Six months in as Co-CEO
It’s been a hectic, full-on, incredible six months since I joined UK for Good alongside Donna as Co-CEO. It’s flashed by in a whirl, and I thought it was about time I said hi – and shared my thoughts on how it’s been going and what I’ve been up to.
First: It’s been a steep learning curve
Joining any new business brings an element of ‘wow this is full-on’ – and taking on a big new challenge alongside running my existing business (AG Comms) has certainly brought that to life. It’s meant I’ve had to get better, and quickly, at:
prioritising
delegating and strengthening my boundaries around what I will and won’t take on (mainly to protect myself from myself!)
learning when I need help. This was a huge realisation and one I needed to act on quickly, so I found both a leadership coach and an assistant to support me in my juggling act. Funnily enough, both these amazing women are called Linda – and both have been the saviour of my sanity more than once!
It’s exciting and there are so many opportunities. I have this sense of optimism that anything is possible, and it can be hard to switch off at the end of each day because everything is so engaging and inspiring. I do sometimes mix up the names of the businesses and that gets a little challenging for my colleagues – but I’m getting there now. Having clear working days for each business really helps, because at the start I didn’t, and that was confusing for everyone who works with me.
There’s a lot of balls to juggle
Delivering impact programmes, meeting new clients, learning the business and developing our new ‘Impact on Board’ offering (stay tuned!) has kept me super busy. While Donna and I quickly carved out our roles to match our areas of expertise and motivation – we are still also learning each other's skills and strengths as we go. It really helps that we can be accountable to each other in a safe and supported way, and that we can laugh at ourselves is a huge bonus.
The highs and lows of being a Co-CEO
I can only speak for myself when I say that for someone who’s built up her original business from scratch over 15 amazing years, being a co-CEO has taken some getting used to – and I mean that in a good way!
Both of us knew we would have to work hard to get the best out of our ‘new’ relationship, so in our first week working together we agreed a ‘care label’. It’s like the label you get on delicate clothes, to help you protect and care for them.
We agreed some key behaviours and actions to support each other along the journey of learning to co-lead together. These include tracking our time at work, having breaks, holding walking meetings to get away from our screens, prioritising our families/dogs/friends/colleagues and the big one – trusting our gut instincts.
Here are my honest views after six months of holding a joint female leadership role:
The highs:
Always having a co-thinker
Building on each other’s ideas and strengths
Support when you’re having a wobble (everyone has them!)
Having a mentor on tap
Being courageous is easier when there are two of you
Celebrating the small wins and being super proud of your Co-CEO
Having aligned values and a sense of purpose
The lows:
Not always getting enough face-to-face time together (once per week is ideal but not always achievable)
Assuming you’re both understanding and interpreting the same thing in the same way (we have different lived experiences)
Increased workload because you’re both ambitious and want to make more impact
You really miss it when the other one is on holiday!
So, what’s next?
As I said at the start of this blog: it’s been a hectic six months! I’m energised and proud when I think of what we’ve already achieved, and now I’m turning my attention to what comes next. And I’m raring to go and get on with it!
In the coming six months I’ll be focusing on onboarding our Impact Consultants and scaling up our Impact on Board offering, while Donna focuses on our partnerships with universities, councils and thought leaders.
We will both continue to deliver on our client projects, and we’ll be there to help Laura – our Membership Manager – develop our member experience as we learn from each other and increase our impact.
Our next Leadership for Good programme kicks off on the 16 April and our B Corp for Small Business cohort starts on 7 May.
And that’s it for now! All that’s left to say is thanks – to everyone who’s helped me along the way – for a great first six months. Bring on the rest of 2024 and let’s aim to throw in some calm and balance, to go with all that excitement and energy!
Co-CEO UK for Good
Image: Donna and I celebrating after signing the legal papers making me 50% owner and Co-CEO of UK for Good. The bags were a gift I gave to us both from the ethical B Corp Elvis & Kresse, who donate 50% of profits to charity and use products that would otherwise go to landfill.