A Little Bit Radical: Business | People | Planet

Fiona Ras-Jones, founder of Mission Works, supports businesses with a purpose and those who want one to deliver impact through profitably solving a social or environmental challenge. In this conversation, Fiona shares her journey from being awakened to social and environmental challenges in her early life, to taking action through exploring different paths. She discusses the challenges of scaling social enterprises and the need for support and infrastructure. Fiona also highlights the importance of purpose-driven businesses and the birth of Mission Works.

In this conversation, Fiona Ras-Jones discusses the B Corp movement and the importance of going beyond B Corp certification. She explains that B Corp is more than just a box-ticking exercise and highlights its comprehensive approach to social and environmental impact. Fiona also introduces Mission Works and the concept of mission-led businesses, which aim to profitably solve social or environmental challenges. She emphasises the need to define and measure the problem a business is trying to solve and offers advice on getting started with a radical idea.

Key Takeaways

• Mission Works supports businesses with a purpose to deliver impact through profitably solving a social or environmental challenge.
• There is a need for support and infrastructure to help social enterprises scale.
• Purpose-driven businesses have the potential to make a significant impact.
• Fiona's journey highlights the importance of being awakened to social and environmental challenges and taking action to create positive change.
• B Corp is a comprehensive certification that goes beyond social and environmental impact and includes governance, worker treatment, community engagement, and customer relations.
• B Corp should be seen as a starting point for businesses, not the end goal. There is much more beyond B Corp in terms of deep impact and continuous improvement.
• Mission-led businesses have a clearly defined and measurable problem they aim to solve, and they align their business model and strategy to achieve impact and profitability.
• When exploring a problem to solve, businesses should consider their unique abilities, industry expertise, customer needs, and social and environmental challenges within their industry.
• Mission-led businesses can achieve both purpose and profit, and there is an imperative to grow in order to create a larger positive impact.
• It is important to focus on product-market fit and start with a minimum viable product that solves a problem, and then iterate and add more ethical, social, and environmental benefits over time.

Fiona on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fiona-ras-jones/

Rob on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-warren/

Want to appear? podcast@standingongiants.com

In this conversation, Jo Haywood, founder of Skylark Media, discusses her journey as a former BBC producer and her mission to use video as a force for good. She shares her early inspiration from her biologist mother and her desire to make a positive impact on the environment. Jo reflects on her work producing groundbreaking films on climate change in the early 90s and the challenges of raising awareness at a time when few people cared about the issue. She then explains how she founded Skylark with the goal of changing the purpose of business to prioritise people and the planet. Jo highlights some of Skylark's impactful campaigns and videos, including their work with Buglife and their films on hydrogen power.

Jo discusses her award-winning collaborations, the importance of building a different type of media business, and the value of B Corp certification. She shares insights on overcoming established thinking, empowering employees, and the need for radical innovative thinking. Jo also emphasizes the importance of finding happiness without consuming power and the need to educate women for a more sustainable society. Her advice for someone with a radical idea is to be ready, shoot, and aim, and to not get caught up in overthinking and delaying action.

Key takeaways from this conversation:

• Video can be a powerful tool for storytelling and raising awareness about important issues.
• The mission and values of a business should come before the work. It's important to have a clear story and purpose behind your work.
• The environmental movement has gained traction over the years, and businesses are now recognising the value of incorporating sustainability into their messaging.
• Videos have the potential to make a significant impact, whether it's securing funding for a cause or influencing government decisions. Collaborations and awards can bring recognition and success in the media industry.
• Building a different type of media business requires a systemised approach and a focus on customer service.
• B Corp certification can lead to positive changes in working practices and a more sustainable business.
• Overcoming established thinking and giving everyone a voice can foster innovative thinking and drive positive change.
• Finding happiness without consuming power and educating women are important for a more sustainable society.

Jo on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johaywood/

Visit: https://www.skylarkmedia.co.uk/

Rob on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-warren/

David Schluter, founder of Fluid IT, shares his journey from his early life influences to founding his company and the challenges he faced along the way. He discusses the importance of mental health and his experience with burnout, as well as the impact of hiring people from challenging backgrounds. He also highlights the role of Lord Evans, former head of MI5, on his advisory board. In this conversation, David shares his experiences of running a business as a vehicle for change. He discusses the journey of one of his employees, Gary, who overcame significant challenges to become an exceptional manager. David emphasizes the importance of taking a chance on people and how they can pay you back in unexpected ways. He also highlights the joy and freedom of doing business differently, focusing on kindness and cultural development. David believes that business should bring life and positive impact throughout the entire journey, not just at the end. He advocates for treating people generously and embracing slow business as the way forward.

Key Takeaways

• Reflecting on your journey and finding your reason for continuing is important in business.
• Creating a supportive work environment where people can bring their authentic selves is powerful.
• Hiring people from challenging backgrounds can provide opportunities for growth and transformation.
• Having an advisory board with diverse perspectives can provide valuable insights and accountability.

