The Raikes Journal were guests at our annual Alumni Showcase Masterclass last month, with journalist and founder, Andrew Merrell, kindly sharing his write-up on it as a guest on our blog.

 

Raikes gets an invite to the inner sanctum of a group of Gloucestershire firms adopting a different approach to business and finds companies delivering for people and the planet as well as profit too. 

Two businesses on course to double turnover respectively, a new CEO for a county manufacturing legend, benefits of being purpose-led and how culture and AI have been harnessed as powerful forces for growth. 

These were the headline-grabbing lines from an end-of-year conference-come-masterclass Raikes was invited to that revealed an eclectic family of firms forging a powerful economic and social catalyst for change - right here in the county. 

This was a glimpse into the inner sanctum of that community, forged by those embracing the leadership development programmes delivered by Gloucester-based B Corp certified business QuoLux. 

It was an end-of-year Alumni Showcase of the impact its imparted learning is having. But it seemed more than that. 

So much so that I picked the phone up to Professor Stephen Kempster of Lancaster University Management School, an associate of QuoLux who has helped develop some of its key ideas around leadership, including its LEAD™ programme. 

Some of the business leaders in the room, I said, had jokingly said they were part of a ‘movement’, to which he laughed. 

“I think we have been travelling for the last 200 years on a journey as mapped out by Adam Smith; one of self-interest,” said Kempster. 

Smith being the 18th-century economist whose key principle still taught today is that the best business is driven by self-interest, and that approach is ultimately good for us all. 

“I think some time ago we reached a fork in the road where there is the traditional path (Smith’s) and another path which asked ‘what is the real purpose of a business – is it simply to accumulate profit?' 

“Can it not be an enabler of other things? Profit is necessary, but is it sufficient?” said Kempster, who is a professor of leadership. 

“This alternative pathway has various labels – regenerative, interwoven, connected, emerging, flourishing - but they are all about a more enlightened idea of self-interest. 

“They are about partnerships with customers, with suppliers, with communities and staff, and about interdependency. They’re about being part of bigger ecosystems. 

“The idea is, that if we can nourish those ecosystems it is good for everyone and still good for the bottom line and for shareholders.” 

Those positive impacts are what he and QuoLux call ‘Good Dividends’ - real, positive payback or incentives to see the bigger picture. 

The core idea being that if a business can develop six areas of value (people, innovation, operations, finance/profit, reputation/brand and planet/community) a circle of value is created and those dividends are realised.  

And these are what make a business, in their words, ‘purposeful’. 

The QuoLux Alumni Showcase was not for public consumption. It was leaders from different businesses sharing openly, not sales pitches, but how they had put into practice the learning they all now shared. 

Here, right before our eyes, was one of those ecosystems Kempster mentioned - an 80-plus cohort, but just the tip of a growing iceberg of what now exists here in Gloucestershire. 

 

The Alumni guests at the Showcase Masterclass

 

 

Dr Stewart Barnes, who founded QuoLux in 2011 and is its chief executive officer, said, “We now have 24 LEAD™ cohorts, 12 GOLD™, seven GAIN™, 10 LEADlight, and more than 1,000 learners. 

“I am amazed at the reach we have. This year, we’ve supported more than 562 people and worked with more than 64 companies and continue to grow.” 

LEAD™, GOLD™, GAIN™ and LEADlight are the development programmes for everyone from aspiring and current middle and senior managers to senior leaders wishing to attain a full-blown MBA. 

The achievements of the growing cohorts are already being hoovered up as case studies for business books dedicated to productivity, not least by some of the expert lecturers from the likes of Cranfield School of Management who speak on some of the QuoLux programmes. 

“In Gloucestershire, and extending from Gloucestershire, it is becoming an eco-system. It is building into relationships that are more than profit. 

“Some of the individual businesses' stories will contain their work with charities, with community groups and the impact that is having,” said Professor Kempster. 

“What you were probably beginning to see in that room (the QuoLux Alumni Showcase) was what may occur as a result of that ecosystem. 

“If you imagine a 10-fold increase in businesses taking that other path, think of the shared learning and number of charities and communities that will start to benefit. 

“The collective business and social value will be staggering.” 

Similar ideas putting businesses at the forefront were also working in the same direction, he said – quoting B Corp, Doughnut Economics Action Lab and Wellbeing Economy. 

