112: The trailblazers fostering an inclusive culture: In conversation with Nicky Regazzoni and George Blizzard, Co-Founders, The PR Network

The Elephant in the Room

Shownotes:

I talk a lot about women, mothers/carers, mid-career professionals, and leadership. Of course, these are intersecting identities that coalesce at different points in life to create additional barriers for working women. We are not even talking about race, disability, ethnicity, ageism etc. And I talk about these issues because I was squeezed out of what I thought should have been a fulfilling career. What happened to me, does not have to happen to others, and so the aspiration is to get women to understand where the barriers may lie and be more intentional about their journey. For my part, would it have helped if there were more women in leadership at the time, women for whom their careers were as important as their personal lives? I definitely think so.

I wish I had known a lot of the women, I know now - at that time. Amongst those who have been an inspiration for me in my second innings as the founder of a purpose led consultancy are Nicky Regazzoni and Georgina Blizzard 👩‍💻 of The PR Network. So, I was delighted when they agreed to be guests on The Elephant in the Room podcast.

Both, Nicky and George are trail blazers championing flexible, remote working and job shares when they set up The PR Network 18 years ago. That The PR Network is a B-Corp and thriving says something about the model (family first) - that it works. At a time when women are still struggling to find support and balance or make it to leadership positions - The PR Network is a testament to their belief in the model. In the world we inhabit today (back to controlling location and time), we definitely need more role models and allies who have the bravery and imagination to do things differently - if we want women to thrive.

Massive congratulations to both Georgina Blizzard 👩‍💻 and Nicky Regazzoni, for winning the inaugural Global Women in Public Relations and International Communications Consultancy Organisation Angela Oakes Award. For those who don’t know, the award recognises those who have smashed glass ceilings and changed the game for empowering female leadership, making a significant contribution to improving the landscape for women working in PR.

Their 18 year journey has been a journey of learning but also inspiring to say the least. Head to the podcast to hear Georgina Blizzard 👩‍💻 and Nicky Regazzoni talk about values, purpose, creating cohesive cultures, challenges facing the industry, skills for the future, strategies for promoting women in leadership, and what’s next for the PR Network.

#womenfounders #womeninleadership #inclusiveculture #familyfirst #trailblazers

Link in the comments 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾

Podcast transcript:

Sudha: Good afternoon, Nicky. Good afternoon, George. Wonderful to have you as guests on the Elephant in the Room podcast today.

George: Hi there, Sudha. Good afternoon. Thanks for having us.

Sudha: Great. So let's get started with the questions. We normally start with an introduction. Do you have an elevator pitch, Nicky?

Nicky: We do. The very short version is that we are a global communications agency powered by experts.

And what I mean by that is that we have a footprint all over the world, we are in all four continents. But our difference is that we're based on a network of experienced people such as yourself, who have experience between them across all sectors and disciplines, and we can cover most geographic markets.

And we have a team of nine people in the UK including George and myself, and that core team manages the base of experts all over the world, precisely according to our clients' needs. We work in the technology and consumer sectors, and on the tech side we've got brands such as Western Digital, Workday, Dropbox, what three words.

And on our consumer team, we work with Beyond Meat and Zipcar and Lexus and Toyota. So real kind of breadth of clients that are using our services.

Sudha: Wow. Sounds incredible. And it also sounds like a different model from what you hear of the traditional agencies. So very interesting to hear that.

So we're all shaped by our experiences, by culture, people, education, reading. What would you say were your biggest influences? And of course this is building towards some of the questions I'll ask you later. George, would you like to start on this?

George: Yeah, I think about this quite a lot actually and I think it changes.

So I'm often inspired, I actually can walk away out of a meeting and think, gosh, that was so inspirational and take something from that. However, probably the one person who inspired me the most over my life would have been my father. So he had an incredible work ethic. He traveled all over the world.

