Iconicshift Blog

The end of the beginning

I started the IconicShift mentoring programme in early 2012. Since then I've worked in depth with about 30 companies , ranging from the earliest stage start-ups to businesses already worth hundreds of millions of pounds. The photos show some of them at a party to celebrate the conclusion of the programme in June 2016. They and I are moving on. Most of us have become close friends but to grow their businesses they don't need me any more and I've finally been tempted back into making a major play in the the FinTech scene. A new enhanced version of IconicShift has been created to support that. continue reading >>

Leaders Changing the World no 6: Miti Ampoma

Vince Cable talks a lot of sense about entrepreneurs, small and medium businesses and the economy in this interview with IconicShift participant Miti Ampoma continue reading >>

Mentoring progress report

It's 20 months since the mentoring programme started. I was looking to mentor people with ideas that would fundamentally and powerfully impact on the nature and quality of human experience. That's a challenging task at the best of times. Of course I'm not satisfied with just 1 or 2 ideas like that I want to work on lots simultaneously . So I work with 2 groups of 12 . the first group known as Game Changers have been working with me for 20 months now. In this blog I let them speak for themselves about what's happened so far. continue reading >>

Leaders Changing the World no 5 : Niki Ram

Niki Ram is creating a social media site that will be read by millions across the globe. In which normal citizens are active global social activists... continue reading >>

Leaders Changing the World no: 4 Suzannah Bartlett

Suzannah specializes in the design of small living spaces. With the rapidly increasing urbanization of the global population an increasing number of people are living in small spaces and facing challenges of fitting both their lives and their possessions into that space. Good design advice can transform a small space from the proverbial ‘shoebox’ into a jewelry box where there is space and a place for everything, Good design can make small homes desirable and this in turn offers individual, economic, social and environmental benefits. continue reading >>

Leaders Changing the World no 3: Tim Thorne

Tim Thorne and I worked together at RBS to create the Group Innovation function. He was Innovation Director and I was the part-time Chairman of the Innovation Board to which Tim reported. It wasn’t the most promising environment for new ideas to flourish but Tim was a leader with an unstoppable sense of mission and accomplished a lot – nothing capable of changing the world though. But now he is changing the world. He is up to a lot of stuff , but it’s a project he is leading at Cancer Research UK which I want to write about. The project is finding a way to speed the development of new cures for cancers - this is real ground-breaking innovation which is capable of changing the world for a lot of people! continue reading >>

Leaders Changing the World: No 2 John Maffioli

What if every entrepreneur with a game changing idea who needed advice could get it from others who had been there and done that and knew precisely what was needed. What if angel investing actually became a game changer in its own right, rather than the frequent disappointment it is now, for both the investor and the entrepreneur. John Maffioli has created FE BE to do just that . continue reading >>

Leaders Changing the World : No 1 Kemi Laniyan

The first leader changing the world who I want to feature is Kemi Laniyan. Kemi is African and her idea is to create a major African sourced fashion house in London. Kemi believes there are many undiscovered genius designers in small villages in Africa who with a bit of help could bring the beauty and vibrancy of Africa into every woman’s life. continue reading >>

A few words about leadership

Leadership is about making something new and different happen, something that simply wouldn't happen without you. You don't have to have people working for you to be a leader. You can be working on your own and still be a leader as long as your agenda is to make something new and different happen. What is often unappreciated about leadership is that success depends to a large degree on how you deal with problems and with the unpredictability of life. continue reading >>

The characteristics of an iconic brand

I was asked by Design magazine to write an article for the their Creative Blog on what makes an iconic brand. They also asked me to nominate the 20 most iconic brands of all time - a tough task. continue reading >>