Something Big is a B Corp creative communications agency committed to making a meaningful difference, through inspiring thriving workforces, future proofing brands and supporting people and planet. Sally Pritchett, is their CEO and co-founder.
“We’re a creative communications agency focusing specifically on Environmental, Social and Governance Communications. We help businesses talk to their customers, their employees, their investors and to communities around them.
We believe that better communication helps make the world a fairer, healthier and happier place for everyone. We’re on a mission to make a meaningful difference with communication.”
We also discussed what really motivates her every day. “Solving problems! There are ‘wicked problems’ and ‘tame problems’. A tame problem is black and white, there is a right and a wrong way of solving it. Whereas with wicked problems, you’re unsure what the problem is until you explore under the surface. I love it when there are lots of things at play; where we can solve a number of problems all in one go. We can look at problems from a different angle and touch on things that, internally, people would feel uncomfortable to call. We can say things, bring things up and challenge things.”
Challenges are something every business has to face, but recently there seem to have been a huge number of them. “We’ve been through a pandemic, turbulent economic conditions, skills shortages and technology disruption. Never a dull moment!
How do I lead through this change? There’s a ‘total belief’ that there’s always a solution and I think that’s true. I went on a leadership event and listened to a high-up U.S. army officer speaking. He was retiring and his number two was taking over.
This second in command said, ‘I’m worried. You always know what to do and I don’t know how I’m going to get that.’
The senior officer said ‘I don’t know what to do, but I do know that there’s no right and wrong decision. But the wrong thing to do is to not do anything. You will never, ever know if the decision that you made was right or there was a better one because you will then be in a different place and then you will be making more decisions from there.’
So realistically, the worst thing you can ever do is not make a decision. That idea resonated with me and that’s part of my leadership.
There’s an innate feeling that we have to do something. We will head in the right direction. We will make decisions and we will see where we go from there. That seems such a simple way of leading. But to make those decisions, to take action and move forwards is often the toughest thing to do.”
Sally sees her job as inspiring her team AND those in her industry, her peers and colleagues.
“The main way we inspire our team is through what we’re doing, how we’re acting, how we’re showing up every day and being ‘on our game’.
One of Something Big’s values is to be on our game. We discuss when we don’t feel like we’re on our game. I have a mentor outside work and I’m also part of a CEO peer group. Those are safe spaces for me to discuss when I don’t feel on my game but with the recognition that when I come back into the business, I am trying to be on my game.”
There are several other key qualities for B Corp leaders. “I think collaboration is vital. As the saying goes, if you want to go fast, go on your own. And if you want to go far, go together.
The B Corp community goes together.
You can listen to how others are doing things and share your own perspective.
I think honesty and transparency are key. We’re not perfect, we are just making progress. One of our core values is doing the right thing. But doing the right thing by who? By the planet? By the people? And when we say people, do we mean our own team? Or our customers?
I talk to our new staff on their first day and we discuss what doing the right thing means. I will tell some stories about when we’ve made a mistake and the customer doesn’t know, then I purposefully talk with new members of staff to prod where that moral compass is, because our view is you ring that customer up and explain what’s happened. The value of doing the right thing is sitting in your gut. If I don’t feel good about doing something, then it’s probably not the right thing to do. Being a B Corp, we lean hard on ethics; authenticity and honesty are fundamental.
I love that there is a lot of humility in the B Corp community. We talk about how we’re not perfection, we just stand for progress. When you face climate change, diversity and inclusion, you start to see the size of what still needs to be done. You don’t tend to find enormous egos in the B Corp community. That tends to come with big brands and big leadership. I think, perhaps, B Corp leaders have more empathy.
B Corp leaders tend to have a growth mindset. We’re creative and innovative; we look at things from a different perspective.
The way we’ve previously done business has got us to where we are today. But there’s too much consumption and waste, too much profit over everything else. As B Corp leaders, we must do this in a different way. B Corps say ‘I really care about these people, I really care that we’re doing the right thing by the planet. I really care about my community and I really care about the local charities that are doing great work. I need to make an impact, not just sell something.'”
For B Corp leaders that are at the start of their leadership journey, it can be be tough to know how to be an authentic leader and what qualities to focus on. But, as Sally explains, focussing on a few key areas can help you be the leader you want to be.
“Firstly, think bigger. Humans tend to play it safe but small incremental progress isn’t going to get us there fast enough. We have to think big.
Don’t just think about profit. Ask is this good for the planet? Be like an inquisitive child and keep looking at something in a different way until you’ve got a different perspective.
Lead the way. As a B Corp, that’s what you’ve stood up to do. I am not just a leader of a team. I’m a leader in general; a sustainability leader, a diversity and inclusion leader, and an industry leader.
Share your knowledge. There is no point in just doing it in your own business; there are only 1500 B Corps in the UK. If I had time, I would travel the country trying to get more businesses to be B Corp. So what if 1500 businesses do great things? That’s not going to get us where we need to be. And if you can’t get everyone to become a B Corp, get them to do some of the things that you’re doing.”
To get in touch with Sally Pritchett and Something Big click here.
Lucy Chaplin is a Leadership Coach who helps B Corps unleash full leadership potential. She works with new leaders and managers to build performance and lead with confidence, giving them all the tools they need to amplify their impact. Her bespoke IMPACT model guiders new team leaders through the six stages of effective management. You can find out more on her website or book a free discovery call here.
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