Business and Organisational development
The bulk of my career has been involved at the interface between technology, business and community.
Triple Bottom Line: I believe that for the region, and the planet to move towards sustainability we must develop economically viable businesses that enhance the social and environmental bottom-lines. In addition we must work - at the political level - to create a fiscal environment that supports businesses to act responsibly. I am building a consultancy that will work with individuals, companies, organizations and government in the areas of sustainability.
Ideas into Reality: In particular we work with developing ideas into products and services. There are many great ideas out there, however turning a great idea into a product is complex process that few ideas complete. I work with companies to refine their ideas:
- decide what is possible and what is not, and what will be a marketable product or service
- plan a process to create a product
- incorporate technology into business plan, marketing material etc
- generate a media buzz around the product
- implement that process (see project management)
Sustainable Technology: Developing sustainable technologies is very different from developing other (e.g. retail) businesses, requiring a much more risk-embracing view closer to the experience I have with Internet technology development.
Social Ventures: Several times in my career I have been involved in creating "Social Ventures" i.e. economically viable businesses with goals other than just making money. For example - GreenNet was England's fourth ISP, founded by me in 1985. It focussed on the non-profit sector. I built it to a successful organization, funding ongoing activities from user subscriptions, and expansion from grants. It is still running 17 years later. (www.gn.apc.org). Another example would be the Association for Progressive Communications, which I co-founded in 1989, as an international association of non-profit sector internet service providers with a worldwide reputation. (www.apc.org). On a different scale, I co-created an alternative quaterly 50 page magazine with a circulation of around 5000.
Business Experience: I bring a wealth of commercial experience to projects. Having been on the senior management team at several companies, and been involved with the processes of raising venture funding, negotiating contracts, selling a company, press liason etc. For example I was on the senior team at Paragraph International. A colleague and I were hired to clean up the image of the Russian-US company (which had sound technology) over a period of 18 months, leading to its sale to Silicon Graphics.
For a number of clients a part of my job has been creating a media buzz around their products and technologies. This often involves presenting talks, a list of which are here. I presume the talks were entertaining and informative as I was frequently invited back. In particular I enjoy being on panels or other places where a thorough knowledge of the subject matter and ability to think quickly can show a contrast with marketing types who often don't know the topic of their prepared talks.
Project Management: Whatever the field of the company, I bring project management skills. I've managed teams of up to 20 people, including teams distributed across continents and cultures (Russia/US, India/US/Australia).
Business Technical Interface: I typically work across the gap between technology and business. Having run a company I can talk to the business team, having been a programmer I can talk to engineers and scientists. In several jobs I've been the only person who sat on the management team, worked with the engineers, and with the clients.
Networks: The real strength of any consultancy is their networks. I believe that I can bring a wealth of connections to any project. I have strong connections in Technology, Business, Environment and Sustainability and in this region (Northern Rivers). In addition I am building a team of people with complementary connections to enable us to take on projects of wider scope than my own skills.
