Scaling Small Business: Lessons in Leadership, DEI, and Resilience

Starting the conversation:

How much does your ego limit your company’s growth? It may be more than you think. Without constant learning and intention with regard to your biggest goals, you are the one who can limit the growth of your company. Rohit Maini, Managing Director at Apex Accountancy, shares his experiences navigating company growth with and without his ego.

There is a lot we know, yet don’t do, when it comes to our business. The reasons are vast, yet as the days, months, and years go by … the impact of fast technology change, compliance, and planning directly correlate to the ability for your company to stay relevant over time. This is because of the active responsibility you take to assess and adapt to the evolution of your company.

In this episode, you will hear about early life lessons carried forward into business, how to navigate real conversations better when you think and feel at the same time, and the importance of big questions regarding disruption (because it can come from anywhere). Jess Dewell talks with Rohit Maini, Managing Director at Apex Accountancy, about being BOLD in decisions you face right now.

Host: Jess Dewell

Guest: Rohit Maini

What You Will Hear:

08:20 The lessons learned from a father’s example and legacy.

• Rohit Maini’s father’s advice was to trust in his own judgment and morals when making decisions.
• Confidence enables us to navigate unknowns and tough transitions, relying on self-belief.
• How your early lessons in independence and communication cultivate practical life and leadership skills.

14:50 The main cap on potential is ego, and continual skill set development is vital.

• Ego commonly limits growth for business owners and leaders.
• Achieving humility and focusing on learning helps circumvent ego-driven mistakes and accelerates development.
• Continual learning and upgrading skills are essential for breaking through limitations and seizing new opportunities.

23:20 Diversity, equity, and inclusion makes teams more effective.

• Embracing different backgrounds and perspectives in teams results in more innovative and robust decisions.
• Constructive challenge within a diverse team helps avoid groupthink and drive excellence.
• Effective DEI means cultural fit, unique viewpoints, and open idea-sharing for optimal team function.

28:00 Building a culture of values in your organization is essential.

• Establishing clear organizational values helps align everyone toward common goals.
• Open discussion, challenge, and adaptation of values as the business grows are important for ongoing success.
• Growth and improvement require challenging conversations and discomfort, but the payoff is a stronger, fitter organization.

36:20 Take strategic “pit stops” to innovate and check your business direction.

• Regular assessments and adjustments are crucial to staying ahead and operating efficiently.
• Strategic pauses create opportunities to implement improvements and avoid burnout or stagnation.
• Taking time to reflect and refine is a leadership responsibility and key to long-term resilience.

41:15 Make strategic growth and awareness a continuous process.

• Remaining vigilant about growth strategy every day ensures quick adaptation to changes.
• Day-to-day business decisions should be filtered through a lens of strategic alignment and future-readiness.
• Personal branding and authentic relationship-building are indispensable for long-term business growth.

46:40 It is BOLD to do what it takes to make the best decision for your business right now.

Resources

• Rohit Maini on LinkedIn
• Host of Everyday Empire Podcast on Youtube
• Get Rich (or Die Trying) 4-part blog post series

Transcript

Rohit Maini 00:00
It’s always the ego, especially with clients and even sometimes with myself. I’m happy to admit that the ego gets in the way of growth. It always does.

Jess Dewell 00:07
I don’t think I’m alone. I think we all have feisty points. I think we all have things that get us like, riled up in an interesting way. Coming back to maybe that ego piece.

Jess Dewell 00:16
I’m so glad you’re here. Thanks for stopping by. At the Bold Business Podcast, we are normalizing important conversations. Yes, there are tips. Yes, there are ways to solve problems. More importantly, are gonna be what do you need for yourself to be able to solve those problems and make the most of the education, the training and the programs that you are already using? This is a supplement to that. It can sit on top of it. Fuel your soul, fuel your mind. And most importantly, regardless of where you’re at on your journey, maybe you’re starting out, maybe you’re ready to scale, maybe you’re going through a reinvention. The conversations we are having will help you at each of those stages. So hang around, see what’s going on and I look forward to seeing you engaging with our videos.

Announcer 01:08
You are listening to the Bold Business Podcast where you will hear firsthand experiences about what it really takes to ensure market relevance and your company’s future.

Jess Dewell 01:20
Who has a bhag, big hairy, audacious goal of creating small and medium enterprises to be able to be 1% better globally? Rohit from Apex Accountancy. He is a chartered accountant specializing in tax planning, due diligence, fundraising, which means not only is he a finance specialist, but he’s also very versed in business strategy. When we think about that small and medium-sized enterprise, SME working to have that foundational base for the potential future that you’re going after to actually be able to get there. And here’s the deal. In this program today we’re talking about three things that I’m going to highlight now and then all of the stories and all of the details you will want to stay and listen for. The first is his dad was a role model of his and he took over his dad’s business. There are lessons that he learned that came into fruition after he became the Managing Director of Apex Accountancy. Second, it is a skill necessary today to be able to think and feel at the same time so that we can understand where our ego is at and how it might be influencing us in the situation or decision that we’re facing. The importance of understanding questions to ask, especially about our own businesses. What are those Big questions? Where is the disruption going to happen? Because your industry is going to face it. Even if you haven’t seen it now, you’re seeing it around you. It will be your turn soon. So asking the questions, what is disruption in our industry? When do we think it’s going to be here and how can we work with this information to be intentional about our bhag, whatever that is for your company and stay on track to make the next right decision? I’m really excited that he is going to be having this conversation with me and I want you to know that as you’re listening, just know his focus is that all SME clients have the access to high-quality consultancy, regardless of their size. His team is diverse and is well-versed in stepping up and supporting clients as a whole. Which means what you’re going to hear is what it looks like, sounds like and feels. To think this way and instill that within a business that reflects that and goes out into the world and makes a difference. I’m so excited here. Let’s go. I believe that there is this element of a ripple that we’re never going to know the actual impact we create. So I think it’s awesome that you put this into a BHAG goal because it allows the focus and the intention of what you do every day and how you’re showing up in the world to be balanced. Are we actually doing that? Are we showing up the way we want to do? I’m going to have to figure out now what my big hag goal is. What is my BHAG goal in this way? Because it helps with the intention piece. And it sounds like even from the beginning, knowing that you’re earlier in the journey of this company, that you still have that intention from the get-go. It’s amazing how usually people get to like year seven, eight and then they’re like, ooh, let’s be intentional. And you’ve done it from the beginning. Which, by the way, every path is good. There’s no judgment there. We all have the reason for starting our business. Maybe it’s to pay the light bill, maybe it’s to be able to take an extra vacation or make sure we can cover the cost of our food. Maybe it’s because we want to help. Maybe it’s because we actually are really good at this. Maybe it’s because we, we would prefer to choose who we work with instead of have that chosen for us whenever we become intentional is the right time to be intentional, I guess is what I’m saying. What do you think about that, Rohit?

