What motivated you to co-found Arx Nova?
Across my 20-year career in marketing and communications, I’ve been on the frontline of more crises than I can remember. I’ve seen how leadership teams are tested in those moments, and I’ve also seen how fragmented advice can make the situation worse. Legal, operational, financial and communications advisors often pull in different directions, each focused on their own silo rather than the bigger picture.
One example that has always stayed with me was during a major police intervention at a business I was advising. We worked quickly to issue a holding statement that was factual, calm, and transparent. It reassured stakeholders that the matter was being addressed, outlined a timeline for updates, and answered the one question clients cared about most: “Is my money safe?”
The lawyers approved it. The board, however, wanted to replace it with an angry statement attacking the police and venting about the personal toll on leadership. It was emotional, defensive and irrelevant to the stakeholders who needed reassurance. That moment highlighted for me how easily organisations can lose control of the narrative, and how dangerous it is when different advisors give conflicting counsel.
Arx Nova was founded to cut through that noise. To bring integrated, senior-level leadership into the room so decisions are aligned, narratives are coherent, and businesses under pressure get clarity and control.
How would you describe Arx Nova’s “no-nonsense” ethos in your own words?
It’s something I’m most proud of as a co-founder of Arx Nova, and something I’m fortunate to share with Joe and Chris. When we first started shaping the business, we spent weeks in front of whiteboards in my home, asking ourselves not just what businesses need in a crisis, but what values we, as individuals, were unwilling to compromise on.
Three words stayed on the wall throughout those sessions: “Rapid Response”, “Cross-functional Support”, “No BS!!!”. They became the foundation of our ethos.
For us, “no-nonsense” means straight talking and honesty, even when the conversations are difficult. We fight for your business as if it were our own, and that sometimes means telling leaders hard truths they may not want to hear.
It also means stripping away the noise. In a crisis, there’s always confusion, emotion and competing voices. Our job is to cut through all of that and give leaders perfect clarity under pressure. That’s what no-nonsense looks like in practice: speed, alignment, and decisions rooted in fact.
What does “crisis contained” mean to you personally?
For me, “crisis contained” is that moment of calm in the middle of chaos. It’s the first sign of breathing space when you’ve been locked in the boardroom for 48 hours straight and you know the tide is finally turning.
Containment is about stabilisation, taking a business that, two weeks earlier, feared it might not survive, and giving it back a credible path forward. It’s not just about stopping the bleeding; it’s about creating the headroom for leaders to think clearly again.
What inspires me most is seeing how leadership teams bounce back. When everything has been on the line and the pressure has forced clarity, there’s often a renewed sense of focus and determination. “Crisis contained” isn’t just survival; it’s the turning point where recovery, and sometimes even transformation, becomes possible.
Why do you believe mid-tier businesses (£1m–£100m turnover) need this kind of support?
This takes me back to my front room and the whiteboards again… when we first started mapping out Arx Nova, it became clear that mid-tier businesses are often the most exposed when a crisis hits. They sit in a difficult middle ground: large enough to carry serious regulatory, financial, or reputational risk, but often without the depth of leadership infrastructure to respond quickly and decisively.
In many cases, they don’t have dedicated crisis teams or the bandwidth to run multiple workstreams at once. Add in layers of management, competing departmental priorities, and delays in getting decisions signed off, and the pace of response slows at exactly the moment it needs to accelerate.
That combination, significant exposure but limited immediate capacity, makes handling a crisis a logistical nightmare. It’s why so many mid-tier businesses stagnate under pressure, when what they really need is rapid triage, integrated leadership, and clear direction. That’s where Arx Nova steps in.
What is your specific role within Arx Nova’s crisis response?
My role is to lead on crisis communications, reputation management and executive messaging. In practice, that means I work directly with boards and leadership teams to make sure that what we say publicly, to regulators, investors, customers, staff and the media, is aligned with what we are actually doing operationally, legally and financially.
