‘AI is going to take our jobs’. It’s a phrase that can send fear through the mind of any business owner.
It’s estimated that up to eight million jobs could be lost as a result of the rise in AI , with content roles being one of the roles most at risk.
However, it doesn’t need to be like that, according to MC2’s managing director, Jonathan Saatchi.
Saatchi, who was speaking at BusinessCloud’s latest Northern Leaders event – Meet the New Generation of Entrepreneur (NGE) – in Leeds this week, became managing director a few months after the strategic marketing communications business became employee-owned.
“With AI, you don’t have that human side and that understanding of the business and what it’s trying to achieve,” he explained.
“We may get to the point — and we’re not doing this yet — where we’re using AI to create a lot of our output, but we’d only be able to do that with that human knowledge.
“I guess what you’re seeing currently is people trying to harness AI when it maybe doesn’t have that strategic understanding of where a business is trying to get to.
“So what it’s asking here is something very generic, rather than something that’s going to move the business forward.”
Despite his people-driven focus, the University of Leeds graduate is not oblivious to the threat that AI could create.
However, he is intent on using the technology as an enabler, rather than a competitor.
He added: “It’s a very live issue. We focus exclusively at C-level with our clients – we work with the CEO, CFO, CMO and so on.
“I think our focus is remaining there in a consultative way, with AI then being an enabler of what we do.”
100 per cent-employee owned
With a team of around 30 and turnover of approximately £3m, the agency became 100 per cent employee-owned in April 2021.
For Saatchi, who has worked for the company for over 13 years, it’s a model that fits the people-first nature of the business.
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He said: “We’re 100 per cent employee-owned, which means our shareholders are our staff.
“So rather than an owner-managed model, where the business is owned by the managers, or a partnership model, like a law firm, our majority shareholders are our people.”
The structure works through a trust in which staff partake in throughout their time at the business.
“It’s a very, very clever model of ownership for businesses like ours that is all about people and drive,” Saatchi continued
“We don’t create a product. We simply sell our people and their creativity and their thoughts.
“Before we became 100 per cent employee-owned, our owners were of this mindset anyway because we’re a people business. So when we went employee-owned, it wasn’t a revolution – it made sense.”
Rooted in Manchester
Though rooted in Manchester, MC2 operates on a global scale thanks to its membership in the IPREX network – a group of independent agencies spanning major global markets.
“We’re part of an international network called IPREX, which is made up of independent agencies in every major market around the world,” Saatchi explained.
“What that means for us is we work with what we call high-growth businesses, usually mid-market level.”
Those clients often look to expand globally and IPREX helps to make that possible.
He continued: “A lot of our clients need international support, insight, guidance, on-the-ground advice and execution.
“Being part of that international network means we’ve got a network of businesses and people who we can honestly class as friends that we can bring in to help us work on bringing in clients.
“We’ve got partners on the West Coast, we’ve got partners in India… honestly, there are massive benefits.
“Having this is like having a space where you can share challenges. Because the challenges that agencies of our ilk are going through – like AI, talent attraction, all that sort of stuff – is exactly what they’re going through in all of these different markets.
“It means that all of the people in MC2, all 30 of us, genuinely have a global outlook and a global mindset, because the IPREX thing is real – it’s not words on a website.”
A community-based mindset
Despite the global reach, MC2’s Manchester identity is unwavering.
“MC2 is Manchester – it’s always been part of our ethos,” the managing director said.
“There are a lot of entrepreneurs here who have done amazing things and started their own businesses, which I am in awe of.
“Mike [Perls] founded our business and got an MBE for services to Manchester. So Manchester is such an integral part of MC2.
“It’s also global Manchester – it’s not parochial Manchester. It’s the beauty of Manchester, it’s that ambition, the vision of what the entrepreneurs in Manchester have got – the community side of it too.
“You could say that it’s a normal thing but I think Manchester has got something special about it. It is real. People want to help each other.
“People are curious, and they want to do it for the benefit of the wider community, rather than necessarily just for their own personal gain, which is what makes it such a wonderful, fertile ecosystem from which to start and scale a business.”
Saatchi was included in BusinessCloud’s Northern Leaders Futures list and was one of 13 names from the list to speak at this week’s event in the Leeds offices of KPMG, along with Dragons’ Den star Lucie Macleod, The Apprentice candidate Keir Shave and Ben Taylor, head of TMT M&A in Yorkshire and North East at KPMG.