This week marks the 10th anniversary of the establishment of MASF Consulting Ltd. Since then, this small business has grown and been through many ups & downs. I'm proud of what has been achieved and learned from founding and running a specialist consultancy on Inclusive Leadership, Diversity & Executive Coaching.
In more recent years, I've even taken the plunge twice more as co-Founder of The Inclusion Foundation (in May 2023) and The Allyship Academy (in January 2025).
I'd like to share 10 lessons from these 10 years in business - see below – which include the importance of purpose, adaptability, difference, listening and human connection. Also, my views on why not to believe the hype and how old dogs can learn new tricks.
As you read, please reflect on how many of these resonate (or not) with you and what other lessons can you share.
1. Starting my own business was (and remains) the best professional decision I ever made
10 years ago this week, I formally registered my Diversity, Equity & Inclusion ('DEI') and Executive Coaching business - MASF Consulting Ltd. I was excited and nervous in equal measure. At 44 I felt that maybe I was too old to start a business. The dynamic space of DEI seemed already crowded with passionate, knowledgeable, activist, and often, youthful voices and one where I felt quite different as a white middle-aged, middle class, heterosexual, able-bodied man.
I was wrong. I had a clear purpose and real passion and that proved powerful. By 44, in fact, given my 20+ years’ experience in international business and the fact that I had been so fortunate to spend nearly two decades working and living outside of my home country, I was well placed to provide authentic support, initiative, and solutions to an international clientbase.
10 years on - now 54 - I've never been so committed to what I do and whom I support every day. Although often challenging, the satisfaction that I gained from building services and delivering to thousands of people around the world is immense. The ability to manage one's own business decisions, to be more flexible and available to my family and to feel that personally I can, even in just a small way, make a difference is rewarding. The freedom to fully express myself and the opportunity to learn so much from a diverse set of clients are things that I cherish.
2. Business development is non-linear, hard fought and at times unexpected
When I established MASF Consulting 10 years ago, I had a clear plan of what I wanted to do and for whom. I made assumptions about how my previous corporate experience would translate into networking into and securing certain individuals and supporters and businesses as clients.
I was wrong. A business plan on a whiteboard never translates into a real business on the ground. An assumption of opportunities is just that - an assumption - and one that can prove far from true. In fact, some of my initial clients came from more serendipitous scenarios. Chance meetings at a networking or industry event, sharing a cab with a business leader even though I was going the wrong way, a random internet search that led me to people or them to me and so on.
As John Amaechi says 'sometimes talent does not come in the package that you expect', and the same is true for business opportunity. I needed to cast my net wide, seek out different arenas with which to engage and constantly be open to soft connections that can - over time - result in lengthy business relationships.
3. The multiplier effect of Purpose & Passion
Doing good is good for business. It’s a cliché because there is a lot of truth in it. I have learned that by examining the inclusion of diversity under the spotlight of tangible, measurable, bottom-line impact, I believe that sustainable individual/team/organisational/societal success can be understood and achieved.
This success is reliant upon two ingredients: Our Passion (which drives a resilient relentlessness to achieve change and sustain impact in a chosen arena) and Our Purpose (an authentic belief in the need for and power of the inclusion of diversity and the positive and sustainable impact this can have across a wide spectrum).
4. Don’t believe the hype
There have been periods over the last 10 years where the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) agenda has been front and centre, with a growing momentum and seemingly global influence. That’s great, but is that sustainable? Does it require every policy, process and people decision to be up-ended and re-constituted in a new lexicon of DEI must-haves and must-dos? Was it beneficial to accelerate senior DEI recruitment and flood the market with ‘experts’?
Equally, the pendulum can swing back strongly. DEI is dead. DEI is ‘woke nonsense’. DEI is bad.
Often, the answer is in a considered, context-driven balance of activism, professionalism and business strategy.
