Lisa-Nicole Dunne, Managing Director and Founder, Mantra Strategy
Lisa-Nicole Dunne is an advocate for social change, the SDGs and equality, with extensive experience across various sectors, including automotive (BMW), financial, education, international development, health research and professional services.
She has helped raise more than €70 million for global, national and local issues and won Irish Professional fundraiser of the year in 2013 and was shortlisted for Global fundraiser of the year.
Founder and MD of Mantra Strategy, a strategy and impact consultancy which believes in a better balance of people, planet and profit. Helping companies, brands, and teams put meaning at the heart of their strategy. And to advise key leaders in various sectors on achieving greater global, societal and local impact.
Lisa-Nicole holds a BA, MBA and Diploma in Psychology, was the Chair of Charities Institute Ireland since 2019 and Non-Executive Director for five years.
She also chairs WorkEqual's International Women's Day Campaign and is the Founder of The Lunchtime Circle, a think tank for social enterprises and charities. In addition, Lisa-Nicole has just been shortlisted for the Women Mean Business Newcomer Entrepreneur Award and is also a finalist in the Image Women of the Year Awards-Startup category.
What is your favourite social media platform, and why?
LinkedIn is just the right fit for my business.
Tell us about you and your current role or area of interest.
I spent the first twelve years of my career in commercial marketing and acquisition, customer management and retention strategies. After that, I worked in charities, including UNICEF, Focus Ireland, and Children's Medical Research Foundation Crumlin, for the next twelve.
I started Mantra Strategy in the middle of phase one of Covid as a boutique impact and purpose-led strategy agency. Helping social enterprises, charities, and organisations who wish to engage their ESG strategies authentically. And live it through their brand people, policies, and strategy.
We are working on people, culture, well-being strategies, growth for impact, and strategic branding strategies. We work with such a variety of organisations - from retailers to member organisations, health and mental health organisations, children's welfare to education, and justice.
What do you like about your career or area of focus?
Mantra is like a magnet for good people and great projects. So, we have grown quickly but carefully, selecting projects that fit our values, honing our strengths-based strategy development model, and helping organisations who want to stand for something and who want to authentically make things better.
I love that Mantra allows us incredible scope and diversity and allows us to bring our passion for bearing. My career has been a fusion of data, branding, creativity and strategic ideation, and at Mantra, we get to do that every day.
What is the best advice you have ever received?
Perfection is the enemy of progress. I like this one because it is true that we can put immense pressure on ourselves to get everything perfectly lined up before we go, wait until all it's are dotted. And are crossed, but sometimes acting, starting small, building up, getting communication out, starting somewhere is good enough.
What inspires you, motivates you, or helps you to move forward?
I am motivated by the incredible people I meet along the way, our clients, people on the frontlines of healthcare, mental health provision, and fighting for equality. Knowing we are doing our little bit to help organisations trying to change communities and lives being more impactful.
I need to like what I do, and I am lucky that I really do love that right now and am surrounded by an incredible team of colleagues, peers and partners.
What are you proud of in your life so far?
Personally, I am proud of my children. They are incredible beings, strong-minded and caring, and they do their best to grow up in a challenging time. Likewise, I am proud of my family, who are all great people, and my friends circle.
Career-wise - I love that I have some incredible stories to tell by having so much diversity of roles under my belt, mainly because I have moved industry so often and embrace change and challenge.
I am proud of my work in each of these roles, of starting Shine a Light night for Focus Ireland, for example, which has gone on to raise millions over the past years for the organisation and for creating the groundwork for growth with a super team.
A key highlight is that I am proud of positively delivering high performance with teams and remaining close to and engaged with so many of the people I have worked with along the way.
What is your preferred way to meet new people/network?
I run The Lunchtime Circle with a small network of friends and my sister Tracey. We invite many business leaders and entrepreneurs to run a think tank for challenges faced by a number of charities and social entrepreneurs - all over lunch. This is a great way to extend and enhance networks while making your time count, so this is a favourite way for me to meet new people.
But I am a real social bunny, too, so I tend to go to several alumni events, charity events, and initiatives. As a result, I have always maintained contact with a wide base (likely from my CRM training over many years)!
What skills or qualities do you feel have helped you?
I really believe that my openness and direct nature mean people know where they stand with me; I am emotionally intelligent or self-aware and try to be fair, logical, just and empathetic. I was fortunate enough to do an MBA when I was very young, and this gave me a broad base of mixed skills and a strong work ethic. This all helped me along the way.
What do you wish you had known when you started out?
I wish starting out; someone had told me earlier to pick my battles wisely.
Who do you most admire in business, academic or creative circles and why?
I admire Christian Kinnear of Hubspot for his leadership approach.
Sr Stan for more reasons than I can mention.
Professor Jonathon Bond and Professor Owen Smith in academic circles for their work in paediatric haemato-oncology, which I am proud to have been engaged in at a funding level when I worked at Crumlin (Foundation).
There are many more like them, too, striving for better, change, and new discoveries.
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 love to read, and I write poetry. Most of all, I love to organise family and friend get-togethers, and I am the known photo-queen (not a photographer) in all my circles, so I do love creating memories and moments.
Has the pandemic had a positive or a negative effect on you and/or your business, and how have you managed it?
The pandemic forced me to jump-start the plan to create Mantra Strategy, so I have a lot to be thankful for. The first few months were a slow burn and built with so much uncertainty, but I got case studies under my belt and honed the approach, and it has completely taken off since. Now we are helping organisations to make an impact in a post-covid (we hope) world.
Do you have a mentor, or have you ever mentored anyone?
Yes, I have always had great mentors, and Colin Culliton (LWA Group) keeps me focused on the commercials and making being a business owner work for me; he has been so generous with his time over the past four to five years at this stage.
I believe mentoring is so important, and I have mentored several people and continue to meet someone different once a month for a mentoring lunch. I think I get as much out of it as they do!
What advice would you have for someone looking to get into the same area of work or interests?
Work hard, plan hard, find time to reflect, and surround yourself with great and different people.
What do you feel is the most common reason for people failing or giving up?
I don't think failure is a problem, and there are many reasons for it. I think people give up if they lose momentum, burn out, or if the numbers don't stack up. Cashflow, perhaps, or questioning if it works.
As a seasoned fundraiser, I also think you have to be prepared to test and learn, fail and learn from it, or give up quickly if something is not working. These things shouldn't always be bad. I don't think I am ever too proud to say something didn't work.
Is there a phrase, quote or a saying that you really like?
"Positivity breeds, positivity breeds, positivity..." I love that one, and it is true.
What companies, brands, or institutions do you like or do you think are getting it right?
I love a company that meaningfully stands for something and that lives out its brand claims and promises. Of course, no one gets it right all the time, but I have recently been very impressed by Vodafone and its commitment to policies that support surrogacy and its people in innovative ways.
How do you define success, and what lessons have you learned so far that you could share with our audience/readership?
I think success is different to everyone; for me, it is being happy and feeling fulfilled, getting some sense of spending enough time with those I care about while keeping my head screwed on.
Lessons that work for me and my personality are to find what works for you and find your people, your tribe and where you feel you bring and add value, and the rest will follow. And always follow your passion if you have that luxury.