My background....and the book

Some insights into Ian’s past life, and the decisions which has shaped his career

Some starting points...

I was at Bedford Modern School - reasonable O and A level results (10 'O' - 7 'A', 3 'B' and then 4 'A' - 2 'A' and 2 'B'), by a passion for sport - played rugby for 1st XV and for my county. I still wish I'd pursued rugby through university. I watched the recent world cup rugby and was itching to get on the pitch. Sadly I can't roll-back the years. But it was in the 6th form at school I was introduced to sailing.

What University did you go to?

I was sponsored to read Mechanical Engineering at Southampton University by British Railways. I was offered sponsorship by several companies (Rolls-Royce, Perkins Diesel Engines, IMI) but chose BR as they offered a huge range of opportunities. This meant that I spent a year between school and Uni working for BR in Derby alongside 15 other students, some of whom I still keep in touch with. Through Uni I was required each summer to work in a different part of BR. One summer it was in a design shop working at a drawing board, another it was working in a repair shop on nights changing the brake blocks on commuter coaches.

What was your first job?

I worked during the school summer holidays in a meat factory on the unloading bay, and in an envelope making factory etc. to fund my new habit - sailing. But my first proper job was after Uni working for BR in East Croydon. I was in a technical department for 6 months helping analyse train failures, but I then requested a move to get more 'man-management' experience. I was transferred to be a shop-floor foreman in a repair shop in Dartford - responsible for 110 men.... 6 months after graduating. It was a baptism of fire, and I grew up very quickly, and it was something I clearly had an aptitude for.

How did you get into sailing?

I was first introduced to sailing in 6th form at school - so by today's standards I came to it very late. My father was brought up in the Norfolk Boards and we were living next to a small gravel pit, so we bought a dinghy and he taught me to sail. That summer I worked to buy my own one-man dinghy and spent every hour possible on the water. I won the junior British championships 6 months later. Unfortunately there wasn't the junior coaching and squad system that is now in place to bring on young sailors - it was very much self-taught.

I went to Southampton Uni, which attracted the top sailors and was captain of the 1st team and we dominated the UK university team racing circuit - and now many of the top British Olympic sailors go to Southampton University.

Tell us a bit about being in the 1984 Olympics?

Olympic sailing was not a full-time and Lottery-funded as it is now. We scraped together money to fund the boat and the travel from family and friends and a few sponsors. It was 2 weeks training and sailing at a regatta in Europe and 2 weeks back at work. I sailed with someone I met through University and we sailed in the Star Class - which is still an Olympic class. It was my first introduction to international regattas and we finished 2nd at the British trials so we were the 'tune-up crew' to ensure that the British representative in the Olympics was fully prepared and up to speed.

Soon after the Olympics I joined Andersen Consulting and an early question in every interview was "So you WONT be competing in the 1998 Olympics" - so sailing became a passion, but secondary to developing my career within Andersen Consulting.

In Accenture I used my experience of managing large project teams and I specialised in Programme Management - managing high profile, high-risk monster projects (£100m +).

Accenture is a great learning ground

I had an opportunity at Accenture to run a wide range of projects, such as RAF LITS, Rolls-Royce, Shorts Aircraft and VSEL. But I was in the fortunate position of being seconded to the DSS (Department of Social Security ) as one of their IT Directors.

As a Grade 5 Civil Servant, I got to see and experience everything in the "Yes, Minister" TV series, first hand. Aged 32, I had 500 Civil Servants report to me and a budget of £40m. The stories from that 2 years in Government will live with me for ever. On the flip side, the teams reporting to me were dedicated, hard working and passionate about what they did. I was extremely proud to have been part of the projects which delivered a new payroll, personnel and accounting system for the 180,000 employees at the DSS, and the work to identify and reduce fraud which launched the programme to put benefit payment terminals in every Post Office.

How did you start Nimbus & why?

I was working for Accenture on track for Partner that year and Richard and Paul (2 co-founders of Nimbus) came to me with an idea which I would have used on every project I ran. I had a decision - did I stay in Accenture and become a highly paid partner flying around the world first-class, or did I start from scratch and build a business?

It was an easy decision influenced by a guy on a plane 5 years earlier. He had been offered the European franchise for Lego because he didn't think kids would want to play with plastic toys, so he turned it down. I didn't want to be in that situation. So it was back to zero. In fact I funded the development of the company by 6 months contracting work to the MOD to project manage the Army roll-out of a new accounting system. Nimbus started in what is now my daughter’s bedroom, and I can still remember taking the sales call from Orange Austria when they said we had won our first big project. Orange, 7 years later are still a client.

Where do you see the company and yourself in 5 years time?

In 5 years time Nimbus will be have strong relationships and interfaces with the software companies who we work alongside - Cognos, Hyperion and Business Objects in the Business Intelligence space and SAP, Oracle in Enterprise Applications space. Our US business and Chinese businesses will be vying for the fastest growth and they will have overtaken our EMEA business in revenue terms.

We will still be in Stansted House, but by then we will have expanded to fill all but the main country house.

What was the inspiration for your book?

What we are suggesting to clients is not rocket science, but it is a subtle change in thinking - for which the change in results are profound. It is easily missed. So many clients who I have spoken to have got excited about the potential of what we are talking about. But any meeting or presentation always left them wanting more, and wishing that they had another 5 people and another 2 Directors in the room.

Therefore we are very much in an education phase of development - with clients, with consultants, and with analysts. Therefore the book is aimed at a senior level manager / Director (small words, lots of pictures) and explains the principles of Adoption - which strikes a chord with everyone who has been involved with change - and brings it to life by drawing on real-life examples from the last 5 years working with clients.

Writing the book has suddenly catapulted me onto the conference speaking circuit. I now speak at seminars, conferences and events around the world. I love it, and that is clearly reflected in the feedback I get from the delegates. There is clearly a need for simple straight-forward thinking is a world which seems to be filled with jargon filled Powerpoint presentations from consultants.

What is the main message you want to get across in the book?

There is a better way of managing business change - getting Adoption (or buy-in) from the entire company for the changes in working practices is key - bus not necessarily very easy. The book describes a proven approach for getting significantly higher levels of adoption, and hence change leading to a High Performing Business.