On Business: the one attitude you need for success - Halen Môn

On Business: the one attitude you need for success

by | Mar 21, 2024

We are delighted to be sharing the first in a series of blogs on business and entrepreneurship, from our co-founder David Lea-Wilson.

First up:  what resilience means in business, and why it’s crucial for success.

Resilience is an overused word, but an important one. Here I want to explore what it means for sustainable, responsible businesses in the mid 2020’s.

Halen Môn is in the incredibly fortunate position of having survived in business since 1997, and together with my (business and life) partner Alison, I have run two businesses before that too.

We are lucky to find ourselves handing over to the next generation, with Alison as our Managing Director, and me taking a step into retirement. We’re also very excited to have welcomed a brilliant new General Manager to the business too. 2024 is an exciting year for us.

I am sure it’s possible to overthink why we are still here as a business, and I know that a good stroke of it is luck. But a huge reason for it, I think, is we have learnt ‘resilience’ along the way. Some would say we’ve gone so far as to get the t-shirt.

Fires, floods, vandalism, thefts, Foot and Mouth, financial crises (national and our own), disasters, Brexit, engineering issues, illness, serious accidents, and of course the recent pandemic that is still very fresh in all our minds. Just a few events that come immediately to mind. There have been plenty more! All have been experienced firsthand and up close. None of these were in any business plan we have ever written.

What is resilience then? A few dictionary definitions I have looked at are:

  • The capacity to recover quickly from difficulties
  • The ability to spring back into shape; elasticity
  • The process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or stress
  • The quality of being able to return quickly to a previous good condition

For me, a more personal definition of resilience would be: 

Acceptance – there are some situations that we can’t change

Optimism – the most difficult situations often hold the greatest potential

Not being a victim – it is very unhelpful to have an attitude that it is someone else’s fault

Solution-oriented – What we can do? Never what we can’t.

Take responsibility – It’s your business and life, no one else’s.

Putting the environment pretty high up – in fact, our beautiful location is why we started our business to begin with, so we will always put it high up the agenda

Social network support – in Wales we are lucky to have business clusters, but more broadly – friends, mentors, family, friends again. Social media doesn’t cut the mustard!

Being kind – we all need kindness, even random acts of kindness generate unexpected dividends, if only just for your own well being
Looking after people – aim for happy customers, staff, owners, suppliers, and neighbours

And then there is the common sense stuff. Top of my list is planning for the five D’s – I got this from a ‘business book’ that I have since lost. Have you got a plan should any of these things happen?

  • Death
  • Divorce
  • Disagreement
  • Depression
  • Disaster

Next time – the need for focus on time management (which I am still learning.)

– DLW, March 2024

 

0
YOUR BASKET
Your basket is emptyRETURN TO SHOP
Products you might like
Calculate Shipping