In a crisis, mixed messages destroy confidence. My job is to cut through that risk by bringing clarity, consistency and speed to every line of communication. From drafting holding statements to running stakeholder mapping, I make sure there’s no room for confusion or contradiction.
In short, my role is to steady the conversation, internally and externally, so the business has the credibility and breathing space it needs to stabilise.
How does your background (law / governance / communications) shape your approach in a crisis?
My background in both law and communications has shaped the way I approach crises in a very practical way. Law taught me the importance of precision, that a single word can change meaning, create ambiguity, or open up risk. In a crisis, that lesson is invaluable. There’s no room for interpretation or grey areas when stakeholders, regulators and the media are scrutinising every line.
Communications, on the other hand, taught me how to translate complex situations into clear, confident messaging that people can actually understand. It’s not enough to be legally accurate; if your customers, staff or investors don’t feel reassured, you lose trust.
Bringing those two disciplines together means I can craft responses that are both watertight and human. Every message I shape in a crisis is fact-based, aligned with legal and operational reality, and delivered with clarity so there’s no space for panic or misinterpretation.
What’s the most valuable lesson you’ve learned from leading under pressure?
The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that clarity beats speed. In a crisis, the instinct is to rush, but moving fast without alignment usually creates more damage. I’ve seen businesses lose trust because they tried to say something quickly rather than say the right thing clearly.
Leading under pressure has taught me that your job isn’t to have all the answers instantly, it’s to create enough order so that the right decisions can be made. That means stripping away noise, focusing on facts, and making sure that everyone is working to the same plan. If you can do that, you give leadership the confidence to act.
How do you stay calm when a client feels like their business is collapsing?
The most honest answer is that it isn’t our business in crisis, and I don’t mean that in a detached way. That distance is what allows us to stay calm. Our job is to bring clarity when leaders are overwhelmed, and you can’t do that if you get swept up in the same panic.
My background in law and communications taught me that a single word can carry multiple interpretations, and ambiguity creates risk. Crisis communications is the same: there’s no room for interpretation, no space for mixed messages. The calmer and clearer we are, the more confidence the client feels.
Staying calm is about discipline. We focus on the facts, remove the noise, and make sure that what’s said and what’s done are perfectly aligned. That’s how you steady a business that feels like it’s unravelling.
Without naming names, can you share a type of crisis you’ve managed that left a lasting impression on you?
The cases that stay with me most are always the ones where criminal or regulatory investigations collide with financial distress, because the consequences can be devastating and immediate. One particular situation stands out: a financial services business I was advising came under simultaneous FSA and FOS scrutiny while also facing significant financial instability.
It began like any other morning until there was a knock at the door. The police and the FSA, as it was then, arrived with a simple but devastating message: “You are no longer allowed to sell or advise on financial products.” Overnight, the entire business model had been frozen.
From that moment, the pressure was extraordinary. Every stakeholder, regulator, investor, customer, staff, and the media were demanding answers at once. My role was to take full control of the communications response and bring order into a situation where the leadership team felt paralysed.
We set up a war-room cadence with the CEO, CFO, and General Counsel, ensuring that every decision was captured, every message was aligned, and nothing was left to interpretation. I froze all outward-facing marketing and replaced it with a single source of truth: a facts-based landing page and clear FAQs. I drafted a holding line that was adapted for each audience: regulators, customers, lenders, employees, and the press, so everyone was told the same truth, but in language that matched their perspective. At the same time, I worked with legal to make sure every public statement matched what was being filed with the regulator, eliminating the risk of inconsistency.
Over the following days, I directed a full communications programme. That meant scripting the contact centre, training the designated spokesperson, preparing Q&As for the toughest investor and media questions, and monitoring sentiment across complaints, social channels, and the press. We introduced escalation protocols so that issues were dealt with factually and quickly, without fuelling panic. Every morning, we issued a short factsheet to staff so they heard the truth before rumours spread online. And critically, I aligned all communications with operational milestones, so what we told the market was always backed by action.
