The Friday Accelerator Front Room to Forty People: Kelly Dowson, FIS Group
Oct 29, 2025
In this engaging discussion, Kelly Dowson, Managing Director of FIS Group, reveals her journey from a front-room startup to leading a consultancy with a £7m turnover. She shares insights on the challenges of scaling a consultancy and the importance of hiring the right team. Kelly also discusses her innovative research on GLP-1, a potential game-changer in food and health. Additionally, she emphasizes the importance of delegation, personal growth, and maintaining a work-life balance while navigating the fast-paced food industry.
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Structure Weeks To Protect Focus
- Set weekly routines: use Mondays to plan and Fridays for no-meeting reflection to protect focus.
- Combine one-to-ones, operational check-ins and strategic work to keep the team aligned.
Progress By Small, Consistent Steps
- Track a few big strategic goals and measure weekly progress by incremental closeness, not completion.
- Say no to distractions to focus on proven priorities and reach them faster.
Experiments That Flopped
- Kelly listed failures: a dark-kitchen brand in COVID, a joint venture, and hires that didn't work out.
- She treats experiments as learning when they can be done in a safe way that doesn't harm the business.