The latter is already influencing policy in Scotland and Wales where it had been adopted by Government there. Could it really spread further? 

Kempster has pointed out elsewhere that the European Union legislation (EU Climate Law, 2021) with regard to the ‘Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive’ (CSRD) is currently nudging EU economies towards requiring all businesses to obtain a proxy licence to operate. 

And that legislation pending in the United Kingdom will require all central and local government activities, including the National Health Service, to pursue the realisation of social value in procurement contracts (Public Services (Social Value) Act, 2013). 

“Nevertheless, while this ‘other way’ is growing in popularity, it is still somewhat unclear,” said Kempster. 

“People are still working out best practice and they are having to collaborate to do that. It is a dynamic ecosystem that is finding its way. 

“That is probably also some of what you were seeing happen in the room (QuoLux’s event).” 

There was a reason the event at Delta Marriott Hotel in Brockworth was not public. When you stand before your peers – leaders sharing insights with leaders - there is nowhere to hide. And humble becomes the norm. 

“The whole process of approaching business this way cultivates curiosity and that feeds a hunger for more knowledge and a desire to keep learning and developing. It can be very powerful,” said Kempster. 

Eight keynote speakers led the day-long event, explaining how they had taken the lessons and tools from their respective QuoLux programmes to deliver a culture that embraced change through a focus on purpose, people, planet, productivity and profit. 

First speaker of the day was Adam Padmore of Rappor, who relayed how his business was founded - out of a desire to deliver for clients - and how it had thrived early on despite no real business strategy or plan. 

“Right from the beginning I took pride in it being about delivering for the client and enjoying work, and believed that was all that was needed for success,” said Padmore, who went on to explain that as the firm grew he quickly realised he needed to find a way to lay down foundations that would allow Rappor to fulfil its potential and harness its winning values. 

He found that in QuoLux. 

“We predominantly work for developers looking to submit planning applications. Our role is to identify and understand all the pertinent environmental constraints around development and then to mitigate them and make sure the clients’ development achieves its goals, to make sure the outcomes are good, and to make sure councils are achieving all targets too.” 

Today Rappor is Investor in People Wellbeing Gold accredited, hoping to secure its platinum accreditation shortly, has more than 70 staff across six offices and is a business he is immensely proud of. 

“Twenty-six members of the team are now on QuoLux programmes. I am a big believer in the importance of leadership, and I continue to challenge myself to be better at it always,” he said. 

 

Adam Padmore, Managing Director, Rappor

 

Growth and the culture that helps drive that change were also at the core of the talk by Andy Barham of Premiere Kitchens, who was not alone in reflecting on the talent and CVs of those in the room. 

“I feel like I am playing football in front of David Beckham,” said Barham, jokingly. 

Premiere Kitchens, he explained, was part of the Markey Group of companies and another business which had bought in wholly to the QuoLux programmes to deliver its leadership development. 

Currently, he said, the Premiere Kitchens had 17 staff on QuoLux’s programmes, he had just completed the GAIN™ programme and was now looking towards doing his MBA – where QuoLux has partnered with the University of Gloucestershire. 

For a man who admitted that school was not somewhere he had excelled, his enthusiasm for learning had become infectious. 

And it was not just how the culture within the £22 million turnover Hardwicke firm had been transformed as a result of what he had learned and applied, it was how the impact on its 150 staff in the giant warehouse workspace had exceeded his expectations. 

Following the challenges of the pandemic, the brave decision was to push on and build for the future to a point at which today they make 18,000 kitchens a year. 

There was lots of talk again of the ‘four Ps’ that contribute to those Good Dividends mentioned earlier - planet, people, productivity and profit. 

Barham had remodeled and distilled into a DNA blueprint for a culture that had engaged and invigorated staff and given fresh purpose to their roles. 

Another ‘P’ that was evident to all watching was passion. One businessperson afterwards nodded towards Barham, declaring ‘I think I want to go and work for him’. 

“Our next goal is to significantly grow revenue again by 2030. The market is there. The only thing that will stop it is our ambition,” said Barham. 

 

Andy Barham, Managing Director, Premiere Kitchens

 

Mark Stewart, of Stewart Golf, took the room on a deep dive into how his MBA had explored the potential to embrace artificial intelligence and how it had applied that to his business. 

Stewart Golf, he said, started with a single idea – to make beautiful, performance-focused remote control golf club-carrying trollies. It was an idea he was told would be ‘too costly to ever work’. 

