Wartime vs Peacetime Leadership: When to Rebel Against Process with Swyft’s Co-Founder & CEO, Keiran Hewkin

If your business feels like a “firestorm” that has gotten out of hand, you’re exactly where you need to be.

In this episode of The Third Seat, Rebecca Morley sits down with Keiran Hewkin, founder of Swyft, a high-growth furniture brand that has scaled from a group of friends to a team of 60. 

Keiran has navigated the intense journey from “inception point” through mad, chaotic growth, surviving market crashes and global supply chain shocks along the way. 

He brings a refreshing and raw “anti-bullshit” perspective to what it actually takes to stay sane while building a juggernaut. 

In this conversation, Keiran and Rebecca discuss:

• How the problem-solving skills that got you through the start-up phase can become the biggest bottleneck to your company’s growth.
• Why every founder needs to ask themselves the confronting question: “Would I work for me?” 
• When your gut tells you the culture is creaking and your old way of leading is no longer sustainable. 
• Why fast-growing businesses are more likely to fail from taking on too much than from having too little.
• How Keiran crystallised Swyft’s culture into a single document to ensure they optimise for cultural fit over skill set, every single day.

If you are currently leading through that transition where you’re no longer small, but not yet stable, this conversation will provide the tools to help you let go of the details, without losing your grip on the vision.