Rohit Maini 05:11
Every entrepreneur’s journey, I think is fascinating. And on our podcast, Everyday Empires, it’s actually something we utterly explore. We go right from the start of someone’s career and that might be in their childhood, it might be slightly later. We develop that story out into this world. You know, my chartered accountant by trade, but I was working in private equity. I was using my accounting skills in a different world about four years ago, actually just over four years ago now, unfortunately, my father passed away. He was a wonderful man and went too far too young at the age of 59, but he had built this sort of small accounting practice in West London over the last 30-plus years. And I’d always known about the business. I’d even helped my father take out the trash. But in terms of navigating clients and dealing with them and doing the work, I had no clue, apart from the fact that I was a qualified accountant, I physically knew what to do. But in terms of Bob likes, his accounts looked like this and Sarah is like this. I had no idea. So when he passed quite suddenly, it’s one of those moments in your life when you look at and you say, what am I going to do with this? My father was actually gearing up to sell and try to enjoy retirement, given he was 59 at the time, I was 28. For me, if I wanted to take it over, it would have been a different look and feel of the business. I said to my wife, I said, look, I know this is a bit of a change for us, but if we’re going to do this, we’re going to go big. We’re going to do this with our own ambitions and intentions and diligence and all the things that we can do and we’ll make a go of it. And you know what, I’m pretty sure he’s going to have his guardian angel hat next to us and look after us and guiding us and probably telling me off half the time if he could. The first year was utter chaos. We didn’t know where half the information was. But my dad had his process, he had his systems. We figured it out and we got there. And four years later, we’ve gone from three people, one office to three offices and 25 people in four years. We’re pretty proud of where we’ve got and we’re standing on his shoulders. But my, to answer your question, in terms of my journey, the intention was very much there. The diligence and hard work was very much there. But I had it unknown and I had a slightly easier app in the sense I’m taking over a 30-year-old business, had a client base, it had processes put in place. But my father was 59, he loved a bit of paper, no digitalization of any of the client folders.

Jess Dewell 07:34
Right.

Rohit Maini 07:34
Things were just. Were literally back in the 90s when he started the thing. He just about started software for God’s sake. So it’s one of those things where we took over and we went what is this enabled us to stand on those broad shoulders and help. But a lot of I’m sure the listeners are starting out on businesses and starting from scratch and from zero. Some maybe have a couple of business partners and they’re here to help bounce some ideas around.

Jess Dewell 08:00
I can’t imagine losing a parent. It did seem very young for him. The fact that he had a strong business. The fact that you took over the business, you decided that in not only for you, but also for your household. What are the lessons that your dad gave you that even made that possible for you to go, yeah, I have the courage to do this.

Rohit Maini 08:22
So my father’s always told me, do what you think is right. I always felt that it had quite a deeper meaning than just the obvious words. You know, I took from that he trusted my judgment and he thought that I should listen to my gut, my head, my heart, whatever I think is right for the situation at the time. And of course, when you talk about rightness, you’re talking maybe about a moral position, you might be talking about analyzing position correctly, whether it’s a big sort of career move or whatever. They always told me to believe in effectively myself and the decisions I would make. So whilst I might not know what to do in every situation, if you have a level of self-confidence then you can get to know what to do. You can speak to the right people, you can follow a process and lean on your community and on your own judgment and then take the right step that you believe is correct. That was something that he instilled into me very early on. He always encouraged me to be independent, even little things. Like I’m sure you would go to restaurants with your children and your dear partner. But my dad always said, no, Rohit, you, you’ve told you what we want. You tell the waiter and when you’re six years old or five years old, you go, my dad will have this and my mother will have that. At the time I thought it was a bit burdensome, but I was excited to speak to someone that are not my parents and an adult. But now I look back and go, he was just training me to do those little things that make sense and if they stumbled over my words or I might have forgotten one. But after the third, fourth, tenth time, that interaction became quite interesting and you build up a bit of self-confidence. Then you move on to obviously much bigger things than just telling the waiter what you want to eat.

Jess Dewell 10:03
I’m a big proponent of learning people’s names. I try really hard to though, because it’s something that we have since birth and we may choose to change it along the way or we get a nickname that sticks. Whatever that journey is, our name is really personal to us. It gave you a chance to learn early the power of connection with another person to do something intentional.

