Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
Every week, Fora gets inside the heads of some of Ireland’s top entrepreneurs to gain insights into what got them to the top of their trade. This week we speak to Bernard Brogan, Dublin GAA legend and founder of two businesses, Legacy and PepTalk.
Bernard Brogan may have just retired from inter-county football but the Dublin GAA legend is just getting warmed up when it comes to his business ventures.
Brogan co-founded Legacy Communications in 2012 and PepTalk Wellbeing in 2017 – the latter has just announced it is raising series A funding of €3 million to finance a global expansion. Legacy Communications employs about 20 people while PepTalk has some 14 staff.
As part of our weekly Tools of the Trade series we spoke to Brogan about ambition, on and off the pitch, and wisdom from former Dublin manager Pat Gilroy which he took into the office.
Here’s what he had to say:
What are the main principles that inform what you do?
Listening to customers, it is the best way of finding out what you need to solve.
Also, innovation – trying to stay ahead of the curve and always looking at what you’re doing, how you can do it better and have a USP (unique selling point).
Who is the person who has most influenced the way you think?
Pat Gilroy, one of my Dublin managers that worked with us when I was a bit younger. He always put the person first, he believed in unlocking the potential of the individual. As a leader he did a lot of man-managing and conversations with individuals.
When he became manager he took a course at night in psychology. This is a guy who sold two businesses at this stage, so he really thought outside the box and looked at how to get the best out of individuals.
That lead me to look at how my businesses can innovate and get the best out of people.
How do you judge new staff?
For me, emotional intelligence is the best thing. Getting them out into the big bad world as early as possible to let them see the business in action, how the world works and to see how they act on the fly when challenges hit them.
I think good, strong emotional intelligence is valuable because you can deal with challenges when they hit you and figure out solutions along the way.
What quality has helped you stand out?
My resilience and unwillingness to give up in terms of challenge. When I believe in something and want to get somewhere I just keep on going. The determination has never waned.
How do you deal with stress?
Exercise. I’m lucky enough to play sport all my life and it’s always been an outlet for me. I’m retired now but still playing a bit with the club.
Even a half an hour in the gym or a run – anything that can get you moving or get the heart rate going. I always feel a million times better after.
What’s the most important part of your daily routine?
Getting into the office early. I start my day at 8 o’clock. I think that hour between 8 and 9 o’clock sets up the structure for your day and lets you get through stuff before the emails start coming and the questions start landing on your desk.
Do you think ambition or talent matters more for success?
Both are important but definitely ambition for me. You can train skill sets, you can train talent but you can’t drive ambition and motivation into people if they don’t have it. It’s the same on the sports pitch.
What was a big turning point in your life?
Starting life as an entrepreneur. I’m an accountant by trade and studied with Farrell Grant Sparks and did my time there until I was about 26. Then I took the plunge at around 27 to start Legacy, my first business. It was a great challenge.
With accountancy, there’s great career progression but I also had the ambition and the drive to do something myself. That was a big turning point, stepping out into the world and the unknown.
Aside from your own, what industry do you find most interesting and why?
I love the FMCG space – fast moving consumer goods and retail. I love food brands and watching them grow from scratch. I love the story of a brand and watching it grow from an idea into a success.
What book would you recommend the most?
Legacy (by James Kerr), the same name as the company. It’s lessons from the All Blacks about high performance culture and things that can be brought from sport that also can work in business.
When someone starts with us we give them the book because we’re always trying to build a culture that’s high performing.
How do you manage your time?
Compartmentalising my day and being present in that moment. I cut my day into chunks, so whether it’s Legacy or PepTalk or family time, (it’s about) having structure.
From half five to half seven you won’t get me because I’m at home and I spend an hour with the kids and put them to bed every evening. That’s non-negotiable.
Get our Daily Briefing with the morning’s most important headlines for innovative Irish businesses.
Written by Zuzia Whelan and posted on Fora.ie
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Hoping for 27 member states to blink first isn’t the best strategy but he didn’t really ever seem to have a plan for success anyway.
@Lee Kelly (he/him): so it looks like Boris is using ‘level playing field’ to get a better fisheries deal (larger area to fish in? Effecting Ireland?) Can anyone explain what the ‘level playing field’ agreement is?
