Family business
Today is the first day of the second generation of Wadds Inc. We’re relaunching the professional advisory firm as a family business.
Wadds Inc. is transitioning to become a family business. It’s one of the original forms of regenerative business models.
In practice that means operating the business to support our family, working with people that inspire us where we can make a difference and investing in projects in our communities aligned to our values.
You can read our manifesto on our website. It’s where I want to focus the remainder of my career.
Sarah Waddington CBE will join the business over the next six months and will build a portfolio of her own clients. She’s run her own agency for more than a decade and built the brand and proposition for Wadds Inc. She’s also proofread more than a million words on my blog and in my books.
We work well together. Our professional relationship and mutual respect was the foundation of our personal relationship and love for each other. That relationship was tested during the pandemic. We came out on top, personally and professionally.
A campervan business, Socially Mobile, and Wadds Inc. were all created during that period. We also established a deep meaning in our relationship.
Building a regenerative business is a radically different mindset and value system to the capitalist model of growing a business to create an exit. I’ve done that twice and it’s not very satisfying.
We want to build on the work we’ve done with creative agencies and communication teams and deliver sustainable value for great people doing great things in the creative industry space.
We’ve been inspired by two of Wadds Inc. clients on this journey.
John Brown, Lois Brown, and Sara Collinge have built Don’t Cry Wolf as a model activist agency supporting brands with environmental and social concerns.
Amanda Lowe at Story has been a trailblazer for us. She’s brought onboard her partner Tom, a talented new journalist, editor, and video storyteller, to develop a creative offer and achieve a greater equilibrium between work and family.
Working with your partner and wider family is not for the faint hearted. Quarterly reviews take on a whole new meaning. It requires brutal transparency and honesty.
My Mum has helped with the back office at Wadds Inc. since we launched. She holds us to account with a discipline equal to any tax inspector. That’s a good thing.
Sarah and I debate everything from gender fluidity to a vegan lifestyle, and from economic policy to the Oxford comma. We always land in a better place.
Any concerns about working with your partner or family are outweighed by the opportunity of having the freedom and support to do work you love with people you love.
We are incredibly lucky. I’m excited to see the future full of opportunities that we can help organisations build.
