Richard Guiney, CEO, Dublin Town

Richard Guiney is CEO of Dublin Town, Dublin city centre's Business Improvement District. Representing 2,000 businesses, the organisation aims to make Dublin city a vibrant and successful commercial destination.

It was established following a vote of city-based ratepayers in 2008. The mandate was extended following the subsequent renewal ballots in 2012 and 2017. Richard is recognised internationally as a Place Management expert. As a Fellow of the Institute of Place Management, he has spoken on various aspects of town centre development worldwide.

He previously served on the board of the London based Association of Town & City Management (ATCM) and has acted as its Ireland Chair. He also chaired Purple Flag Ireland. Purple Flag is an award that recognises excellence in the management of the Evening and Night-time Economy.

“I do hold people with vision and an ability to get things done in high regard.”

Richard Guiney

Richard Guiney, LinkedIn, Twitter, Dublin Town and We are Dublin Town

Richard is currently a Board Member and Secretary of the Global Business Districts Innovation Club. Prior to joining Dublin Town, Richard served as Director of Corporate Services with Chambers Ireland, where he represented the Irish Chamber Movement at the International Chambers of Commerce and Eurochambres.

An Accountant and Tax Advisor by profession, Richard has a keen interest in the arts and has served on the boards of many national arts organisations as well as the Ana Liffey Drug Project.

What is your favourite social media platform, and why?

LinkedIn because it enables interaction with fellow professionals and assists in forming networks.

Tell us about you and your current role or area of interest.

Dublin Town is a Business Improvement District (BID). The BID concept began in North America due to the 'donut effect' whereby people moved out of city centres to live in the suburbs. Commerce soon followed the population to the suburbs, resulting in a lack of investment and dereliction in many city centres. They were hallowed out and hence the donut analogy.

The businesses remaining in city centres realised that they had to organise, market themselves and enhance the customer experience through collective action if their cities were to regain relevance and vibrancy. BIDs are involved in promoting town centres and increasingly encouraging appropriate investment. They are private-sector organisations that work on behalf of businesses within a specified district. The concept has proven itself to work, and there are now BIDs throughout the world.

What do you like about your career or area of focus?

Town centres are dynamic and evolving destinations. This is true now more than ever. The 2020s will be an era-defining decade when climate change and the technology revolution will combine to determine how and where we live, our transport options, how we shop, socialise, engage and are entertained. We will see new careers the replacing the old and will see new uses within our towns and cities.

Covid served to accelerate trends that were already forming, consolidating changes in customer patterns into two years rather than the anticipated ten. Urgent decisions are required to future proof our town centres. The decisions that are made now will determine if our towns and cities will remain relevant to modern needs. Many of these decisions will be of a commercial nature or will have commercial implications.

It is essential that the business community takes the lead and advocates for the right choices rather than waiting to respond to others. This is an exciting time to be active in the burgeoning Place Management industry. The discipline requires the blending of different skills and insights. This diversity very much appeals to me.

What is the best advice you have ever received?

To thine own self be true.

What inspires you, motivates you, or helps you to move forward?

The beauty of the Dublin Town role is that we can influence the city's development. As a proud Dublin, this is important for me. We have a chance to create a legacy and contribute to a better city that our children and grandchildren will enjoy. Nobody on the Dublin Town team needs more motivation than that.

What are you proud of in your life so far?

I am proud of the Dublin One project and the Better City For All process in my Dublin Town role. Dublin One, which was conducted in 2017, sought to future proof the city's northern core based on emerging trends and research findings. This research suggested that the Dublin One district was vulnerable to changes in retail and, in particular, the migration online.

The project benefited significantly from the support of the American Institute of Architects. They organised a team of prominent architects to visit Dublin. They engaged with local participants to consider land use within the district, the role of the public domain together with potential enhancements, the use of derelict sites and the development of district identity. You can read more about this project on We are Dublin Town.

The outputs of this project have proven very prescient. They have provided us with a post Covid blueprint that I believe will help us regenerate the city's north side into an exciting destination. The Better City For All process was a coordinated approach to addressing drug-related anti-social behaviour throughout the city core.

This independently chaired the multistakeholder programme was an effective mechanism for identifying, considering, and addressing most key issues about drug-related anti-social behaviour.

It resulted in some innovations such as assertive outreach, coordination of responses and enhanced community policing. Of course, the model needs upgrading to meet current conditions, but the template is there to do this.

What is your preferred way to meet new people/network?

I prefer to meet people in person and engage in good old fashioned chats.

What skills or qualities do you feel have helped you?

The ability to think laterally and see the connections between apparently unrelated matters.

What do you wish you had known when you started out?

Getting the right work-life balance is so important.

Who do you most admire in business, academic or creative circles and why?

We are all flawed individuals to some extent. However, there is no one person that I most admire though I do hold people with vision and an ability to get things done in high regard.

Outside of your professional/work area, what hobbies or interests do you have or what other areas of your life are of real importance to you?

I have a keen interest in the arts. I particularly enjoy film and theatre. I also enjoy going to Leinster rugby and Dublin GAA games with friends and socialising afterwards.

Has the pandemic had a positive or a negative effect on you and/or your business, and how have you managed it?

It has been tough. 85% of Dublin Town members are engaged in retail or hospitality and have been on the front line of economic disruption. This meant we had to adjust our budgets and weather the financial storm. However, I am proud that we remained there for our members and probably worked harder and longer hours than we had before while also feeling the financial pain.

However, now that there is light at the end of the tunnel. There is a sense of pride that we helped many of our members navigate unchartered and difficult waters. And that we managed to maintain our services and provide Christmas lights for the people of Dublin when they most needed a boost.

The pandemic has also opened up the opportunity to re-imagine the city and to work with partners across the public and private sectors to create a better Dublin for all. This is a tremendously exciting prospect.

Do you have a mentor, or have you ever mentored anyone?

I have had the chance to work with people from whom I have learned so much and with people that I hope learned from me. Life is diverse, and people have their own talents. We can all learn from each other.

The pandemic has shown how important human interaction is and how much we need it to preserve our identity and sanity. I think we will value that engagement all the more now that we have experienced a time when we could not mix and socialise.

What advice would you have for someone looking to get into the same area of work or interests?

Listen and learn from people who have tread the path before, but do not be afraid to offer your own views and ideas. The Place Management discipline is new, and there is still a lot to discover. Don't take criticism to heart. Those who criticise most often have the least to offer by way of positive contributions.

What do you feel is the most common reason for people failing or giving up?

It is difficult to keep going if you don't have a clear vision of what you want to achieve. Knowing what success looks like helps you get there and also to persevere when the odds look stacked against you.

Is there a phrase, quote or a saying that you really like?

The Shakespeare quote "to thine own self be true" is the best advice I received and often referred to.

What companies, brands, or institutions do you like or do you think are getting it right?

Ultimately, we all have to reinvent ourselves several times over. Given the pace at which the world is moving now, the frequency of re-invention is very likely to increase. So many brands looked as if they had it all sorted, only to fail a few years later. Everything is subject to change, and it is important to recognise that.

How do you define success, and what lessons have you learned so far that you could share with our audience/readership?

Success is happiness, and happiness is recognising that success is temporary.