ONCE UPON A

TIME IN THE WEST

IN THE DAYS OF THE KINGLY

COURTS THERE WAS ALWAYS THE FOOL

You know the funky guy evading a certain and horrific

death Doing so by constantly staying a small yet

critical step ahead of everyone around him

He did so in such a way as to appear ever so bdquoumble in

the presence of these plainly greater beings

At your pleasure check out this definition of the Foolhellip

ldquoThe Fool is the spirit in search of experience He represents the mystical

cleverness bereft of reason within us the childlike ability to tune into the

inner workings of the world The sun shining behind him represents the

divine nature of the Fools wisdom and exuberance holy madness or crazy

wisdomrdquo

ldquoOn his back are all the possessions he might need In his hand there is a

flower showing his appreciation of beauty He is frequently accompanied

by a dog sometimes seen as his animal desires sometimes as the call of

the real world nipping at his heels and distracting himrdquo

ldquoHe is seemingly unconcerned that he is standing on a

precipice apparently about to step offrdquo

S0 WHAT KIND OF FOOL AM I

Well what I do is to question listen and then

challenge my clients - these greater beings - a little

Actually a lot

Then with large white canvas and my 21st Century

Pens in hand I create something visually and

verbally representative of what I hear them say

ANDWHATTHEYMEANT

DOING THIS BEFORE

THEIR VERY EYES

Typically they are the most senior teams within

large Corporations and Governments They are

dealing with very challenging issues

So my job is also to challenge - and of course -

encourage the teams to stretch break through

and properly define their higher ambitions

Really

INGLORIOUS

MEETINGS

AARGHhellip

MEETINGS

ARE THE DEVILS

OWN WORK

I‟m where I am today out of sheer frustration

This all kicked off when as a client myself I

couldnt get correct or just impartial

advice about anything At all Ever

GRRRRhellip

I GOT ALL OF OUR FOLKS TOGETHERhellip

We got ourselves into meeting rooms armed with

all our thoughts and ideas and documents

and and then we ndash and thenhellip

WE BROUGHT IN THE EXTERNAL ADVISERShellip

DOUBLE GRRRhellipDOUBLE GRRRhellip

Something dawned on mehellip

I saw that I COULDNrsquoT DESCRIBE THE REQUIREMENT properly

because I actually didn‟t know what it was

How could I I didn‟t have the full picture of my own organization - how

could I state it in a way that the real requirement was ever likely to get fixed

WHO KNEW

EVERY ONE EACH NEW ADVISER - they all seemed to have their

angle their axe to grind‟ something to sell Something to defend

Then DISASTER struck - one day

I realized I was an equally big part of the problem

F

O

O

L

I SIMPLY COULDNrsquoT FIGURE IT OUT NOR GET THE

WHOLE DARNED THING LINED UP

SLIDING DOORS

I realized that my bdquothing or bit‟ was CONNECTED to other bdquothings‟ and bdquobits‟

They were vital ndash and they were outside of my control - in other parts of the firm

Anything might happen and it USUALLY did

THERE WAS NO WHOLE THING

There was no way we would ever win

We each had our own aims and objectives

Our own business cases Our own language

We spoke it daily We winked

We each had our own silo of activity

We defended it

We put up walls

We built our empires We were built that way

AND SADLY NOT MUCH HAS CHANGED

The whole messy charade of strategic

thinking problem solving or even bdquoinnovation‟ was

just so achingly dull that I became neurotic

Surely these were meant to be the

vitally inspiring meetings

Weren‟t they

WE KILLED BILL

Meetings became off-limits to sensible folk

Declared a disaster zone

Too toxic to touch

They were the stuff of legend

People WOULD watch us as we‟d enter the front line of the board rooms

knowing we were into combat They watched knowing some may never

come back Close friends waved white handkerchiefs tied yellow ribbons

They all had sad looks in their eyes

APOCALYPSE NOW(Coffee at 10-30)

MEETINGS BRAINSTORMS RETREATS

Call them what you like They were mostly utterly catastrophic

ridiculously expensive embarrassing - to most attendees and HIGHLY dangerous - in my experience