David on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dschluter/

Visit: https://www.fluid-it.com/

Rob on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-warren/

Host: Rob Fawkes

Producer: Lukas Blasberg

Richard Dickson, co-founder of Play It Green, discusses the importance of questioning the status quo. He shares his experience with neurodiversity and how it has shaped his perspective. Richard also talks about becoming more radical and overcoming challenges in his personal and professional life, including stepping into the MMA ring in his 40s. He introduces Play It Green and its mission to help businesses reduce their environmental footprint, repair the planet through tree planting, and re-gift funds to good causes.

Chapters

(00:01) Sustainable Business and Neurodiversity Journey

(13:10) Creating a Climate Positive Workforce

(21:19) Promoting Sustainability in Business Communities

(28:37) Systemic Change for a Sustainable Future

Richard on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardiandickson/

Visit playitgreen.com

Rob on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-warren/

Want to appear? podcast@standingongiants.com

How much coffee have you drunk today? We had the pleasure of sitting down with Holly Kragiopoulos, co-founder of Northstar Coffee, who shared her powerful story of forging a new path for the coffee industry amid looming shortages and environmental challenges. Our conversation traversed her personal journey, from the influence of her father's research to her transformative experiences in Australia, and how these have shaped her approach to the business and parenthood.

We discuss:

(00:01) Rethinking Coffee, Work, and Parenthood

(07:32) Coffee Supply Chain and Motivation

(18:48) Challenges Facing the Coffee Industry

(30:59) The Impact of B Corp Accreditation

(36:25) Importance of Empathy and Accountability

Holly on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/holly-kragiopoulos-53501156/

Visit: https://www.northstarroast.com/en-gb

Rob on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-warren/

Want to appear? podcast@standingongiants.com

Amy Polly is the self-styled 'Mindfulness Rebel'. In a world of very serious, very blue, mental health information, she is a welcome shot of pink. She's the former Strategic Lead for Mental Health & Wellbeing for the Fire Service, and has since worked with organisations like Heineken, Bupa, Sweaty Betty, National Grid and many others. She's on a mission to make mindfulness more accessible and inclusive and joins us for this conversation where we discuss:

• Her grandfather’s addiction to alcohol and how it informed her behaviour to always try and make people smile
• The importance of her supportive parents and having a support network
• How she’s embraced thinking differently as an adult
• How she left a solid, 19 year career in accountancy to start working for herself in mindfulness and wellbeing
• The shift she felt working for the Fire Service, contributing to a bigger picture 
• The extreme challenges of creating wellbeing programmes in the Fire Service
• The measures she brought in to support fire fighters
• The basics of creating a mentally healthy workforce and how it’s not the things you might think
• Her connection to mindfulness and how it became a passion of hers as a proactive measure for wellbeing
• Personal days and bringing the human elements to business
• How Mindfulness isn’t ‘hippy dippy stuff’, it’s brain training
• Some myth busting around Mindfulness
• Amy leads Rob through a mindfulness exercise 
• Rob’s reflections after the exercise
• Her advice to leaders for embedding wellbeing in their businesses
• How motherhood is the hardest thing she’s ever done and her ‘Mindfulness for Mums’ programme
• The loneliness of being a mum and the taboo of talking about birth trauma
• Rob shares a rather unfortunate parenting story and how it informed his perspective on parents in business
• The ‘return to the office’ push and the potential negative impacts for some of the workforce

Follow Amy on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amypolly/

Visit: amypolly.com

Follow Rob on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-warren/

Sign up the the 'A Little Bit Radical' Newsletter here: https://share.hsforms.com/1wJzfsT5RR7melJbfDfpsLw4sran

Surf’s up! Often called the ‘British Patagonia’, Finisterre are one of the most respected names in sustainable fashion. Headquartered in St Agnes, Cornwall, Finisterre produce long-lasting, repairable products inspired by the sea. We’re joined by CMO Bronwen Foster Butler for this episode. She discusses:

• The dramatic circumstances of her birth in the Canadian wilderness
• The effect of having a peculiar name and how she ‘likes to play in the edges’ of life
• How she became a parent to a daughter during COVID and how that provided an impetus to become more radical 
• Her experience in a previous role of being asked ‘whether she wanted a promotion, or to become a parent’
• Finisterre’s approach to flexibility and inclusion
• Working for a boss who is a CEO and a RNLI helmsman
• Her commitment to ‘how you get the job done’ not ‘when you get the job done’
• ‘Sea Tuesdays’ - where the whole team get an hour to connect with the sea
• The founding story of Finisterre and the mission to create products that serve cold-water surfers, whilst preserving the ocean
• The very first product the founder, Tom, created
• Their partnership with the last Merino Wool shepherd in the U.K.
• How the wetsuit industry is partly responsible for ‘Cancer Alley’ in the USA, with the production of chloroprene - connected to Neoprene
• How they are reinventing wetsuits, moving away from petrochemical neoprene, to YULEX rubber
• Launching the world’s first YULEX wetsuit rental programme
• Finisterre’s repair service - a challenge to fast fashion
• The shocking reality of where most of our charity shop clothes go
• Her reaction to the U.K. government rolling back environmental policy
• Dealing with Climate Anxiety
• Her approach to leading her team through their Pride campaign, in the face of online trolling

