Roda meets...Ali Little
Ali Little
Ali started his career in music, managing independent UK hip-hop label, Grand Central Records. He then moved on to working in digital marketing, taking on senior management positions at OMD and Electronic Arts, before joining GWI (www.gwi.com), working for eight years as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Product Officer. Ali is now focused on advising and investing in start-ups and helping successful entrepreneurs deploy their wealth for social good through his work with Founders Pledge.
1. How do you approach designing strategy for your organisation?
The key word here is designing. You must start with a clear understanding of who the strategy is for; not your investors, not your customers, but for your people. Your people need – and deserve – clarity on what they are being asked to do each day and crucially, why. You should be able to explain your strategy in a single sentence. Ambiguity is the enemy; the number one goal of your strategy is to enable your people to be intentional and autonomous in creating their own answers to well defined business problems. Ambiguity causes people to ‘spin wheels’ and waste their time on pointless work.
The key principles I try to follow are clarity and inspiration. These are essential for any strategy to work. Your strategy needs to inspire people – inspiration leads to great work. And, for me, purpose is key to inspiration. A sole focus on shareholder value no longer cuts it, your people – not to mention your partners, suppliers, customers etc. – just don’t care enough about your bottom line to make that the only thing that drives them. That does not mean financial success isn’t important, but winning means more than just that.
No one wants a boring strategy! People will not buy in to something they do not find engaging. That said, I would be aware of the wildly original strategy. It is always tempting for start-ups and scale-ups to build their strategy from the ground up, whereas there are useful role models and strategies that many businesses can adapt to their unique context and use to great effect. For example, both Nike and Under Armour follow very similar brand endorsement lead growth strategies, but they do it in different ways that play to their strengths and weaknesses. It can be a powerful way to build clarity and buy-in for your team if you can point to a success story and say, ‘we’re going to do it like this company did.’
2. What were the biggest challenges you faced when implementing your strategy?
I’ve found the hardest challenge has been getting buy-in from the organization on the key insights that underpinned our strategy, especially in the early days when we didn't have much data to reference. There need to be wildly compelling insights to inspire people and move them to really commit to a strategy and come with you on the journey.
To get buy-in at a fundamental level you need durable insights that can become the mantra of the business. Sometimes those insights are obvious, but sometimes they are not, and then you need to explain the potential paths, the reason behind deciding on that path, and why you're following your chosen strategy. You should not ask people to ‘disagree and commit’ to something as fundamental as strategy and you should always be able to answer the key question from your teams – what have you said ‘no’ to in order to do this?
3. How do you ensure your plans and priorities are understood by teams across the organisation?
Repetition is the key to success here. You need robust and durable insights to drive your strategy and articulate them succinctly. You can then repeat that message across your channels at every opportunity...town halls, emails from leadership, presentations, performance frameworks...all this will reinforce the fundamentals of your strategy and generate buy-in. This takes discipline and must be consistent across all levels and teams in the business to build a clear thread of understanding.
4. What resources do you use to help you perform better at work? (tools, books, courses, podcasts, events)
All of the above! I am always trying to learn new things. That said some of the resources I’ve gone back to time and again are Paul Graham’s (Founder of Y Combinator) essays, and design thinking books such as Change by Design by Tim Brown. Learning about human-oriented design changed my way of thinking about all aspects of business.
5. What is the best piece of advice you have ever been given, personal or professional?
Firstly, keep things simple. We can all fall victim to getting pulled into the weeds. There is enough complexity in business without adding to it unnecessarily!
Secondly, Writing has power, even if it is only for you to read. Writing forces you to simplify and clarify your thoughts, which helps you discover new aspects to the issue you are exploring.
6. In the last five years, what new belief, behaviour or habit has most improved your life?
Becoming a parent changed my worldview overnight. Business can get myopic, and you can easily get tunnel vision – especially in an intense high growth setting. Having children reminded me how multi-dimensional and rich life is. Getting outside your bubble and speaking to more people outside of business gives you a wider and clearer perspective. Remember, there is a life outside of business!
7. What are your biggest frustrations in your profession or area of expertise?
Any solution in search of a problem! I have found that the enemy to my professional satisfaction is pursuing ideas that lead nowhere and waste time and effort. Nowadays I try not to get attached to ideas and solutions until I’m sure that they solve a real problem.
8. What has been the most worthwhile investment in yourself that you have ever made?
From the hard skills perspective there are always things that are worth learning like coding, UX design or learning about new technologies.
Less expectedly, in my career I’ve found developing my soft skills to hugely rewarding. Using psychographic profiling like CliftonStrengths was mind-blowing. It gave me new tools to understand my own responses and behaviors...and those of others. This changed my approach to leadership, giving me a great framework to use when leading.
9. When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do?
If I am wrestling with an issue at work, I always try to go back to the principles of design thinking – that's my safe space. Asking what the problem is we are trying to solve and who we are solving it for brings my focus back.
Outside of work – and the older I get – the easier it is to clear my mind. Anything from a 10-minute walk to reading a book or making music are effective to get me into a different headspace.
10. If you could, knowing what you do today, what advice would you give to yourself at 18 years old?
Firstly, to invest in building soft skills earlier in my career. The more self-aware you are the better, and the more able you are to understand others' world views the better; it is so simple, yet so powerful.
Secondly, to be less defensive about my own creative ideas. There were times in my career when I got feedback from others that was hard to hear but was very needed! I’m grateful for that now.
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