Sorely MISSED OPPORTUNITIES in my opinion

I was infected with the DEVILS Power Point

ldquoI watched sad decaying bedraggled administrators hunched in corners

capturing the evil sniggering of incoherent data hissed at us from increasingly

menacing people It became a major preoccupation for merdquo

I didn‟t want to turn up and so eventually I didn‟t

F

O

O

L

OK ENOUGH

THINK

I CHALLENGE THINKING

With huge respect to my clients I push them to search deeper inside

themselves to think differently Perhaps that little bit harder

The fool in me insists that I always ask those crazy questions

ldquoHowrdquo - ldquoBecauserdquo - ldquoWhyhellip and ldquoSo thatrdquo

The really interesting thing is that ndash increasingly ndash my clients

ask me to come along and do this more often because actually

they like to know the answers themselves

I find this all very encouraging

VISUALIZE THIS

Im fortunate in being able to visualize bdquoon the fly‟ ndash and I

love it Developing concepts at high speed - interpreting

ideas from peoples bdquolive‟ conversations

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

On the 1st January 2001 I decided to do something about it all ndash

to shine a light on it - pump up the volumehellip

hellip I created Group Partners

STOPhellip

And before all thathellip

The 1990s | CEO MCW ROCQM and then RMG International each

part of WPP Group plc

I left Acorn Computers plc in 1988 after many great and

highly informative years I got away with a lot

I left shortly after Olivetti bought the company - to run my

own integrated communication and strategic consultancy in London

MCW ndash Marketing Communications Workshop - it was acquired

by WPP in1996 This business developed strategy and implemented

complex informational and communication programs

for some pretty impressive enterprises

At MCW we were responsible for many large scale campaigns including the

entire Euro96 Football Championships and the global strategy for SAP

The consultancy also created major and award-winning marketing and

strategic programs for IBM Ford Oracle Benetton Philips Microsoft

Xerox Time Warner Sony and more

It‟s a long story

The 1980s | Head of Marketing Acorn Computers

I joined Acorn to run the communications

marketing and brand strategy and in the early 80s

launched the BBC Microcomputer Fun Crazy

During my time as Head of Marketing the turnover of the

business grew from $2m to $240m Very little if anything of

that was due to me

Acorn Computer was also the business that created the

highly successful Arm Technologies effectively one of the

UKs most successful technology businesses

This is also a long story

The 19rsquos| Crazy Fun

Somewhere before during in between on top underneath throughout and after

all this I ran mobile discorsquos night clubs did rock festivals saw the Pink Floyd

play lots of times - I think I painted drew skulked around a fair bit I would

sit stand Fall over I learned to drive fast sail fly run fast stay up all night and

do lotrsquos and lotrsquos that I cannot possibly talk about here

But by now you have a vivid enough picture

The 196070rsquos | Schooling stuff

Latterly I attempted a Foundational and Degree course in Fine Art at

Hogarth College of Fine Art Cambridge England It was complicated

Before that ndash I did A amp O levels galore at The Royal Hospital

School Holbrook Ipswich Suffolk England Europe Earth Milky Way

This was a fine school for the sons of Royal Naval Officers Before that ndash

Strange early forms of education at King Henry the V111 Grammar School

Somewhere in England I was probably beaten

I certainly played the fool

THE A TO Z OF GROUP PARTNERS | httpbitlybr7MWQ

RAMBLING ON STUFF |httpbitly6TWpsm

WHAT WE DO - IN 1 MINUTE | httpbitlycDbkQz

WHAT WE DO - IN 5 MINUTES | httpbitlyby4q7T

EASY GUIDES - HOW IT ALL WORKS | httpbitlybyzr32

WHAT‟S ON OUR MINDS | httpjohncaswellposterouscom

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER | httptwittercomjohncaswell

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK | httpwwwfacebookcomGroupPartners

THINKING There‟s an App for that - 4Dtrade

GROUP PARTNERS | WEBSITE httpwwwgrouppartnersnet

Helping our clients avoid solving the wrong problem really well_______________________________________________________________