Bronwen on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bronwen-foster-butler-73a31923/

Visit: finisterre.com

Rob on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-warren/

Want to get in touch? Email podcast@standingongiants.com

Without people you don’t have a business. Higson, are a people consultancy, working with organisations to create progressive work cultures with high productivity and high happiness. Augusta Vivian, is the founder and joins us for this interview where she discusses:

• How she feels we are all entitled to have fun at work
• Her personal values of fun, kindness, curiosity, and stubbornness and how her early life shaped those
• How to go about defining your personal values
• Her entrepreneurial Great Aunt who broke the mould as a woman on her own in business 
• Her experience of being told ‘what to wear to be successful’
• Her work at Higson to help businesses become more happy, productive workplaces
• The common blindspots that businesses face when creating a positive work culture
• The real benefit of unlimited holiday vs an annual allowance
• How to create your company values and design the behaviours within your org to live up to them
• The importance of practicality and pragmatism with any cultural change work
• What she’s most proud of in her Founder’s journey
• How she approaches Strategy at Higson and regularly reviews it
• The importance of feedback in all directions with radical candour
• The charities Higson supports with 20% of profits every year 
• The new phase for Higson: becoming a certified Carbon Literate organisation

Augusta on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/augustavivian/

Visit: https://consulthigson.com/

Rob on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-warren/

Want to appear? Email podcast@standingongiants.com

Sally runs Something Big, a B Corp, employee-owned agency based in Surrey that punches above its weight. Having won briefs against agency heavyweights like Ogilvy, Something Big specialises in employee communications with a particular focus on DEI initiatives. Clients include DHL, Telefonica, and IAG. In this conversation we discuss:

• How she’s always been the ‘odd one out’ from her school days 
• Her experience of being the only female in a team of 24 men
• Why she had to keep her relationship with her husband secret for over a decade
• How she’s embraced being uncool in an agency world of cool people
• The significance of turning 50 for her
• Her work at Something Big and their specialism in employee comms, workplaces, and DEI
• Her personal connection to DEI through her experience as a woman in a male-dominated workplace
• How the Barbie movie signifies a huge amount of progress in gender equality, but also highlights how there’s more to do
• How to run DEI programmes in a huge company that spans 220 countries
• How to build a client relationship 25 years long
• What it takes to be the world’s best workplace
• The problem with agencies who are ‘in it for themselves’ rather than for the client
• Winning a brief against Ogilvy
• The piece of work she’s most proud of 
• The nuts and bolts of employee ownership
• Building psychological safety in her business by example
• Dismantling a blame culture
• The potential commercial windfall from looking after people properly
• How community building could improve our society through citizen engagement

Connect with Sally on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/somethingbig/

Visit: https://somethingbig.co.uk/

Connect with Rob on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-warren/

Want to appear? Email podcast@standingongiants.com

Timpson has been a fixture on our high streets since 1865 in the UK. In recent years, they've received acclaim for their approach to hiring ex-offenders. Now, 10% of their workforce have been given an opportunity after a criminal conviction. A unique 'upside-down' company, Timpson eschews many traditional business practices. For example, they don't have a marketing and communications department. In this episode we meet Janet Leighton, Director of Happiness at Timpson. She discusses:

• How she’s gained a reputation for being ‘bonkers’
• How her natural optimism gives her resilience
• How important it is to be yourself at work
• How belief in people and being kind and considerate is a key to maintaining optimism in the face of challenges
• What has kept her at Timpson for 20 years
• How Timpson functions without  a marketing and comms team 
• How to get an email reply from James Timpson, the CEO
• Timpson’s unique ‘upside down management’ style 
• Her road to the role ‘Director of Happiness’
• How happiness isn’t soft and fluffy
• Their radical ‘in-house’ approach to everything
• The day to day of a ‘Director of Happiness’, including what Janet was dealing with on the day of recording
• How Janet deals with colleague issues from financial risk, to suicide
• The importance of colleague wellbeing in business performance
• How she feels the solution to financial wellbeing is not necessarily as simple as paying people more
• What led Timpson to pay for colleagues family funerals
• Timpson’s work with offenders and their approach to recruiting ex-offenders
• Workers joining the company via ‘release on temporary licence’
• How best to support ex-offenders entering the workforce 
• How they don’t use CVs and are only interested in ‘what you’re doing today, and what you want to do tomorrow’
• The state of UK prisons 
• Some of the success stories from the prison recruitment programme
• Her offer of help to any business who’s interested in starting a programme for people with prison lived experience 

Janet on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janet-leighton-8109891a/

Visit: https://www.timpson.co.uk/

Rob on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-warren/

Want to appear? Email podcast@standingongiants.com

We order over 6 billion takeaways a year in the UK. Many of those are ordered on Deliveroo. Now celebrating its 10th anniversary, and operating in 10 countries.  Our guest, Elena Devis, is former Head of Vegan Category at Deliveroo, now a consultant in the plant based space. In this conversation she discusses:

