The secret to our growth and client retention? The people and our ability to articulate how the disciplines we specialise in — brand, marketing and communications — influence and achieve commercial outcomes.
But back to the people part.
Everyone tells you that the people thing is one of the hardest parts of business. Finding them, keeping them, creating an environment where they can do their best work, and somehow getting the right mix of confidence, execution, passion, perspective and values around one table.
It’s true, which is why this team is, without question, one of our biggest achievements.
As we celebrate acre’s third birthday today, one of the biggest lessons, and blessings, of the last 12 months has been understanding the value of good people.
There is a mutual respect that comes with good people. Better work, bigger opportunities, more confidence, more fun, and momentum that compounds.
It has also been fascinating to experience just how varied the standards of attitude, relationships and communication can be in business. Consultancy can put you in a particularly interesting position here, and I think it has given me more confidence than ever that emotional intelligence might be one of the most undervalued skill sets in business leadership (groundbreaking).
We can jump from a call with the executives of an ASX-listed company, or the leaders of some of Australia’s largest and most influential private businesses, where the relationship feels almost like a friendship and has been built on years of mutual trust and respect, straight into another room where you suddenly feel like you need to defend your reputation, expertise and approach. The whiplash is real.
And it has taught me that the size, success or profile of a business is not necessarily correlated with the calibre of the person sitting across the table. And the person sitting across the table, truly will dictate the potential and success of your engagement.
Three years of acre, and the people bit is the best thing by far.
