What millennial employers can teach business leaders THE COMMUNICATOR

MY GRANDPA was a major influence in my life. He was not college-educated and he worked his entire adult life in an Indiana factory, making automobile parts. But he was also a voracious reader who sought out books, magazines and other people to help him expand his horizons.

“Every person you meet can teach you something if you care enough to listen and learn,” he would often say.

Ben Francis, the 27-year-old founder of the UK’s fastest-growing fashion business, Gymshark, also had an influential grandfather.

“My first job I had as a child was helping my grandpa fix furnaces,” he recalled as we spoke by phone on Monday.

By the time Francis reached his teens and had a driver’s licence, he had moved from those auspicious beginnings to an even more lustrous occupation, as a deliverer for the

Pizza Hut chain.

At the same time he was taking his first steps at career-building, he was also taking steps toward building muscles on his thenlanky 6’2” frame by seriously hitting the gym.

A search for suitable form-fitting workout clothing left him disappointed, so he bought a sewing machine and a screen printer, and teamed up with his brother and two friends at his parents’ house.

They stitched their own designs and sent samples of their gear to select bodybuilders they followed on YouTube.

Armed with feedback and a pile of garments, the young men also started hitting social media and the bodybuilder expo circuit, where they became the busiest booth in the vendors’ arena.

Now — only seven years later — Gymshark employs 300 people in the UK and Hong Kong, with the company announcing summer plans to open an office in the US.

Francis, the former furnace repair assistant and pizza delivery man, is estimated to be worth more than $10m (€9m) and the brand can boast it’s sold in more than 170 countries (including Ireland), with annual profits growth of more than 150pc.

I first met Francis in September when I facilitated a panel on ‘connected leaders’ as part of Facebook’s Grow conference.

I am now thrilled to share his spot-on insights on what makes his company so strong. (And, hint, it’s not because it sells fitness apparel.)

1 UNDERSTAND THE MILLENNIAL EFFECT

GL: Is there something that makes a millennial employer different?

BF: Not massively, other than the innate ability to use technology and social media.

The older generation can certainly learn to use it, but the younger generation just seem to know. The younger kids are simply heavily immersed in it.

2 USE VIDEO FOR INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS

GL: How do you communicate with your employees?

BF: We have a team that produces videos only for our team members to watch.

For example, say there’s something new going on in the marketing department or there’s a new HR system, some companies might call a big meeting to explain everything to everyone, but we will make a cool video that shares it in a fun way. More people engage.

Our team is just two people right now and they use a standard DSLR camera and a mic.

So, for just a few grand for the set-up, plus the salaries for the individuals, we are mastering the art of internal storytelling.

3 HIRE REALLY GOOD PEOPLE

GL: You stepped aside as chief executive and are now chief brand officer.

BF: Right. I first hired former Reebok executive Steve Hewitt as a consultant a couple of days a week to advise us.

But he’s really strong on the back-office stuff and I enjoy marketing, relationship-building and more front-office. It was tough and you have to learn to trust, but it is important to hire people significantly better than yourself.

4 INSIST ON TRANSPARENCY

GL: What’s your company’s top value?

BF: Transparency is number one. You’re going to make mistakes and when you do, you have to be infinitely transparent about it.

Last Black Friday, our website crashed. There were hundreds of thousands of people affected by this and we know when things go bad, you’re going to hear about it. We instantly got online and told our community that we had delays. We were surprised that as soon as we owned it, the people were great.

5 CONNECT ON SOCIAL MEDIA

GL: What do you say to senior leaders who still may be resisting putting themselves out there on social media?

BF: It’s going to be a requirement that people get to know the individuals behind any company, leading it. I’m really into LinkedIn. It’s the top one for me, with ease of access, and I post a couple of times every week. But YouTube is the Holy Grail. I post on it about once or twice a month.

You must constantly communicate with employees and customers. Because people create brands, and communicating is how you create a community.

So, while some folks out there may criticise millennials as ‘entitled snowflakes’, I think they might have a thing or five to teach us. If, as my grandpa was fond of saying, “we listen and learn”.