Adam Asks

Mark Boler is the founder and CEO of The Mere Gold Resort and Spa. His father bought The Mere Golf and Country Club in 1984, and Mark took over running the business in 1997. Mark spent years developing plans to transform the business into a luxury resort and secured a £15m investment to make his dreams into a reality. The resort opened in March 2012, with Mark selling the business at the start of 2018.

Mark joins Leon Milns for #AdamAsks' first in-person chat since lockdown began to discuss Mark's journey from working for his father's business to overseeing the transformation of the country club into a full resort, and the effect that the journey had on his mental and physical health which led to him heading to rehab.

In this episode, Mark chats all about:

- What it's really like to take on such a large business transformation project

- How his dedication to his business led to a crisis point

- How Mark uses his personal experiences to help others

- The advice that Mark would give his younger self

- Why he believes that people need to become more mindful about their wellbeing

Derek Bishop is the Director of Culture Consultancy - experts in business culture, working with the leadership teams of global organisations to deliver sustainable performance improvements. Derek has over twenty years’ experience leading people and delivering results for businesses. As an expert on culture change, Derek returns to the #AdamAsks podcast to talk to Adam co-Founder Leon about the importance of good leadership and company culture as businesses attempt to return to normal over the coming weeks.

In this episode of #AdamAsks, Derek and Leon talk all about:

· The ways in which Derek has seen different company cultures change after such an unprecedented few months

· The risks to company culture in the current climate, and why it is so important to your business

· What business leaders should be doing going forward to help nurture their organisation’s culture and engage their teams

· What the risks and challenges are to an organisation’s culture as workers return to work over the coming weeks and months, and re-integrating teams

· The importance of strong, empathetic, and open leadership as workers return to work

Kelly Gilmour-Grassam is the Director of Making You Content Ltd, a copywriting and content creation agency in Manchester’s Northern Quarter. Born in Yorkshire, Kelly is a proud adopted Mancunian who has drawn inspiration from her urban surroundings to create a name for herself and her business.

In this episode of AdamAsks, Kelly talks about how your company’s culture can influence it’s success. She covers:

· How she became a copywriter, how Making You Content came to be, and her journey building her business to become one of Manchester’s best employers

· Advice to aspiring copywriters and business owners

· The business culture that she has created for her employees, how she implemented this, and the benefits it has had for the business

· Where Kelly hopes to take the business in the next few years

· The importance of investing in the personal development and wellbeing of your employees

· The secret of creating great content

Chris Hyland joins us on #AdamAsks to discuss why last 4 years has been a whirlwind of change both personally and professionally.

He shares about his incredible growth journey from a marketing graduate to seeking investors to purchase his thriving agency, 4Ps Marketing. He reveals the unforgiving process of selling his agency as he reflects on the lengthy transition process. Key highlights include:

· The challenges of running an agency

· The culture shock that results from times of huge transformation

· The relentless transition period that preceded the sale

· How change can create uncertainty and discomfort

Chris then discusses how the process impacted him personally. He touches on how scrutinising questions can lead to self-doubt, revealing the candid reality of selling for entrepreneurs at the start of the process and the emptiness that is left behind when the euphoria subsides.

Driven by a passion to tackle the corporate ‘monsters,’ Chris explains why he launched The Happiness Index to improve society. The conversation is embedded with fantastic learnings around:

· How to actively create a culture that prioritises wellbeing;

· The importance of resetting for creativity;

· Simple steps to avoid burning out;

· How a people-centric approach helps businesses attract and retain the best talent;

· Adapting to your people

Chris also recognises that establishing a thriving cultureis a journey and why you should spend time getting your leadership team onboard. He elaborates on how the ‘freedom to be human’ can empower employees to be themselves and offers some poignant advice for those feeling the pressure of stress.

Listeners will finish by reflecting on their own work-life balance and be reminded that “unless you stop – you will break”.

Professional actor, Jim Murray, has had a successful career as a professional actor – accumulating an eclectic portfolio of roles across the globe in the last 20 years – famously starring in the BAFTA-nominated series Primeval for ITV. In his time off-camera, Jim and his wife, Sarah Parish, also run a charity [The Murray Parish Trust] that supports children's emergency services by raising money and awareness to enable pioneering research and provide life-saving equipment.

Jim joined our Founder and Director, Leon Milns, to share how he overcame the odds to break into a saturated market. Fuelled by an ongoing passion for his vocation and ardent love for his family, Jim provided a heart-on-sleeve account of persevering through the tragedy of losing a child and how it affected his outlook.

