Brewdog Founder: The Untold Story Of One Britain’s Fastest Growing Companies: James Watt | E157
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Episode Highlights
Leadership
shares his journey of evolving as a leader while steering BrewDog through rapid growth. Initially managing like a sea captain, he learned to adapt his style to lead a large company, emphasizing the importance of aligning incentives and creating a community-owned, carbon-negative business 1. He acknowledges past challenges, including pushing team members too hard, and highlights the need to inspire rather than drag people along 2.
Leadership is in fact inspiring them to come with you. And when it's voluntary in terms of they know why they're going and they want to go, then all the psychological implications across multiple studies that I've read about are significantly improved.
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James reflects on the importance of understanding the "why" behind actions to effectively lead and motivate his team.
Transparency
James discusses the evolution of his leadership style, particularly the shift towards transparency and personal growth. He admits that being a CEO can be lonely and emphasizes the value of therapy in understanding oneself and improving leadership capabilities 3. This self-awareness has led to significant changes within BrewDog, including investments in HR and ethics hotlines, aiming to create a better workplace environment 4.
I think I can be a better leader if I've got someone to talk to about those things. A way to work through the difficult, challenging emotions means that I can take the best version of myself to work every single day, be the best leader I can.
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James's commitment to personal development is driven by his desire to be the best leader and father possible.
Culture
Building a strong company culture is a priority for James, who acknowledges past mistakes and the need for improvement. He stresses the importance of creating culture collaboratively with team members, rather than dictating it from the top 5. Learning from previous errors, BrewDog now involves employees in decision-making processes, resulting in more impactful initiatives like the Blueprint 6.
Let's build the culture together with our team and that's going to give us the strongest culture that we can.
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James aims to foster an inclusive environment where every team member feels valued and heard.