Hello everyone,

I hope that this finds you well and that you had a good weekend.

Last week I was lucky enough to be invited to visit the House of Lords for a breakfast roundtable with some truly amazing people.

Round the table was:

• Lord Karan Bilimoria CBE DL, founder of Cobra Beer
• Shalini Khemka CBE from E2Exchange

And

• Avnish Goyal CBE from Hallmark Care Homes

First and foremost, it was a fantastic event with lots of amazing people around the table, and as you might expect the House of Lords is exquisite from top to bottom.

Business breakfasts and meets like this are often an opportunity to pick up some incredible pearls of wisdom, which are what I’d like to share with you today.

 

There’s always something that keeps you awake at night

 

Whilst much was discussed, I was particularly enthralled by Avnish Goyal CBE’s story. He explained how having arrived in the UK at the age of 4 and living with a large extended family informed his worldview and ultimately drive him to set up a care home company.

The first thing he said that really struck me was that no matter how successful you are there is always something keeping you awake at night.

You would have thought, having made his fortune that a lot of problems go away. But bigger businesses, of course, face bigger but different problems.

In his case, it was the impact on the construction sector, and ultimately staffing for the construction sites for his new care homes and care village.

On top of that, there were problems sourcing staff who would be there to deliver for the service users.

Crucially, Brexit shifted everything and as the business leader, he had to be in the position to adapt everything on the spot. Avnish now searches for talent from a global market.

So how do you deal with that magnitude of problem?
 
 

A bigger vision

 
Ultimately, it’s all about having a vision and serving a bigger purpose.

Avnish’s vision for care homes was highly compelling – citing inspiration from high-end hotels.

His purpose is also guided by his own experience of having to look after elderly relatives and family members with Alzheimer’s. Avnish and his wife do a lot of charity work for the Alzheimer’s Society.

I think again that speaks to the standards of environment for people these days in nursing homes being a million miles away from what it was some years ago – everything’s en suite and every room has beautiful soft furnishings.

He talked a little bit about tech in the nursing home industry too and how tech now comes in and can help with things like, for example, checking patients at night to ensure that they’re safe in bed.

What’s more, being able to monitor people remotely with a camera and sensors is great because it’s passive and doesn’t wake the resident. These are all implementations of tech which really get to the heart of helping people care for service users in a kind and dignified way.

All this ultimately adds to a better experience all around – which is something we can all get behind.
 
 

The importance of values

 
If there was one key takeaway point it was the importance of values.

He is a great believer in giving back to society and paying it forward with help.

And what’s more the experiences he had when he was younger instilled the importance of a hard-working family – and working together.

For me, I think having strong values like that is what provides you with your North Star. When everything is changing around you and ultimately is what drives your success.

We have four values at Virtuoso Legal (and personally in my own life) which I think continue to help drive us forward in a similar way.

We’ve probably spoken to you before about it but for those who aren’t aware they are:

• We create value for our clients – if it doesn’t improve clients’ commercial standing, we won’t do it
• Our clients are in the driving seat – we provide our clients with everything they need to know to make the right decision
• We call a spade a spade – we tell it like it is, with no smoke and mirrors or unnecessary complexity
• Client success is our success – we are invested in our client's success because we want to be there for them as they grow into global players

I think when the going gets tough, we’re able to tap into that mission and it’s what continues to drive us forward.

Want to know how we can help your business? Drop me a line and we can arrange a catch-up.

Have a great weekend.

Liz