The heart-wrenching beginning undoubtedly demonstrates Jim’s remarkable determination to channel adversity into a positive and character-strengthening experience and powerful legacy. The poignant takeaway will leave listeners moved to seek the good in every situation and take a moment to reflect in gratitude on their situation.

Newly equipped with insightful questioning and tools to help reframe your mindset, Jim revealed how the influence of adversity, shifting cultures and self-actualising can assist in harbouring a productive environment. He also shares his advice for others going through a difficult time and how to navigate your way through a sea of opinions.

Dan Forth has an impressive CV and has progressed rapidly in his HR career.  At just 30 years old he became HR Director at Pilot Group, an international electronics and technology business with North West roots.

Dan joined our head of HR, Vanessa Jackson, to share his story and tell us how he's risen up the ranks so quickly.  Dan explained how he's navigated his career, explored some of the challenges he's overcome so far, and shared what it's like to be someone so young in such a senior position.

He also gave his thoughts on some of the biggest challenges businesses face when it comes to people management.  He covered topics such as engagement strategy, onboarding staff, and employee retention, and provided advice to HR leaders on what they need to focus on as we move into a new year. He also gave his advice to HR professionals on the key areas they need to develop to progress in their careers, particularly if they are looking to move into an HR Director role.

Holly Moore is Managing Director of Make Events. Holly joined us a week after receiving the WOMANC award at this year’s Talk of Manchester business awards. She shared her story of how she’s grown the business from scratch over seven years, built a talented team of event planning consultants and creative professionals and scaled the business rapidly. Tune in to hear Holly explore a range of subjects including:

· Why Oprah Winfrey and Tony Robins are her inspirations

· The importance of focussing on profit when growing a business

· Why employee engagement has been key to the success of the business

· How to stand out in a crowded market place and leverage your network

· Dealing with mental health and stress

Formerly a Head of Customer Service at AXA, Derek has over twenty years’ experience of directly leading people and delivering business results in high volume and complex environments. As experts on culture change, leadership and human behaviour change, Derek and the team work with fast growth SMEs through to multi-nationals to create high-performance cultures where everyone thrives.

He co-authored a book titled ‘Building a Culture of Innovation’ which was in the top 5 management books on innovation in the 2017 CMI Management Book of the Year awards and is also an Amazon bestseller.

In this episode of the #AdamAsks podcast, Derek reveals why human beings are the most complex part of any organisation and why he fundamentally believes competitive advantage and business success can only be delivered by enabling your people to be their best. Derek advises agencies on:

• How to articulate your culture
• Why you need to be clear about your desired outcomes
• How to embed culture within your team
• Nailing the behaviours that underpin your values
• Why you need to engage your people to shape your culture
• The importance of strong relationships between you people, their managers and leaders

Steven Bartlett needs little introduction, but if you need one, his LinkedIn profile describes his inspiring background perfectly:

"Steven is the 27-year-old CEO Founder of Social Chain which uses owned media, marketing and technology to build Social Brands. In the last few years, he has become an award-winning entrepreneur, speaker and investor, and now leads a company of 700+ individuals across 5 countries, who are quickly disrupting the ever-changing social world. Social Chain now operates through six locations: Manchester, London, Berlin, Munich, New York and Bangkok.

Along the way, Steve has amassed a large following online (Almost 2 Million people across Instagram, Facebook, Snap chat, Linkedin and his podcast), due to his informative and inspirational videos covering topics from entrepreneurship, business, social media and marketing. This has lead to a number of profiles in the world's leading publications where he has been dubbed "The most influential individual in Social Media Marketing" and has been voted the "most influential individual in marketing in 2017/18" by 100 agency leaders."

We were honoured to have Steven take time out of his hectic schedule to sit down with Leon for the next episode of #AdamAsks, the day Social Chain officially went public, another landmark step in their business journey.  Steven joined us to tell us about his background, what it's taken to grow Social Chain in such as short time, his thoughts on education, the future of marketing and why he puts his and Social Chains success down to focussing on more than just money.

Mentor and consultant Robert Craven has helped more than 1,000 companies to revolutionise the way they work. An international keynote speaker and business coach, Robert heads up the team at The Directors’ Centre. He has written over ten books on business strategy and specialises in helping Digital Agency owners grow their businesses.

Robert joined us to share his experience and advice to agencies looking to drive real growth in their agencies.  He reveals numers pearls of wisdom on topics such as profitability, building a culture of excellence and how the agency market is changing.

