Lessons from Gin
Description
Hi friends,
In 2013, I co-founded Four Pillars Gin with two mates (Cam and Stu), creating a business that would go on to be named the world's leading gin producer three times. This book is my perspective on our success-my attempt to make sense of how we did it.
Each section is full of gin-soaked stories about how we navigated the challenges of growth and change, put craft at the heart of our business and built our brand through storytelling and experiences.
There are also 'Useful Bits' sprinkled throughout, where I share some of the tools and models that helped fuel our success. You'll learn how to apply these tools to grow almost any business or organisation.
Plus, when all the talk of gin makes you thirsty, you'll find recipes to make yourself a perfect G&T, Martini or Negroni to enjoy while you're reading.
Cheers,
Matt
'What a fantastic, Australian brand story.'
-Tim Burrowes, founder, Unmade and founder, Mumbrella
'Matt Jones is the ultimate triple threat - good bloke, great gin, and a cracking business story!'
-Adam Spencer, MC, speaker, comedian, author and maths geek
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Content
About the author xi
Prologue xiii
Part One: Thinking 1
1 In the beginning, there was a decision 3
2 Okay, so we're doing this. But doing what, exactly? 7
3 Riding the fourth gin wave 11
Drinks Break No.1: The (Gin) Martini 16
4 Starting as you mean to go on - every decision matters most 23
Useful Bit #1: Decision Checklist 28
5 It's never too early to think about your why 33
Useful Bit #2: The Butterfly and The Brick 38
6 Growth theory, relationships and money 45
Useful Bit #3: Picturing Success 48
Useful Bit #4: Thinking in Action: A Four Pillars Example 54
Part Two: Crafting 61
7 Rare Dry Gin and the crafting of the Four Pillars brand 63
Useful Bit #5: Capabilities, Behaviours and Relationships 72
8 The first three months 75
Useful Bit #6: Feeling Benchmarks 78
9 Overnight emails, opportunism and staying on strategy 83
Drinks Break No.2: The Gin & Tonic 90
10 From gin to gins ... and 'Made From Gin' 97
Useful Bit #7: Strategic Storytelling 102
11 Experiments that worked 105
Useful Bit #8: A Four Pillars Example 112
Part Three: Sharing 119
12 Launch as you mean to go on 121
Useful Bit #9: Conversation Hierarchy 130
13 Collaborative to the core 135
Drinks Break No.3: The Negroni 142
14 A gin-fuelled content rocket 147
Useful Bit #10: Theory of Brand Success 152
15 Home is where the gin is 159
16 Faith in the power of experiences (and word of mouth) 171
Useful Bit #11: Brand Experience Playbook 174
17 A people-powered gin family 179
Useful Bit #12: A Four Pillars Example 182
Part Four: Growing 187
18 Balancing acts 189
Useful Bit #13: Simplifying Complexity 196
19 Leading through growth 199
Useful Bit #14: Choice Matrices 206
20 The best in the world ... pivoting and staying the course 211
Useful Bit #15: Visualising Transformation 222
21 Questioning everything 225
Useful Bit #16: A Four Pillars Example 230
22 Ten years down, another decade ahead of us 235
A final word 241
Drinks Break No.4: Drinking better (gin) 242
PS: A useful reading list 253
Acknowledgements 257
Index 259