Founder and Chairman Chris Niarchos
‘The culture of a company is like music in a nightclub — the type of music you play affects the people who want to come in’, Appco Chairman and Founder Chris Niarchos told a conference for independent owners from the Appco network.
Attracting the right people to a business and helping them fulfil their own potential was a key theme of the conference, with speakers Michael Scully and Mark Gallagher also touching on the issue.
Chris, speaking to the owners of independent marketing companies from the Appco Network, encouraged them to think about the sort of office culture they wanted to create.
‘If you want your office to be about ambition, sell ambition and you’ll attract ambitious people; if you want to attract innovators, make your culture about innovation’.
Regardless of business model, whether attracting staff or contractors, Chris argued that creating the right office culture was the most important part of getting the right people in a business.
Innovation was another theme highlighted in the conference, with owners encouraged to look outside of their comfort zone for opportunities.
‘Businesspeople need to get out of their comfort zone’, said Chris. Success in business is about looking at competitors, analysing their success, and making changes to your own model to move forward.
A similar point was made by Michael Scully, a successful businessman from within the Appco Network, who added that long-term success could be as simple as the cumulative effect of making small, 1% changes in your business. Scully told owners that success isn’t always overnight, nor is easy, but small changes over time can create lasting business success.
Returning to comfort zones, Chris said that ‘leaving the comfort zone is like asking someone to dance — it’s terrifying at first, but its ultimately worth it; the satisfaction that you get from succeeding is worth the threat of failure.