Rohit Maini 10:30
Oh, yeah, absolutely. And now you think about business and what does that mean for me right now? Having been trained so quote-unquote, or have that kind of experience for the last 20, 30 years, I’m willing to pick up the phone and talk to people. I’m willing to negotiate and communicate as transparently as possible and go that extra yard in speaking to people. Because as you say, that connection’s important. And particularly in the professional services world, your relationships are everything. So meeting someone, being able to have a snap connection with them and then potentially do business with them, depending on your skill set, can be done in 10 minutes, 5 minutes, all the way through to several weeks. But the better you are at it, the quicker you can build those connections. Then at least from a commercial perspective, you can do business quicker and hopefully bigger. But more importantly, I think it’s about the connections that you have with people. And I think that one of the things that you might look back on in your life and you look at the friends and your family and your partner, if you’ve got a life partner and think about the connections you have with them and how you talk to them and how deep they are, or not so deep, then it also filters into those things. No, he gave me a great gift before he passed and that was pretty important for me to establish that skill set and grow it.

Jess Dewell 11:44
You also probably already came into this world with some traits like that, like your how you were raised, the way your parents interacted with you, the support that you got just was a reinforcement of here are skills that you need. Yet we already see this in you. I’m wondering, do you see that? When you said earlier about unlock our clients, unlock our advice, do you find a parallel there?

Rohit Maini 12:08
What I found quite fun is that some of our clients have been with us for 20 years, 30 years even, and they compare my father to me. And what my father was quite good at was actually having a bit of a go at the clients. If they do something a bit silly. And he’s going, look, why did you make this transaction for? That was, why didn’t you call me for me, I would be. I’m a bit more gentle, focused on the consequences. Because I go, look, if you don’t talk to your accountant and you make these transactions, you know they’re not good from a tax efficiency perspective, you need to reverse them. Now, it’s not like you done anything illegal. You just done something really stupid. Let’s unstupid it and let’s move on. Whereas my father be on the phone going, this is nonsense, don’t ever do this again, although you’re not going to be my client. They see a more sort of gentle side to the accountant. But I’m a lot more direct in the sense that we both care about the clients. But I’m a lot more direct in terms of explaining, if you don’t talk to us, these are the consequences and I can’t help you. My father was very much, don’t do it, just stupid thing to do and moved on. It was. That was. That’s the biggest difference. And the other difference was that because I went to the corporate world before I took over my father’s business, I was always taught good practices around building processes, having a good team, and definitely making sure that something like technology, which is adapting all the time and put in your business as early as possible and have someone monitor that because it’s fundamental to how you’re going to adapt and grow. Even if your business is about relationships, how you do business is still important. So bringing those three things over, the clients have all said, look, there’s more process, there’s more people, there’s more automated systems. And some moan about it because it’s changed, but at the same time we push them through it because it’s important and it is changes. We’re adapting to the times. My father was. I can see some parallels and definitely what you’re saying in terms of I am very much cut from the same clothes, but that might be a bit more of my mother coming in to me, which is explaining these things so the clients don’t just have a go at them, don’t just be so blunt. But at the same time, you want to show that you care and you want to show that you’re looking after the clients and you know, all they want to do is be able to earn good and build a lifestyle for them and their family. That’s it. That’s what most people really want. Then there’s some other bits on top around being a bit more fulfilled with what you do and being able to use money, maybe for charitable things and other values that you want to purport out there. The needs are really not significant and you just want to help people do that in a compliant way, in a safe way, make sure everyone goes home and does that correctly.

Jess Dewell 14:36
There’s an element where we need all that in the teams that we assemble. And so what do you see as a big thing that caps our potential that we could address to unlock even more for the success in our business?

Rohit Maini 14:51
I’ll speak generically, but it’s always the ego. It’s always something that gets. And I’ve found, especially with clients and even sometimes with myself, I’m happy to admit that the ego gets in the way of growth. It always does. And I think, again, this is pure observation from some of our most successful clients that you find that those that really get to that significant level of having hundreds of employees, maybe thousands, turning over millions of pounds, dollars, there is a level of humility and gratitude to that person in most cases that the ego doesn’t stop them from having those difficult conversations and navigating through business relationships how to manage people. It is really more of an objective look as to what you need to do to go to the next stage. When your ego is still with you, when you’re sitting at your desk and you’re trying to do business, you bring that approach into everything that you’re doing. Now, you could be small or large, but if it’s there, it’s still influencing how you do business. And look, we all get it when we get a little sort of email that doesn’t quite rob us the right way, or we get a phone call and someone’s just going off on something that makes no sense whatsoever, that calmness enables you to think and feel at the same time. And when you’re thinking and feeling at the same time in conversations, you’re able to navigate them. And for me, that’s where if you put your ego aside and you’re actually able to do that, ultimately you do business that you don’t regret. So you don’t make a decision that is made in rashness. You make decisions that are from a mindset that is more appropriate but also able to manage your relationships better. And that’s huge. If you want to grow, you need good people with you. That’s just a fact. Yes, AI technology is coming in and perhaps will change that. More often than not, you do need good people with you. How you manage them and how you manage their careers alongside yours is fundamental and permeates everything else. So the biggest cap by far is ego. The second one, if I’m allowed to put second one, is skill set. I’d love to think that I can just do my accountancy exams in my early 20s and I’m therefore that’s not how it works. And that’s why the requirement for me to keep my nice shiny certificate is to do continuous professional development at cpd. It’s I have to do a minimum amount every year and any professional from solicitors to dentists to doctors to accountants need to do that. And it’s the same thing for entrepreneurs. If you keep learning, keep upgrading the skill set, you will keep growing. And therefore the cap on you is only based on what your imagination can push you to.