@Lad: In very brief terms the “level playing field” is a “set of common rules and standards that prevent businesses in one country gaining a competitive advantage over those operating in other countries.”
This ruleset is only applicable if you want to be a full member of the European Single Market and it essentially eliminates tariffs on *all* goods and services because you have have agreed to operate within that common framework and incorporates what we now consider to be the standard EU philosophy as regards the free movement of people as well as commercial goods.
The alternative would be a standard trade agreement whereby each side waives tariffs on certain goods you want to export in exchange for reciprocity on other goods they want to export.
In essence, if the UK actually want to remain in the ESM, they have to match the terms already agreed by the 31 member participants. That’s the “level playing field” in a nutshell.
But I thought it was an oven ready deal?!!!
@Donal Hogan: seems the pilot light on the gas got blown out, most likely by that bumptious windbag..
@Donal Hogan: Simon Coveney said last week he was 95% sure that we’d get a deal, seems his optimism was entirely misplaced.
@Frank Cauldhame:
It’s called diplomacy. Coveney and the rest of our government know very well how likely a no deal is, but they can’t be seen to be giving up on one just in case.
Pity this spoon is going to destroy the UKs economy like no other has before him. We will see how long it takes before he is hounded out of office
@Paul O Neill: And the Irish economy. What’s left of it anyway.
@Robert Clifford: However we didn’t impose this on ourselves, it was imposed on us by the UK, nothing new there I suppose.
@Robert Clifford: it will be interesting to see if companies apply price rises to stock already in their warehouses when January 1st arrives.
@Robert Clifford: there has been plenty of warning and there is a large EU market left.
@Robert Clifford: how? Only 10% of our trade is with the UK?
@Dangling Damo: They will—– It’s called inflationary budgeting!
@Diarmuid Hunt: I remember this this island bragging that we did not need GB when we got our punt , We were a big stand alone island , How times have changed GB is imposing noting on us, it is up to us to sort out our own problems G.B is looking after itself like any country would and not expect others to do it for them ,
@Mick Cullen: interesting perspective from someone who clearly has no idea what is going on. What kind of jibberish is that?
@Paul O Neill: A UK with same or lower corp tax rate as Ireland will suck all the FDI from the Irish economy. Singapore on EUs doorstep.
Hopefully this will be the end of Boris as prime minister…
@Eddie Michael: There are already whispers of that, it’s not necessarily a good thing though, the Tories can then blame all the fallout on BJ and carry on their merry way.
Boris doth protest too much. I suspect some sort of deal is already done but they’re trying to work out how both sides come out of this looking like they’ve won.
@Seán Óg: I doubt that very much. Without public acceptance of the “level playing field” then the EU Single Market itself would be under threat. Quite literally every other country involved (the EU 27 + Norway, Switzerland, Iceland & Liechenstein) would have to play by a different set of rules than the UK.
If this was a standard tit-for-tat trade deal then some flexibility would remain, but not when they are negotiating for acceptance as a member of the ESM, it’s a whole different ballgame.
The slow-roll here is merely posturing by both sides to avoid blame from within their respective electorates when the inevitable happens.
The thing is Brexiters promised that the UK held all the cards, it would be the easiest trade deal in history, there would be no leaving the Single Market etc. By that measure Brexit has been a failure..
Deny, deny, deny then boom, a deal!
Leave on Australian terms …. like that’s a good thing. Australian terms means no deal. Australian terms means WTO terms. Yet the media in the UK are lauding an Australian deal as a victory …..
Every dog in the street knew that a no Deal has been on the card’s since the Referendum to leave 3 1’2 years ago
@brian reid: My dog didn’t – he’s still certain there will be a deal.
@Peter B: That’ll teach you for owning a Retriever, that breed is *much* too optimistic, I’ve always said so.
@John Considine: Deal? Deal? Where’s my ball.
Whatever happened to ‘They need us more than we need them. They will give us the deal we want.’?
The headlines on this negotiation for the last year have been one side then the other taking turns to announce that a deal is highly unlikely.