The outcome was that we stabilised perception before it tipped into collapse. Complaints flattened, speculation reduced, and stakeholder confidence held long enough for leadership to implement operational fixes. What left the most lasting impression on me was how much clarity and honesty mattered in that moment. Sugar-coating or emotional statements would have destroyed trust. By stripping everything back to facts and options, we gave the business breathing space, and in a crisis, that breathing space is everything.
What’s the hardest leadership decision you’ve ever had to guide a client through?
The hardest moment I’ve ever guided a client through was during the early days of COVID-19, when guidance on what was and wasn’t allowed seemed to change daily. A major hotel and leisure business I was advising saw its revenue collapse almost overnight as travel stopped, venues closed, and customers disappeared. To survive, the leadership team had to decide to reduce its workforce by around 80%.
It was brutal. These weren’t just numbers on a spreadsheet; they were people with families, many of whom had given years of service to the business. The situation was made even more painful by the way leadership chose to handle it. Their instinct was to distance themselves, to communicate in a way that felt cold and transactional. For the workforce, already frightened by the uncertainty of the pandemic, that approach compounded the distress.
My role was to steady the communications process and inject humanity where leadership had stripped it out. I pushed for clear, consistent, and compassionate messaging that explained the realities without dismissing the human cost. I worked to ensure that staff, unions, and stakeholders received information that was honest, factual, and delivered with empathy, even when the board were reluctant to engage in that way.
It left a lasting impression on me because it showed how damaging poor leadership behaviour can be in a crisis, and how vital it is to have someone in the room who will fight for clarity and compassion, even when that’s uncomfortable for the client.
How do you balance honesty with reassurance when talking to boards in distress?
We often find ourselves speaking with people who have built their businesses from the ground up, often over decades of hard work and personal sacrifice. These companies don’t just represent financial value; they carry the weight of families, employees, suppliers, and stakeholders who all depend on them. That’s why the conversations are so emotionally charged.
We’ve lived through the very situations our clients are facing, often for the first time. We know how horrible and stressful it feels. That empathy matters, but so does honesty. What we’ve seen time and again is that frank conversations are not the opposite of reassurance; they are reassurance. Boards don’t need sugar-coating in a crisis. They need clarity, challenge, and above all, options.
Our role is to strip the situation back to facts and choices. That honesty gives leaders the confidence to act, because even in the worst moments, they know exactly where they stand and what can be done next.
What mistakes do you see businesses make most often in a crisis?
The most common mistake is delay. Leaders often hesitate, hoping the situation will settle down on its own, but in a crisis, every hour of inaction makes things worse. By the time they act, they’ve usually lost valuable options and allowed the narrative to run away from them.
Another mistake is fragmentation with different advisors giving siloed guidance, or departments pushing their own priorities. That creates mixed messages, decision paralysis, and confusion for stakeholders who just want clarity.
Finally, I see businesses underestimate the importance of honesty. They either try to sugar-coat the reality or overpromise in the hope of buying time. Both approaches backfire. Stakeholders can handle bad news if it’s delivered clearly and paired with a plan; what they can’t handle is spin, contradictions, or silence.
In short, delay, fragmentation, and a lack of honest communication are the mistakes that do the most damage. Avoiding them is the first step to regaining control.
How do you personally reset after dealing with high-pressure situations?
I’ve learned that if you don’t find a way to reset, you carry the pressure into the next situation. For me, that means deliberately slowing down afterwards, spending time with family, taking a walk, or switching off with some good music or a book. It’s not glamorous, but it works, and it means I can show up calm and focused when clients need me again.
What’s your leadership style when working inside a client’s boardroom?
I’d describe my style as quiet and considered. In a crisis, there are always a lot of moving parts, competing priorities, and strong emotions. My role is to bring calm authority into that environment; to listen carefully, absorb the detail, and then cut through to the facts and options that matter.
