My Business Life: Gerry Murray, Impetus

Gerry Murray, founder and managing director of Impetus, shares his life and business lessons.

Impetus founder Gerry Murray is an accomplished business leader. Known for driving growth and innovation, his expertise and passion lies in strategic partnerships, ecosystem development, and delivering impact-driven solutions for scaling businesses. 

With a diverse background spanning corporate, advisory, and entrepreneurial roles, Gerry has successfully guided organisations through transformations and expansions. His leadership focuses on building high-performance teams and creating customer-centric solutions that unlock real value and opportunities.

Prior to Impetus, Gerry held senior positions in many local and international businesses, where he led commercial strategy and corporate innovation initiatives. As a member of the Harvard Business Review Advisory Council, he contributes insights on business strategy and leadership trends.

Gerry’s passion for collaborative innovation continues to help businesses navigate complexity, embrace digital transformation, and achieve sustainable growth.

Tell us about your background, what journey did you take to arrive at where you are?

Working with Smurfit Group (now Westrock) I spent three years in Paris on an international  project rolling out SAP and other technology across our European operations. It was then probably the biggest programme of its kind in Europe. I was involved right from its inception including being part of a core team of 12 ‘Smurfs’ we worked through a process with one of the Big 4 consulting companies to define the scope and select the best fit ERP and related solutions for our businesses. It was eye opening – the 12 week selection process, during which we visited five countries, was clearly geared in favour of SAP (happened to be my preference but it was still predefined from the outset, in my opinion).

While working closely with a team of circa 80 consultants it was my first large-scale experience of how they worked. It was company-first, client 2nd. Pyramid teams with an experienced leader at the top who can address major issues and challenges, but the core work is done by ‘leaders’ who have perhaps one or two projects behind them. Under them, juniors learning on the jobAll very, very expensive resources. While a big part of the value they were selling was their previous experience on similar projects, everything started from a blank page, no tangible IP or pre-existing documentation was produced.

When I left Smurfit in 2000 after nine brilliant years, I went into a small (20 people) tech company.  A completely new environment for me.  I (and the owners of the business in fairness) quickly realised that while I wore a technology hat in Smurfit, my experience meant I had a lot more to offer beyond tech. I had experience working with every business function across the business. Skills and experience had been gained by osmosis. 

I ultimately had senior leadership roles with global enterprise technology companies including EMC and Hitachi, and while my experience with consultancy companies over the years was never entirely negative, I always felt there should be alternatives approaches to large scale consulting programmes, especially utilising people who had frontline, real world experience. Again, in any assessment interview with them it always felt they were looking for evidence to support their pre-defined solution or strategy.

Why are you doing what you are doing? What need are you meeting? What’s your USP?

I came across Johnson Hana and some other companies who were offering somewhat disruptive plays in very traditional sectors.  It is not about doing the same but better or cheaper, it is about an alternative, including the business model we work to compared to traditional consulting.

As an example, and at a very basic level, we’ve seen large technology programmes that are being delivered by a big consulting org. together with their client. Running significantly over-budget and significantly behind schedule, bringing in another team of consultants to kick off a prolonged assessment of the issues is not realistic or helpful.

Bringing in a small team of highly experienced and skilled leaders who understand the complexities of such programmes (technical, people, political, financial etc.) and can quickly identify the core issues is a much smarter approach and more likely to lead to much better outcomes. Funnily enough it is often not the consultants but the client who could be a significant factor in the issues (but the consultants are winning either way hence they are conflicted). 

We meet organisations, teams and leaders, where they are at. We have the experience and skills to start from there and assess if and how we can help without being prescriptive or predefined. We deliver the services ourselves, no juniors, and therefore we leverage smart partners and smart platforms to help as needed. Impact, lean and pace are key principles of how we work and we can only do that by bringing the right experience to the table, of which we have a great breadth and depth.

How did you fund and start the business and what are your growth plans?

