The Multiple origin story
Kerry Grigg (left) and Alison Grigg (right)
Woo hoo! We’re ready to launch. At the risk of sounding self-indulgent, we wanted to have our first journal entry be our “origin” story; just like Wolverine, but less cutlery.
Levity aside - we think it’s only fair to our future colleagues, partners, and clients to know why we started Multiple and what drives our thinking and work. Spoiler alert, it started almost 25 years ago. But it really took hold over a chance conversation when we were fortunate to be court-side at Wimbledon, in July 2022.
After spending more than two decades respectively working with leading global brands, we found ourselves continually returning to the same question: how can we reimagine the role that business leaders can play, in creating a world that works better for all?
The matching surnames are likely a giveaway, but we were always surrounded by the impetus for this conversation… life!
Meeting our respective partners. Supporting aging parents. Raising kids. Moving countries. Caring about about health and wellbeing. Seeing the impact that our working life has on those we love and the communities we are a part of. All the various ingredients of a sustainable society.
After the washing up was done, across many a family and social connection over the years, conversation inevitably turned to the issues we cared about. Our partners tuned out at some point, but we were always animated and full of ideas.
The conversations varied, but the underlying questions remained.
At the same time, the world and particularly the world of work was radically changing. Covid19 proved to be the big disruptor accelerating many of those changes and further blurring the boundaries between what was happening at work and its impact on the world around it.
In parallel, rapid and radical shifts in social expectations has meant that people expect much more from business - including investors, customers and employees. We knew from experience; going back to the same old toolkits and reaching for the same solutions is not what will move us all forward.
We’ve been sparring partners for 25 years; with one foot firmly planted in our different roles and organisations across the globe, and one foot planted in all the highs and lows of life beyond work. It was clear to us that what happens at work spills over into life outside of work - at an individual and systemic level - and that valuable new pathways are available.
This conversation evolved over the last 12 months to determine how we partner with organisations to harness that spillover to develop new and impactful solutions to critical business challenges, while having a positive social impact. Not as a bolt on or nice to have, but as an integral way to create value.
When we met at that family catch up at Wimbledon in July 2022, we were both at an exciting crossroads in our careers and so conversation naturally drifted to what might be possible. In that moment, even though we didn’t know it yet, Multiple was born.
Since then, we’ve built firm foundations, drawing all of our combined expertise and testing concepts with a diverse and thoughtful group of friends; including former colleagues, clients and provocative thinkers. They’ve helped shape our ideas and initial offering; we are so grateful for their challenge and supportive cheerleading.
We’re ready to go and look forward to partnering with courageous business leaders to build a world that works better for all.
Business impact, social impact, together.
Contact us at hello@multiplegroup.co to start the conversation. You can also follow Multiple, Alison and Kerry on LinkedIn.