When Marcus and I started up Firefly, neither of us had ever managed anyone. (Unless you count the odd choir or football team. A bit different, sadly).
So now that we're ballooning to 10 people, we figured it was time to get some advice.

And two came along at once. Richard Westoby and his team from London Business School wrote a paper on Firefly as an example of the "Entrepreneurial trap"; because entrepreneurs like to "do" stuff, they often end up getting stuck in the detail, and fail to give leadership and proper management - so people feel disempowered and directionless...

Then there was Sue Spencer. She's a bit of a legend. An HR consultant who understands entrepreneurs - so more about people and action, and less about form-filling and regulations.

So what have we changed so far?
1. Clear lines of reporting: we've separated Sales & Marketing (now under Marcus) from New Products, Finance and Operations (now under Harry). Radical.
2. New ways of interviewing people. Out with the nice chatty "tell me about your CV" style. In with "When have you demonstrated your ability to...", probing follow-on questions and embarrassing silences. Clear job descriptions with "essential" and "desirable" skills. Suddenly the "but he's such a nice guy" defence goes out of the window (almost).
3. The Three-year vision. We've always had a "vision" - to be the healthy, effective drinks brand... But that means a lot to us, but perhaps less to everyone else in the business. So we've now had a big think about where we want to be in 3 years time: what products, which shops, what kinds of marketing, finances, the works. And suddenly everyone's walking round with an apparent sense of purpose. Miraculous.

And the book of the month (apparently - haven't read it yet): Hidden value by Jeffrey Pfeffer - "How Great Companies Achieve Extraordinary Results with ordinary people." (Not that we've ever hired anyone "ordinary" of course!)