"Be proactive and accept the realities."
Dr. Charles Margerison Tweet
Dr. Charles Margerison, resident of Australia and founder of Amazing People Worldwide, is a Psychologist. He has consulted widely for major organizations in the fields of organizational and educational psychology.
He was previously a Professor of Management at Cranfield University, UK, and the University of Queensland, Australia. He founded Amazing People Worldwide in 2006 and is supported by a dedicated global team. He previously co-founded Emerald Insights, and Team Management Systems and has authored more than 30 books.
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We’re happy that you could join us today! Please introduce yourself to our readers. What’s your story?
Dr. Charles Margerison: I am a psychologist by profession and an entrepreneur by inclination. Having left school at 16, I spent a few years at the operations level in social services work, prior to studying at the London University School of Economics. That enabled me to become a teacher during which time I gained a PhD in educational psychology. However, my interest in business led me to join with others to found the company that became Emerald Publications – a journal publishing business, which is now the world leader in its field. Since then, I have founded other ventures such as:-
- Amazing People Worldwide – with biographies of over 500 world achievers.
- Amazing People Schools – with character and wellbeing resources for Primary and Secondary students.
- Imagineland – the creative world for early learners to explore, igniting creativity and inspiring imaginations.
- Can Do Kids Band – a virtual music group that follows the music and learns from the music and cultures across the globe.
CEOs and leaders usually have different motives and aspirations when getting started. Let’s go straight to the beginning. What was your primary goal for starting your business? Was it wealth, respect, or to offer a service that would help improve lives?
Dr. Charles Margerison: Fascination with the business challenges and opportunities attracted me. The first business, in journal publishing, did not make a profit for 9 years. However, I enjoyed the collaboration with colleagues. I learned a lot about persistence, teamwork and even more about myself. Therefore, my reasons for starting businesses are always a reflection of what interests me. I am fortunate to have the investment capital to transform ideas into educational and career development applications, which I hope will have commercial value and repay the costs.
Also, I have always been inspired by the way people of achievement managed to succeed. They had less equipment than we have today, so I feel we can learn a lot from their work and thought processes. I enjoy discovering how they succeeded and like sharing the points with students and adults.
Tell us about 2 things that you like and two things that you dislike about your industry. Share what you’d like to see change and why.
Dr. Charles Margerison: The educational resources industry and publishing in general, is changing very rapidly. Not long ago it was based on printed books. Now, there are websites, videos, computer games, animations, apps, simulations, virtual reality and artificial intelligence, plus other resources. Also, access via YouTube, Google, and other online channels are easy and cost effective.
Quality education resources are costly and complex to produce, and there isn’t a guarantee on your return on investment. However, the process and production of all involved is worth the effort and cost.
Companies around the world are rapidly changing their work environment and organizational culture to facilitate diversity. How do you see your organizational culture changing in the next 3 years and how do you see yourself creating that change?
Dr. Charles Margerison: Since the inception of the current business, in 2006, I adopted a virtual way of working, as we have colleagues in the USA, England and Australia. So, working from home, emails, mobile phones and more recently video conferences, have been our main ways of communicating. Regular online meetings, with clear agendas and action point summaries, have ensured coordination.
This has proved valuable, particularly since problems associated with Covid have impacted business. This has led to diversity in terms of the people who work on the projects and integrating their work preferences into an international team. We are an agile organization and my view is that we need to continue to adapt to meet the market and world conditions at the time. It is all about action learning! So far, we’ve proven ourselves capable of doing this successfully – maybe our amazing achievers have inspired the team!
According to the Michigan State University “An organization’s culture is responsible for creating the kind of environment in which the business is managed, and has a major impact on its ultimate success or failure.” What kind of culture has your organization adopted and how has it impacted your business?
Dr. Charles Margerison: We are a creative company where our people write stories, songs, and develop animations and artistic innovation Those activities require cooperation and the exploration of new opportunities, rather than following set rules. People define our culture by the way they communicate with each other. I encourage positive and supportive conversations. The fact that our senior management lives on three different continents means we meet for business purposes, not for office politics. We are an innovative business, so there is the excitement of seeing hard work reflected in new products.
Richard Branson once famously stated “There’s no magic formula for great company culture. The key is just to treat your staff how you would like to be treated.” and Stephen R. Covey admonishes to “Always treat your employees exactly as you want them to treat your best customers. What’s your take on creating a great organizational culture?
Dr. Charles Margerison: Respect for ideas, cooperation in problem-solving, ability to learn from experience, and seizing opportunities – these are four behaviors that I encourage with appreciation. Also, I make it clear that life comes first and work should be fitted around personal priorities. So, colleagues make their doctor, dentist, holiday and other personal arrangements, as required, and do not have to ask for time off permission. That means there are no set hours of work.
Each person decides when and where they will make their contributions and can be in control of their daily life. That requires self-regulation, integrity, trust and living one’s promises and commitments amongst all team members.
The overwhelming majority of more than 9,000 workers included in a recent Accenture survey on the future of work said they felt a hybrid work model would be optimal going forward, a major reason for that being the improved work-life balance that it offers. How do you promote work-life balance at your company?
Dr. Charles Margerison: My philosophy is that we work to live, not live to work. We are a research and development publishing company, so in practice that means people can work from home snd decide the hours they choose to work. This is different than, for example, in a hospital where it is necessary to work to the hours required by the needs of patients. So, we are able to provide high flexibility and it is up to each team member to decide the work-life balance, and not something that central management steers.