• Her adventurous spirit from a young age, including travelling overseas by herself at 13
• Her first exposure to the word ‘vegan’ and the steep learning curve from her meat and fish heavy diet in Valencia, Spain
• The changes in her health she saw upon going vegan
• How she feels there’s ‘less ego’ in her decisions now as she’s got older
• Her pragmatic approach to lifestyle change as opposed to an absolutist approach
• Her time at Deliveroo over 5 years of huge growth and evolution
• The importance of great leaders
• How she created her own role as Head of Vegan Category at Deliveroo
• Her approach to working with partners to adopt new ideas and new dishes
• How to fight for the role and projects you want in a large business with the right data, stakeholders, and proposition
• How ‘being human’ is the most important thing about being a manager
• How PMS and the menstrual cycle affects women at work and how men can best support their colleagues
• How her manager’s approach to her PMS was life changing and the importance of menstrual leave
• Her passion for meditation

Elena on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elenadevisgimenez/

Visit: https://www.plant-futures.com/

Rob on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-warren/

Want to appear? podcast@standingongiants.com

Designing campaigns for Patagonia, Selfridges, BMW, and Penguin Books, Forster Communications is an award-winning communications agency.  Our guest today is Peter Gilheany, Board Director at Forster. An employee-owned B Corp, Forster are a great example of how to live your values. They’ve turned down lucrative briefs from companies that refuse to declare a climate emergency, and have even set sustainability goals for their existing clients in order to continue working together. He discusses:

• His working class Irish background and his parents ‘relaxed’ attitude to their 5 children
• How he and his siblings have all forged their own paths
• The difference between being a ‘strategic’ or ‘tactical careerist 
• How there is a huge need to challenge what is seen as ‘received wisdom’
• The narrow view of what a ‘good career’ is 
• The story of Forster Communications and the founder Jilly Forster, former Head of Communications for the Body Shop
• Employee Ownership and how it works at Forster
• The pieces of work that best embody Forster Communications
• How to walk the talk on tackling the climate emergency for any business
• The stringent targets they set for themselves, their community, and their clients
• What happened when they told their clients to publicly declare a climate emergency and set net zero targets
• A leap into the unknown around a social housing project that led to incredible results
• His surprising response to being labelled a ‘lifestyle business’
• Who knows how to communicate about climate change better? Extinction Rebellion or the average PR agency?
• His take on Greenwashing
• How to turn down briefs that don’t align with your values
• The campaign he’s ashamed of and wouldn’t take today
• The pervasive hangover within business that you can either be financially successful, or morally good 
• The evolution in the charity sector over their corporate social responsibility
• The future of the charity sector, financially unstable, but ideologically free to campaign and speak truth to power

Peter on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pgilheany/

Visit: https://forster.co.uk/

Rob on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-warren/

Want to appear? podcast@standingongiants.com

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Matchable volunteering is revolutionising the way companies volunteer. Far from the days of painting fences and picking up litter, Matchable finds you a perfect volunteering opportunity for your interests, skillset, and time available. Boasting clients like Primark, Lululemon and Dentsu, Matchable has created over £2m+ of impact value through volunteer partnerships. Today we're speaking to Foong, the founder, who shares her journey so far including:

• Her traditional asian upbringing and her 'tiger mum'
• Being sent to a French school in London. The only Asian kid, and the only non-French speaking kid
• Her mum's unique approach to pocket money
• The discipline her childhood gave her and how that's been useful in her career
• How she 'lived someone else's idea of success' with a career in a Big 4 accountancy firm
• The ultimate rebellion against her parents to become a startup founder
• The genesis of Matchable and the mission to revolutionise company volunteering
• How she's motivated by helping people find their purpose through volunteering
• How she set about becoming a founder and what a founder looks like today
• Her fear of public speaking
• The challenges involved in being a founder and how you're expected to do EVERYTHING
• Her approach to hiring and empowering people to own their area of the business
• The experience of volunteering through Matchable
• Reducing the volunteer matching journey from 3 months, to 3 minutes
• The focus on UX
• The range of organisation available on the platform - from traditional charities to more innovative impact startups
• Providing more flexibility to employees around their volunteering - opportunities from 30 minutes of contribution and encompassing a range of skills
• When the CEO of Dentsu volunteered to write a blog for one of their impact organisations
• The benefits for businesses of running a volunteering programme from ESG KPIs, to employee retention, to learning and development
• The hidden load of emotional labour that can land on leaders

Foong on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wai-foong-ng/

Visit: wearematchable.com

Rob on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-warren/

Want to appear? Email podcast@standingongiants.com

How did you sleep last night? Would you like to sleep better? Chances are you answered that with a resounding yes! Kaveh Memari is the Founder of sofi.health, a startup combining ancient plant medicine with cutting edge A.I. to improve your sleep and state of calm. Through a tailor-made spray, Sofi responds to your ongoing needs and feedback, using machine-learning to adjust dosage and blend as you go. Kaveh discusses:

• His experience in 10 different schools in 4 different countries before the age of 9

• The importance of being able to make friends quickly

• The ‘pandemics pre-pandemic’ of poor sleep and stress

• How he hopes he’ll ‘never become an adult’ and his approach to ‘play not work’ 

• His team at Sofi - where everyone is a ‘one off’