I self-funded the forerunner to Impetus and during those three years it was never a straight-line journey as I would get tied up with delivery to clients myself and have less time to work on the business. In October 2023 I finished an interim chief operations officer role with the brilliant PepTalk team and decided to double down on the business and reimagine it. 

Roll on to July last year and my wife Bairbre ‘advised’ that I needed to focus as I still had a few other initiatives in play. I then met a prospective client who liked the business model so much he offered to back me with investment, and a few days later I held a team meeting in the offices of Renatus in Dublin and I was asked if I would open it up to a partnership type model. I expected maybe two or three of the associates would come in but quite quickly seven of them committed and have since come on board as we set up and launched Impetus in November.

The initial scaling was leveraging our collective networks and contacts but quite quickly word of mouth and unprompted references has seen our pipeline of business grow incredibly in a relatively short period of time. Our approach and experience is perfectly timed for the pace of change, disruption and opportunities that companies are experiencing.

What are your key skills and qualities that set you apart?

In terms of skills, it is the experience and background of the associates. We have a great and growing breadth of knowledge and insights from across functions and sectors. More importantly it is our shared values and approach that sets us apart. Everyone only wants to be involved in successful, impactful engagements. You don’t sit at the Impetus table if you are just seeking out easy pay days.  And it is the power of the collective that really excites us as we know in terms of pulling together a team for a client project, 1 and 1 can deliver 11.

It was also apparent, and I think this is a result of the collective experience, that everyone in our large group understand that in any strategic engagement, culture is the bedrock for sustained success. We have an incredible team of essential skills gurus who compliment and enhance our core business offerings.

What (or whom) has helped you most along the way? Who was your greatest mentor/inspiration?

I come from an extended family of entrepreneurs, so my late grandfather and my mother are certainly up there. I was also hugely influenced by sport and we had tremendous success until I had to retire at 19 due to injury, with the late and great Paddy Harrington and also Fintan Gormley from my GAA club Fingallians having a massive influence on me in my formative years.

Finally, in business and on reflection of my early years in Smurfit, that was like doing an MBA. I learned so much from some of the best businesspeople of their generation.

What was the greatest piece of business advice you ever received?

My first experience in a sales role was in Morse (now Logicalis) and Andrew Baird (father of Leinster and Irish rugby star Ryan) taught me that when it comes to trying to close business, “no” doesn’t have to mean “no”, you can find a win-win with a customer to get it done (and that win-win approach is what separates the best sales/business people in my view).

What circumstances/qualities/events can mark the difference between success or failure in life or business?

How you treat people is No 1. Being consistent, empathetic and authentic as a leader or just as a colleague in the tough moments as well as the great ones. Your people know if you are faking it, and that being the case, they won’t trust you to tell you that truth. 

I know leaders who have ignored life-changing circumstances of team members (including the death of a parent or a cancer diagnoses) because it would impact the business. Good luck living with your success if that’s your make-up.

When it comes to failure, look in the mirror first. When it comes to success, think of the people who played a part but don’t feel a part of it and use that opportunity to recognise them for their contribution, in front of their peers.

If it’s worth doing, then be determined and see it through no matter how challenging. To quote a former leader and mentor in EMC, Adrian McDonald, “if the fish jumped into the boat, fishing would be no fun”.  Such cliches often get a bad rap but they are worth taking on board as they have come from life experiences, including another – “if you’re learning, you’re not losing.”

What was the most challenging aspect of either starting or growing the business?

In starting, it was leaving the comfort of a guaranteed, regular income. It was also ensuring I found a mission and a purpose for what I was doing that would motivate me as I was no longer answerable to anyone other than myself (well, maybe still my wife and three daughters). Being very honest, while I did some interesting stuff over the first couple of years of independence, it took time to find something that was sustainable in terms of motivation as well as success.

How did you navigate your business through the pandemic and what lessons did you learn?

While it well before the launch of Impetus, the pandemic did play its part in bringing it about as it put an end to my weekly commute to London and eventually led me to leave the corporate world and start my own business.