Jess Dewell 17:28
You’re listening to the Bold Business Podcast. I’m your host, Jess Dewell. This is your program for strategizing long-term success while diving deep into what the right work is for your business.

Announcer 17:41
Right now you’re listening to the Bold Business Podcast hosted by Jess Dewell, a nationally recognized strategic growth consultant. She works with business owners and executives to integrate just two elements that guide business through the ups and downs of growth. Number one, know what work is necessary. Number two, do all the work. Schedule a complimentary consultation to find out.

Jess Dewell 18:10
More at Red Direction dot com I’m excited that you’re listening to Rohit Maini. Rohit is a thoughtful strategist and business leader with a way of connecting ideas that others miss, especially when it comes to creating meaningful innovation. Now back to the program. I appreciate the focus on what can we control. Those were foundational in the two, in the two pieces that you just shared. And I think we overlook that as not only people, but definitely as business owners. And so when we know what we can control and we take that. I’m a big fan of stoicism, Rohit, and I appreciate these practices and I appreciate the thought process and I’m feisty. I’m a little bit of a firecracker. So I get to work extra hard at some of those things. And at the same point in time, though, I don’t think I’m alone. I think we all have feisty points. I think we all have things that get us like riled up in an interesting way. Coming back to maybe that ego piece, but even to just go, okay, I Can. And I’ll. I usually don’t say, but I did hear. But saying, okay, you’re going to come to this party and I’m going to recognize you’re at my party.

Rohit Maini 19:19
What are these parties doing? I don’t know how crazy they get.

Jess Dewell 19:22
Oh, I don’t know about all the pieces of you, but I’m like, whoa, how did I get here? Oh, that crap. Not as often as I used to in my career evolution and my personal evolution. But I will tell you, there’s still parts. I’m like, okay, I got this. I see you.

Rohit Maini 19:40
That’s.

Jess Dewell 19:41
And so let’s go to the other side of that of how do we. You also said we have to surround ourselves with good people. And I think good people. I’m gonna go out on a limb here, and it’s okay if you say, we’re not gonna talk about this, but I’m gonna say, hey, there are good ways and less than good ways to get diversity around us in those good people. And so I wanna talk a little bit about diversity. I wanna talk a little bit about what that equity and inclusion actually looks like in this positive form. When we think about it from our skills and what we can control and the other people we surround ourselves and their skills and what they can control.

Rohit Maini 20:24
When people talk about building teams, apologies to use your sports analogy, but a lot of people think about, like a sports team within a sports team. Everyone has their specific roles, everyone has their skill sets. You try to put people in the right place based on those role skill sets and to some extent, mindset. I love American football. And Jess, of course, you’re from the United States, so I’m going to use. I’m a big Baltimore Ravens fan, by the way.

Jess Dewell 20:48
I’m a Seattle Seahawks fan.

Rohit Maini 20:50
Jess disappointed me, but I should jump off now. Terrible. But within the Ravens or the Seahawks team, you have the quarterback, right? And you have. That’s the guy that is going to be coordinating everything. If he releases the ball at the right place at the right time, you get your first down, you get your touchdown, whatever it is. If they can’t handle, handle that pressure of so many people running at him and pretty big guys and pretty scary guys running at you, then you don’t have a quarterback that can’t handle pressure. It’s the same with. With businesses. Not necessarily you’re going to have big guys running at you and you have to pick up a ball and throw it. But at the same time, if there’s a project deadline and the timing’s A little bit tight and you’re working long hours. Can you handle that level of pressure? Are you going to have people that can execute within tight deadlines to a very high standard? And I think people visualize sports better, but ultimately in business it’s the same thing. It just depends on the product or the deliverable. So in my world, it tends to be reports or something to file. In other people’s worlds, it will be a product they’re trying to build, a prototype or whatever. Those are more visual that are listening to us. So for me, it’s about, you need to have the right people in the right place. When you’re building a team and you’re going through a hiring process and you put a role out there and X number of people will apply. Usually it’s quite a few because hopefully you’ve got a business that’s worth working for. And you whittle all those candidates down based on whatever standard skill set you require experience. And it comes down to maybe a handful of Clark candidates, maybe two or three. Now, with those two or three, they’ve met the skill set that you have, maybe you’ve tested it and they’ve ticked all the boxes. And all these candidates are pretty similar in terms of that they’ve got good level of experience. The difference really is going to be, do you think they’re going to fit within the team? Do you think they’re going to be a cultural fit? When we talk about diversity, there’s a whole host of reasons why that person might be a good cultural fit. And coming back to the sort of sports team analogy, if everyone has a similar mindset, then, yes, that might sound like a good thing because you’re moving in one direction. But you and I both know when there’s a decision to be made and everyone’s saying, yes, that makes sense, then everyone’s just following along and not challenging the idea. Especially when you’ve got the power dynamics of sports teams or businesses. If the CEO says, I think we should do this, it’s a pretty gutsy person to come up and go, actually, I don’t think that’s the right decision. Have you thought about X? Have you thought about Y? Have you thought about. About Z? The ability to challenge and make sure that you’re making good decisions and not just good ones, excellent ones. Is where I think diversity the only way to make those kind of decisions. Now that’s because I don’t think people should be sitting in echo chambers. When anyone in my team, I go, I think we should be doing this. And then one of my team members mostly will put up his hand and go, what have you thought about that? And then I might go, yes, but because of this reason, I don’t think it’s the right option. But at least that’s discussed, at least that enhances and galvanizes the decision. So it doesn’t necessarily mean that things are changed, but you have that discussion to make sure that you have the ability to show your team to get buy in into decisions, especially if they’re big ones. So my view on diversity is that it can be broad. I think you should have people from different backgrounds, different upbringings, because their ability to challenge will come from different ways of thinking. But they need to have the right mindset. That challenging doesn’t mean disruptive, it means it’s still enhancing conversation. But you’re bringing in new ideas and bringing in new ways. And you referenced sort of DEI policies before and I think that’s where they really come into their own. And when you have a selection of candidates and they all are excellent and they all will fit the team, I’ve been in positions I would like to hire all the people that have come in, but there’s finite resource and you’ve got one or two roles and you’ve got five people to select from. Excellent. Then you’re going to be splitting hairs to pick them. And you may or may not make the right decision, but that’s entrepreneur, you’ve got to live with that. But if you can have someone that’s going to be a little bit more challenging within team decisions, that’s going to bring a new perspective, that’s going to bring in fresh sort of understanding of decisions that need to be made and is willing to put those views across and have that conversation in mature and professional way, then you’ve got a very potent team. You’ve got the ability to not only make good decisions from the quality of the skill set that you’ve got, but you’ve also got the ability to challenge decisions and enhance the nuanced elements of what you’re trying to do. And that’s where DEI is so powerful. Unfortunately, some people don’t get that right. And it can be a challenge. And it’s important to make sure that we do things appropriately.

