Octopus

👫 We’re proud to be in the top 10% of B Corps globally! 🌍 Recertifying as a much larger and more complex organisation than when we first became a B Corp was not easy, but it’s definitely worth the effort. We’re over the moon that all our group companies; Octopus Investments, Seccl, Octopus Money, The Aurora-Group, amicable divorce and Octopus Legacy have qualified as B Corps in their own right, giving us an average overall score of 122.7! We still don’t compare to the likes of Patagonia, but we’re getting there 💨 Some key stats: 🏆 Octopus Group now score in the top 10% globally 📈 Our score grew by 45% (38 points, double the recommendation) 💪 Our 'Community' sub-score increased by 85%! Being a B Corp is not just a stamp of approval, it’s a language that helps us communicate our performance. It’s a framework that engages all our stakeholders to ensure we continue to be a business that people can trust and are proud to be associated with. More importantly, it doesn't stop here, as we aim to be in the top 1% the next time we recertify - so let’s go! 🏃♂️➡️🏃♀️➡️🏆 (Of course, it’s not all about the score, but it’s a useful metric that helps us measure our success as we become a more responsible and better business.) For more information or a detailed overview of our score, please visit our official B Corp page, which we've linked in the comments below 👇

People struggle with money. They don’t know where to turn or who to trust. Part of the problem is that if you ask people to think about money and draw what they see, you don’t end up with pound signs or financial projections. People draw the things in life that money allows them to do. It might be about getting married, going on holiday or buying a house.   It’s yet another proof point that the financial services industry doesn’t understand its customers. Companies are so caught up in their own world of complexity and jargon that they’ve not recognised the customer need. Customers want to understand the impact that money – and good financial planning – can have on their life and the world around them.   We need a new breed of financial services business that engages customers on their terms. There’s no better place to start than with the life events that really matter, which is why I’m so excited about everything that Octopus Money, Octopus Legacy and amicable divorce are doing to help solve real people's problems.

“I don’t need a plan B, because I’ve got a plan A”.   I asked Sophie Pender, founder of The 93% Club, to describe herself in one word. Her answer tells you everything you need to know about the mindset it takes to set up and run a successful organisation.   Do you agree? What word would you use to describe yourself and why?

Life is hard.   Bad things are going to happen. Some of these bad things will be slow and of our own making. Others will be sudden and unfortunate. How we process these events, and how quickly we emerge from the fog, depends largely on our resilience.   There are three points in relation to resilience that I think are worth thinking about.   The first is that resilience doesn’t mean you don’t feel sad, depressed or anxious. We’re all human and we all experience a whole heap of emotions when bad things happen. Resilience is about how we pick ourselves up and move forward.   The big difference in people who are resilient is their mindset. Resilient people, after they’ve processed their emotions, see what’s happened to them in a much more optimistic light. They see setbacks as temporary and, in some cases, may even see what’s happened to them as a chance to grow and develop. As an aside, these people are also way more likely to focus on the good things that happen to them every day (an all too easy thing to forget in today’s world).   The final point is that building resilience on your own is hard. Which is why sharing your emotions (so that they don’t keep swirling around inside you) is hugely important. Once these are out, it’s much easier to move forward. But to share these emotions you need to find someone who is both competent (so you respect their judgement) and warm (so you trust them and know that they have your best interests at heart).   What made you resilient and why?

I think we’re heading towards a world where imagination and creativity are more valuable than learning and regurgitating large amounts of information. So, today I want to ask you two questions: 1. What skills have made you most successful in life?   2. Did you learn them at school, university or at work?

Earlier this year I caught up with Sophie Pender, founder of The 93% Club, to find out what they are doing to fix education.   Sophie has a vision for a world where everyone has access to the same resources and support that those who are privately educated benefit from.   If you have any bright ideas that can make Sophie’s vision a reality, or if you liked this clip from our conversation and would like to see more, please let me know in the comments below.

Feedback is about making you and your company better. In my experience, the best feedback tends to focus more on how others perceive you (your style and how you’re coming across) than your functional expertise. What’s the best piece of feedback you’ve ever received and how did it change you?

We’ve backed hundreds of entrepreneurs at Octopus.   But every one of these entrepreneurs would fit into one of four leadership styles.   1.  Command and control. These people like to make all the decisions and expect everyone else to do what they’re told. This style works best in crisis situations or in start-ups where very clear direction is needed (when the consequence of getting it wrong is the end of the company). It doesn’t work well in large organisations. Partly because the person making all the decisions becomes the blocker and partly because people don’t like working in environments like this. It’s not very empowering and it hinders the development of others within the team.   2. The democratic style of leadership. As it suggests, this is a very collegiate style of leadership, empowering teams and ensuring that everyone has input into the decision making. This works best when the leader isn’t sure what the strategy should be or when he or she is trying to generate new ideas. It creates real ownership and accountability from the team members but it’s far slower to achieve results.     3. A coaching style of leadership. This involves spending a huge amount of time trying to understand what motivates the individuals around you. This is probably the leadership style that builds the most cohesive and motivated teams. To deliver it well requires real vulnerability on the part of the leader. And it only really works when the individuals within the team are already competent and there’s a high degree of trust among the team members.   4. Energy and pace. This style focuses predominantly on productivity and results and these leaders typically hold themselves (and everyone else) to very high standards. This style only really works with like-minded individuals who can handle the pressure of working in an environment like this.   Over the last 24 years of running Octopus, I’ve employed – with varying degrees of success – all four styles. Though the nature of the businesses we run and the people who work here mean that I’ve spend most of my time leading with energy and pace.   What leadership styles work best for you and why?

If companies were people, which ones would you choose to be friends with and why?

One of the many problems for children of an entrepreneur is that they end up being the guinea pigs for new ideas.   Well, I’ve gone one step further with my own kids. Every now and again at dinner – to their groans – I set them a challenge. Last night they had to work out what makes a good advertising campaign.   We ended up agreeing on three things:   The first is that – whatever anyone tells you – measuring the effectiveness of advertising is very difficult to do. It’s almost impossible to attribute a purchase to a specific piece of advertising (and even when you think you can you probably won’t know if the purchaser would have bought your product or service anyway).   The second point (and the big part of our debate) is that good adverts have to be memorable. On average, someone living in London sees about 5,000 adverts every day. To cut through all this noise requires something quite special.   To be original, adverts have to contain elements that are rare or surprising, or that move away from the obvious. My best example was the Terry Tate advert that played during the Superbowl more than a decade ago (search it out on YouTube). I played it to my kids. They laughed but when I asked them a few hours later which company was behind the advert they couldn’t remember.   We also thought that original adverts need a high level of artistic creativity. They have to be aesthetically appealing, whether in the words, the music or the visuals. They have to feel more like a piece of art than an advert (even if you don't like the art).   But our final point was probably the most interesting. In the end we decided that the best advertising came from your customers. Gone are the days when companies can stand on the tops of mountains and declare (through very expensive advertising campaigns) that they’re amazing. The power has shifted and now sits squarely with the customer. These are the people who will do your most effective advertising for you. If companies spent more of their time (and imagination) wowing their existing customers rather than trying to win new ones, I think they’d be amazed at the results.