| What motivates you to come into work each day?
Knowing the difference that Minerva makes, not just to our client organisations, but to the lives of the many people that work there. Minerva genuinely improves people’s lives and it’s my job to spread the word!
What’s the problem with 21st century companies?
Too many managers are nothing more than glorified supervisors, who operate in a way that actually suppresses the life in the organisation. It’s not all their fault - somehow the organisation has managed to set things up this way, and no-one has envisaged how much better things could be.
What are you most proud of?
Being still (relatively!) sane and happy after 11 years of marriage, my 3 sons and Minerva. Also, setting up a kid’s football club in my village two years ago, that now has 6 teams, good facilities and excellent local support. There’s nothing like coaching a bunch of 10 year-olds to test your communication!
Biggest mistake?
Three years ago we invested a lot of time and money in a venture that looked like it might be a good early retirement plan. We were naïve, took our eye off the main business and as a result Minerva went close to going bust
Consultancy cliché?
I’m still regularly amazed at how often we go into companies and find that the basics of managing a business – from communication to goals to using MI – just aren’t being done. I also hate it when people bang on about integrity and customer service and then proceed to break every agreement they make!
How did you end up doing this?
I’ve worked in this type of business from the age of 22, when I first moved to London, where I met and worked together with my co-directors. I was inspired from there to start my own successful consulting company, which I did for a few years. I teamed up with the others again in 1998 because I wanted to work as a team to build Minerva into a vehicle that makes a big difference
Any other business?
I was a professional footballer for Colchester United, a striker in the Teddy Sherringham mould(!) If I were to change careers today I’d probably choose something completely different somewhere else in the world
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