To be a better leader – this is the goal this year of James Murray, Founder and Managing Director of Work Healthy Australia. And for him to drive himself forward in achieving this goal, he recognises the value that the mentorship program is offering entrepreneurs like him, who aims for continuous personal and professional growth.
James is thankful to have Steve Sacks, Chairman of Sonnant, as his mentor because of the value that their relationship has brought to James’ professional development. “My journey for my self this year is to become a better leader, which means to become a better listener. Steve has been very helpful. Even if I've only changed 1% or 2%, I attribute a lot of that to some of my conversations with Steve because he's just such a good listener,” James professed.
For both James and Steve, their mentor-mentee relationship is like a two-way street where they get to learn from each other and be inspired by what the other has done in his entrepreneurial journey, notwithstanding the differences they have in their respective phase in the journey.
Restoring things to make them more efficient
Steve has enjoyed being a mentor to James because of the many facets of entrepreneurship that James brings to the table. “I've enjoyed hearing James' agenda of activity, like the amount of stuff that he packs into a week is pretty inspiring. But I've enjoyed telling him to slow down as well. I've found great value in learning about a completely different sort of business sector. Well, it’s two actually, between the egg farm and Work Healthy Australia. And also, I like hearing about James' various non-work activities like his passion for old Saabs,” Steve shared.
Whilst Steve is learning from James’ involvement in such a diverse range of activities – both business and personal interests – he is also imparting with James some of his learnings from his entrepreneurial journey. “One of the things we've talked about has been around where James’ company is at now, with 70 staff members. I've taken a couple of companies from startup up to that number of people, and some of the challenges that you face when you get to around 25 and then around 50 are that the management structures typically need to change. Some of the control needs to devolve. Some of that I learned painfully and I think most founders learn painfully even if they hear it from somebody else. But I've tried to reflect on that in some of the conversations with James as he goes through that same challenge. I'm sure he'll get through it,” Steve said.
From Steve’s experience, James could draw out his thoughts and realisations and then apply them to his business, hoping to make it better, the same way as to making his Saabs up and running. “It’s helpful hearing about what you have to do at 25 people, which is a lot different than what you have to do at 50 and how different those businesses are because, for me, I've just been adding a couple of people at a time. I haven't looked at it like it’s 25 then 50. That reflective view, back in the rearview mirror, is helpful because as an entrepreneur, sometimes we don't want to let go of things, especially if they were like our favourite thing or they were something that we used to think we're good at. That ability to recognise that you've got to let some stuff go to let other people do well is a great experience to hear,” James reflected.
He added, “When Steve shares some war stories from a couple of the other business he was in – some of his tough times, the hard things that he's had to get through and the hard decisions he's needed to make – those are awesome learnings because typically in my experience, I've had to make every mistake to learn from it. Those are much cheaper lessons to work my way through, so I appreciate how genuine and how deeply Steve shares them with me.”
Slowing down but moving ahead to the future
Driving a bus loaded with a lot of people towards the goal can often be tiresome for entrepreneurs. Trying to accelerate their speed to get to their destination faster can sometimes take a toll on their wellbeing, which may affect their families, businesses and those who rely on them.
In James’ situation, “There's a lot of people around me right now. I've got 70 staff members and four kids as well, and everyone just wants a little bit of me. They just want to pull me here and there. Sometimes, I don't know how to say ‘no’. It's great that I like to help people but it's also really hard on me. What I've learned from Steve, and he’s good at telling me this, is to just slow down a little bit or make a better choice or just find some time to turn down the volume in my brain and chill out. I think that's good because no one who works with me is going to tell me that. Having someone external to me who can just say, ‘hey James, grab a hold of that volume button and turn it down a couple of notches.’ It's helpful because I can't see myself from an outsider's perspective. That deeper reflection from a good place has been helpful. I have learned a lot from that.”
“Steve's been successful and he's done a lot of great things. He's in a different phase than me. That phase where you get to pick and choose what you want to do and you don't have a lot of people who are on to you all the time, that ability to embrace your own choices and then also be disciplined within your own choices and enjoy those, it has given me a lot of hope for the future and a lot of inspiration to create my own life,” James remarked.
Driving the Mentorship Program forward
As a former EOer himself, Steve appreciates how mentoring is done in the organisation. “The past few years, I've been doing increased involvement in more informal types of mentorship situations, but given this is EO and I can relate to the culture and the ethos of experience-sharing rather than telling people what to do, I thought that it'd be a good one to have a more formalised kind of mentor-mentee relationship. I think part of it is that we're trying to keep to a reasonable structure here. I think it has worked well trying to structure the program and have some intentionality into what you're going to cover and how you prepare them.”
On the other hand, for James who is currently the Mentorship Chair, the program is a significant pillar of the chapter. So, while he works towards further strengthening the program, he also participates in it as a mentee and gets various benefits from it. “I think it's a great program because if you look at the calibre of mentors that we've attracted into the program this year in Melbourne, and we're talking about over 30 mentors now in in the program, we've got some incredibly experienced individuals and they're volunteering which is amazing. I love the program and I’m going to do it next year. Because the maximum that you can do in EO is three years, I think I'll probably keep it for the third year. I’ll try and build it up to be a real cornerstone of the chapter experience for the members of Melbourne. I don't think there are any downsides being part of it.”
Moreover, James couldn’t stress enough the idea that “Mentorship creates the environment through which both of us can share our experiences for mutual benefit. I hope that Steve would like to continue our relationship after the official mentorship is over. This isn't a business transaction and the mentorship relationships provide critical value that is added to our membership in Melbourne. This is part of our entrepreneurial journey where we can continue to learn and grow.”
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If you’re an EO Melbourne Member, have you already signed up for the next mentorship intake? Find out more on our Mentorship page.