Jess Dewell 25:38
So there are a couple of things that come up when I think about diversity, equity and inclusion. This DEI concept of it takes more time. How do we have these conversations that we recognize are necessary and balance that out with this work product of physical product, the widget of some sort, it doesn’t apply in the us we have a large part, I don’t know exactly what percentage of our GDP are services. Think about Netflix, right? Netflix is a service-based business and the majority, I think I heard recently 60% of their business is not US-based. So this is a service-based product. So how do we deliver the best service to people who are actually buying something that’s not physical, that we also need to have as a quote-unquote, work product? So I’m curious about some of this. Of we have the old mentality of we’ve got to optimize, right? Like that McDonald’s model. McDonald’s revolutionized a lot of things before that. Ford revolutionized a lot of things in terms of this. And we’re trying to bring those measurements to something that can’t be measured the same way. And I feel like we’re in this interesting gray area of both a right and left. We need new measurements because we’re not actually making things.

Rohit Maini 26:53
I’m sure there’s some very clever people that have studied this will say that we can only get so far. How can we make it on the qualitative side? Yes, there might be levels of research that some very clever people have done, but I would turn back to the principles of DEI and commonsensically. What does it mean to build a good team? Football in my world, soccer in your world, Jess, it’s why you have 11 people on the pitch with different roles and responsibilities. You’ve got your defenders, your central defenders who are a bit slower, but they’re also a bit more stocky and probably quite tall. You’ve got your goalkeeper who’s probably quite tall and got great reactions. But you’ve got your wingers who are a bit lighter and a bit nimble and they’re fast. So everyone has different skill sets to make up an excellent team because they’re doing different roles and responsibilities. So we just need to apply that little bit of thinking to what’s their mindset like. And I know that’s difficult to measure, but I would challenge anyone that says, I just want the same number of people in my team who are all going to think alike and they all just have a hive mind and they’re all just moving succinctly and perfectly. And we all know humans, it’s never going to happen.

Jess Dewell 27:58
Never.

Rohit Maini 27:59
What you need is a culture of values that people believe in and uphold and a senior leadership team that believes in and upholds and executes. And that sort of ecosystem of culture brings in the right people to be able to execute the way that you do business. And within those little decisions that people make about how you treat their clients, how do you respond to clients, how do you deliver your service, Thinking about things like sustainability, moving forward, all these things are part of your culture and they should be talked about and they should be challenged, they should be updated. And it’s difficult and it’s awkward and you might have to change some values if you’re challenged by someone. But that’s part of growth. It’s, again, to use boring physical analogies. Going to the gym is the same thing. You don’t go to the gym and do a chest press or a leg press, and then your chest is suddenly bigger and your legs are suddenly bigger. It’s. You do it and then you go home and you have to eat right, and then your muscles are very sore, and then you go the next day and you don’t want to because you could barely walk, especially if you’ve done leg days. And it’s just growth takes a little bit of pain because you’re trying to evolve and trying to be better. So just because something’s difficult, just because something maybe doesn’t make sense and you have to get your head around it, or maybe it doesn’t make sense and you challenge it and you bring your ideas to the table. Having that discussion is what’s important and the process is important. So that’s why I think DEI is a good thing. On the other hand, I think there are some genuine criticisms where people are uncomfortable with that growth. Then a poorly executed DEI policy kills culture because then you don’t appreciate why you’re being diverse. Actually, the general conversations about DEI, I haven’t really seen proper conversation about why it’s important. I’ve just seen people fall into their own camps and then just argue. And that’s where social media comes into its fore, because it’s. It’s feisty and it’s exciting and as you said before, Jess, firecrackery, which makes great shows. But at the end of the day, I’m a business owner. We’ve got a certain level of people. I want to bring in good people to challenge me. I’m the only shareholder right now. I’m the MD of the group. I am not going to come up with the best ideas at all times. I would love to say I am, but I’m definitely not. And so what I want to do is create a culture where everyone is generating ideas and we pick up the best one. Now I might have the ability to generate more ideas because I’m working more on the business and I have obviously the more of a bigger picture and I’m setting the vision, might have the ability to do so because of my position. But just because someone’s joined us in a relatively junior position two weeks ago and spot something doesn’t mean their idea is worth any less. It simply means we need to think about it, create a culture of discussing it and maybe even execute it. But as long as you’ve got that conversation and culture, you know your business will grow to no ends.