“Today we are a business with a £6.5 million turnover and 33 staff,” he said. 

Its products are manufactured here in Gloucester and that ‘Made in Britain’ branding helped give unique appeal for overseas buyers. 

“Around half of our revenue now comes from the States (USA),” explained Stewart. 

Using tools and modelling ideas introduced to him through his time with QuoLux and on his MBA, not least Gartner’s Hype Cycle, he explained his thinking around AI - and how he suspected it could be used to help make Stewart Golf even more productive. 

With a majority of initial questions from customers being near identical, Stewart had been able to develop AI to respond to 70 per cent of those enquiries via ZenDesk (an artificial intelligence chatbot) in ‘the right tone’ to deliver a speedy early response for his customers. 

The impact, he said, was not cost savings through redundancies but time for staff to focus on delivering quality and a human response as customer questions became more complicated further down the line of inquiry. 

Ultimately, said Stewart, from a start point that included concern over job security, the outcome had been to make the roles more interesting, and they had helped deliver that Holy Grail - greater productivity. 

 

Mark Stewart, CEO, Stewart Golf

 

If it was numbers those in the room were after the headline fourth speaker had it all. 

Dan Hodgson, Chief Commercial Officer of Prima Dental, is another graduate of QuoLux’s programmes and the related MBA – where his focus was innovation. Dan shared how he has been bringing all the tools, models, and his learning from the past eight years together.  

It is a learning journey that has allowed him to develop his own skills to make the next big leap in his career early in 2025. “Dan will become CEO of Prima Dental in the New Year,” said Barnes, by way of introduction. 

Innovation has been central to the success of the business and a key factor in last year’s major contract win worth £35 million over the next five years,” said Hodgson. 

Building on the foundation of their values with the four Pillars of Partners, Productivity, Process and People, Dan showed how they use these to drive innovation and growth across the organisation. A focus on innovation and how that can impact productivity, improve communication and knowledge share, is at the heart of the journey for the incoming CEO. He believes the change he is helping drive has the potential to transform the business even further in his drive for the constant pursuit of better. 

 

Dan Hodgson, CEO, Prima Dental

 

It was a day rounded off with no little drama and plenty of insight as Barnes brought together two teams from its GAIN™ programme that had been parachuted into two businesses from its wider family to conduct critical analysis of just how ‘purposeful’ they really are. 

Victoria Petkovic-Short of APT Marketing and PR, and Kirsty Day from The Nelson Trust came face-to-face with the owners of Optimising IT, Gary Smith, and Amy Hough from Workplace Interiors for the first time since the pressure test. 

Barnes teased out of each team’s representative just how challenging the process has been, but also the value all had gained from a collaborative process that had tested their new-found skills. 

“The hardest part in all the learning anyone takes on board,” said Barnes, “was in breaking the cycle which sees you simply ‘do, review, plan and repeat’. The key was to do something new until you get those better results.” 

 

Gary Smith, Optimising IT; Amy Hough, Workplace Interiors Co; Victoria Petkovic-Short, APT Marketing & PR; Kirsty Day, The Nelson Trust; and Stewart Barnes, QuoLux

 

As much as the growth numbers grabbed the attention in the room, it was the lessons and insight that were hoovered up most – how others had taken the same learning and adapted it to their own companies, the wins and the insights. 

In a world now familiar with B Corp and QuoLux’s adoption of the Good Dividends concept – which sees purpose-led businesses as ones that deliver not just profit but for the planet too – there was one common thread front and centre through everyone’s narrative – that other P, people. 

The achievements outlined above, said Barnes, were not going unnoticed as he revealed the latest publications to use their real-life examples to prove the potential impact of the theories and strategies – from Global Climate Change, by Professor Malcolm Prowle, Marketing Plans: Profitable Strategies in the Digital Age, by Malcolm McDonald, Hugh Wilson (both from the Cranfield School of Management) & Dave Chaffey, and its own Positive Impact Report for the year gone. 

“We also have two books of our own coming out in 2025 and a case study with Stewart Golf in one of the world’s leading books on Innovation Management.” 

 

If you would like to arrange a meeting with QuoLux to share your development plans and hear more about their leadership and business strategy programmes, please contact us here.

To read more about Good Dividends, creating Good Growth and being a purposeful leader, please click here.

 

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