5. The Darwin effect
Survival depends not on being the most fit or the most strong, but on being the most adaptable. Like any business, I’ve needed to navigate the dynamic waters of market trends, client concerns, societal shifts and unforeseen circumstances.
The resilience to bounce forward from adversity and adapt to changing circumstances in a world that is volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous is key, not just to survival, but to sustained success.
6. No man is an island
Founding a business and being the face of it on a day-to-day basis can be challenging and lonely. Sometimes we can dive deep into our own world (and sometimes ego) and lose sight of both the people around you and the need for people around you.
We, as humans, are sociable creatures. None of us is fully self-sufficient or fully independent. We are (and need to be) connected to a larger community.
In an increasingly technology-driven and screen-connected, and yet hyper-individualistic world, we need each other more than ever.
I’ve learned to recognise this and to draw my energy from those around me. Whether that is through professional networks, accountability groups and virtual co-working. Or through friends and family, I’ve learned that I cannot do this alone, nor should I.
7. Variety is the spice of life
I’m lucky. I love what I do. And I get to do different things all the time. Just like our bodies need to be exercised in different ways so as to develop and maintain our muscles, our minds need the same. By ensuring that I take on a variety of client projects and embrace a life learning approach to equip myself for future challenges, I have benefited from increased engagement and motivation. That’s good for me of course. And it’s good for the people and organisations I support.
8. Old dogs can learn new tricks
By early 2020, my business was doing quite well and I was confident of the future. Then came Covid and the lights went out. Meetings were cancelled, projects shelved, business development came to a halt and my diary was suddenly eerily empty. Given that my wife and I both work in the business, it is therefore our sole source of income. The future now looked uncertain.
But the tragedy of Covid also yielded opportunities. An embrace of remote working technology and the ongoing need for (now virtual) colleague interaction made the importance and influence of inclusion even more profound. Without the time spent of travel and set-up, the new ways of working driven by Covid provided us with the ability to now engage with multiple, international cohorts of clients across the same day and that has proven to be the lifeblood and heart of the business ever since.
In the past, I had been been slow to embrace technology and nervous of my ability to manage it successfully. And now, in my 50s, I leverage it seamlessly in the business and can see the real innovation and expediency that it possible from digital tools and AI. You’re never too late to learn!
9. Regrets? I’ve had a few…..
A litany of my regrets would fill too many pages. By engaging a growth mindset, I have learned to sit comfortably with regret and generate insights and motivation to keep going, sometimes in a new direction.
I originally (naively) thought that setting up a business was a way to take back control over my diary and to be more available for my family, rather than remain tethered to the corporate flywheel.
It’s not that easy. There have been times of much greater stress, longer hours and less availability to friends and family. But, over time, I found a better rhythm and an enhanced sense of achievement and flexibility.
Buried in the business of ‘busyness’ has made me drop the ball or miss opportunities from time to time. Back in 2018, I had a contract with a book publisher to deliver what would have been one of the very first books on DEI in Ireland at the time. I held numerous expert interviews, developed 15 case studies and wrote 33,000 words.
And then I got caught up in developing new products and services and I re-prioritised. I never regained the momentum and that half-finished book remains incomplete.
But re-reading recently some of what I wrote back then, I can still see the relevance. I’m happy to give myself a pass on that opportunity and I remain confident I’ll get back to it again in the future. I still have a voice and things I want to say.
10. But the most important is the strength and support of colleagues and family
But all of the above pales into insignificance when compared to the true engine of your enterprise. It is not you. It is the people around you. In my case, I am so fortunate to have both a brilliantly supportive family and a wife who works alongside me and without whose skills the business would simply not work. I am also fortunate to have the opportunity to tap into a small, trusted group of associates, mentors and advisors who continue to support me and the business in innumerable ways.
So - on this 10th anniversary of MASF Consulting - I wanted to reach out and say a big thank you to everyone who has made this possible as we look forward together for many more years of business success and personal fulfilment.
Mark