How would you describe your company’s overall culture? Give us examples.
Dr. Charles Margerison: I prefer a lifestyle where I have flexibility, choice and opportunity. Therefore, I let my colleagues know that those principles apply to all members. So far, I have found that colleagues find it unusual in the first month to have such discretion. Those that enjoy it stay, and those who want more rules, regulations and structure tend to leave.
The culture therefore is based on self-management to achieve the collective objectives agreed.
It is believed that a company’s culture is rooted in a company’s values. What are your values and how do they affect daily life at the workplace?
Dr. Charles Margerison: Our organization creates character and wellbeing resources for schools and corporates. Therefore, it is important that we practice what we preach. Our resources support major principles, such as fairness, kindness, respect, inclusiveness, sharing, cooperation. These are not commandments, but expectations. Open discussion is encouraged so that if expectations are not met, the issues can be addressed in meetings. The reality is that the culture is a function of many mutual negotiations, rather than top-down edicts.
Share with us one of the most difficult decisions you had to make, this past year 2021, for your company that benefited your employees or customers. What made this decision so difficult and what were the positive impacts.
Dr. Charles Margerison: We continued to invest despite the uncertainty arising due to Covid. Time will tell if we invested in the right products. During this difficult time, our wellbeing products, in particular, were a much welcome resource and we allowed teachers and students complimentary access. We felt we needed to do our part in supporting schools. Never before have character strengths such as resilience, perseverance, courage and kindness been more important. Our Amazing People act as powerful role models and inspire a whole-school approach to character and wellbeing that is truly transformative. In doing so, our staff also had continuity and security in their work-life, which in turn helped their own wellbeing and morale.
Indeed, we have won multiple awards for wellbeing and been awarded the Company Of Character kitemark by the Association of Character Education.
An organization’s management has a deep impact on its culture. What is your management style and how well has it worked so far?
Dr. Charles Margerison: As an innovator and entrepreneur, I dream up many ideas and welcome the ideas of others. However, I recognize I do not have strengths in operational details.
Therefore, I take a team approach and find people who are good at accounting, law, editorial, administration, negotiation and other important areas. My job is to coordinate and bring people together in the right project team combinations and change those when required. That means I manage by action learning. In effect, I study the individual and team behaviors and adapt the organization through discussion and mutual agreement to the external needs and realities.
Every organization suffers from internal conflicts, whether functional or dysfunctional. Our readers would love to know, how do you solve an internal conflict?
Dr. Charles Margerison: Be proactive and accept the realities. Focus on people’s preferences. Separate those who can work together, from those who cannot. Put together those who prefer each other’s way of working and help them cooperate. They will create positive energy and results. In short, do not force people into stress-filled relationships. Develop the structure to align people who respect each other’s ability to achieve the objectives.
According to Culture AMP, Only 40% of women feel satisfied with the decision-making process at their organization (versus 70% of men), which leads to job dissatisfaction and poor employee retention. What is your organization doing to facilitate an inclusive and supportive environment for women?
Dr. Charles Margerison: We have a central team of 10 people, who contract with and manage external companies for the delivery of musical, technical, artistic, and administrative services from independent organizations. The central team are all women apart from myself. They all work from home, or a location of their choice. They can call a meeting if they send an email with an agenda. So, it is up to each person to include themselves. We do not have a central head office building. The external project companies are based in Australia, India and the UK, and they are responsible for their own human resource policies.
What role do your company’s culture and values play in the recruitment process and how do you ensure that it is free from bias?
Dr. Charles Margerison: We recruit mainly based on the recommendations of staff members and people we know. This has proven to be a very good medium for gaining trustworthy people working in our team. Also, those who perceive the value in the work-life balance we can offer them, as well as the opportunity to manage their own time well, tend to thrive in this type of arrangement.
We’re grateful for all that you have shared so far! We would also love to know if there was one thing that you could improve about your company’s culture, what would it be?
Dr. Charles Margerison: Restrictions on travel, due to the Covid viruses, have reduced our face-to-face meetings, but I am pleased that our way of communicating has continued. However, to recruit new members it would be good if we could meet them in person.
Beyond, that I would like to see the period between idea development and effective commercial applications reduced. We have an excellent team of producers. Now, we need an excellent team to market our many innovative educational resources.
Business is all about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities for growth. What do you see as the real challenge right now?
Dr. Charles Margerison: Overcoming covid fatigue, in general, is a challenge. It is all around us – in our own business and team, our customers, our alliances, and in our personal lives. Our core buzzword is INSPIRATION and that is what we do. We inspire people, via powerful exemplars, that there is hope and that there are opportunities there to be seized and won. If you believe it, you can be it. We believe in powering up character strengths for positive change.
This has been truly insightful and we thank you for your time. Our final question, however, might be a bit of a curveball. If you had a choice to either fly or be invisible, which would you choose and why?
Dr. Charles Margerison: We do both, as we are a virtual organization that flies by the proverbial ‘seats of our pants.’ We fly via emails that go round the world in seconds by internet based magic. We also fly via virtual online meetings, as we all have the equivalent of a television broadcast station from our homes.
At the same time, we are invisible. Many members of our organization would not know each other if they walked past each other in the street. Our personal names are not household brands, though many will know our product brand names.
Yes, we are invisible and fly high. May we long succeed in doing so.
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Dr. Charles Margerison for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Dr. Charles Margerison or his company, you can do it through his – Linkedin Page
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