My Approach

THE 80/20 RULE OF BRILLIANT THINKING

The 80/20 rule is true. We don't have to get everything perfect. 80% of what we do can just be good enough. But not 100%. Because 80% of your company's value - of your output's value - comes from that last 20%. If that last 20% is merely good enough, you'll get merely good enough outcomes. If, however, it is full of brilliant thinking your company, profits, and employee morale will grow exponentially.

It would be exhausting for every last detail of your company to be brilliant - but that last 20% has to aspire to be. That's where the opportunities are - that's your edge. That's where I come in.

WHAT IS MY APPROACH TO THE ROLE OF BUSINESS STRATEGIST?

I work with brilliant people doing brilliant things - but they're also human. I take my clients from a 'Good enough' mindset to a 'What's the absolute best we can do here?' mindset. I do this in three steps - agitation, imagination and motivation:

Agitation. I ask the difficult questions that take my clients out of their comfort zone, to break through the thinking they find themselves stuck in.
Imagination. Then we put every idea on the table with a boundary-pushing brainstorm that arrives at bigger and bolder decisions.
Motivation. Finally, if needed, I give my clients the confidence required - the shot in the arm - to go and execute on their new plans.

WHY ME?

I have worked in the City, launched and sold a start-up, sat on the Global Executive of an NYSE-listed brokerage, turned companies around, acted as a business strategist, coach and motivator to C-level execs for over a decade and, during a brief spell in copper mining in Zambia, had two meetings with President Banda to (successfully) negotiate a mining licence. I understand the realities of business.

Also... I used to be funny. I was a comedy writer, briefly a stand-up, the writer on the Zoe Ball Radio 1 Breakfast Show, then, much later, had two thrillers published with Penguin. I have a creative mind and a creative outlook.

I have been a regular contributor to Bloomberg News, CNBC Europe, BBC Radio 5 Live, as well as heading up City roadshows and giving countless speeches over my lifetime. I have strong communication skills.

WHAT CAN I DO FOR YOU?

We all know the truth about how companies are run. People are busy. Very busy. Day-to-day good enough is good enough. Day-to-day nobody on your staff - and often you yourself - are not making time to do their best thinking. We dream of achieving great things but are surprised when mediocre thinking leads to mediocre results.

How do we change that?

It all starts with thinking. It all starts with you and your team thinking of the best ideas possible in your space. Then you're working on brilliant ideas... And then you're getting brilliant results.

I help teams to do their best thinking - their brilliant thinking. I help scale up companies and organisations. I help underperforming companies become outperforming ones. I do this by changing how people think - motivating and teaching them to think bigger, to zoom out to see the bigger picture, then to zero back in on what really matters.

I do this through talks and workshops and as an ongoing Business Strategist, by making time with leaders and key players to say, "Let's stop and do our best thinking - our brilliant thinking."

Clients have called me a creative disruptor, somebody who holds them to account, but they would also all say this - and I know this is a very odd dimension to highlight: Everybody I work with says that I make them feel more confident, happier, even. One client recently said, “Why don't you write a book called, ‘You’ve Got This’?”

It's incredibly hard to run a business all by yourself and it's definitely lonely at the top. I truly believe leaders deserve to be happy. It is transformative both for them and their companies. In short, I am here to lift your thinking and, when necessary, your spirits.

Call me if you want to think bigger in business or in life.

Contact Me