#303: Mission Stoke Review
Lessons on my mission to change Stoke.
Three years ago I set out on “Mission Stoke”. My goal was to:
Create opportunities in Stoke & Staffordshire
Create jobs
Promote creativity and entrepreneurship
Create wealth
Increase Stoke-on-Trent’s reputation nationally and internationally
Foster a shared purpose and sense of community
Stoke to be a leading example of community, sustainability and creativity
Closing a Chapter
Three years on and I’m reflecting on how far I’ve come and how impactful I may or may not have been.
This reflection and critique, is part of me closing a chapter. This is something I’m becoming more and more comfortable about - starting and then ending. My stretch is to learn to detach and then let go. To not hold all my hopes on a rocket reaching the moon - being happy just seeing the stars.
I decided to use my friend Claude to help me critically review my work on Mission Stoke and rank my efforts. Before I do, here’s my “Mission Stoke” portfolio:
The Knot - independent news outlet with 3,000+ weekly readers, 115 paid supporters. (Founded)
Peter Coates MSc Entrepreneurship - Masters course ran from 2023 - 2025. 100 students, ~65% now running own business, ~4 received seed funding. (Co-created course and delivered)
Made in Stoke - community for global “Stokies” to give back to Stoke and platform for philanthropy. (Re-branded and led for 12 months)
Forget-me-Knot FC - football club for Bereaved Dads in North Staffordshire (part of founding team)
There’s an objectivity in this robotic view of my work in this space. One I can’t hide from. It’s true I can’t yet tangibly measure any economic impact. Forget-me-Knot FC certainly is beyond the brief, I wasn’t expecting that.
Lesson 1: Grieve before you go again
In truth, when I began this work I was rather lost. Grieving a previous identity, mission, community and place. A mission in Stoke was both a comfort blanket and a distraction. A new relationship I could throw myself into. On reflection, I’d have done the deep dark grieving into nothingness before throwing myself two-footed into regional development and place-making - that’s the lesson for me and I think the lesson for other founders. Don’t go from one thing into the next. Take the time to stop and really let go - then let your next passage emerge organically. Don’t be too afraid of the dark.
Lesson 2: This was really really hard
My other reflection on this mission is how hard it has been. I found changing the narrative around mental health much easier to be honest. The community I was part of (London) was much more receptive and the ability to build a business and mission around that initial concept of perception change and mental health gym’s was much easier.
Creating change around a Place that is so full of stories, history and deeply entrenched views and identities has been much harder. Especially when needing to find money to make the mission sustainable - there is much less of that frothy “startup” capital here to take risks and give people a chance. Add in powerful macro-economic factors too and you’ve got a real job on your hands.
Lesson 3: Don’t rescue. Listen and accept.
I may also have missed the brief a little. Being so full of anxiety at the start of this mission I was really trying to rescue this place and rescue myself in it. Intentionally, I really wanted to give this area some positivity. This worked and was very well received. Yet truthfully, inside me was a desire to rescue and to create change immediately. I literally wanted Stoke to regenerate in 2 years and become more like a place such as Sheffield overnight.
However, the brief here actually needed to be more about acceptance than about change. If I were to really listen to the cries of the people here, it’s not that they need someone to tell them how great this place really is. They don’t need persuading. They need to be listened to. I’m a well-off guy who moved back from London - I want this area to get a few more coffee shops and independent eateries so I can work remotely from here, commute to London and meet more people like me. Yet, the real truth is that the majority of people here are worried about their day to day life - energy prices, job opportunities, money, housing and health. If I wanted to do a better job in my aim to regenerate this area, I’d have been more patient and focused on really listening to the mood and emotion of the majority.
Instead, I created a platform for advocacy where a smaller number of people could feel proud to be from this area and create momentum in a conversation around change. It’s still done well, but there’s a lesson for me that sometimes the most powerful thing you can do to change something, is to accept it.
I tried very hard to change Stoke and Staffordshire. Actually, I’d have been better off working harder to accept it, and then more change will come.
What I did do
On a personal level, I need to get better at celebrating what I have achieved, as opposed to lingering on what I have not. I’ve created a platform to launch businesses. Taught and mentored entrepreneurs. Created a philanthropy platform. Built an independent media company and fostered more pride in this place. As my father-in-law Nick said to me, it’s more than most will do in a lifetime.
There’s the intangible stuff too. 50,000 LinkedIn followers know that I’m from Stoke. I’ve been in loads of national press about Stoke. I’ve been a personal advocate for this place. I helped start a run club here, helped send some invites out for a feature film about Stoke. Culture change isn’t always visible - it’s gritty and behind the scenes. It’s conversations on social media, it’s challenging people’s views in person. It’s underground, behind the scenes - it happens in pubs and coffee shops or at home.
Personal reflection
One thing I find hard about new chapters is feeling that I’m letting people down. Especially in this area, the feeling like I’m giving up on people (like everyone else does). I have to live with this. I have to live with myself actually - that I am someone who runs really hot, and then cold, someone who changes lots of lanes.
Perhaps the ultimate lesson for me is that just as I’ve learned to truly accept this area for what it is, and expect no more. I must do that for myself too. Accept that I’m really good at whipping up a movement and taking something from zero to one.
Just like with Stoke’s development, I believe it’s in this acceptance of myself that growth will really come.
Cheers,
James
P.s if you’ve been following my work in Stoke/Staffs then I’ll be sharing an exciting update/announcement next week
What a great read, thanks for sharing James 🙌