• How the Sofi product was developed with a group of customers ’Pioneers’ 

• The Sofi product - using ancient plant medicine, combined with cutting edge machine learning and data, to tackle poor sleep and stress

• How to personalise products at scale

• The initial pilot with Valerian in 2022 and how they mapped 300 unique responses 

• The staggering results from their first trial 

• The potential impact if we could stop prescribing the wrong medication on a global scale

• The science and safeguards in place to avoid dependency and addiction on Sofi products

• The Sofi moonshot

• How he stays resolute in the face of adversity and being told his idea will never work

• His answer to the moral question of collecting huge amounts of health data 

• The power of mixing disciplines: from biochemistry to medical herbalism

Find out more at sofi.heatlh

Follow Rob on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-warren/

Want to appear? podcast@standingongiants.com

Blair Glencorse is the Founder and Executive Director of Accountability Lab, a global NGO focussing on empowering citizens to make changes they know are necessary in their communities. A global expert in citizen engagement and anti-corruption, Blair has a unique approach to improving governance and accountability across the world. Whether it's 'naming and faming' honest and trustworthy government officials through X Factor style 'Integrity Icon', or publishing the annual strategy in a rap song. He discusses:

• 'Positive deviance' - what it is and why it's been important to him since childhood
• The problem with the way we set up incentives in our society
• The 'Integrity Icon' project and how it made honest government officials famous - starting in Nepal
• His experience at the World Bank and how the idea for Accountability Lab came from his work with people in Nepal
• How most frontline issues, be it lack of education or clean water, stem from a lack of accountability in leadership
• The mission of Accountability Lab today and his role
• Why they chose to publish their strategy in hip-hop form (listen to a clip!) and the problem with most corporate strategy documents
• Their engagement with musicians, artists and technologists to amplify their ideas through culture
• How accountability will be good for business in the future
• His approach to 'radical transparency'
• The balance between collaboration and competition across multiple sectors, especially when it comes to anti-corruption and climate issues
• The emergence of 'Chief Integrity Officers' and the importance of balancing ethics with compliance to avoid corporate scandals
• His advice for a new Chief Integrity Officer and how to embed ethics throughout a culture
• The organisations whose example we should try and follow
• A success story from 'Integrity Icon', increasing female representation in regional government in Pakistan
• His approach to leadership as a collective effort within a flat structure
• Defining organisational values and how to embed values-led decision making

Blair on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blairglencorse/

Accountability Lab: https://accountabilitylab.org/

Accountability Lab's annual strategy hip-hop track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnjXPevXlu4

Rob on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-warren/

Want to appear? Email podcast@standingongiants.com

Many of us are conscious of making better choices in life, but what about better choices in death? Our guest today is Sarah Jones, founder of Full Circle Funerals. As well as offering a wide range of funeral options to suit each individual, Sarah commissioned the first piece of independent research into the environmental impact of the funeral industry. She discusses:

• The impact of moving around a lot as a child, never spending longer than 2 years at any school
• The influence of her Dad on her radical nature
• Her path to funeral directing through vascular surgery and social care
• The importance of looking after both the person that has died and their family when it comes to funeral care
• The therapeutic potential of a funeral
• Her rejection of a 'one-size-fits-all' approach to funeral care
• How she crowdsourced funding from the industry to commission the first independent research into the environmental impact of our funerals
• The most and least eco-friendly funerals you can have
• The lack of regulation in the funeral industry
• How to make cremation (which accounts for more than 70% of body disposal in the UK) more sustainable
• Her thoughts on whether we are 'good at dying' in the UK
• Her vision of 'death literacy' and how we could talk about death, dying and bereavement more openly
• How to understand grief better and show up for people experiencing it

Sarah on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-jones-fullcirclefunerals/

fullcirclefunerals.co.uk

Rob on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-warren/

Want to appear? podcast@standingongiants.com

You've probably heard of Patagonia. Their products adorn outdoor enthusiasts and conscious clothes buyers across the world. Often held up as THE responsible business, Patagonia champion progressive causes and activism across the world. Most radically, in September 2022, Patagonia's founder Yvon Chouinard, announced that he was transferring ownership of the company into a trust which would use profits to tackle the climate crisis. Alex Beasley, General Manager UK, Ireland and Nordics, joins us for this conversation. He discusses:

• How 'saying no' to his father was a big moment in his early life
• The huge value of going to university beyond the subject you study
• How he still considers himself 'an engineer' after studying Civil Engineering, despite not working in that industry
• How Patagonia unlocked his 'little bit radical' nature
• Why he doesn't like job titles
• The importance of collaboration, listening, and amplifying each other's strengths to solve big challenges
• The history of Patagonia, its mission: 'In business to save our home planet'
• The 'For profit, not-for-profit model'
• The 1% for the Planet programme and the details of how Patagonia fund hundreds of small impact projects every year
• The story of how Patagonia's energy in the UK came to be produced entirely on the roof of Streatham Tube Station in London
• How Patagonia encourages Autonomy on both an individual and business level
• How the culture of Patagonia is implemented across the globe
• How Patagonia can be put on a pedestal, and how they want to 'knock the pedestal away'
• The importance of curiosity to be successful
• Patagonia's founder Yvon Chouinard, his manifesto for work culture 'Let My People Go Surfing', and his decision to give away his business for the benefit of the planet
• The moment Yvon announced this decision to the company, and where Alex was...
• Patagonia's vision of a circular economy and the decisions they make to champion that
• The huge campaign Patagonia supported to protect the River Vjosa from 260 dams and keep it as the last remaining free flowing river in Europe
• How he feels our economic paradigm needs to change - you can't have infinite growth on a finite planet
• His criticism of the word 'consumer' and 'consumerism'