IN THE DAYS OF THE KINGLY

COURTS THERE WAS ALWAYS THE FOOL

You know the funky guy evading a certain and horrific

death Doing so by constantly staying a small yet

critical step ahead of everyone around him

He did so in such a way as to appear ever so bdquoumble in

the presence of these plainly greater beings

At your pleasure check out this definition of the Foolhellip

ldquoThe Fool is the spirit in search of experience He represents the mystical

cleverness bereft of reason within us the childlike ability to tune into the

inner workings of the world The sun shining behind him represents the

divine nature of the Fools wisdom and exuberance holy madness or crazy

wisdomrdquo

ldquoOn his back are all the possessions he might need In his hand there is a

flower showing his appreciation of beauty He is frequently accompanied

by a dog sometimes seen as his animal desires sometimes as the call of

the real world nipping at his heels and distracting himrdquo

ldquoHe is seemingly unconcerned that he is standing on a

precipice apparently about to step offrdquo

S0 WHAT KIND OF FOOL AM I

Well what I do is to question listen and then

challenge my clients - these greater beings - a little

Actually a lot

Then with large white canvas and my 21st Century

Pens in hand I create something visually and

verbally representative of what I hear them say

ANDWHATTHEYMEANT

DOING THIS BEFORE

THEIR VERY EYES

Typically they are the most senior teams within

large Corporations and Governments They are

dealing with very challenging issues

So my job is also to challenge - and of course -

encourage the teams to stretch break through

and properly define their higher ambitions

Really

INGLORIOUS

MEETINGS

AARGHhellip

MEETINGS

ARE THE DEVILS

OWN WORK

I‟m where I am today out of sheer frustration

This all kicked off when as a client myself I

couldnt get correct or just impartial

advice about anything At all Ever

GRRRRhellip

I GOT ALL OF OUR FOLKS TOGETHERhellip

We got ourselves into meeting rooms armed with

all our thoughts and ideas and documents

and and then we ndash and thenhellip

WE BROUGHT IN THE EXTERNAL ADVISERShellip

DOUBLE GRRRhellipDOUBLE GRRRhellip

Something dawned on mehellip

I saw that I COULDNrsquoT DESCRIBE THE REQUIREMENT properly

because I actually didn‟t know what it was

How could I I didn‟t have the full picture of my own organization - how

could I state it in a way that the real requirement was ever likely to get fixed

WHO KNEW

EVERY ONE EACH NEW ADVISER - they all seemed to have their

angle their axe to grind‟ something to sell Something to defend

Then DISASTER struck - one day

I realized I was an equally big part of the problem

F

O

O

L

I SIMPLY COULDNrsquoT FIGURE IT OUT NOR GET THE

WHOLE DARNED THING LINED UP

SLIDING DOORS

I realized that my bdquothing or bit‟ was CONNECTED to other bdquothings‟ and bdquobits‟

They were vital ndash and they were outside of my control - in other parts of the firm

Anything might happen and it USUALLY did

THERE WAS NO WHOLE THING

There was no way we would ever win

We each had our own aims and objectives

Our own business cases Our own language

We spoke it daily We winked

We each had our own silo of activity

We defended it

We put up walls

We built our empires We were built that way

AND SADLY NOT MUCH HAS CHANGED

The whole messy charade of strategic

thinking problem solving or even bdquoinnovation‟ was

just so achingly dull that I became neurotic

Surely these were meant to be the

vitally inspiring meetings

Weren‟t they

WE KILLED BILL

Meetings became off-limits to sensible folk

Declared a disaster zone

Too toxic to touch

They were the stuff of legend

People WOULD watch us as we‟d enter the front line of the board rooms

knowing we were into combat They watched knowing some may never

come back Close friends waved white handkerchiefs tied yellow ribbons

They all had sad looks in their eyes

APOCALYPSE NOW(Coffee at 10-30)

