What I’ve learnt from Founders –
Dilys Maltby: my tale of atonement
I didn’t mean to be a Founder. I just wasn’t a very good employee.
I am also an example of what I call a Life Stager. Something happened to me. I saw a gap in the market and I thought there might be other people who needed this too.
On this side of my career, I might be seen as an Evangelist for the role of Purpose as a business driver. And I am. But I didn’t start out this way.
I now believe that you can make money, and do good stuff. You can make business uplifting and constructive. And, in my opinion, if you choose a different path, you will be undone – by your customers – and by your people.
But I am not in any way an idealist. My belief stems from a very commercial viewpoint, from pragmatism, and from personal experience.
I did not start in a very edifying place. I started in advertising.
I was obsessed with The Hidden Persuader. I had read this book when I was at school and rather than being outraged by Vance Packard’s predictions, I was entranced. I was interested in media manipulation, in orchestration, in super subtle persuasion. In how to change people’s perspective without them realising.
My first role was in the then not-so-glamorous world of media planning and buying. It was the very early days of the media independent – hardly any women; a life in the pub; planning in the morning; sparring with media reps over lunch; and buying in the afternoon. I worked on music accounts – Frankie Goes to Hollywood (yes it was that long ago) through to Kerrang. It was a really great first job – and taught me to focus on the customer, and the importance of context in the media mix. It also introduced me to my first client-side role as Head of Advertising and Publicity (quaint) at Bonhams Auctioneers.
For the next 15 years, I moved between client and agency roles – zeitgeist brands, Founders and agencies. I was in interesting rooms with sparkling people. I was trusted. I had influence. I learnt lots. I became the Hidden Persuader. I absolutely loved it.
But then, I didn’t. I started to think there might be a different way.
I took my next job at The Body Shop where I worked for Anita and Gordon Roddick. An amazing role – with responsibility for the brand and all marketing worldwide. 50 countries, 19 languages. We had political activism at our core, and shampoo as our engine.
It felt like my earlier experience with Conran – it was a cult; there were strong principles; day-to-day behaviours defined Purpose and vice versa. It was big and brave and it had a clear role for itself, its customers, its colleagues and the world. Like Terence, Anita was on a mission. Our role was to enlist others; we were a movement. Not for the faint-hearted. Deliberately polarising.
And it was here I had my epiphany: based on two insights – one about the agency model; the second about ideological brands
So – the first insight – the agency model – I had worked in advertising, PR, communications, design, brand experience. I had worked for outstanding agencies: WPP, Fitch, Imagination, and Conran – as well as agencies that no longer exist such as Charles Barker. I worked internationally and at scale. I loved the creative culture and the work we produced.
But much of the time, we were using our skills to remedy, to conceal, to hide a poor product or uninteresting brand. We were spending millions in compensation, in mending, in misdirection. Surely better to invest resource in making the proposition better from the get-go. And use a single strategy to drive the whole business – not just the marketing effort. Make the brand and product intrinsically better, and then let the communications flow.
The second insight – my client-side experience. I worked for cult movement brands who had a strong sense of self and an evangelical zeal. Brands which both polarise and attract in equal parts. The culture was everything. People fought to work there – there was a confidence and self-belief which propelled our commercial success. They started with belief – and this drove every part of their proposition. They didn’t spend so much on paid-for media; the people and product did the work; the experience made manifest the belief system. They were systematic, focussed, disciplined – and commercially successful.
So I resigned from my role at The Body Shop and started Circus in January 1998.
A new model – a management consultancy – not an agency. Only strategy. To work with clients on Purpose – the existential reason for being. Able to be objective, top-table advice – important projects for important clients. Able to work collaboratively within the client organisation through cross functional project teams, and with expert creative partners – the right talent, at the right time, for the right client. Working with clients who were ambitious for themselves and others. Clients who want to make impact on the world.
I didn’t do this alone. I co-founded Circus with a band of other Life Stager Founders. But we didn’t see eye-to-eye and they left, very early on, to enjoy very bright adventures of their own. I learnt the role of sacrifice and discipline. I atoned. And along the way, I have been joined by new Partners, Emily Jones and Lucie Cohen, who share a belief that business can be a powerhouse of good stuff, not bad. And who have no need to atone, for a wayward early career as a Hidden Persuader.
Written by Dilys Maltby
January 2025
Header image: illustration by Nick Maland
