Lisa Morton, Founder and CEO - Roland Dransfield 

Lisa Morton is the CEO and founder of Roland Dransfield, one of the most established communications agencies in Manchester, England. For the last 24 years, Lisa has worked to forge meaningful, lasting business relationships that create both business growth and social impact alongside her team of award-winning strategists, journalists, creatives, digital, and social media specialists. Now with a London office and a partnership with an LA-based agency, of which the founder is a former Roland Dransfield team member, Lisa is continuing to expand Roland Dransfield and explore new paths for growth.

Lisa’s commitment to purpose-driven work is exemplified by Roland Dransfield’s “We Built This City” podcast, a podcast series which hears from Mancunians, born, bred and adopted, who put the heart into Greater Manchester. The podcast has been nominated for Best Business Podcast by the prestigious British Podcast Awards and celebrates stories of determination, loyalty, and diversity across culture, arts, politics, sport, music and business. Roland Dransfield’s other recent award wins include PR & Marketing Agency of the Year, Marketing Personality of the Year (Downtown in Business), Best PR/Social Agency Campaign (MPA), Small PR Agency of the Year (MPA), PR Agency of the Year (MPA) and Best PR Agency (The Talk of Manchester). They are currently shortlisted for Prolific North Best PR Agency and Best Digital Campaign and Best Social Impact Award 2020 (Downtown in Business), among others.

25 years ago, it became apparent to Lisa that the only way to work somewhere that had suitable goals and values as an enterprise was to start it herself. Almost immediately, her talent for creating relationships became apparent when Manchester suffered a devastating bombing. Lisa got involved heavily in rebuilding the city centre and over the years has played a large part in helping to regenerate neglected parts of the city centre to create the new key “pillar” neighborhoods that make up the city. As a result, Lisa has been at the forefront of the response to crises in her community, and her commitment to social impact amongst the business community has driven her to help others to do the same.

Guest Resources

Roland Dransfield: Visit this website to learn more about Roland Dransfield.

Show Notes

Key takeaways from this episode:

- Vulnerability makes you powerful and approachable

- Clarify your non-negotiables and stick to them

- Lean on your values in the face of tough decisions

What to listen for:

[02:00] Embracing vulnerability
[06:00] Learning the value of hard work
[10:00] Making the leap into vulnerability
[15:00] Clarifying your principles and non-negotiables
[21:00] Sticking to your boundaries
[26:00] Relying on your values to navigate tough decisions
[29:30] Lisa’s self-limiting story
[33:30] Quick questions with Lisa
[39:45] Lisa’s challenge to leaders for making a more human workplace