MEETINGS BRAINSTORMS RETREATS

Call them what you like They were mostly utterly catastrophic

ridiculously expensive embarrassing - to most attendees and HIGHLY dangerous - in my experience

Sorely MISSED OPPORTUNITIES in my opinion

I was infected with the DEVILS Power Point

ldquoI watched sad decaying bedraggled administrators hunched in corners

capturing the evil sniggering of incoherent data hissed at us from increasingly

menacing people It became a major preoccupation for merdquo

I didn‟t want to turn up and so eventually I didn‟t

F

O

O

L

OK ENOUGH

THINK

I CHALLENGE THINKING

With huge respect to my clients I push them to search deeper inside

themselves to think differently Perhaps that little bit harder

The fool in me insists that I always ask those crazy questions

ldquoHowrdquo - ldquoBecauserdquo - ldquoWhyhellip and ldquoSo thatrdquo

The really interesting thing is that ndash increasingly ndash my clients

ask me to come along and do this more often because actually

they like to know the answers themselves

I find this all very encouraging

VISUALIZE THIS

Im fortunate in being able to visualize bdquoon the fly‟ ndash and I

love it Developing concepts at high speed - interpreting

ideas from peoples bdquolive‟ conversations

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

On the 1st January 2001 I decided to do something about it all ndash

to shine a light on it - pump up the volumehellip

hellip I created Group Partners

STOPhellip

And before all thathellip

The 1990s | CEO MCW ROCQM and then RMG International each

part of WPP Group plc

I left Acorn Computers plc in 1988 after many great and

highly informative years I got away with a lot

I left shortly after Olivetti bought the company - to run my

own integrated communication and strategic consultancy in London

MCW ndash Marketing Communications Workshop - it was acquired

by WPP in1996 This business developed strategy and implemented

complex informational and communication programs

for some pretty impressive enterprises

At MCW we were responsible for many large scale campaigns including the

entire Euro96 Football Championships and the global strategy for SAP

The consultancy also created major and award-winning marketing and

strategic programs for IBM Ford Oracle Benetton Philips Microsoft

Xerox Time Warner Sony and more

It‟s a long story

The 1980s | Head of Marketing Acorn Computers

I joined Acorn to run the communications

marketing and brand strategy and in the early 80s

launched the BBC Microcomputer Fun Crazy

During my time as Head of Marketing the turnover of the

business grew from $2m to $240m Very little if anything of

that was due to me

Acorn Computer was also the business that created the

highly successful Arm Technologies effectively one of the

UKs most successful technology businesses

This is also a long story

The 19rsquos| Crazy Fun

Somewhere before during in between on top underneath throughout and after

all this I ran mobile discorsquos night clubs did rock festivals saw the Pink Floyd

play lots of times - I think I painted drew skulked around a fair bit I would

sit stand Fall over I learned to drive fast sail fly run fast stay up all night and

do lotrsquos and lotrsquos that I cannot possibly talk about here

But by now you have a vivid enough picture

The 196070rsquos | Schooling stuff

Latterly I attempted a Foundational and Degree course in Fine Art at

Hogarth College of Fine Art Cambridge England It was complicated

Before that ndash I did A amp O levels galore at The Royal Hospital

School Holbrook Ipswich Suffolk England Europe Earth Milky Way

This was a fine school for the sons of Royal Naval Officers Before that ndash

Strange early forms of education at King Henry the V111 Grammar School

Somewhere in England I was probably beaten

I certainly played the fool

THE A TO Z OF GROUP PARTNERS | httpbitlybr7MWQ

RAMBLING ON STUFF |httpbitly6TWpsm

WHAT WE DO - IN 1 MINUTE | httpbitlycDbkQz

WHAT WE DO - IN 5 MINUTES | httpbitlyby4q7T

EASY GUIDES - HOW IT ALL WORKS | httpbitlybyzr32

WHAT‟S ON OUR MINDS | httpjohncaswellposterouscom

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER | httptwittercomjohncaswell

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK | httpwwwfacebookcomGroupPartners

