The Outside Leader

17/09/2025

What if I told you that there is an easier way to do the hard things

We all know that life is always better on the other side of hard things.

But that doesn’t mean we aways do them.

Birgit and I have been discussing this phenomenon during a chat about our upcoming Get Ready for Growth in 2026 Lunch and Workshop event.

We see leaders and teams in SMEs avoiding the work that is going to manifestly impact their efficiency and growth for the better.

But what if doing the hard work could be easier?

We're excited to share frameworks that:
• Make tackling difficult work more manageable
• Leverage team collaboration to share the workload effectively
• Create clear plans that keep everyone aligned

Sometimes the path through challenges isn't about working harder—it's about working together smarter.

Register your interest for our upcoming event to learn more!

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Get Ready For Growth In 2026!

Lunch + Workshop Event
📍 Sunshine Coast | 🗓 Thursday, 6 November 2025

REGISTER YOUR INTEREST TO LEARN MORE, GET FIRST ACCESS TO TICKETS - PLUS RECEIVE A FREE COPY OF TRACTION BY GINO WICKMAN

👉 Join the list: https://growth-series.scoreapp.com/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=organic-social&utm_campaign=avoid-hard-things

Reset. Refocus. Be ready for 2026.

02/09/2025

Are you ready for growth in 2026?

On Thursday 6 November, I’m hosting a Lunch + Workshop Event with EOS Implementer, Birgit Schnelle.

Together, we’ll address the challenges holding SMEs back from achieving their growth ambitions:

- Persistent accountability issues
- Strengthening collaboration
- Aligning teams to scale with confidence

This is an interactive event built for leadership & management teams of 5+ people.

📍 Sunshine Coast

🗓 Thu, 6 Nov 2025

EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST ARE NOW OPEN – PLACES ARE LIMITED

Join the list here: https://hovqr.to/978c36ce

Reset. Refocus. Be ready for 2026.

02/09/2025

Running a business doesn’t mean you have to carry every decision on your own.
When leaders collaborate with their teams, decision-making becomes easier — and far more powerful.
That’s what the Growth Leaders 2026 Lunch + Workshop is all about. On Thursday 6 November, you’ll walk away with:
✔️ Tools to collaborate better
✔️ EOS® frameworks for clarity + accountability
✔️ A free copy of Traction by Gino Wickman

Get Ready For Growth In 2026!
Lunch + Workshop Event
📍 Sunshine Coast | 🗓 Thursday, 6 November 2025
EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST ARE NOW OPEN - PLACES ARE LIMITED
👉 Join the list: https://hovqr.to/978c36ce
Reset. Refocus. Be ready for 2026.

04/07/2025

Stop Hunting the “Perfect” Decision—Make a Better One Today

How many great ideas in family businesses get stuck because we’re waiting for that mythical “perfect” decision?

The reality check we need:

- Certainty doesn’t exist. Markets change. Customers change. Waiting doesn’t clarify—it confuses.
- Delayed decisions cost you money. It’s better to learn fast from small mistakes than lose time and sales waiting for perfection.
- Extra information isn’t always helpful. Beyond a certain point, extra data just creates analysis paralysis.

Try “Decision Loops” instead of “Perfect Decisions”:

✅ Test reversible ideas. (Pilot new packaging formats with one client first.)
✅ Set clear learning outcomes. (“If returns drop below 5% within 60 days, expand the trial.”)
✅ Act quickly and review immediately. (Quickly see what’s working and what isn’t.)
✅ Repeat or adjust. (Keep moving forward.)

Real-life examples you can try now:

- Ingredients: Trial a new formulation on a single shift.
- Marketing: Test your new promotional campaign in a small region first
- Investments: Lease that expensive equipment before fully committing.

Remember, failure from action is cheap R&D. Failure from indecision is costly regret.

Your family business thrives when you move, learn, and adapt—not when you stall.

What’s one decision your family business has parked for over 30 days? Comment below—let’s help each other find a fast next step!

24/06/2025

Endless meetings. No traction.

This is NOT why you joined the family business.

You’ve got experience. Ideas. A tight-knit team. But when it’s time to decide, everything stalls.

Strategy takes a back seat.
It’s easier to focus on today than to wrestle with where you’re heading.

There’s a better way.

Design-led collaboration gets your team aligned and moving—fast.

Clarity. Traction. Commercial edge.

You already have what you need—we help you activate it.

Work with Olivia Ratten at The Outside Leader to make better decisions, together.

🔗 Link in bio to book a free 20-minute call.

23/06/2025

It is tough to be creative, productive, and consistent when you’re misaligned.
I see this every day for my clients.
But lately, it’s also been true for me.

I haven’t posted on social media for weeks, because I haven’t been attracting the work and clients I want.

