ONSIDE / INTERVIEW
He designed a programme called “Project Me” to bring
together owners of smaller businesses and individuals who
couldn’t afford to spend time with him on his day rate.
It was transformational to those who attended over two
weekends at Bolton Wanderers’ stadium, including some of
the Seneca team.
He’s at pains to say he’s not a turnaround guy, or some
kind of troubleshooter, but he does often get called in when
there’s a problem to fix.
“Sometimes there’s something misfiring in a business. I’ve
worked with private equity businesses. They look at a
company to get it ready for scale, kick it on to the next level.
I did a massive project at Royal Mail and their case study
was directly responsible for adding on £23 million of sales.
The client described it as the best initiative they’ve ever done.
“People get into an excuses mindset. This is going to be
hard. Refocus on the goals – most powerful of all are the
long term goals,” he says.
“Ask how you can create a legacy. If you just focus on the
short-term how influential can you really be? The discipline
comes from your dream, once it becomes big, great,
enormous, then you become unstoppable.”
He gets right into the heart of the matter, asking tough, deep
and penetrating personal questions. “What kind of life do
you want to live?”
“The discipline of today comes from the dream of tomorrow.
Focus too much on the short-term not on the dream. We
have the confidence from leaders to trust us and we feel
confident enough to ask them to ‘back off’ when a shortterm figure isn’t hit, they have to TRUST my brand.
“It’s a lot of detailed work, part of the due diligence process
on the people side of the business.”
I ask him why the standard processes in business don’t work?
“Inappropriate people are chosen as leaders, that then gets
you into the whole area of whether leaders are born and not
made,” he says, revealing some of the toughness he brings to
a business once he gets stuck in.
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« The discipline comes from your dream,
once it becomes big, great, enormous,
then you become unstoppable. »