Growing up

My nickname at school was Simple John. I was an undiagnosed dyslexic and struggled to convey my understanding in exams, so I did really badly. When I interviewed for University I finally learned what dyslexia was, from Professor Tim Miles at Bangor in North Wales, whose area of expertise this was.

Knowing what I was dealing with was transformational.

I went on to finish three degrees in various aspects of psychology and started my career with ten years in the UK health service as a clinical psychologist. I learnt a lot about people but nothing about business.

Experience

This new interest grew in me. I had a two wonderful mentors who showed me how to work as a management consultant and I eventually set up my own small firm, Strategic Resource, in 1995. My focus has been on assessing and developing senior teams ever since and, in the last 25+ years, I have had the privilege of working with a wide range of senior teams across a range of sectors, and at differing stages of business maturity, from start-up to IPO.

At Frog Capital

Developing senior team work is, of course, a key part of scaling up a business. Some argue that team work accounts for 40% of the variance of portfolio performance. Whatever the actual percentage, getting team work right is obviously key, which is why I enjoy working with Frog as they take this seriously and have also focussed on their own development, as a team.