Ep. 090 - How to Scale a Business When the World Keeps Changing with Ben Ramsdale and Martin Cross

Wars, economic downturns, pandemics, AI: change is no stranger in the modern day, so how do you keep scaling regardless of what the world throws at us?

Ahead of the curve, you’ll find Connect, and spearheading Connect’s digital transformation are the dynamic duo of Ben Ramsdale and Martin Cross, who join us on this week’s future-focused episode of The Company Doctor Podcast!

Tune in to learn what wins out in culture vs strategy, why going left while others go right isn’t always a bad thing, and whether the 3 year plan as we know it is dead…

Key takeaways from this episode:

• Embrace change as an opportunity, rather than a challenge

• The 3 year plan isn’t dead, but it’s not as certain as it once was

• Empower people to fail fast and innovate

Ben Ramsdale: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-ramsdale-30057010a/

Martin Cross: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martincross/

Gary Gamp: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garygamp

George Clode: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgeclode

Highlights:

“As you say Gary, we don't have to agree, but we do have to align. We debate, dispute, sometimes we argue, but when we leave that room, we do it in a unified fashion.” - 8:20 - Ben Ramsdale

“Tech is an enabler, not the end goal in itself, right? You shouldn't be buying technology on a TCO model, a total cost of ownership. You should be buying it on an ROI model, return on investment. ” - 15:30 - Martin Cross 

“AI is going through this normal adoption of technology, where you have a massive hype, then you're going to realize that it doesn't solve all of your problems in the world, and you're going to be disillusioned with it. Then you start to find the actual niches in which it can really work.” - 25:40 - Martin Cross 

“If you want to change and foster innovation, you need to build a culture where people are safe to try things and fail. If they don’t feel safe, they won’t stretch themselves, and they won’t innovate.” - 32:30 - Ben Ramsdale

“Just because everyone else in the market is doing something different, that doesn’t mean that you’re wrong - back yourself, and if you’re going to fail, then fail as fast as you can.” - 33:00 - Martin Cross