Clients often tell me that my approach helps steady the conversation and gives them space to think more clearly. I’m not there to be the loudest voice in the room. I’m there to make sure decisions are grounded in reality and communicated with clarity.
How would colleagues describe the way you operate under stress?
I think colleagues would say I’m calm, steady and measured, even when the pressure is intense. I don’t rush to fill the silence or react emotionally; I take in the facts, consider the options, and then give practical guidance.
What advice would you give to a CEO who’s never faced a crisis before?
My first piece of advice would be: don’t wait. The biggest mistake leaders make is hoping a crisis will settle down on its own. It rarely does. Early, decisive action almost always limits the damage and gives you more options later.
Second, don’t try to carry it all yourself. In a crisis, CEOs often feel they have to be across every detail, but that leads to paralysis. Surround yourself with the right people, people who can absorb the noise, filter the facts, and give you clear choices.
Finally, be honest. Your stakeholders, staff, investors, regulators, and customers don’t expect perfection, but they do expect truth and consistency. If you communicate clearly, even bad news can be stabilising. Silence, spin, or contradiction is what destroys confidence.
Do those three things and you’ll give your business its best chance of coming through intact.
Where do you see Arx Nova making the biggest impact in the next 5 years?
I see Arx Nova becoming the go-to stabilisation partner for mid-tier businesses. These organisations are often the most exposed when a crisis hits, big enough to carry regulatory and reputational risk, but not always equipped with the internal infrastructure to respond at pace. That’s exactly where we add value.
In the next five years, I believe our biggest impact will be in protecting value during moments of extreme pressure: helping boards avoid insolvency, steady reputations under public scrutiny, and keep control when events move faster than their internal teams can manage.
I also see us setting the standard for integrated crisis management. Too many businesses still patch together separate advisors and end up with delays, contradictions and decision paralysis. Our model, one team, aligned across legal, financial, operational and communications, is faster, clearer and more effective.
In five years, I want Arx Nova to be known for more than crisis containment; for giving businesses the clarity, control, and resilience to come out stronger on the other side.
How do you want clients to feel after working with you?
I want clients to feel safe, protected, and confident to face issues head-on. A crisis can make leaders feel exposed and isolated, but our role is to stabilise the situation quickly, absorb the noise, and give them back a sense of control.
By the time we step out, I want boards to know that the immediate danger has been contained, the business is back on stable ground, and they can shift their focus from survival to building and transforming. They should feel that the worst is behind them, that they’ve had clear and honest guidance, and that they now have the clarity to move forward with confidence.
What does “success” look like in your role?
For me, success is measured in two stages. In the short term, it’s about stabilisation, containing the crisis, restoring control, and giving the leadership team the breathing space they desperately need. If we’ve stopped the chaos and created clarity, that’s the first marker of success.
The second stage is about what happens after. Success is when the board feels confident enough to look forward rather than constantly firefighting, when the business has the stability to make decisions about rebuilding and even transforming. At that point, we know our work has done more than protect value in the moment; it’s created the conditions for recovery and resilience in the future.
Why should a business call you, rather than patching together different advisors?
In a crisis, time and clarity matter more than anything else, and patching together separate advisors usually creates the opposite. Legal, financial, operational, and communications experts all bring value, but if they work in silos, the result is delay, contradiction, and decision paralysis. I’ve seen boards waste precious days trying to reconcile conflicting advice when every hour counted.
With Arx Nova, you don’t get fragmented counsel. You get one senior team, aligned across every critical function, speaking with a single voice. That means clear direction, faster decisions, and no gaps between what’s happening operationally and what’s being said publicly.
Who’s behind this post?
Simon Larkin
Director & Co-Founder
Simon Larkin is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and a Chartered Marketer. As Co-Founder of Arx Nova, he brings over 20 years of experience in crisis communications and marketing. Simon works with leadership teams to manage reputational risk, control the narrative, and restore stakeholder confidence during periods of uncertainty.
