Human Powered: High-performing agency & consultancy teams

How do you create a performance culture whilst maintaining warmth and affection? Ian Finch is founder and CEO of Mando Group, a digital consultancy that makes technology work for everyone. He’s been running the business for 27 years. In this episode, Ian shares how he: Moved away from decision-making led by informal watercooler moments to being highly metric-driven Uses the VMOST framework to casc...

How do you become truly self-aware as a business leader? Nikki Gatenby is a Non-Exec Director, Cognitive Behavioural Coach and bestselling author of 2 books. She has 25 years of agency experience including 10 years running the agency, Propellernet. In this episode, Nikki shares how she: Articulates business visions in a novel way so they’re memorable and easy to understand  Pushes for a culture wh...

How do you achieve rapid growth with a diverse team across 3 continents? Hannah Springett is Founder & CEO of HLabs. She started her no-code creative agency just 4 years ago and has rapidly scaled to a global team of 40 people.  In this episode, Hannah shares how she: Instills a growth mindset within the team so they believe anything is possible Places authenticity at the heart of everything s...

How do you grow to 300 people globally with a laser focus on people and culture? Tamara Littleton is Executive Chair & Founder at Social Element. She started the agency as a remote-first business 22 years ago.  In this episode, Tamara shares how she: Puts attracting and retaining brilliant talent at the top of their flywheel and as their key business objective Used her corporate background to...

How do you set the weather in your business and get everyone to love what they do? Becky Simms is Founder and CEO of the agency group, Human First Collective. 14 years ago she founded her agency, Reflect Digital, which she integrated into the group last year. In this episode, Becky shares how she: Is driven by the mantra, “Find a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life” Has a robust,...

How do you grow while continuously strengthening your culture and developing antibodies to incompatible working styles? Steven Writer-Maguire is Director at the consultancy Clarasys. He joined the firm 8 years ago and has overseen growth from 40 to over 200 people in London and Boston. In this episode, Steven shares how he: Rapidly transitioned away from a traditional hierarchical consultancy mind...

How do you set happiness as your North Star to drive year-on-year growth for 12 years?  Jaye Cowle is Founder at Launch. She started her performance marketing agency 12 years ago. She’s overseen continued growth with a focus on people-powered performance. In this episode, Jaye shares how she: Placed the concept of ‘powered by happiness’ at the core of what they do internally and with clients Uses...

How do you align individual and business goals across an agency group with 120 people? Kate Ross is Managing Director at eight&four Group. She co-founded her agency 14 years ago, sold it to an agency group, and then acquired the group 2 years ago. In this episode, Kate shares how she: Invests heavily in AI to boost morale and reduce fear of the technology Builds high-performing teams by ensuri...

How do you identify your most motivated team members and get them to contribute even more? Tim Cameron-Kitchen is founder at Exposure Ninja. He’s grown his fully remote agency to 80 people in the UK and Philippines over the past 12 years.  In this episode, Tim shares how he: Identifies people ready for more responsibility and pushes them to do more than they think they’re ready for Leans fully tow...

How do you get quality running through every aspect of the business? Chris Ailey is CEO & Founder at Honchō, working with the likes of Sephora, John Lewis and eBay. He started the multi-award-winning agency back in 2008. In this episode, Chris shares how he: Aligns everyone around their BHAG (big hairy audacious goal) to be the best search agency in the world Hires people with the skills and c...

How do you create a business where both extroverts and introverts can thrive? Zsuzsanna Recsey is CEO at the community engagement agency, Standing on Giants. Previously an executive coach, she became CEO 4 years ago and has grown the business from 25 to 60 people. In this episode, Zsuzsanna shares how she: Has embedded a culture of resilience, emotional intelligence and coaching through individual...

How do you set the ethos of your entire business just from its name? Sam Fenton-Elstone is CEO & Co-Founder at Anything is Possible. He’s grown his agency to 65 people in just 6 years, winning almost 40 awards along the way. In this episode, Sam shares how he: Embeds the idea that ‘life is better when anything is possible’ across every aspect of the business  Gets the right balance between hav...

How do you maintain an entrepreneurial spirit in a global marketing agency? Ian Millner is Co-Founder & Global Chair at Iris, a business he started 25 years ago and which he’s helped grow to 1000 people across 17 countries. In this episode, Ian shares how he: Achieved the right balance between enjoying the journey and heading towards a shared destination Brought together the right team with th...

How do you create and maintain a culture to enable happy and high-performing teams? Jane Slimming is Founder and CEO of Zeal. She’s been running the agency for 14 years.  In this episode, Jane shares how she: Defined their values on day #1 and consistently embeds these into everything they do Allows people to progress their careers based on their unique factors of success Is very transparent about...

How do you maintain a high-performing team when growing from zero to 100 people Danny Bluestone is Founder and CEO of Cyber-Duck. He started the agency in 2005 and grew it to 100 people. Last year they were acquired by CACI.  In this episode, Danny shares how he: - Balanced the competing needs of financial performance and the all-important people aspects - Built a culture around adaptability, acco...

How do you get everyone in a large business to be high-performing?  Vanella Jackson was Global CEO of Hall & Partners for 13 years, leading a business with a total revenue of $130m.   In this episode, Vanella shares how she: - Applied a ‘learn, stretch and grow’ ethos to underpin high performance across the business - Made sure people felt valued and supported across 100s of team members - Mai...

Welcome to Human Powered, the new podcast about creating a high-performing agency or consultancy business. In the first episode, our host, Trenton Moss, explains why he's launching the podcast in conjunction with his bestselling book, also called Human Powered.