Wavelength - connecting visionary companies

Wavelength : our story so far...

Wavelength is the passion of three friends: Adrian, Jess and me, Liam. We have known each other for over ten years and in 2008 set this business up together. By 2007, having create/led some dozen social venture businesses I had become a bit jaded of the CEO life. In what my wife calls my last proper job, I had led Fifteen and worked with Jamie to build that cracking social enterprise into a sustainable brand. I loved what we’d done but as my fifties approached I wanted to really focus on what I love doing. Adie after more than a decade of creating world beating leadership development programmes at innovation company What If was itching to have his own business and develop new ideas. Jess had just had their second child and was determined to get back to using her immense creative skills (honed in the theatre) and event planning genius.

But what would the business be? We knew that there were many leaders in different sectors, industries, countries, who were on the same wavelength. Senior corporate leaders, entrepreneurs, owner managers, social innovators – very diverse but united by a desire to deepen and broaden their leadership learning and insights and who valued the richness which diversity – when handled right – can bring.

So we thought let’s just go for it. You know, like entrepreneurs do. Let’s invite the coolest people we know to a three-day event (in the middle of nowhere on the Berkshire Downs as it turned out) and see if they share our passion - and explore if there is a profitable business in this idea. So we plundered our address books and put every last ounce of relationship capital on the line. In October 2008, they came from all over the UK, Ireland, India, South Africa, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, USA, Canada, and Scandinavia to the Wavelength100. It was a great event, hugely inspiring and full of learning leading to new relationships, partnerships and connections.

And it gave us the confidence that we were really on to something.

2009 was spent fine tuning the business model, having some sleepless nights and finding ways of working that suited our very different styles, skill sets and enthusiasms. We went to Bangladesh as guests of Grameen Bank – Imamus Sultan invited us having been at Wavelength100. We had an inspiring and eye opening time with Grameen and their partner DANONE. This relationship has continually developed and led to two study tours there and has really helped shape our emerging thinking about what we call Corporate Social Innovation. In late 2009 on a flight home from a disastrous meeting with a potential sponsor in San Francisco (won’t name the company but the guy we dealt with was - aptly- called Dick) - we came up with the idea of putting a membership club model at the centre of our business. We went to market with Wavelength Connect in late 2009 and it was sold out by January 2010 (and again for the 2011 programme by December last year).

The business is run from the bottom of Adie and Jess’ garden – we are the clichéd entrepreneurs starting in the shed – and we have a killer squad of freelancer designers, logistics ninjas and others who make it all happen. In February 2010 Caroline Redding joined us to bring a bit of administrative rigour to the place and, in January 2011, Tammy Potter joined the team to take responsibility for the running of Connect. And a damn fine job she is doing!

We now have the coolest club in Britain.

It’s been quite the three years and if you’ve got this far in the story why not get in touch and we can talk about how we might collaborate to develop our leaderships and so change the world for the better through business?

Liam Black, Thursday March 3rd 2011 liam@thesamewavelength.com