He kind of opened my eyes this kind of global workforce and encouraged us all to work. I mean, it's no surprise that, I'm one of three sisters, we all work in business. Two of us have our own company and actually Harriet works with Nicky and I and has done since the beginning, pretty much.

I'd also say my children, that's you know, big family theme here. I've got three daughters as well, but two of them are neurodivergent and one actually, in particular, is very dyslexic. But I've watched her, which actually, even myself, I probably could have written her off when she was about 12, because she always had this big goal of wanting to be a doctor.

And actually, she completely powered through and has achieved that now. So she's off to medical school. So I think, for me, it's that work ethic, that sense of never giving up and that kind of the world's your oyster. It's that kind of thing that has inspired me.

Sudha: Wow. Nicky?

Nicky: Yeah, I mean, on the family side, I think my grandfather, he left school at 14 and kind of put himself through school and university ended up becoming a head teacher.

He again inspired me to have that really strong work ethic. But in terms of kind of business people and leaders, I've always admired the late Anita Roddick for her kind of commitment to sustainability and the belief that you could build a good business with purpose at its heart and balanced profit and people and planet at the same time and still have a really successful enterprise.

And I think, I know we'll come on to talk a little bit about our business and what's important to us in that sense. But I would say that she's certainly been a really inspirational figure for me.

Sudha: Yeah, this is like so interesting because when I ask people about, who are the people who most inspire them?

Often there are a lot of people close to home who have been the people who have inspired us the most. And of course there are people outside also, Anita Roddick is a great example. So congratulations to both of you. The PR network is 18 this year and you all have been partying nonstop for some time.

What were the drivers for setting up your own consultancy and also having that operating model, 18 years ago when it was sort of unheard of, right? Nicky?

Nicky: Yeah, I can take that. George and I both worked in leadership positions in traditional agencies for sort of seven or eight years each.

And we'd both noticed that it seemed to be really difficult as women kind of progressed up the workforce particularly positions on boards to balance that with their family life. So George actually had a baby was on maternity leave and I'd been freelancing and I'd noticed that there were lots of people who'd have taken the decision like me to jump out of that traditional trajectory and look at working in a different way for themselves.

So George and I had this idea of building an agency with a different kind of model different way of working really, which would be based not on people in the room or in an office, but people who have complementary skills and experience that we could bring together in virtual teams for the benefit of clients.

And there was nothing out there like this at all at the time. And it wasn't necessarily going to be a lifestyle business. We thought, actually, this does have a really strong commercial basis. And certainly the people that we were taking advice from, run agencies and were client side, we thought, actually, this definitely has legs.

And we also tested the idea on some of the people in our network who had some great experience and skills and we thought might like to join forces with us, but still remain independent. So we thought, let's go for it and set up a company, kind of see where we go. At that time, we didn't plan or intend to have staff, but actually the business model did prove to be very strong quite quickly. So now, as I mentioned before, we do have nine staff, but the operating model today really remains the same. So we have now a very large network of people who I mentioned earlier. So we've got 1,318, I think, in our database at the moment. So those aren't people working on our accounts at any one point in time, but they're people who, have the right level of skill and experience.

They've worked for at least 15 years or so. And they sort of fit our criteria in terms of work ethic and caliber and share our values and so on. So now we bring these people together in teams, they work exactly according how they want. So they choose their clients, they choose when and where they work.

And then we match it to the clients. So we look at the brief, we look at what experience they need, what sector experience where those clients are when they need in market experience, and then we build a team based around that. So there isn't any fat, it's all about smarter working, because we don't have an office, we still don't have an office, but the client fees are not sort of subsidizing expensive overhead.

So it really is. about matching and using our connections on the client side and the team side to make sure that the brief is fulfilled as it needs to be. And kind of everybody's happy and it works and we keep clients for a really long time and we keep our people happy for a long time. As you mentioned earlier, very successful party is the proof of that.

Sudha: Yeah, yeah, that sounds like an incredible sort of model where you're, creating teams based around their need, rather than just having people around who may not meet the needs of the clients. But this model, as we discussed, is not something that would work.