THINKING There‟s an App for that - 4Dtrade

GROUP PARTNERS | WEBSITE httpwwwgrouppartnersnet

Helping our clients avoid solving the wrong problem really well_______________________________________________________________

At your pleasure check out this definition of the Foolhellip

ldquoThe Fool is the spirit in search of experience He represents the mystical

cleverness bereft of reason within us the childlike ability to tune into the

inner workings of the world The sun shining behind him represents the

divine nature of the Fools wisdom and exuberance holy madness or crazy

wisdomrdquo

ldquoOn his back are all the possessions he might need In his hand there is a

flower showing his appreciation of beauty He is frequently accompanied

by a dog sometimes seen as his animal desires sometimes as the call of

the real world nipping at his heels and distracting himrdquo

ldquoHe is seemingly unconcerned that he is standing on a

precipice apparently about to step offrdquo

S0 WHAT KIND OF FOOL AM I

Well what I do is to question listen and then

challenge my clients - these greater beings - a little

Actually a lot

Then with large white canvas and my 21st Century

Pens in hand I create something visually and

verbally representative of what I hear them say

ANDWHATTHEYMEANT

DOING THIS BEFORE

THEIR VERY EYES

Typically they are the most senior teams within

large Corporations and Governments They are

dealing with very challenging issues

So my job is also to challenge - and of course -

encourage the teams to stretch break through

and properly define their higher ambitions

Really

INGLORIOUS

MEETINGS

AARGHhellip

MEETINGS

ARE THE DEVILS

OWN WORK

I‟m where I am today out of sheer frustration

This all kicked off when as a client myself I

couldnt get correct or just impartial

advice about anything At all Ever

GRRRRhellip

I GOT ALL OF OUR FOLKS TOGETHERhellip

We got ourselves into meeting rooms armed with

all our thoughts and ideas and documents

and and then we ndash and thenhellip

WE BROUGHT IN THE EXTERNAL ADVISERShellip

DOUBLE GRRRhellipDOUBLE GRRRhellip

Something dawned on mehellip

I saw that I COULDNrsquoT DESCRIBE THE REQUIREMENT properly

because I actually didn‟t know what it was

How could I I didn‟t have the full picture of my own organization - how

could I state it in a way that the real requirement was ever likely to get fixed

WHO KNEW

EVERY ONE EACH NEW ADVISER - they all seemed to have their

angle their axe to grind‟ something to sell Something to defend

Then DISASTER struck - one day

I realized I was an equally big part of the problem

F

O

O

L

I SIMPLY COULDNrsquoT FIGURE IT OUT NOR GET THE

WHOLE DARNED THING LINED UP

SLIDING DOORS

I realized that my bdquothing or bit‟ was CONNECTED to other bdquothings‟ and bdquobits‟

They were vital ndash and they were outside of my control - in other parts of the firm

Anything might happen and it USUALLY did

THERE WAS NO WHOLE THING

There was no way we would ever win

We each had our own aims and objectives

Our own business cases Our own language

We spoke it daily We winked

We each had our own silo of activity

We defended it

We put up walls

We built our empires We were built that way

AND SADLY NOT MUCH HAS CHANGED

The whole messy charade of strategic

thinking problem solving or even bdquoinnovation‟ was

just so achingly dull that I became neurotic

Surely these were meant to be the

vitally inspiring meetings

Weren‟t they

WE KILLED BILL

Meetings became off-limits to sensible folk

Declared a disaster zone

Too toxic to touch

They were the stuff of legend

People WOULD watch us as we‟d enter the front line of the board rooms

knowing we were into combat They watched knowing some may never

come back Close friends waved white handkerchiefs tied yellow ribbons

They all had sad looks in their eyes

APOCALYPSE NOW(Coffee at 10-30)

MEETINGS BRAINSTORMS RETREATS

Call them what you like They were mostly utterly catastrophic

ridiculously expensive embarrassing - to most attendees and HIGHLY dangerous - in my experience