Alex on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-beasley-60bb2723/

Visit: patagonia.com

Rob on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-warren/

Want to appear? Email podcast@standingongiants.com

One + All make children's school uniforms, brilliant quality ones too. When you dig beneath the surface at One + All though, you'll find a seemingly never ending list of 'little bit radical' changes and initiatives. 100% employee owned, certified B Corp, pay differential limits, certified carbon neutral...the list goes on and on. It wasn't always like this though, the man that sent One + All on its journey to being a more radical business is Donald Moore. In this conversation he discusses:

• How he's proud of 'not being very bright' as it has led him to keep things simple in business
• His distaste for traditional economics and business schools
• How he's always viewed getting fired as inevitable
• The moment in the wake of the 2008 financial crash triggered a complete shift in company strategy towards a people-centred approach
• How the shift increased profits five fold as well as customer and colleague satisfaction
• Employee ownership and how it works
• How to prevent your business from ever being sold against your wishes
• His campaigns against 'fat cats' and executive pay
• How they approach 'reward' at One + All, giving proportionally more benefits to the lowest paid
• How supporting their team with financial wellbeing set them up to cope with the cost of living crisis
• His campaigning on poverty and how misunderstood the issue is, including by B Corp companies
• The reality of poverty in the UK today, from children pretending to eat at school, to the surprise items that are the most shoplifted
• How all employers should pay the real living wage, but also take an active interest in what their lowest paid are dealing with on a daily basis
• How he hates the term 'HR'

Donald on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donald-moore-26235521/

One + All: https://oneandall.co.uk/

Rob on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-warren/

Want to appear? podcast@standingongiants.com

We love snacks! Especially in the UK, where 97% of us snack at least once a day. Over half of us snack 5 times a day! On a mission to transform the way we snack in public spaces and workplaces, Healthy Nibbles was founded by Sara Roberts, our guest today. A fiercely impressive entrepreneur and leader, she discusses:

• How her early life was full of radical moments, including moving to New Zealand as a child and a tragic bullying incident which disrupted her school years
• How she dealt with frustration and resentment in her early years
• How she went slightly off the rails and stopped clubbing by the time most people were starting…
• Learning to have empathy for her bully, and leading with empathy as an adult 
• Building a truly diverse team around values 
• Her husband of 30 years and business partner of 20
• How the idea for Healthy Nibbles came to her in a hospital ward whilst her father was receiving cancer treatment 
• The unique customer experience of buying and eating a healthy snack at a Healthy Nibbles site 
• The exciting features of a Healthy Nibbles machine
• The holistic approach to eating well at work and the need for more education
• The ‘Wellbeing Windfall’ for employers that prioritise their team sleeping well and eating well
• How to save £2,000 per annum per employee through healthy snacking 
• How to achieve ‘High Performance’ with ‘High Safety’ 
• Health and wellbeing as a strategic imperative 
• Her tips for moving forward with a programme of well-being and avoiding a ‘tick box’ exercise 

Sara on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saraeroberts/

Visit: https://www.healthynibbles.co.uk/

Rob on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-warren/

Want to appear? Email podcast@standingongiants.com

One of the biggest emitters in our world is the internet. In this episode we speak to Richard Kenny, MD of Interact. Interact are a real David in a world of Goliaths, developing some of the most innovative approaches to reducing the energy consumption of the world's data centres. They recently beat Microsoft to the award for Energy Impact at the Data Centre Design awards. Rich is down to earth and full of great stories in this conversation. We discuss:

• Buying, rebuilding, and selling his first computer aged 9
• Becoming one of the first professional MMA fighters in the UK and how his experience influenced his later career
• The importance of 'controlling the controllable'
• His studies and early career in international development and poverty alleviation
• Techbuyer's ethos around refurbishment and the circular economy
• Their breakthrough in disproving Moore's law - that computer chips do not double in performance and efficiency every two years
• The data centre industry's blind spot for their own hardware and the efficiencies that can be created by optimising and reconfiguring
• How the streaming of music hit 'Despacito' used the same energy as 4 African nations
• Whether you should consume data on 4g, 3g, WiFi, and how many photos you should be taking
• His optimism for the future driven by innovative technology
• His love of his home county of Yorkshire and the burgeoning tech sector that's growing there
• His wish for political change through getting more diverse people into power
• How the most important jobs are not remunerated as such in his view