How has digital transformation been a factor in your scaling journey and do you believe Irish firms are utilising digital technologies sufficiently?

As a team of only very experienced and skilled people, we are embracing technologies that that help us deliver value and impact to clients in as lean and short an engagement as possible. One example is our Impetus Discovery platform developed by an Irish AI startup workstuff.ai This platform allows us to essentially interview and analyse an entire organisation in hours without the requirement for dozens of people running around for days and weeks.

These are the types of practical and impactful approaches and solutions we love to bring to our clients.

If you were to do it all over again, what would you do differently?

With respect to Impetus, ask me again in two years! But I expect it will be a short answer. I have taken my time getting to this point so there shouldn’t be too much I would want to do differently at this stage, and with an incredible team we are open-minded and ready to adapt and evolve as we scale our business.

Who inspires you in business today?  

The late Fergal Quinn remains a big inspiration. I got to know him as my wife Bairbre was his EA for a number of years. When she started in his head office I recall saying “let me know when the mask slips”. It never did.

I also have great admiration (and until lately, jealously) for entrepreneurs. One I have admired for a long time is a very good friend, Andrew Collins.  There are not many who get so ‘lucky’ so often!

What advice/guidance do you give new hires and how do you nurture talent in your organisation?

Bring yourself always. While learning and taking on board the best practices and advice you can get, we don’t need people to be clones of each other. Embrace opportunities to evolve and progress personally and professionally. Don’t expect to be promoted just because you’re doing a good job, be sure to discuss your ambitions and discuss how you can achieve them.

What business books do you read or would recommend?

Blue Ocean Strategy – I am not very creative so any help I can get to get my innovative juices going is always appreciated. As mentioned, I have huge admiration for entrepreneurs, especially those who create their own swim lanes.

The Serendipity Mindset – I am a great believer in the power of the collective and putting yourself out there, especially with an open mind and not with an agenda, this can lead to incredible engagements and even friendships, in business and in life in general.

What technologies/tools do you use personally to keep you on track?

Aside from the usual (currently the Microsoft 365 suite) I am leaning into ChatGPT more and more. I was advised to use it like it is an intern, ask questions as if it is a human (for your own mindset not for it) and give it feedback to improve the responses. By doing that I find it incredibly useful and I know I still haven’t even scratched the surface of what’s available today, let alone what’s coming next.

What social media platforms do you prefer and why?

LinkedIn is No 1 as it is an incredible platform for a business like Impetus to utilise. I resisted Facebook so it is also a great way for me to keep connected with former colleagues and maintain old business connections.

I was previously a big fan of Twitter, and while I miss it I did come off it for the reasons so many others have also. I do think it is important to read and listen to different opinions and perspectives even if I vehemently disagree with them, but Twitter has become a horrible echo chamber.  Musk’s growing influence in international politics is also quite scary. Hopefully Bluesky grows to become a decent alternative.

What are your thoughts on where technology overall is heading and how it will apply to business generally and your business particularly?

Despite having a career that has been tech-centric, I realised even after doing my Computer Science degree in Dundalk, that I was never going to be one to see around corners and guide people on the art of the possible.

However, we haven’t even started with AI. As Impetus Partner Dr  Lollie Mancey noted at the Pendulum Summit recently, ChatGPT currently has the same IQ as Einstein had. The next iteration of ChatGPT with be many multiple times more. That’s as exciting and as it is terrifying. I don’t love technology for tech sake, I love tech that solves issues, saves lives, brings efficiencies etc. etc.  AI in its multiple forms will absolutely do that but if we as a society don’t put serious guardrails around it, God help us. Let’s not sleepwalk into the next iterations of big tech companies who before we know it and before we can stop them, have more and more control of our thoughts, emotions and decision making (and our children, governments etc!).

Finally, if you had advice for your 21-year-old self – knowing what you know now – what would it be?

“No Gerry, you cannot read people like a book as soon as you meet them!”

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