It was a slightly controversial move when me and Hamish became joint managing partners last year. We were doing the exact thing that we advise our clients not to do!
Having more than one head at the top of the chain can lead to all sorts of power struggles, especially if the individuals have very different values when it comes to their work.
But for us two that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Hamish had always been someone I looked up to – once during a constructive feedback training session one of the things I said to him was that he seems so good at his work he makes me question my own abilities!
That was the first time we realised we were both quite different, but as we started to work together more we started to realise we make quite the team.
When we found out John Warner wanted to take a step back as Managing Partner in 2018, it was a daunting prospect as we knew that wouldn’t be an easy task; those were big shoes to fill.
But once we’d had chance to process the news overnight we both had that same light bulb moment – “how about we do this together?”.
From there on it has just sort of worked. We often laugh as we’ll go into meetings, start discussing something new without any previous planning and both land on exactly the same conclusion.
They say running a business can be very lonely – so having someone to help take the weight off your shoulders and bounce ideas off can be a real help. Having more than one viewpoint allows us to always find the best solution to difficult problems.
We’re both always there for one another, and never feel as though we’re taking the stress that inevitably comes with running a business home as we can share that burden.
And even in today’s unusual times we’re supporting one another – always jumping on a Teams call or sending a text message whenever we need to.
I’m sure to everyone on the outside it all seems very seamless, and although we’ve never had a real falling out that’s not to say we don’t have disagreements from time to time – but we like to see that difference of opinion as a strength.
We have a varied set of skills between us and whilst we always plan our strategies together behind the scenes, we take the lead on different projects, and have each other to fall back on if we ever feel like we’ve hit a roadblock.
I think this role would have been a real challenge on my own, and if you have the opportunity to share running your business with somebody you’re certain is on the same page as you then it’s an easy decision – two brains and two perspectives are far better than one.