Follow Rich on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-kenny-6b46a250/

www.techbuyer.com

Rob on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-warren/

Want to appear? podcast@standingongiants.com

In the mid-80s, Guy Singh-Watson left his cushty job as a management consultant to return to his roots (quite literally) as a he ploughed a few acres of his parents' farm and started growing organic vegetables. Over the 30 years since, Riverford Organic Farms has grown to become the most recognisable name in organic produce in the UK, turning over £100m + per year. The list of 'little bit radical' aspects to Guy and Riverford is extensive, from pioneering 'direct-to-consumer' veg boxes in the 90s, to becoming an employee owned business, to being a proud B Corp. A famously self-assured and opinionated figure, Guy doesn't hold back in this interview where he covers:

• How his childhood on a farm encouraged him to think creatively, practically, and entrepreneurially
• His parents' radical ideas on farming and the world which influenced him
• His very unusual 8th birthday present
• How he continues to become more radical as he gets older and is determined to challenge what he sees as terrible governance
• His views on Boris Johnson, Jacob Rees-Mogg and the Conservative government
• From milking cows, to opening the New York office of a Management Consultancy within a year of graduating
• The early days of Riverford
• His hideous experience selling to supermarkets and
• The 'freaks from the fringes' who inspired him to switch to a direct-to-consumer model
• The community-led marketing approach which grew the business in the early days
• His dislike of the word 'professional' and how he reveres 'competence'
• How capitalism needs to be regulated and his admiration for the B Corp movement
• How the 'customer is not always right'
• Riverford's environmental policies and his frustration with over-focus on plastics
• The importance of fully understanding how your product fits into your customers' lives
• Employee ownership and his motivations for handing over ownership of Riverford to its employees
• Whether every business could be employee-owned
• His desire for a political shift to re-distribute wealth to those who need it most
• Our need to reclaim the sense patriotism and collectivism that founded the NHS and the welfare state

Keep up with Guy's latest blogs on 'Wicked Leaks' https://wickedleeks.riverford.co.uk/author/guy-singh-watson/

Visit the Riverford website: https://organic.riverford.co.uk/

Rob on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-warren/

Standing on Giants: standingongiants.com

Want to appear? Email: podcast@standingongiants.com

Thank you so much to everyone who has listened to 'A Little Bit Radical' so far, we're frankly overwhelmed with how well it's going! We have more of the good stuff in season 2 with more big names in business who do things differently. Including:

• Guy Singh-Watson - Riverford
• Alex Beasley- Patagonia
• Katie Wilson - Octopus EVs
• Wai Foong Ng - Matchable
• Donald More - One + All
• Sara Roberts - Healthy Nibbles
• Rich Kenny - Techbuyer and Interact

And many many more!

How do you build a business with kindness at its heart? How do you give your employees a voice in your decision making? How do you do great work and create a great place to work at the same time? Jenny Kitchen is co-founder and CEO of Yoyo Design. Boasting an impressive list of clients, Yoyo regularly produce groundbreaking creative work. What's more, they are a B Corp and in the top 5% of B Corps globally for 'Workers' - meaning they are one of the world's leading employers. In this conversation we discuss:

• Jenny's upbringing in rural France and how it shaped her
• Founding Yoyo at just 24
• Her membership of Extinction Rebellion and how it has shaped her approach to business and leadership
• Yoyo the company and her work
• Her favourite project, partnering with Spotify and University of Southampton
• The power of not sticking to a specific sector
• How she turned down a company that didn't align with Yoyo's values and the fallout
• How she embeds democratic principles into the operations of Yoyo
• Her methods to ensure she hears the truth from her team in feedback sessions and 'closes the loop'
• Her burning desire to be kind without people pleasing
• How treating your people well drives business results
• The need to break the toxic idea that successful business requires suffering
• How to take your first steps in developing a more progressive work culture
• Her little bit radical idea to introduce universal wage caps and the cap she's imposed at Yoyo

Jenny on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenny-kitchen/

Yoyo Design: https://yoyodesign.com/

Rob on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-warren/

Standing on Giants: https://www.standingongiants.com/

Want to appear? Email podcast@standingongiants.com

We all know The Body Shop's fantastic products, but did you know about their long history of activism? Campaigning for change across issues as diverse as animal testing, climate justice, domestic violence, and even human rights abuses in the Niger Delta, The Body Shop doesn't shy away from standing up for what's right. Alice Mazzola is Global Head of Activism for The Body Shop. In this interview, she discusses:

• How her parents encouraged discussion around political and social issues
• Her educational background in Middle Eastern studies and Arabic
• Rethinking activism at The Body Shop - recognising the different 'styles' of change-maker
• How campaigns require a broad range of skills and strengths
• Her feeling of becoming less radical with age but how her young team keep her connected to radical ideas
• The Youth Collective - a 12 person board of under 30s acting as an advisory panel to the company
• The role of a Head of Activism
• A guiding principle of 'talk about what's not being talked about right now'
• The Body Shop's playbook for activism
• 'Be Seen, Be Heard', their latest campaign focussed on getting young people more engaged in politics
• How the campaign has lowered the voting age from 21 to 18 in Malaysia
• The value in not taking the easy road
• How The Body Shop engages customers in their activism work through their stores and colleagues
• Should every company have an activism department?
• Her advice to businesses starting on their journey to being a force for good
• How she wants to see the return of kind debate across society
• Why she's never been on Twitter
• Why we should all join a debating club

