Law Firm Finds Its True North

In business, you get the behaviours you reward, says Nik White, Managing Partner at Brabners, a leading UK independent law firm. That’s why the firm has built its values into the criteria for promotion and reward.

Making the firm’s purpose and values explicit has helped Brabners recruit the right people and manage the dynamics in the partner group. The effort has also helped maintain the unique Brabners culture as the firm grows.

In this episode of The Purposeful Strategist, Nik discusses the firm's commitment to community engagement, the significance of B Corp certification, and the need for authenticity in purpose and strategy.

Listen to the conversation, and let us know what you think in the comments.  

Nik White

Building Trust in Health Research

The Health Research Authority (HSA) was established in 2011 with the core purpose of protecting and promoting the interests of patients and the public in health and social care research. For the past three years the HSA has focused on accelerating the research approval process, and ensuring the right level of diversity and inclusion in clinical trials. As the authority begins to develop its next three-year strategy, we asked Chief Executive Matt Westmore about progress to date, and what the UK needs to do to maintain its competitive position as a research powerhouse.

Our discussion covers the significant advances in health research during the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of public trust in the research process, and how the National Health Service gives the UK a competitive advantage in attracting research projects from around the world.

Listen to the conversation on the latest episode of The Purposeful Strategist.

Matt Westmore

Engagement Clarifies Purpose

Between transmission and receipt, a lot can get lost or distorted in a leader’s communications. This can lead to big differences in what employees perceive and what leaders intend. The only way to know is to engage.

That’s why Graham North, Chief Executive Officer at Anstey Horne, has made employee engagement one of the key themes of his leadership, and used it to help articulate the firm’s purpose. Graham is an expert advisor on specialist property issues and a seasoned business leader.  He has been responsible for creating a renewed energy and growth at Anstey Horne, while developing a leadership cadre to drive continued growth. 

Anstey Horne is the leading authority in specialist surveying services including Rights of Light, Party Walls, Neighbourly matters, Building Surveying, Project Management, Cost Consultancy and Fire Consultancy. It traces its London roots back to 1795. The business now employs about 120 people and operates across the UK.

Listen as Graham describes the firm's evolution, purpose, and strategic objectives on this episode of The Purposeful Strategist.

Graham North

Drones Deliver This Company’s Purpose

Windracers, the UK-based manufacturer of self-flying aircraft and avionics, was founded to help humanitarian agencies get essential supplies to remote communities during emergencies and disasters.

The company’s ULTRA MK2 aircraft, a low cost, self-flying, fixed wing cargo plane, will be used by Aviation Sans Frontieres this year to deliver supplies for humanitarian organisations in Africa. With a payload of over 100kg and a range of 1,000 km, ULTRA has flown reconnaissance and resupply in Ukraine, geological and wildlife surveying in Antarctica, parcel delivery off the Scottish and English coasts, wildfire missions, and dropped medical supplies by parachute. 

Windracers believes that the craft is also ideally placed to help achieve its commercial ambition to be “the best value end-to-end cargo drone solution in the market”.

Group Chief Executive Officer Simon Thompson explains how Windracers balances its humanitarian purpose with its commercial objectives, on this episode of The Purposeful Strategist.

As CEO of Windracers Group, Simon focuses on design, product R&D, fundraising, strategic partnerships and global growth of the company. Simon was CEO of Royal Mail and has held senior leadership roles across multiple industries in global companies such as Apple, Honda, HSBC and Motorola.

Windracers was conceived to provide essential logistical support to humanitarian agencies looking to sustain communities through emergencies where transportation links are poor.  Their solution was designed to provide a robust, cost-effective alternative to expensive, crewed aviation for reaching local and remote villages quickly and effectively.

The Windracers system – aircraft, software and operational services - has emerged at the forefront of uncrewed, autonomous aviation and its application and utility for middle-mile logistics is relevant to a wide range of sectors and situations.

Simon Thompson in front of Ultra MK2

Shared Strategy Encourages Employee Autonomy

A business strategy that’s shared and owned by everyone enables employees to make autonomous decisions. And that can create a new generation of leaders in the business.

So says Mark Cuddigan, CEO of This, the UK plant-based food company on a mission “to force animals into retirement.”  To date, the recipe has helped This to grow to be the fourth largest brand in the UK's plant-based category, since it was founded in 2020. The company now almost 8 % of the chilled meat-free market.

Mark explains what drives this purpose-drive B-Corp, and discusses how collaboration within the industry could help advance the linked causes of animal welfare and environmental protection, in the latest episode of The Purposeful Strategist.

Prior to joining THIS, Mark was CEO at Ella's Kitchen for over 12 years. A passionate advocate for business being a force for good, Mark was on the board of B Lab that charity that runs the B Corporation movement for 5 years. Mark is also a NED of the smoothie company Mockingbird and the IT provider Klyk.

Mark Cuddigan