Sorely MISSED OPPORTUNITIES in my opinion

I was infected with the DEVILS Power Point

ldquoI watched sad decaying bedraggled administrators hunched in corners

capturing the evil sniggering of incoherent data hissed at us from increasingly

menacing people It became a major preoccupation for merdquo

I didn‟t want to turn up and so eventually I didn‟t

F

O

O

L

OK ENOUGH

THINK

I CHALLENGE THINKING

With huge respect to my clients I push them to search deeper inside

themselves to think differently Perhaps that little bit harder

The fool in me insists that I always ask those crazy questions

ldquoHowrdquo - ldquoBecauserdquo - ldquoWhyhellip and ldquoSo thatrdquo

The really interesting thing is that ndash increasingly ndash my clients

ask me to come along and do this more often because actually

they like to know the answers themselves

I find this all very encouraging

VISUALIZE THIS

Im fortunate in being able to visualize bdquoon the fly‟ ndash and I

love it Developing concepts at high speed - interpreting

ideas from peoples bdquolive‟ conversations

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

On the 1st January 2001 I decided to do something about it all ndash

to shine a light on it - pump up the volumehellip

hellip I created Group Partners

STOPhellip

And before all thathellip

The 1990s | CEO MCW ROCQM and then RMG International each

part of WPP Group plc

I left Acorn Computers plc in 1988 after many great and

highly informative years I got away with a lot

I left shortly after Olivetti bought the company - to run my

own integrated communication and strategic consultancy in London

MCW ndash Marketing Communications Workshop - it was acquired

by WPP in1996 This business developed strategy and implemented

complex informational and communication programs

for some pretty impressive enterprises

At MCW we were responsible for many large scale campaigns including the

entire Euro96 Football Championships and the global strategy for SAP

The consultancy also created major and award-winning marketing and

strategic programs for IBM Ford Oracle Benetton Philips Microsoft

Xerox Time Warner Sony and more

It‟s a long story

The 1980s | Head of Marketing Acorn Computers

I joined Acorn to run the communications

marketing and brand strategy and in the early 80s

launched the BBC Microcomputer Fun Crazy

During my time as Head of Marketing the turnover of the

business grew from $2m to $240m Very little if anything of

that was due to me

Acorn Computer was also the business that created the

highly successful Arm Technologies effectively one of the

UKs most successful technology businesses

This is also a long story

The 19rsquos| Crazy Fun

Somewhere before during in between on top underneath throughout and after

all this I ran mobile discorsquos night clubs did rock festivals saw the Pink Floyd

play lots of times - I think I painted drew skulked around a fair bit I would

sit stand Fall over I learned to drive fast sail fly run fast stay up all night and

do lotrsquos and lotrsquos that I cannot possibly talk about here

But by now you have a vivid enough picture

The 196070rsquos | Schooling stuff

Latterly I attempted a Foundational and Degree course in Fine Art at

Hogarth College of Fine Art Cambridge England It was complicated

Before that ndash I did A amp O levels galore at The Royal Hospital

School Holbrook Ipswich Suffolk England Europe Earth Milky Way

This was a fine school for the sons of Royal Naval Officers Before that ndash

Strange early forms of education at King Henry the V111 Grammar School

Somewhere in England I was probably beaten

I certainly played the fool

THE A TO Z OF GROUP PARTNERS | httpbitlybr7MWQ

RAMBLING ON STUFF |httpbitly6TWpsm

WHAT WE DO - IN 1 MINUTE | httpbitlycDbkQz

WHAT WE DO - IN 5 MINUTES | httpbitlyby4q7T

EASY GUIDES - HOW IT ALL WORKS | httpbitlybyzr32

WHAT‟S ON OUR MINDS | httpjohncaswellposterouscom

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER | httptwittercomjohncaswell

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK | httpwwwfacebookcomGroupPartners

THINKING There‟s an App for that - 4Dtrade

GROUP PARTNERS | WEBSITE httpwwwgrouppartnersnet

Helping our clients avoid solving the wrong problem really well_______________________________________________________________

