Following the founder 

The Body Shop has gone from an upstart success story to an inspiring purpose-driven business to a cautionary tale in just a matter of years. 

The iconic British brand was founded by Anita Roddick, who built the business on her own in the late 1970s. It was founded upon ethical trading and consumption principles. Roddick was committed to cruelty-free, natural cosmetics in an era when animal testing and synthetic ingredients were allowing for the global mass production of products.  

Later, in the brand-purpose era, The Body Shop was a paragon of a founder-led, purpose-built brand that adhered closely to its founding ethos and ethical basis, even decades on. But then, Roddick unexpectedly sold the business to L’Oréal. She said at the time, “The campaigning, the being maverick, changing the rules of business – it’s all there, protected. And it’s not going to change. That’s part of our DNA.” 

L’Oréal remained in possession from 2006 to 2017. Since then, The Body Shop has had three owners in eight years, with one of them putting the business into administration. What went wrong? The retail bust hastened by Covid-19 probably did it no favours. Nor did the popular shift to smaller, more agile cosmetics brands. But YouGov research shows that even after the business went into administration last year, customer perception, satisfaction and consideration were all either steady or improving. 

“Founders are often the individuals who have the most power over shaping the culture of the business” 

The problem, then, may be an internal one. The founding principles that made The Body Shop its quintessential self may have ebbed away after Roddick’s departure. “She had her finger on the pulse,” Advita Patel, founder of CommsRebel, says of Roddick. “And I think once she left they lost it, and it showed in the bottom line.” 

All founders will one day leave the business. No one, after all, can live forever. The way a business is set up for continued success relies on the founder preparing for this eventuality through an internal communications strategy designed to protect and promote continuity within the corporate culture. 

Modern start-ups may be more prone to founders leaving early in a company’s lifespan than their predecessors. Management professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, Danny Kim, studied founder departures in start-ups. He found that 40% of founders leave before their company’s IPO. His research found that a founder’s premature death may actually lead to less change within the business, likely due to the founder’s position as the change-maker within the company.  

Founders are often the individuals who have the most power over shaping the culture of the business. Steve Jobs drove Apple’s innovative spirit and outside-the-box thinking. Richard Branson brings a casual irreverence and ambition to the Virgin family of brands. Finisterre’s Tom Kay has given the B Corp brand his commitment to outdoor pursuits and environmental protection. Even businesses that eventually get bought – like Ben & Jerry’s, with its fun-loving and activist nature – may keep a sense of their founders’ values embedded within their cultures long after the founders’ departures. 

“If a culture is too closely tied to the founder, it can quickly become unstable” 

Author and expert in organisational communication and leadership, Jenni Field, says: “Founders play a significant role in shaping the culture of a business. They set the values, have a vision and influence how people behave and communicate. When a founder then steps away, the organisation must face an important challenge: was the culture truly embedded across the business, or was it simply a reflection of one individual?” 

The answer to that question is one that will shape the future of the company. In the case of The Body Shop, one purchase made it tough enough to retain a strong sense of self within the wider L’Oréal family. Staff members, the media and the public had strong opinions about the fit between the French company and its British subsidiary. But then, The Body Shop changed hands again. And again. 

This month, its headquarters were demolished. 

The company’s offices had moved to Brighton last year for a so-called “cultural reset”. CEO Charles Denton said the move would “foster an innovative and collaborative culture to make this next stage in the journey possible.” 

Companies often stray beyond their founders’ visions after the departure of the leader. Field warns, though: “If a culture is too closely tied to the founder, it can quickly become unstable. Without clear structures, communication and leadership practices that reinforce values across all levels, the culture may begin to drift – and this is where internal comms and credible leadership are vital.” 

Companies should have plans in place to mitigate the cultural challenges and potential communications upheaval that will occur when a founder leaves the business. 

“This is where internal comms plays a big role,” Patel says. “Our role is to tell stories, and ultimately, to tell the story of why we exist as an organisation. What is the purpose of what we are doing? If we can reinforce that in terms of what makes the company great, then we can make spaces for those voices that are not only the founder’s.” 

She says it’s important to ensure other leaders are as much a part of the leading vision, purpose and ethos of a company as the founder. Not only does this help spread the load for the founder, but it ensures that others at the head of the company are well placed to maintain the behaviours and culture that the founder has instilled in the business. 

It’s essential that founders plan ahead for their departure, Patel says. “If you know you’re going to exit the business in 10 years, then you start planning for that exit in that time; you don’t wait for the 18 months prior to exit.” The longer that exit strategy is in place, the more time the leadership team has to become cultural leaders as well as operational leaders.  

Moreover, the longer lead time also gives the communications team an advantage. Internal communicators are then able to build a culture outside of the founder themselves.

They can shape the employee experience and create points of commonality and connection between employees and the business. This will help build stronger connections to the brand and ensure the culture is not driven by one individual.  

“The longer that exit strategy is in place, the more time the leadership team has to become cultural leaders as well as operational leaders” 

Patel advises allowing other leaders to work with the founder to ensure a smooth transition. Beyond that, the communications team should work closely with leaders and HR to examine the data. They can consider whether employees are still performing well, whether attrition rates are steady or whether there is any shift in customer loyalty. That data can then inform where the communications effort should be placed. “What we often do is focus on the campaign and the slogan rather than going back to the core values of why we exist,” she says. 

Field adds that a founder’s departure can make employees feel disconnected and cause a loss of clarity in the company’s purpose. “Internal communication must step up and act as the glue that holds people together,” she says. “Reinforcing the shared values and giving people a sense of belonging and direction. The reason for the founder’s departure will also play a role in what happens next.” 

Both advise keeping the communications channels open, transparent and honest – even if that means saying, ‘we can’t say much right now, but we’re here for you throughout this period of change’. 

If the change is managed well, a corporate culture may remain thriving and committed to its founding ideals even several years down the line. Patel adds, though, that that doesn’t mean stagnation. Companies should still focus on growth and adaptation, but a thriving culture is one that gives employees a shared purpose. “A mark of a good culture is where you know it’s going to thrive throughout whatever uncertainty or adversity is thrown its way,” Patel says. “And I think many leaders need to think about that. Do we have a shared purpose? Do we have shared values? Or is it heavily dependent on one person’s vision of what this culture should be?”  

Nobody may ever know just what caused the decline and fall of a brand like The Body Shop. But its journey is one that can inspire founders to act to protect their brands’ cultures and legacies. They can make the right choices well ahead of time to prepare for cultural consistency, communications clarity and commercial success after their inevitable departures.