The last two and a half months have been a bit of a blur for me. A Perth native, I have been living in London for the last four years and in early December I decided to tack on some time in Melbourne to a trip to WA.
I thought while I was in Melbourne, I would reach out to some like-minded people who were also grappling with some of the issues I had been working on in London – namely thinking about how we change the conversation around business and cultivate a new generation of entrepreneurs who care about more than just making money.
A contact in London told me to reach out to TDi, and without a doubt that was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I met with our co-founder Paul Steele (thanks in no small part to the wondrous work of his PA Jacqui) in the School of Life, downstairs from TDi’s office. He suggested I meet with Bessi and Anthea, TDi’s CEO and Deputy CEO.
“I am so excited to go out and talk to entrepreneurs about what we deliver because I know with supreme confidence that they are being guided not only by some of the brightest minds in the world, but also by people who have been there, done that”
The next day, and less than 24 hours before I was due to fly back to London, I met Bessi and Anthea in the TDi office. I hope they don’t mind me saying, but I felt incredibly inspired by what they had to say, and I just knew that this was a place where I wanted to focus my work.
I’ve been privileged enough to meet some of the most outstanding people over the course of my career who imagine a world where business is part of the solution to the problems we face. However, Bessi and Anthea were applying a rigour and pragmatism to their work that truly felt cutting edge.
A week after my first meeting, I found myself on a Skype call with Anthea, being offered the chance to pack up my life in London and begin a new chapter in Melbourne. Six weeks later I touched down.
From my first week working with TDi alone, I feel like I’ve made the right choice. Every single person I’ve met here is incredibly intelligent, passionate, opinionated (in a great way!) and willing to roll up their sleeves and dive in in order to try and fulfil our ambition of building businesses that want to tackle some of the world’s most pressing problems.
As for the Two Feet program where I’ll be spending most of my time, I am so excited to go out and talk to entrepreneurs about what we deliver. I know with supreme confidence that they are being guided not only by some of the brightest minds in the world, but also by people who have been there, done that and know just how challenging it is to start and run a business that wants to do something more than make money.
I feel incredibly fortunate to be part of the ride.
Ben