Getting to know... Steve Hearsum

In the latest instalment of Bdaily’s Getting to know... feature, which looks at the person behind the business profile, Steve Hearsum, founder of Brighton-based organisation change consultancy Edge+Stretch, talks about his passion for getting people talking, the universality of the human condition and delivering a DJ set that had Sir Ian McKellen tearing up the dancefloor...

We know you as a leadership and change practice consultant and the founder of Edge+Stretch, but who is the person behind the title? Tell us a little about what makes you tick…

I am drawn to scaffolding chewy conversations, whether that be with clients in 1:1 or team settings, or organisation-wide.

By this I mean helping people talk about the messy reality of work and organisations, and eschewing the idea that there are easy, quick-fix answers to complex problems, particularly when people are involved.

I spent a lot of time researching and writing about the myth of fixability and why there is no such thing as a ‘silver bullet’. 

Those collusive unconscious patterns of behaviour, often fuelled by shame, anxiety and other more hidden emotions that permeate organisations, intrigue me. 

I am also drawn to my own shadow, because much of my deepest and most useful personal learning has come from working on my own ‘stuff’. 

Another of my interests is the inherent absurdity of human behaviour, and how we often end up doing the daftest things, with the best of intent.

That includes sometimes paying a lot of money for things that make naff all difference, and how we are then reluctant to face into that to learn from our mistakes. 

Lastly, and a more recent preoccupation, is with how many teams seem remarkably unskilled and uncomfortable with what it means to hold each other to account, both around task and behaviour. 

Did you always want to work in leadership and change?

No. I did an English and Theatre Studies degree and had no idea what I wanted to do with my life or career. 

In my thirties, I fell into change work by becoming involved in a large organisational review when I worked at The Guardian. 

At the time, I had come off the back of launching, among other things, its dating service Soul Mates, and doing e-commerce deals at the height of the dot-com boom.

They had some external consultants in and I was drawn to the work: ‘if this person could just speak to this person…why don’t they?...’ or ‘if this bit connected to that bit of the organisation then…’ 

I was the only person to volunteer to join an internal team working with the externals. The rest is history.

What’s the best bit about your job? And the worst?

Best bits are the variety of clients and people I meet, the universality of the human condition and social processes, and the way it challenges me and invites me to do my own work. 

Even in the toughest gigs, there is learning, which can both be energising and exhausting. 

The worst elements include the existential anxiety of the consultant – will I be fired/will I get more work, etc – and, sometimes, the intensity of the work. 

And I am lucky. I do work that interests me, I sometimes leave with a sense of having made a genuine difference and I have a lot of freedom to scaffold my work and personal life, as the latter has involved significant caring responsibilities in recent years. 

What do you consider to be your greatest achievement?

I do not have one; that assumes a single pinnacle, which seems a poor return.

Personally, my daughter, Maya. My marriage to Paula. Our family.

Professionally, two things. My book, because it achieved what I set out to do: it gets people to think more deeply and has successfully articulated my practice and philosophy in a way that engages without being up itself. 

Professionally, every time I have a client who starts to not just see contradictions and absurdities in their organisation, but starts to name them openly, despite the risks, I am deeply satisfied. 

How do you relax outside of work?

Walking the dog, gym sessions with my PT and avoiding news and social media to ensure my existential angst at the state of the world is not too great. 

And cheese. And Guinness. These last two are very important. 

Tell us something about you we didn’t know…

I DJed at my university in 1988 and Sir Ian McKellen, recently out and campaigning against Clause 28, hit the dancefloor as I spun the discs. 

Gandalf. Busting moves. Beat that.

Want your business, product or service to be seen regionally and nationally? Bdaily helps you get your story in front of the right audience, every day. Find out how Bdaily can help →

Join more than 55,000 subscribers by signing up to our daily bulletin each morning here.