A New Chapter Begins
Yesterday marked my final day at Mad Monkey. Surprised? You’re not alone. Given the company’s remarkable journey over the past 13 years, it’s understandable if you think I am mad. But every good thing comes to an end.
Next week, I’ll spill the beans on exactly why I left and what exciting adventures lie ahead.
But first, please let me share some learning from the wild ride of building a multinational business from scratch, I don’t want to blow my own trumpet, as you can imagine after 13 years its as much as a cathartic review as anything else.
Mad Monkey is a team, I was just the first dancer to hit the dance the floor.
More on that later.
The Power of Purpose - My Lesson In Leadership
Every successful journey starts with a compelling “why.” For us, it was like the secret sauce that made everything click. It’s what kept us going, even when the going got tough—like really tough, ‘did we accidentally sign up for a marathon instead of a sprint?’ type of tough.
We existed to serve the people in our communities, provide opportunity for our team and a great experience for our customers.
Your Why is your everything, it’s your mantra, your rallying call, your purpose.
It is why you get up at 3am in the morning, and why people should invest their time or money in your business.
Leadership Is Generally A Lonely And Thankless Path
Leadership is not for the faint-hearted. It may just be harder than juggling flaming torches while riding a unicycle on a tightrope. It’s a lonely, hard, and often thankless journey. If you crave constant cuddles for your leadership, consider a trip to your local animal rescue and adopt a golden retriever instead.
Leadership means you’re always under the microscope, always on call and accountable for everything. Well, almost everything. You can’t control the weather, but you are expected to be prepared and holding the umbrella.
If you are in leadership, I salute you - If you are struggling, don’t worry that is normal, especially at the start there is help available from others, put good and more experienced people around you that can mentor you from outside of your organisation.
See Potential in People And Help Them Realise It
Building a successful team means seeing the potential in everyone, like a talent scout with x-ray super vision. Genuinely care about your team and give feedback—even if it makes you squirm. Just remember, it’s like medicine: hard to swallow but good for people and as a leader it’s your job to act in your teams best interest always. Transparent feedback is critical but always frame it positively. Easier said than done, of course. As a leader you may need to fire people. Only do it when it’s really required. Hire and fire cultures suck.
Lead with empathy, nurture potential - Listen to people - it is your job to find their potential and help them achieve it.
More Than Just Money
Think of your business as a cake. Money is just one ingredient—like sugar. You need a balance of ingredients: love, commitment, understanding, and a dash of determination. Focusing solely on money is like eating spoonfuls of sugar: sweet at first, but ultimately unhealthy, addictive and will lead to a speedy demise. You need all the right ingredients for a delicious cake everyone can enjoy. Trust me, nobody wants a cake made entirely of sugar. Unless they’re a dentist looking for new clients.
Run your business, always keep a eye on your cashflow, gearing, margins and costs - but make it about more than just money.
Humans Over Resources
People aren’t just resources; they’re stakeholders in your vision. Treat your team as investors who expect both financial, educational and emotional returns. Engage and invest in your team, and you’ll see the dividends in retention and productivity. Humans aren’t disposable lines on a spreadsheet—they’re your best assets and the communicators of your why.
The Sweetness of Giving Back
When you have a sweet cake, share it with your community. Mad Monkey was, and still is involved in countless charitable activities, from supporting education for underprivileged children to clean water projects. During COVID, we cleared out our food stocks and gave them to our team. These small acts of human consideration built immense goodwill and trust in our team and our mission. Plus, it’s just good karma. Who doesn’t love good karma?
Karma Chameleons? If every day is like survival, you should be a lover, not their rival.
Resilience, Robustness, Toughness
Try, Try, and Try Again In 2010, my second business attempt in the Middle East was, well, a semi-disaster thanks to an unexpected market crash. I done goofed - it went wrong. I will admit freely I was a terribly inexperienced leader.
But you pick yourself up, dust yourself off, fix it and try again. Success often comes after multiple attempts. Keep trying, learning, and improving. Don’t let failures knock you down—they’re just plot twists in your epic success story and ultimately they will be your most effective and important education tool in leadership.
Embrace Your Own Mortality
Running a business in the developing world brings a stark reminder of mortality. People drop dead for all sorts of terrible reasons. Accepting this fact can focus your mind, lessen your ego, and improve performance. Life is a ride—make sure to enjoy it. Steer your own path, and remember, nobody gets out alive anyway. So, might as well make it a fun ride.
Respect the Rules - Compliance Is Crucial.
In developing countries, rules change faster than fashion trends. I learned this the hard way in the Middle East when I spent a few days in jail for naive mistakes with post-dated cheques. Luckily I had good people around me and resolved the issue before it became a problem. But plenty of people end up in the slammer for reasons that would be unimaginable in your home country.
We vehemently refused to give PDC’s in Asia having learned from that previous experience.
Incarceration of any shape or form is not fun. Avoid it by understanding and respecting the laws of your jurisdiction. Trust me, the food is terrible and showering takes a new and exciting dimension you may wish to avoid.
Respect the rules.
Maintain Personal Credibility
As a leader, your team looks up to you to make the right decisions. You can’t please everyone all the time, but you can build trust through transparency and honesty.
You need to uphold power in your conviction, whilst be prepared to be wrong and look stupid for it. People thought I was batsh*t bonkers when we sent “warnings of a Force Majeure event” to our lessors just as COVID broke in China.
This wasn’t any clairvoyant insight on my behalf, I spent 15 years working in decision support and root cause analysis, I had been trained how to spot these types of events by good people that had invested in me and my training when I was an employee.
Our business benefited because someone invested in me as a young lad. When you invest in your teams education, you pay it forward.
Explain your tough decisions and communicate openly, explain that you may be wrong, communicate your thinking, ask your team if they think you are wrong. You might be. Remember, mushroom management— keeping people in the dark and feeding them crap—doesn’t work.
Trust relationships are built on transparency and shared conviction.
Anyone Can Be a Leader
Leaders aren’t born; they’re forged through experience. Whether you’re from a disadvantaged background or born with a silver spoon, everyone has the potential to lead. It’s a challenging path but incredibly rewarding. It is the path less travelled to the top of a mountain. Sometimes the view from the top is worth the slog. Still its not for everyone.
Lead with Joy
Leadership is often misunderstood. This video sums it up beautifully. It’s more complex than this, but if you’re new to leadership, use this as a starting point. And remember, a little dance break never hurt anyone.
What’s Next for Me
I’m now focusing on consulting and finding my next big project. Something impactful and meaningful. Follow my journey to see my next dance.
I am completing my International MBA at the age of 50 and have taken some executive education with both Yale and Oxford Online and GetSmarter, I should get the results soon.
Not bad for a kid from a council house, thanks to the great leaders and people that believed and invested in me.
I am now advising some amazing teams to help them achieve some truly great and impactful things:
Afirai are helping small businesses get a seat at the table of Africa’s 56bn E-commerce market, and have an amazing GEO/AI product and indomitable drive that convinces me they will be a big player and are destined for greatness.
Eblana Capital Partners - Advisory on a 200M Capital fund for hospitality assets in Europe.
Not a bad gardening leave ;-)
The world urgently needs good leaders that care about people.
Thanks for reading. More from me later in the week.
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