A Year in the Life
By Phil Bettley
“So you’re Vidal Sassoon” my prospective client greeted me with as I arrived at his office. Seeing my puzzled expression he explained. “Surely you’re old enough to remember the ads.” Thanks! “If you look good, I look good,” he reminded me. “I’ll remember that,” I thought to myself. My reputation had clearly gone before me.
Earlier in the year I’d been supporting a senior executive through the inaugural conference of his top 150. The stakes were high. It had been a fruitful three days and towards the end I asked him how he was feeling. He poured his heart out about the success of the event; the strong outputs, the team feeling that had been generated and the sense of purpose and commitment everyone was going away with. “It’s surpassed even my wildest dreams” he said. “Now, let’s agree those closing slides.” I thought for a moment. We were about to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory! “Jacques” I said, “why don’t you just speak to your people at the close with the same passion as you just spoke to me? That’s worth much more than a thousand slides.” And that’s exactly what he did and received a rapturous ovation.
This is what supporting key stakeholders at high impact events is all about. Having the insight, the confidence and the relationship with business leaders to suggest, advise and coach them to try new things.
I have had the privilege of working with three or four truly inspirational leaders in the past twelve months. One constantly reminds his people of the ground rules about work/life balance. Another draws an analogy with Henry V: “We’re not all born great leaders,” she says, “but if we try, we can learn.” One other leader had the audacity to fight a dual with the former Dutch fencing champion after only a few days of tuition, just to prove what could be achieved if you put your mind to it.
Events and conferences are the only real occasion when a leader is seen and heard by all his or her people at the same time. It should be unthinkable for such an event to be boring, dull or viewed as a waste of time or money. The most rewarding part of my job is designing and delivering high impact, memorable events with strong outputs and a deep sense of commitment, full of energy, surprise, creativity, stimulation, hard work and high emotions. And doing this through co-creation with my friends within the client company and my friends back at Quest.
Trust is the key. The whole team needs to be on the same wavelength and must have the openness and courage to go for those seemingly crazy ideas that you know instinctively will work. Or, conversely, to be wise enough to stop the unworkable ideas before they go too far.
By applying these principles I have in the last 12 months witnessed event participants swarming over the city of Amsterdam to visit their customers to gain amazing insights; a group of 130 people learning to fence and to feel the excitement and thrill of getting good at something you feel passionate about; senior managers redesign strategic thrusts then write home with the news to the CEO on giant postcards; delegates see their opinions taken into account with real time polling of topical issues; participants putting together symbolically a giant jigsaw of the groundrules from pieces spread over 20 square kilometres.
Best of all was the time when I returned the night before a large event from an extended visit abroad, to find that the team had fully and flawlessly executed the design I had put in place before my departure.
The most amazing thing about these events is that every one is different. They are custom-built for the client and for the situation. They can be held anywhere in the world for any business in any sector and invariably involve a rich diversity of cultures and personalities. The key is to design an event that is challenging yet not threatening, that stimulates but doesn’t overwhelm, that is hard work but fun. Above all, we are looking for actionable results and a group of people going home tired but happy.
I may not be Vidal Sassoon but together with my team we certainly aim to make our clients look good. And the reward is seeing the success and growth of not just the leader but of all the people who work for her or him. It’s a great privilege to be trusted to deliver such a demanding remit and as one client put it to me recently, “Whenever I have something challenging to do, I think of you.” What more could you ask for?