Alice on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alicecrabtree/

Visit: https://www.thebodyshop.com/

Rob on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-warren/

Want to appear? Email podcast@standingongiants.com

Can marketing change the world? Paul Skinner, is determined to find out. Paul is the founder of MarketingKind and Pimp My Cause. Both organisations use the power of marketing, and marketers, to make a positive impact across a range of social and environmental issues. Paul is also the author of two books: 'The Purpose Upgrade' and 'Collaborative Advantage'. In this conversation we cover:

• How a health scare for his father impacted his childhood
• His uncle, the nuclear physicist, who encouraged him to think differently
• His thoughts on how we all become less radical with age, and his practice of meditation as a counter current to that
• How you can get involved in MarketingKind
• Marketing as a discipline rather than a department within a business
• How marketing can contribute to so much more than a small set of commercial objectives
• How human beings choose options that give us a better life story, than life outcome
• How Collaborative Advantage challenges the dominant narrative of Competitive Advantage as a business strategy
• How his book 'The Purpose Upgrade' challenges the idea of purpose as a fixed goal for an organisation
• How the pandemic may have helped us to redefine success and be more adaptive in a crisis prone world
• The story of a coal-mining business which has pivoted to become a food business
• The early days of Amazon and how the staff negotiated the established book business
• The steps to take to upgrade your organisation's purpose
• How we could learn from the story of 'Berlin Iron' from the Prussian war of liberation
• His advice for implementing radical ideas

Paul on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-skinner-a73b8921/

MarketingKind.org

Rob on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-warren/

Want to appear? podcast@standingongiants.com

To celebrate B Corp month, we've cut together a highlights show from some of the brilliant B Corps that appeared on season one of A Little Bit Radical. B Corps are a community of businesses that prioritise people and planet, as well as profit. Every March, the community comes together to celebrate everything it means to be a B Corp. In this episode, you'll hear highlights from:

• Shelley Macintyre (allplants)
• Anne Charlotte Mornington (Olio)
• George Amodio (Doing Good Works)
• Erik Porter (Wagestream)
• Vineeta Greenwood (Wholegrain Digital)
• Alan Mahon (Brewgooder)

Listen in to see how all these businesses #GoBeyond

Want to appear? podcast@standingongiants.com

In this episode, we speak to Shelley Macintyre, CMO of allplants. Shelley is a marketing powerhouse, having risen through the ranks at Unilever and Coca Cola, before joining challenger gin brand Sipsmith. Now at allplants, she's leading a transition in the way we eat: getting more plants into our diet and reducing ultra-processed food. Allplants is one of the most exciting scale ups in the UK, delivering delicious plant-based meals to people's doors.  In this episode Shelley discusses:

• Being a 'nosy parker' as a child and how that informs her curiosity as an adult
• How an incident with handbags prompted her interest in marketing and retail
• How her children inspire her to be more radical 
• How the benefit of experience allows her to shoulder the risk of failure
• Her principles for strong leadership
• How you build a challenger brand
• How her little boy provided the prompt to look at her personal impact and career trajectory 
• How allplants is leading the charge against ultra-processed food in all its guises
• Her experience in creating behavioural change through marketing and the responsibility that comes with that
• Allplants' campaign to fight holiday hunger through 'Not at School Dinners' matching donations to provide thousands of meals for school children in North London
• Her work with WACL and their mission to achieve 50% female representation in the boardroom
• The importance of mentoring and the value for both mentee and mentor
• Her passion for volunteering

Visit allplants here: allplants.com

Shelley on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shelley-macintyre/

Rob on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-warren/

Want to appear? podcast@standingongiants.com

Coming Soon: 'A Little Bit Radical' - a business podcast from Standing on Giants! 

Think you're radical? No? Maybe you'd like to be? Well, we've found that no radical thinker thinks they’re radical. They just think it’s common sense. And often, it is. We want to encourage people to believe in their idea that's ‘a little bit radical’ and help make it happen. 

In each episode we meet a business leader who is just a little bit radical. These are people who are doing things differently, taking risks, and challenging the status quo to bring about exciting change to their business and the world. 

In each episode we dive into:

Little Bit Radical You- What about this guest's background and early years has led them to be a little bit radical?

Little Bit Radical Work- Each guest works for an exciting company. Whether a startup on the bleeding edge of progress, or a much-loved household name, they'll share how their radical ideas and approach have brought about meaningful change and results in their organisation.

Little Bit Radical World: We step outside the world of work and look outwards to hear what changes these radical thinkers would like to see in the world. 

'A Little Bit Radical' promises to be a series of fascinating conversations hosted by Rob Fawkes from Standing on Giants. 

Standing on Giants is an agency helping businesses around the world engage through community. Current clients include Airbnb, Lenovo, Heineken, and O2.

Standing on Giants  linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/standing-on-giants/

For each guest we donate £10 to BEAM: https://beam.org/

Want to appear? Email podcast@standingongiants.com