The Founding Document
Late in 2021 The Institute of Directors got in touch, looking for people that had weird and wonderful things on their desk (my words not theirs). 2021 was a year when I intentionally said yes to things that scared me and featuring in their magazine and letting their readers in on how weird I really am was definitely scary!
For me the thing of most significance on my desk is what the reporter called ‘The Mulberry St Founding Document’ which is essentially a post-it note that was written at 4am on the morning I decided to set up my own business. It was the things I was already doing that I believed in or the things I knew, if I started my own business, had to be central to how I tackled this. And, three years later, that, now crumpled and blue-tact on post-it note is still sitting there, just as relevant today as it was then. They are:
Keep it simple; this one is probably the hardest to achieve but we are so good at overcomplicating things, more often than not just starting somewhere is better than doing nothing.
Do the right thing, not just what the book says; every company, every person, every challenge is unique so we have to co-create the right solutions for them, not just paint by numbers.
Have fun; having fun and work are not mutually exclusive. If we have fun at work, we are generally more connected. When we are more connected we are more creative and when we are more creative, we are more innovative. The very thing we have to be if we are to thrive in these crazy times.
Put human’s at the heart of decisions; it’s crazy to think we can design products and services without the people that they impact the most. But that is exactly what we have been doing for year and I don’t think that will cut it anymore. Profitable customer experiences come from enriching employee experiences and this all starts with people. Common sense but not always common.
You can read the rest of my thoughts here:
Credit; Institute of Directors NZ; Boardroom Summer Issue 2021