EJ Flynn is Managing Director of the Supper Club, an organisation for high growth entrepreneurs post-startup with typical turnovers from £1m £250m.  She works with business owners at all stages of their business journey.  From those running their first business and just reached the £1m turnover mark to those with private equity-backed £40m plus turnover businesses and everything in between. 

EJ joined us to tell us about the challenges many of The Supper Club's members face and shares insight into what some of the highest performing businesses are doing differently.  In this fascinating discussion with Adam Founder, Leon Milns, EJ shares the importance of having a solid 'vision' and a plan on how you're going to achieve it, why culture and values are imperative to profitable growth and what business leaders can learn from the new generation of superstars. She also reveals how the best performing business leaders are continually improving their leadership skills, how they are building high-performance leadership teams and the importance of systemising.

John Shinnick is a Portfolio Non-Exec Director, supporting business owners through coaching, mentoring and advising. A former partner at Grant Thornton for 21 years, John spent his career working with dynamic people to help make their businesses great; 12 years of which also involved leading Grant Thornton locations. 

John holds two Board Adviser roles and also Coach-Mentors 4 or 5 CEO's or Managing Partners at any one time. Current assignments range from FTSE 100 to professional services firms.  Additionally, he's an  NLP Practitioner and a Coach-Mentor qualified under the European Mentoring and Coaching Council. 

With a background like that it's no surprise this podcast was packed full of fascinating conversation.  So much so that we had to split it into two parts.  

In part two John discusses how business leaders can identify a crises in confidence in their teams and help empower them to make decisions.  He also covers topics such as the importance of ethics and values in business, the difference between coaching and mentoring and how to read people's real intentions. Don't miss another inspiring and thought provoking episode of Adam Asks.

John Shinnick is a Portfolio Non-Exec Director, supporting business owners through coaching, mentoring and advising. A former partner at Grant Thornton for 21 years, John spent his career working with dynamic people to help make their businesses great; 12 years of which also involved leading Grant Thornton locations. 

John holds two Board Adviser roles and also Coach-Mentors 4 or 5 CEO's or Managing Partners at any one time. Current assignments range from FTSE 100 to professional services firms.  Additionally, he's an  NLP Practitioner and a Coach-Mentor qualified under the European Mentoring and Coaching Council. 

With a background like that it's no surprise this podcast was packed full of fascinating conversation.  So much so that we had to split it into two parts.  

In part one John discusses his background, his "sniff test" and how he helps business owners progress both personally and professionally by helping them free up head space to tackle transformative projects in their businesses.

Matt Farrar is a serial entrepreneur, advisor and NED with vast experience in the tech industry. Having grown and sold Product and Service Design Agency: Great Fridays for a eight figure sum in October 2014, Matt joined EPAM systems as Vice President of Service Design. 

Three years later he took stock of his professional purpose after a traumatic 12 months caring for his son who suffers with Type 1 Diabetes. This experience inspired a change of course in his career.

Matt joined us to tell us about his journey, the ups and downs of agency ownership and how his new start-up, LovedBy could provide the answer to helping those suffering with the disease.

Acclaimed BBC Presenter and host of the chart-topping podcast, You, Me and The Big C, Rachael Bland, sadly passed away in 2018. Her husband, journalist Steve Bland has become an authentic and honest voice for those suffering with grief and has followed in her footsteps by joining the multi award winning podcast team. He’s also run a marathon, raised thousands of pounds for charity and become a founding member of Cancer Research Initiative, Manchester Beats Cancer. We’re honoured to share this touching podcast where Steve told us about how life has changed since losing Rachael, how it’s changed his perspective on what’s important and advice for others going through a time of loss.

Ruth Naylor, was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2017 and doctors were unsure if she would survive.  She documented the following year of treatment daily through instagram to help others dealing with the disease, growing over 20k followers. Ruth took the time to share her inspirational journey with us, how her life has changed since she was given the all clear earlier this year and what her new role as Chair of Cancer Research Initiative, Manchester Beats Cancer, has in store.

Martin Murphy is a former special forces soldier, international adviser and coach to leaders and teams. He’s also a speaker and author with vast experience in forming and leading high performing teams, both in the special forces and in the commercial sector where he trained special project teams worldwide to effectively combat terrorism and narcotics smuggling. Martin joined us to discuss the key challenges faced by his clients, leaders of fast growth businesses, and give us an insight into his new book 'From Mercenaries to Missionaries'.