And definitely not for such a long time, if you didn't have certain key things to hold it together. And that's my next question to you, George, probably how important are values and purpose to you remaining authentic to what the PR Network is all about. And then what does purpose mean for you at the PR Network?

George: Yeah, I think to answer your question, incredibly important. I think those drivers that Nicky just kind of talked you through are still our values to today. They've become our values. So this commitment to absolute excellence, everything we do and that commitment to our clients, but also being matched with that total flexibility that Nicky described. Like we don't prescribe how people work or in terms of what they do, but we just look for the best possible outcome for our client and the very fact that we've worked virtually and flexibly for so long as well, means that we really understand what that means. So it's not just kind of lip service to that approach, actually truly is that approach, the fact that our children, I mean, my eldest is 18, Nicky's is 17 now, we still live by those values, although our children have moved on, that flexibility, that family first approach is something that we're very, very committed to.

And I think, obviously there's members of our team and people all over the world who have very different circumstances, meaning they want to work perhaps more flexibly, whether that's because of the other pulls on their time. That's exactly how, we see it. But those values have to be matched obviously with the quality and the level of work we give our clients. In terms of purpose, and actually sometimes purpose is a very overused word, rolls our eyes when it's mentioned. But it is important to us, but it has to feel very natural, it has to feel something that we are incredibly committed to. And I think anyone that meets us or comes into our business or works with us understands our purpose immediately. And that is to do great work for great people. but in a very flexible way, in a very agile way. And that's what we've always done, now that has changed as our circumstances change, but that remains the same. And it's a very simple approach, but it's one that I think, because it's very authentic people believe in it. And I think if you're just saying things for buzzwords, people won't come along with you. Well, it's obviously those 1300 people Nicky talks about, I think are all attracted to us because there is a sense of belonging that they feel that purpose, they share that purpose.

And therefore we can bring them together and deliver great work for our clients.

Nicky: And perhaps we should talk about our B Corp accreditation as well. It's something that George and I actually wanted to go for way before COVID. We got really excited about it, thought a great framework not just to tell people what a great business we are and to rubber stamp it, but also to give us kind of a path to go along and to ensure that we keep becoming better.

And unfortunately COVID did get in the way for us and we started probably pursuing that B Corp dream about 18 months ago, and it did take a good year to get us in the position to be certified. But we got 90 percent for workers, in the workers category.

Sudha I'm sure you know how it kind of breaks down. And we were so happy with that, because George has been talking about our approach to people on both sides and I think that obviously is a great endorsement of the fact that we don't just talk the talk, we don't just say we treat people well, but obviously we do, because you can't become a B Corp without really being a business.

Sudha: Yeah, without walking the talk, so to speak. And I think this is such a wonderful way to also showcase something that we've lost probably in the past couple of decades where we've all become so work centric that we've forgotten that our individual lives are not just about work, there are other things beyond work.

There may be children caring responsibilities, but there could be passion projects, there could be anything. It could be just sitting idle and not doing anything.

George: But actually it's even better there is 'cause I think that the motivation people have because they're able to work more flexibly. The experience they have outside of work brings a lot to work. So I think having those external factors built into your life, and very much part of your working life, is brilliant. It just makes a better experience for everyone.

Sudha: Yeah, I'm sure people have less dread because I remember during the agency life, you work so intensively and such long hours that you dread some of the days because you have other commitments too. Maybe they're just administrative tasks, but you don't have enough of time in the day.

So if this frees up some time for you to do other things without feeling stressed, you'll actually bring your best self to work.

George: Absolutely. I think so, xxxxxxxxxxxx is definitely there to do that.

Sudha: Yeah. George, this is a question for you. As a virtual agency, how do you create a cohesive culture?

I mean, this is a question for everybody post COVID actually. With a remote, hybrid, intergenerational, culturally diverse workforce. It is a huge challenges and it is also a...