Jess Dewell 30:51
I’m going to say there are other things in our business that actually prohibit us or get in the way of some of what you’re saying because I agree. I was just talking about the theory of it and these high levels and you brought it right back down to this everyday piece. And I am so on board with everything that you say. Just think, we all hate meetings. We all have a lot of waste a day because of other things that we have going on, like social media. That’s actually almost a day a week. Like six to seven hours a week is directly related to social media at work. And that’s like a whole. That’s 20% of a work week for somebody that has this distraction. So I get then this desire to how do we optimize going back to that lean process or that even all the best manufacturing things. But that goes back too far. I’m rereading a book that was written in the 80s. It’s called In Search of Excellence. And the people that wrote this, whose names escape me, I was actually looking for it. I left it at home. Today I have a different book with me, but I’m rereading it because it came across my radar in a conversation. I went, oh, this is interesting. So back in the 60s and 70s, when we were talking about people, when we’re talking about growth, when we’re talking about adding this middle management in the US And I think this has trickled out other places now too. This concept of the MBA coming into a big company to streamline happened. And being a numbers person, I’m hearing you say it’s so much more to make a decision than just the data we have. It’s so much more than just the work product we’ve got or the product that we’re offering or the service that we’re offering. It’s the people that we’re bringing together. And the premise of this book was that the MBA took over and actually got rid of some of what the excellence was and you even mentioned if we have a hive mind and that’s what we want, or how if somebody doesn’t think like us and is actually a champion that’s causing change or perceived disruption versus actual disruption. They were singled out or allowed to be pushed in these other directions because in the US we wanted everything to be the same. And we’re struggling with that because the principles of business that I have seen and the companies that work with me outside of the US which means they have some US presence. So I’m going to recognize my limitation of I don’t know how businesses are run in other places. I know businesses that use US principles will seek me out. Sometimes we have this expectation of needing to use data to make decisions. And that is something that I think is an unconscious bias that we’re bringing to our work that I think accidentally mucks up all of the good work we’re doing. Because we’re trying to create challenging conversations. We’re trying to grow together and make sure we have a true pulse, not just one piece of a pulse of where we go. And that’s what In Search of Excellence is all about. They’re talking about brand champions who are like, this isn’t actually working and our customers want this and somebody’s going to listen to that or. And where did they inherently get some of these things? And how can you bring that back into business? So even though it was written in the 80s, 40 years ago, now it is relevant today as well, which I find fascinating. And I’m sure there’s more research on the way. So I’ll be looking for a book after that is built on or an updated version of what was found in this book from In Search of Excellence. So that’s something that was brought up for me. Rohit, as you were talking about this, all the different pieces that might accidentally muck up that we don’t even know are mucking it up because we think we’re doing the right things.

Rohit Maini 34:26
Hopefully, the audience can recommend a book for both of us. Jess. I’m going to get In Search of Excellence. If the audience can comment, then we’ll definitely take that recommendation. I think that’s super interesting because the senior leadership team of most businesses generally want a level of coordination that means that people are moving, you know, quickly and efficiently and an optimal way and just want things to be smooth. And that’s where sort of the hive mind comes in. Because the ones controlling that hive mind are usually the guys right at the top, maybe even a few individuals.

Jess Dewell 35:00
Yeah.

Rohit Maini 35:00
And that just Filters into everyone else just doing what they need to do. And so often I’ve heard, do your job, do what you’re here to do, which is sometimes you just got to do it, because it is a.

Jess Dewell 35:10
Well, there’s an element in that event. Just do it.

Rohit Maini 35:13
Just do it. Nike nailed it with the.

Jess Dewell 35:15
Thanks, Nike.

Rohit Maini 35:18
There’s also elements where I want to challenge this point where just by wanting to have a conversation and bring things up and making sure that we have the right decision, that actually that is necessarily disruptive and hurting the firm. There isn’t a balance between coordination and moving forward and running forward and adjusting sort of the way you do things. And actually there’s this. I was having a discussion with a couple of colleagues and with Kingston University, which is a wonderful university in South London, and we’re doing some research and some bits with them on the AI side. But one concept we were talking about is why should companies take that pause and that breadth and look at that technology stack and look at their AI capabilities and start to insert these kind of things? And we looked at this analogy of a car being driven sort of 100 miles an hour, and it’s very difficult to be tinkering with a car as you’re driving 100 miles an hour. And that’s probably how a lot of businesses feel.

Jess Dewell 36:20
I might be able to roll down the window.

Rohit Maini 36:21
So you’re holding on for dear life and you’re trying to tweak the engine and make sure that’s more efficient, or tweak the wheels and make sure they roll quicker, that’s not happening. You do have to take the time to make a pit stop, check on your business, check on your car, insert what you need to insert, take out the rubbish and then you’ll be quicker, faster. Having that pit stop, that check-in is vital. If F1 drivers can do it and change their tires, tweak whatever they’ve got to tweak to, then shoot on ahead and drive at silly speeds I’m pretty sure businesses can do. And actually, it’s necessary because if those tires get worn out, you won’t be able to move anywhere and you’ll be stuck in a place that you can’t control. If your engine tires out and kicks out, then you definitely had it and you’re going to have to change something fundamental. So it’s not necessarily a bad thing to take that pit stop because it saves you time and energy and efficiency throughout the journey of the business.

