Rethinking Leadership

#24 Bella Lewis-Smith on setting up an employee owned business

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Episode notes

Bella Lewis-Smith is the founder and MD of Salad, a design and digital agency based in Dorset in the UK. Bella talks about the process of selling her business to become a 100% employee owned business and the challenges she faced along the way. She explains how selling the business into an employee owned trust enabled her to be much more honest about what she wants personally. Even though Bella is still the MD, I can’t imagine how hard it was to let go of making all the decisions when the company was founded by her in the first place. That speaks volumes about her willingness to be bold and courageous, to work through the difficult conversations and build a deeper level of connection and trust in the process. Whether you are considering an employee owned business model or not, there is much take from her radical honesty and ability to bring people with her. Where are you not being honest, either with yourself or with others? What would you say if you spoke with the radical honesty that Bella mentions? www.judejennison.com