Adaptive Working, Sustainability and Knowing Your Priorities
Nick Pulley founded Selective Asia in 2005, a tour operator that creates unique trips to Asia in a sustainable and meaningful way.
Nick is the founder of One Bottle at a Time, an initiative aimed at reducing the amount of plastic used throughout Asia by working with local NGOs.
He was also behind the launch of the first ‘half moon’ parties in Koh Phan Ngan (which he insists are far better than the ‘full moon’ version!).
Summary
Nick and I first crossed paths when we announced our 100% initiative and Nick got in touch to find out more about it.
When we spoke, Nick told me how he was running his business and I found it fascinating. This was the start of numerous conversations between us as we found lots of synergies between how we both approached business (and life, for that matter).
This conversation delves into the world of agile working and adaptive organisations that Nick introduced me to. If you don’t know about it, I urge you to explore it further as it has revolutionised how both our businesses work and many others as I subsequently discovered.
We also talk about sustainability, building teams and entrepreneurship which Nick has bags of insight on.
But it’s our mutual love of running a business a bit differently that shines through here, and I think makes for a truly engaging conversation.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did…
0:02:00
Education, rugby scholarship, and early travel jobs
0:05:00
Eye-opening experiences in Russia
0:07:00
Starting and selling roundtheworldflights.com
0:13:00
Thoughts on entrepreneurship
0:23:00
Starting Selective Asia and learnings from previous experience
0:30:00
The early days of Selective Asia and how it got off the ground
0:33:00
The importance of great imagery
0:40:00
Be realistic about what you can achieve
0:42:00
Changes in the team and the impact of Covid
0:47:00
Working with Jon Barnes and redesigning the business
0:54:00
Removing hierarchy, jobs titles and departments in the team
1:03:00
Agile working vs adaptive organisations
1:07:00
The importance of training
1:12:00
Open communication – Slack vs Email
1:15:00
Challenges of this way of working
1:21:00
What are the values the business works to and why are they important
1:25:00
Integrating sustainability into the product, not just marketing
1:27:00
Defining success
1:29:00
Where does he find inspiration
1:32:00
Recommendations for a new travel business
1:34:00
Future plans for Selective Asia
Links Mentioned
“Success is not defined by a number on a spreadsheet. Businesses need to make a certain amount of money but it can’t be at the cost of client satisfaction, it can’t be at the cost of the environment, it can’t be at the cost of your suppliers and your colleagues and their happiness. Those things have to balance out.”
Nick Pulley
Founder, Selective Asia
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