ABOUT MATT
"Every Business Challenge is Really a People Challenge in Disguise"
I was told, early in my career, that business success was about having the smartest strategy, the best processes, and the latest technology. Like most ambitious young people, I believed it. I was wrong.
What I've learned through building two startups, leading teams across three global agency networks, and working with businesses from North America to APAC to Europe is this: every breakthrough, every transformation, every sustained success comes down to teams who truly understand themselves and each other.
Learning the Hard Way
Building my own startups taught me what business school never could. From day one I discovered that our success had nothing to do with my brilliant plans and everything to do with enabling talented people to do what they did best. Give high performers autonomy, back them up when they need support, help them understand their own strengths and those of their teammates—that's when extraordinary things happen.
I didn't arrive at this insight through theory. I learned it through experience, through mistakes that cost me talented people I should have kept, through missed opportunities because teams weren't aligned, through the realisation that business approaches were missing the most important element: the human element.
When Things Started to Click
Whether I was scaling YouTube in the UK, growing social media across Europe and APAC or building a pioneering digital transformation hub for Coty, the truth became clear. The companies that thrived all had one thing in common: they were built on teams who craved self-knowledge and genuinely thrived on diversity of thinking.
At Dentsu Aegis, our dispersed yet aligned global team grew the Mondelez relationship by over 2000% in just two years. At Coty, we drove double-digit EBITDA growth whilst transforming how teams collaborated across continents.
The results weren't achieved through brilliant strategy alone. They happened because teams learned to trust each other and have open, honest conversations. When everyone was committed to both the outcome and each other's success—that's when great things happened.
What I See Now
I see the same things playing out in businesses everywhere: leaders trying to solve people problems with process solutions. They invest in new technologies, restructure departments, hire consultants to address various challenges, but they miss the fundamental issue. Their people don't truly understand themselves or each other.
In today's distributed, ever-changing business environment, the companies that thrive will be those whose people can work together brilliantly, regardless of where they're located or what challenges emerge. When your people understand how they and their colleagues think, communicate, and contribute best, when they can adapt to different working styles and navigate conflict constructively, when they hold each other accountable for collective success—that's when you build competitive advantages that competitors can't copy.
That's why I work with ambitious leaders who are ready to move beyond traditional approaches and build sustainable competitive advantage through their people. Because in a world where strategies