Jess Dewell 37:15
How does that show up in your business?

Rohit Maini 37:17
The biggest challenge we have is how technology is going to change the way that we service our clients. And AI, which is why we’re talking to Kingston at University, is the thing that’s going to completely disrupt how we do business. And it’s because the things that we deliver, like a set of accounts or bookkeeping or even calculating certain tax bills, they’re going to be completely automated over the coming years. Just as a brief thing on the accounting world, I think the accounting world is going to shift from the sort of compliant-based, sort of procedural bits to more the advisory space. So I think accountants definitely and professional advisors across the board have to be a lot better at giving advice and analyzing things, not necessarily about delivering a report or generating numbers and modeling that will be done automatically. Therefore, the ability for us to think through situations and experience is going to be so much more important. Now, how that shows up in my world is when I see something that fundamental come in to play, then I think about all the roles and responsibilities and how we make money. And a huge part of our business is compliance. But then we have to think about, can we use these tools to make us quicker so we can either keep our prices where they are or even lower them and offer something else. More advice, more analysis, better ways for our clients to make decisions, and then hopefully they grow quicker and they have more demands of us and therefore we grow with them. Now, who does that pit stop? That’s my responsibility. If I don’t acknowledge that, then the business doesn’t. Or maybe it grows for the next five years, but then declines the next 10. And I truly believe if you take the responsibility of hiring people and paying people who have livelihoods and some of them might be the main breadwinners of their family and really relying on your funds to pay their mortgage and to go on holiday and have these amazing memories, you have a duty to make sure that you’re on top of your game because you know these people’s lives are in your hands now. It’s a bit dramatic, people can forgive me for, but when you elevate it to that stage, it does make your business decisions that more important. And if you don’t make the right decisions and your business faults, which does happen all the time, they’ll have to find new jobs and do different things and that will be hassling, disruptive. With that in mind, those pit stops become fundamental, but they must be taken at the senior level. Now, you don’t pit stop by yourself. You might bring in a couple of team members with you to begin that process.

Jess Dewell 39:44
Bring Rohit to those conversations people.

Rohit Maini 39:48
I love it, both the shamelessness and the quality of the plug. But that’s the beauty of it is that you can do it with the right people and have the right processes. When you appreciate the why you want to build a sustainable business going forward, those pit stops are vital and they will look different for different people. If you have a manufacturing plant and you’re generating thousands of screws every day, shutting down the plant to tinker with something, it’s not happening. But how they pit stop will be different to how we do it. You have to define that pit stop for yourself. Genuinely spend time on your business. Work on the processes, systems and anything that you need to work on with good advisors. Crack on drive and go full speed ahead because you can continue to do that better and better over time. Maybe even be quicker and better as well.

Jess Dewell 40:30
I’m your host Jess Dewell and we’re getting down to business on the Bold Business Podcast. This is where we’re tackling the challenges that matter most to you with actionable and achievable advice to get real results that lead to your success.

Announcer 40:47
Focused on growth, Listen to more programs like this which support the challenges and opportunities you are working with right now. Search Bold Business Podcast for the key [email protected] or your preferred podcast listening app.

Jess Dewell 41:03
We are talking with Rohit Maini. He is a systems thinker and business innovator who brings clarity to complexity, especially in fast-changing environments. Now back to the program. How often do you engage with your strategic growth strategy?

Rohit Maini 41:18
Strategy Every day. It has to be something that’s on your mind every day because there could be a new, better technology that comes out tomorrow. I need to be broadly aware of it. In my world, I’ve got the legislative sort of agenda to look after. You’ve seen it in the US where Donald Trump is changing the policies left and center. People have to keep up with that if the tariffs are coming in. As an advisor, if that’s impacting your clients, even if it might be for a short term, you need to understand how that’s going to work. What broadly is the strategy for the administration? How does that apply to my client? How can they adapt? How can they make sure it doesn’t impact them? If it doesn’t impact them, then how it might impact their people, their suppliers, their clients, etcetera. So when some things move that quickly, you have to be on top of it. The ability to connect them with your strategy every single day to know where you’re guiding your business will influence how much time you spend on those things and who you talk to and perhaps the clients that you bring on board going forward. So for us, one part of our strategy is to really look at our client base and who we’re taking on, because we want to take on clients that not only have a good reputation and are of good standing and they’ll pay us on time. We want to know they’re in the industry. That makes sense. We do have a lot of people in the dentistry world, for example, everyone should have teeth and so they require a dentist. We’re looking at other parts of the medical industry so that we can leverage our knowledge of the dentistry world and the GP world and a few other bits that we’re in across the board. We have a strong presence within the film and TV industry, which had its wobble. Now that’s changed and they’re coming back and there’s a bit of a catch up. We know that servicing streams like Netflix, like Hulu, like Apple TV, like Prime, are going to be only generating more and more content. So all these strategies do come down to your day-to-day, which is, I’ve got a prospective client in front of me, do I want to take them on, yes or no.

Jess Dewell 43:06
My cadence is actually weekly with. Because there are different. We’re making different decisions. I can tell, which is cool because it reflects the differences of our business. So to your point of what is the business I spend one day a week, 20% all in a row, is dealing with what are our priorities? Are we on the right track? What are the things that have popped up in the last week that I can wait to think about until this day now, like you, there are things that are happening every single day and something may happen and I will pick up the the phone and I will call a client, I’ll be like, I know you just saw this, what’s going on? And it’s not going to be an email, it’s always going to be a call for me. Because when we’re in these places of disruption, when we’re looking out for this opportunity on the positive side or the negative side, or that creates excitement or that creates uncertainty, all of that is part of the day-to-day for what we’re doing. And it’s interesting. I was like, oh, this is your R and D part. Part of your strategic growth is understanding the research and development of where is the disruption cycle for the clients that we’re taking on. That’s a approach because I’m also doing that. And I was asking the question From a. How are you growing your consultancy? How are you growing your business? How are you doing that? And it sounds like this awareness, this intuitive awareness and recognizing the immediateness of this is actually part of that.