Because I was pitching wrong.
Because I’ve been stuck in the jar.
Because I believed that I needed to be targeting a particular audience to ‘one day’ get to the audience I want.

Being stuck in the jar is real.
We build constructs, stories, and barriers in the jar.
We all need help getting an outside perspective.

I didn’t have to stop posting.
In fact, the people whom I admire, listen to, and follow don’t have all the answers; they embrace a beginner’s mindset, learning and sharing through the journey.

This is a powerful approach that attracts rather than repels.

In the jar, Olivia believed she needed the perfect message, validated concept, and all the answers before she could share.

A typical perfectionist mindset.

Luckily, I have an amazing network of friends whom I can lean on for that outside perspective!

I feel like, since I started my business, all I’ve done is pivot.

I’ve recently learned that it’s not a bad thing.
In fact, during a VC seminar at FWDFest this year, I heard that investors expect founders to pivot - on average 2.3 times!

So if, like me, you’re thinking about a pivot, know that you’re in good company.

If you’ve read this far and want to know how I’ve pivoted, what I’m doing now, it’s leaning into my core passions:

Design-thinking, Manufacturing, and Family Business.

It’s the work I’ve wanted to be doing all along, but thought I had to prove myself through a different path (confused? - this is what happens in the jar).

I’m here to facilitate design-led collaboration for family-run manufacturing firms and help their core teams build new ways of working together for clarity, traction, and competitive advantage.

If your team is stuck in a cycle of second-guessing and misalignment, I can help.

(I’ve certainly had the lived experience 🙂)

15/05/2025

What happens when you take over a long-standing business and try to make it your own?

You may not have heard yet, but I've started a podcast and today I'm dropping Episode #2: Modernising a Legacy Food Brand with Will Nicholl 🌈

Will Nicholl from Maleny Cuisine shares how his family transformed Queensland’s oldest condiment brand while staying true to its roots.

In this episode of Product Makers Lab, we talk about:
- Small tweaks that make a big difference
- Building strong supplier relationships (and how they helped during Covid)
- Getting the kids involved at Christmas production time
- Where product ideas really come from (hint: not the boardroom)

Listen on your favourite podcast platform:
YouTube:
https://ow.ly/KSX350VT0vg
Apple Podcasts:
https://ow.ly/6NLX50VT0vi
Spotify:
https://ow.ly/8o4850VT0vk
Substack:
https://ow.ly/zkIf50VT0vh

11/05/2025

“You have to lead with your back to the audience.” - Daniel Flynn
Daniel's presentation at FWDFest last week blew me away. From naive conviction to burnout to brand licensing—he’s building an ecosystem, not an empire.
Biggest takeaway? Know your 5%, and own it. In other words, focus on your unique strengths and enroll others to help - it doesn't work if you try to do all the things yourself.

08/05/2025

"AI won’t wait."
This was the call to action from Alexander Cohen, who taught us to think about AI Agents and junior team hires at Day #1 of Forward Fest yesterday.
Alexander reminded us that momentum has been building since Turing in the 50s, and you'd better get learning or risk being bowled over.
The standout? For me, it was the wonderful way Alexander built the momentum narrative through his presentation—powerful stuff.
OR
Maybe the sneaky selfie I discovered on my phone after offering to take my photo!

08/05/2025

“Fix it when it breaks at 10 customers, not 10,000.”
Loved Rob Rand's (from Knobby) insight on controlled growth. When creativity leads, community stays.
I saw Rob present at Forward Fest yesterday and wrote pages of notes - so much gold!
His community focus and humour-first subscription model prove that brand personality, not just product, fuels momentum.

30/04/2025

NEW PODCAST LAUNCH
I’m thrilled to share the very first episode of The Product Makers Lab — a podcast for values-led makers and product innovators who are shaping the future of consumer goods.

In this series, I speak with business owners who are building meaningful products — and making bold decisions about what not to do — all in the name of sustainable, purpose-driven growth.

Episode 1: Phoebe Preuss, founder of Living Koko
Phoebe shares the story behind Living Koko — a zero-waste cacao business rooted in over 200 years of family legacy, Indigenous cultivation, and ethical sourcing.

We cover:
The challenges of growing a values-led brand
Collaborating with retailers without compromising integrity
Turning byproducts into opportunity
Building brand visibility through culture and community
Making tough calls on seasonal product trends (and saying no to Easter eggs)

If you’re building or advising a product-based business, this conversation is a must-listen. It’s packed with insight, grounded in lived experience, and full of practical wisdom for staying aligned while scaling up.

In this episode of Product Makers Lab, I talk with Phoebe Preuss, founder of Living Koko, a zero-waste cacao business with deep Indigenous roots and a powerful commitment to community development and ethical sourcing.