisition effectively, to ensure you target the right sellers and secure the correct deal ahead of the competition. Selling a business can be complex, with a great many factors to consider. Each factor can mean the difference between success or costly failure.

This comprehensive and succinct breakfast seminar is one of a series which are all ideal for any business owner considering a sale now or in the near future. Presented by leading business sale experts Avondale – strategic M&A specialists – take this opportunity to understand how to make the right deal.

TUESDAY 9 JULY 8:30 am - 12.00 pm Enabling innovative thinking is critical in the 21st century to ensure businesses are future-proof and stay relevant to their clients. This masterclass from leadership experts Potential Project will explore practical strategies you can adopt as a leader to promote a culture where: Creative thinking becomes the hallmark of productive working relationships Employees feel more willing to step into the risk that accompanies expressing their unique perspectives, even in highly regulated or matrixed environments Barriers to creative collaboration are managed and people are encouraged to share their views £195+VAT or £145+VAT for members and their guests.

20% discount for joint bookings of two or more colleagues from the same organisation.

HOW TO BOOK: VISIT THECLUBHOUSELONDON.COM OR ASK AT THE FRONT DESK

AUCTION PREVIEW

JEWELLERY

FELIX VALLOTTON

ART

THEATRE

Roseberys Auctioneers will be showcasing a selection of jewellery and watches from their Tuesday 16 July auction. Roseberys specialists’ extensive knowledge and experience of the current market has proved an essential combination for the successful sales of both modern and antique jewellery; from fine Edwardian and Victorian pearls through to classic diamonds, sapphires, rubies and emeralds from the house of Cartier, Boucheron, Bulgari and Van Cleef & Arpels, all the way to beautifully made workshop one-off pieces.

VIEWING AT THE CLUBHOUSE, ST JAMES’S, IN THE GREENHOUSE ON TUESDAY 9 JULY 11.00am-6.00pm

Magnetic, provocative, daring: meet Félix Vallotton (1865–1925). This summer, the Royal Academy reveals the vision of a masterful painter and printmaker who captured the emotional undercurrents of Paris at the turn of the last century. The 16-year-old Swiss artist Félix Vallotton, who would make Paris his home for the rest of his life, offered witty and often unsettling observations of domestic and political life and he is now considered one of the greatest printmakers of his age. As his work evolved, the sharp realism and cool linearity of his later style – drawn from such sources as Holbein and Ingres – made him one of the most distinctive artists of the early 20th century.

Idris Elba and Kwame Kwei-Armah’s electrifying new blend of drama, music and dance follows one man’s journey into the heart and soul of contemporary South Africa – with the audience at the centre of the action. It’s just 12 hours from London to his parents’ homeland, but to Kaelo (Alfred Enoch), South Africa is another world. When a family tragedy finally forces him to visit for the first time, Kaelo must confront hidden histories and right the wrongs of the past. But first he must face the present: a shattered family, fighting to hold on to what they believe is theirs, in a nation haunted by the ghosts of its own turbulent past.

FULL CATALOGUE IS AVAILABLE ON THEIR WEBSITE ROSEBERYS.CO.UK

30 JUNE - 29 SEPTEMBER ROYALACADEMY.ORG.UK

29 JULY - 24 AUGUST YOUNGVIC.ORG

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Meet. Work. Grow.

TREE

TEAM WORK

All together now

W

e are living longer and retiring later, which means up to five generations of employees could be working together at any one time. How does this effect how we work? People born after the Second World War are having to adapt to their tech-savvy colleagues, and people just entering the workplace for the first time are having to adjust to how things are being done by their older colleagues.

This huge span of ages results in competing demands and a variety attitudes towards both the workplace and the way we work. A survey by the Office for National Statistics cites the main challenges in managing a multigenerational workforce as: • Differences in communication styles • Expectations of in-office work and flexible working • Balancing the needs for new ideas against maintaining the status quo • Managing expectations for speedy promotions • Negative generational stereotypes • Company culture clashes Communication – both how and when we communicate – is one of the main elements of work life that is influenced by age. Faceto-face meetings are more popular among older employees than younger ones who (perhaps unsurprisingly) prefer to communicate electronically either via email or group chat platforms, such as Slack or Teams.

More generations than ever before are working together which means company culture and work spaces have to be all-encompassing Work motivators also differ from age group to age group too. Baby boomers (1946-1964) value in order of importance: health insurance, a boss they respect and a decent salary.

Generation X (1965-1980) value salary, job security and job challenges and excitement.

Generation Y (1981-1996) also known as millennials put an equal value on salary and job security but at the same time want the ability to pursue their passions; and Generation Z (1997-present) equally value salary, but the ability to pursue their passions trumps job security. So how can you create a work space and company culture that accommodates different methods of communication and different work priorities?

Work-life balance – a concept which for many is seen as being very hard, if not impossible to achieve – is now increasingly being seen as ‘work-life integration’ and this

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is especially important to millennials, who expect more from their work environment.

According to a KPMG study, 69% of millennials would trade other benefits for a better workspace. This demographic is set to make up half the work force next year so businesses would do well to listen to what they want in order to attract and retain the best talent.

Engagement is key, so work spaces that are designed to encourage collaboration through connection at a human level with breakout spaces and hubs are worth investing in. Remote workers can feel lonely and disconnected; creating a space where they can come and reconnect to fellow employees helps people feel motivated and therefore more productive.

Establishing company culture means establishing a community. This means creating a community that is welcoming for both older and younger generations which respects everyone’s needs. For some, working in a collaborative environment on a frequent basis is key; for others, visiting less frequently may be preferable. Some like open-plan, buzzy spaces; others prefer the quiet of a private space or secluded booth. The Clubhouse has one aim, which is to make its members and their businesses more successful so with that in mind, each Clubhouse is designed to accommodate the varying wants and needs of your diverse teams, respecting their different attitudes to work and approach to life, meaning that your business is able to attract and retain the best talent, whatever their age. ●

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Ideas are cheap Innovation is the law of tomorrow The rules of business and society have changed.

Intellectual Property isn’t just for megastars and multinationals, it can deliver 70% of a company’s value.

How will you embrace the opportunities?

Discover what you can do with the law of tomorrow, today at mishcon.com

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