S0 WHAT KIND OF FOOL AM I

Well what I do is to question listen and then

challenge my clients - these greater beings - a little

Actually a lot

Then with large white canvas and my 21st Century

Pens in hand I create something visually and

verbally representative of what I hear them say

ANDWHATTHEYMEANT

DOING THIS BEFORE

THEIR VERY EYES

Typically they are the most senior teams within

large Corporations and Governments They are

dealing with very challenging issues

So my job is also to challenge - and of course -

encourage the teams to stretch break through

and properly define their higher ambitions

Really

INGLORIOUS

MEETINGS

AARGHhellip

MEETINGS

ARE THE DEVILS

OWN WORK

I‟m where I am today out of sheer frustration

This all kicked off when as a client myself I

couldnt get correct or just impartial

advice about anything At all Ever

GRRRRhellip

I GOT ALL OF OUR FOLKS TOGETHERhellip

We got ourselves into meeting rooms armed with

all our thoughts and ideas and documents

and and then we ndash and thenhellip

WE BROUGHT IN THE EXTERNAL ADVISERShellip

DOUBLE GRRRhellipDOUBLE GRRRhellip

Something dawned on mehellip

I saw that I COULDNrsquoT DESCRIBE THE REQUIREMENT properly

because I actually didn‟t know what it was

How could I I didn‟t have the full picture of my own organization - how

could I state it in a way that the real requirement was ever likely to get fixed

WHO KNEW

EVERY ONE EACH NEW ADVISER - they all seemed to have their

angle their axe to grind‟ something to sell Something to defend

Then DISASTER struck - one day

I realized I was an equally big part of the problem

F

O

O

L

I SIMPLY COULDNrsquoT FIGURE IT OUT NOR GET THE

WHOLE DARNED THING LINED UP

SLIDING DOORS

I realized that my bdquothing or bit‟ was CONNECTED to other bdquothings‟ and bdquobits‟

They were vital ndash and they were outside of my control - in other parts of the firm

Anything might happen and it USUALLY did

THERE WAS NO WHOLE THING

There was no way we would ever win

We each had our own aims and objectives

Our own business cases Our own language

We spoke it daily We winked

We each had our own silo of activity

We defended it

We put up walls

We built our empires We were built that way

AND SADLY NOT MUCH HAS CHANGED

The whole messy charade of strategic

thinking problem solving or even bdquoinnovation‟ was

just so achingly dull that I became neurotic

Surely these were meant to be the

vitally inspiring meetings

Weren‟t they

WE KILLED BILL

Meetings became off-limits to sensible folk

Declared a disaster zone

Too toxic to touch

They were the stuff of legend

People WOULD watch us as we‟d enter the front line of the board rooms

knowing we were into combat They watched knowing some may never

come back Close friends waved white handkerchiefs tied yellow ribbons

They all had sad looks in their eyes

APOCALYPSE NOW(Coffee at 10-30)

MEETINGS BRAINSTORMS RETREATS

Call them what you like They were mostly utterly catastrophic

ridiculously expensive embarrassing - to most attendees and HIGHLY dangerous - in my experience