Rohit Maini 44:26
Oh, absolutely. And one big elements that actually I’ve spoken to a lot of friends and colleagues about is to your point, around how you’re growing your consultancy firm. A huge part of that, you know, is the team. That’s what you’re really selling. A huge part of that is me. As you have to acknowledge your position within the firm, my head of marketing at Business can, all the way through to the lead accountants here at Apex. Of course, they’re important, well qualified, et cetera, a number of years. But, you know, ultimately the business is represented by them, but also by myself. And so your personal branding and what you put out there and the podcasts that we host and the concepts that we talk about all has to generally filter into the wider ecosystem of our business and our business plan and what we want people to learn about us. A huge element of the podcast I host is that I just want people to get to know me a little bit and get to know my clients and get them be inspired. But ultimately it’s, do I trust this person to be my accountant? Because being an accountant’s pretty trusted position, and I’ll be managing things that most people probably won’t ever know about. If you ever ask someone, how much do you make? And there’s always that little bit of judgment where that’s my first question. So even I’ve had to get over these little cultural things straight away.

Jess Dewell 45:35
We’re asking the questions that people usually wait until the third date. I love that, Rohit.

Rohit Maini 45:41
I jump straight to third date. That’s the thing. We have to. Because personal branding is huge and how you put that out there, there’s obviously your charm and you know what you’re able to do when someone’s in front of you, which is amazing, of course, but at the same time, what if you’re not in front of someone and you need to get the word out and there’s a referral that you want to encourage your customers to make? How do you get people to come to you? How do you just. You can’t just whip up a Facebook ad and chuck it out there and get a thousand clients. It’s not how it works. You have to do a culmination of lots of little things that build up into a story about who you are and why you do business and what you do that will attract people to come towards you. And if you don’t build that story properly, including who you are as a person, to authentically connect with people, then you’re gonna struggle. Yes, you can sit there and analyze your strategy and all the rest of it, but I’ll take going out to a networking event and meeting people and telling people, we can do the best job for you and better than anyone else.

Jess Dewell 46:40
What makes it bold to do what it takes to, to make the best decision for our business right now?

Rohit Maini 46:47
I spoke about ego before. I think what boldness requires and humility. And I think bringing yourself to a level where you can really be brave and take that decision. Because take running a podcast, for example. Putting yourself out there is an extremely public affair. You could build this wonderful bit of content. We could have this wonderful episode, and if three people listen to it, heartbroken, I’ll be gut-wrenched. I’ll be like, we’ve had this wonderful conversation. Three people are going to listen to it. I know one’s going to be my mom and one’s going to be my wife. So I don’t know who’s on your side. Jess.

Jess Dewell 47:23
Two more.

Rohit Maini 47:24
Oh, fantastic. There we go. We got. We’ve got four people.

Jess Dewell 47:27
We got four.

Rohit Maini 47:28
We’re climbing. But it’s one of those things where you put that out there and you get four views, but you put that out there and someone looks at it and will might judge you for it and go look at them. They’re putting so much effort in and they’re only getting four views. What’s the point? And the thing about entrepreneurship is that it does require a lot of bravery and boldness and courage and taking that step. If every limited company is registered publicly and so someone can look up my company name, look up some basic financials about me and what we’re trying to achieve, and form a pretty good opinion about what we do. And that’s so public and it feels a bit exposing. It’s not quite walking around naked, but it does feel a little bit. I’m out there and we’re out there. That’s why I referenced sort of humility. That was the first thing when you answer asking that question. Humility came to mind because you’ve got to bring yourself down to a level where you’re ready to be out there, to be challenged to anything we’ve talked about on this conversation. I would love it if someone commented and challenged us and said, have you thought about this and you didn’t talk about that? And then we can explain ourselves and generate a discussion and hopefully try to articulate something ourselves better or learn something. Maybe there’s someone in the audience that has said I execute DEI policies and what you just said was a bunch of nonsense. This is how it really works and we will be humbled and we will learn and we will educate ourselves from that person. Grow and be better entrepreneurs. Humility, I think, is the key to being bold so that you can have that willingness to take that big step.

Jess Dewell 48:56
Every single time I have a conversation, I take away something that I want to share with 25 people. I know when you’re listening to this podcast, you’re also listening for that and will have something that you want to share. In the comments, I would like for you to engage with us. What is that thing that you want to tell 25 people from this program? Here’s why it’s important. It’s important because yeah, there are going to be how-to’s. Yes, there are going to be steps. Yes. You’re going to be like, oh, I wish I wrote that down. I wish I wasn’t doing this and I could actually take action on that right now. But guess what? You’re not. So engage right now because that one thing you want to share with others will be the thing that you can figure out how to incorporate in your business, in your workflow, in your style tomorrow.

Announcer 49:47
Jess hosts the Bold Business Podcast to provide insights for building a resource-resilient, profitable business by deeply understanding your growth strategy, ensuring market relevance and your company’s future. It is bold to deeply understand your growth strategy with your host Jess Dewell. Get more information about how to drive solutions and reset your growth [email protected] thank you for joining us and special thanks to our post-production team at The Scott Treatment.