In this episode of Stake and Soul, Barry speaks with Kirsty Dias, Managing Director of PriestmanGoode, one of the world’s leading transport and passenger experience design studios, responsible for landmark projects including the New Tube for London and aircraft cabin interiors for major global airlines.
Kirsty joined the studio in 2001 and became a director in 2016, the same year the founding partners transitioned the business to an Employee Ownership Trust. She has led the studio as MD through a decade of significant growth and has experienced EO from every angle: as an employee who received the news, as a trustee director who had to communicate it, and now as the leader responsible for sustaining it.
In this conversation, she speaks candidly about what the studio underestimated at the start, why the ownership model only truly came into its own during COVID, and what it actually takes to build a culture of genuine engagement rather than a formal one.
This is a thoughtful conversation for founders, leaders and employee-owned businesses navigating the gap between the transaction and the transformation.
What’s covered in this episode:
- What prompted the founders to explore employee ownership and why a trade sale was not the route they wanted.
- The experience of receiving the EOT news as an employee, and what was and was not explained at the outset.
- Why the early years looked more like a benefits package than genuine ownership engagement, and what shifted.
- How COVID became the moment the model came into its own.
- The governance structure and how communication between the trust board and main board has been formalised over time.
- How the three-pillar framework of retain, reward and invest shapes how profit decisions are communicated to the team.
- The challenge of maintaining culture as the studio scales.
- Why EO longevity is a credible signal in a long-term, relationship-driven industry.
Moments to listen out for:
- The role one external adviser played in setting the expectations of employee ownership at a critical moment.
- How communication during COVID shifted from one-sided to a genuine exchange, and what that unlocked.
- Why EO requires dedicated time and consistency, and what happens when it is treated as an afterthought.
- Kirsty’s reflection on significant people leaving and why different does not have to mean worse.
Quickfire highlights
- Employee ownership is: working collaboratively for the best shared outcome.
- Biggest EO lesson: the time and consistency it demands. You cannot run it on the side.
- Leadership insight: collaborative, non-hierarchical leadership suits EO. Good ideas come from juniors too.
- Cultural priority: building a studio where people leave having absorbed the culture, and take it with them.
This episode is a grounded account of what EO looks and feels like inside a creative business that did not start with a clear playbook. The conversation is a useful reminder that the transaction is the starting point, not the destination.
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The following podcast is intended to be of a general nature, will not be suitable for everyone, and should not be treated as a specific recommendation. We recommend taking professional advice before entering into any obligation or transaction.