Lo and behold, come the 11th hour a deal will be announced. Of course Johnson will claim a huge victory for Britain and all that.
I predict, from a practical point of view not much will change for the man on the street in Dublin, Dundee or Düsseldorf other than they won’t have to endure the constant brexit warnings any more
@john doe: there are already queues of Up to 5 km / 7 hours into Calais. And queues into Dover too. Southampton is congested.
Holyhead has not prepared.
I hope you are right, but … let’s see
@john doe: I doubt you’re right but hope you are.
If he phones Dublin at least the Taoiseach will take the call unlike in Paris and Berlin
@Felim O’Rourke: What are you on about?
@Diarmuid Hunt: It’s being widely reported in Germany and France (and just recently on the BBC) that Macron and Merkel have politely declined Boris’ offer of direct negotiation. In other words, they are politely refusing to take his call because they know that there is nothing left to talk about.
I can only guess, but I suspect that’s what he’s talking about.
@John Considine: Why would they accept direct negotiation on the behalf of 26 countries they don’t have a mandate in? An absolutely ridiculous notion which once again belies the ignorance around the operation of the EU. I guess an entity which wants to be independent of a union (while being one themselves) don’t understand the all for one and one for all mentality.
@Diarmuid Hunt: Yup.
@Diarmuid Hunt: Didn’t stop getting directly involved in negotiating bank bailouts in Ireland and Greece. As usual EU picks and chooses when to follow its own rules. Hypocrisy.
2020 Brexit
2022 Brenter.
Even if reason eventually prevails with the Brits the EU will not want to let Britain back in anytime soon. Britain first applied for membership in 1963 and again in 1967 before finally gaining admission (along with Ireland) in 1973. Twice the French (Charles de Gaulle) vetoed them. de Gaulle said that the Brits would only poison the EEC as it was then with their arrogance and false air of superiority. How right he was. If the Brits were to re-apply for membership tomorrow one of the non-negotiable conditions would be the adoption of the Euro as its currency. Try selling that to the Brexiteers.
What odds that hes using the Grand Old Duke of York negotiating tactic? March up to the top of the hill and then march down again.
Eu companies working to high standards dont want to be undercut by non-Eu countries working to lower standards. The Uk can do whatever they wish (sovereignty restored) but they cannot demand access to the Single Market. After all, those in the Single Market have to abide by an agreed system of common rules to facilitate free trading. Equally, they cannot on the one hand ban Eu fishermen from Uk waters whilst demanding free access to the Eu to sell their fish.
@Damian Moylan: The UK has higher standards than the EU, free healthcare for everyone for starters, a far higher minimum wage than the EU average, It funds its defence budget & doesn’t look to someone else to defend them. The UK doesn’t want anything from the EU it is happy to meet EU standards to sell on WTO standards & the EU will have to meet UK standards to sell into the UK market that will impact the EU far more than the UK because of the nature of what it exports to the UK
Between ministers of the collective EU countries and those doing the actual negotiations I suspect the self interests and hidden agendas are rife. Alot of personal accounts bulging when the deal is inevitabley done…
@Seymour business: what are u waffling on about !!!
Where’s Farage these days?
Number 10 is saying that Borris is going to plan Z stamping his feet while holding his breath til the EU gives in.
History will judge boris Jonson and I suspect quite harshly for this sham he’s helped create.
Johnson is finally realising that “British Spunk” has greatly devalued over the years.
methinks the lady doth protest too much ….
I think Boris doth protest too much.
Brinkmanship for dummies
Hopefully now a blow for jobs from Boris.
@Paul Mcnevin: BJ is all about blow(ing) jobs however I don’t think he quite realises that while one is enjoyable the other is catastrophic for an economy.
Warns who?
This guy is sinking UK economy completely and draging Ireland down with him
Boris had it in his mind all along. Good luck. Hope it hurts very very much
Let them off tf!!
Heavy recession on the cards for 2021
Wow, I’ve been denied my comment again…
Freedom of speech????? Duh!!!
Reminds me of that country and western song ‘Never put faith in a beef barons insider or a Tory tosser. Hold fast to your dreams of a peaceful future of civilised nations’
Won’t someone please think of the children??!!!
have your say