Sorely MISSED OPPORTUNITIES in my opinion

I was infected with the DEVILS Power Point

ldquoI watched sad decaying bedraggled administrators hunched in corners

capturing the evil sniggering of incoherent data hissed at us from increasingly

menacing people It became a major preoccupation for merdquo

I didn‟t want to turn up and so eventually I didn‟t

F

O

O

L

OK ENOUGH

THINK

I CHALLENGE THINKING

With huge respect to my clients I push them to search deeper inside

themselves to think differently Perhaps that little bit harder

The fool in me insists that I always ask those crazy questions

ldquoHowrdquo - ldquoBecauserdquo - ldquoWhyhellip and ldquoSo thatrdquo

The really interesting thing is that ndash increasingly ndash my clients

ask me to come along and do this more often because actually

they like to know the answers themselves

I find this all very encouraging

VISUALIZE THIS

Im fortunate in being able to visualize bdquoon the fly‟ ndash and I

love it Developing concepts at high speed - interpreting

ideas from peoples bdquolive‟ conversations

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

On the 1st January 2001 I decided to do something about it all ndash

to shine a light on it - pump up the volumehellip

hellip I created Group Partners

STOPhellip

And before all thathellip

The 1990s | CEO MCW ROCQM and then RMG International each

part of WPP Group plc

I left Acorn Computers plc in 1988 after many great and

highly informative years I got away with a lot

I left shortly after Olivetti bought the company - to run my

own integrated communication and strategic consultancy in London

MCW ndash Marketing Communications Workshop - it was acquired

by WPP in1996 This business developed strategy and implemented

complex informational and communication programs

for some pretty impressive enterprises

At MCW we were responsible for many large scale campaigns including the

entire Euro96 Football Championships and the global strategy for SAP

The consultancy also created major and award-winning marketing and

strategic programs for IBM Ford Oracle Benetton Philips Microsoft

Xerox Time Warner Sony and more

It‟s a long story

The 1980s | Head of Marketing Acorn Computers

I joined Acorn to run the communications

marketing and brand strategy and in the early 80s

launched the BBC Microcomputer Fun Crazy

During my time as Head of Marketing the turnover of the

business grew from $2m to $240m Very little if anything of

that was due to me

Acorn Computer was also the business that created the

highly successful Arm Technologies effectively one of the

UKs most successful technology businesses

This is also a long story

The 19rsquos| Crazy Fun

Somewhere before during in between on top underneath throughout and after

all this I ran mobile discorsquos night clubs did rock festivals saw the Pink Floyd

play lots of times - I think I painted drew skulked around a fair bit I would

sit stand Fall over I learned to drive fast sail fly run fast stay up all night and

do lotrsquos and lotrsquos that I cannot possibly talk about here

But by now you have a vivid enough picture

The 196070rsquos | Schooling stuff

Latterly I attempted a Foundational and Degree course in Fine Art at

Hogarth College of Fine Art Cambridge England It was complicated

Before that ndash I did A amp O levels galore at The Royal Hospital

School Holbrook Ipswich Suffolk England Europe Earth Milky Way

This was a fine school for the sons of Royal Naval Officers Before that ndash

Strange early forms of education at King Henry the V111 Grammar School

Somewhere in England I was probably beaten

I certainly played the fool

THE A TO Z OF GROUP PARTNERS | httpbitlybr7MWQ

RAMBLING ON STUFF |httpbitly6TWpsm

WHAT WE DO - IN 1 MINUTE | httpbitlycDbkQz

WHAT WE DO - IN 5 MINUTES | httpbitlyby4q7T

EASY GUIDES - HOW IT ALL WORKS | httpbitlybyzr32

WHAT‟S ON OUR MINDS | httpjohncaswellposterouscom

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER | httptwittercomjohncaswell

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK | httpwwwfacebookcomGroupPartners

THINKING There‟s an App for that - 4Dtrade

GROUP PARTNERS | WEBSITE httpwwwgrouppartnersnet

Helping our clients avoid solving the wrong problem really well_______________________________________________________________

DOING THIS BEFORE

THEIR VERY EYES

Typically they are the most senior teams within

large Corporations and Governments They are

dealing with very challenging issues

So my job is also to challenge - and of course -

encourage the teams to stretch break through

and properly define their higher ambitions

Really

INGLORIOUS

MEETINGS

AARGHhellip

MEETINGS

ARE THE DEVILS

OWN WORK

I‟m where I am today out of sheer frustration

This all kicked off when as a client myself I

couldnt get correct or just impartial

advice about anything At all Ever

GRRRRhellip

I GOT ALL OF OUR FOLKS TOGETHERhellip

We got ourselves into meeting rooms armed with

all our thoughts and ideas and documents

and and then we ndash and thenhellip

WE BROUGHT IN THE EXTERNAL ADVISERShellip

DOUBLE GRRRhellipDOUBLE GRRRhellip

Something dawned on mehellip

I saw that I COULDNrsquoT DESCRIBE THE REQUIREMENT properly

because I actually didn‟t know what it was

How could I I didn‟t have the full picture of my own organization - how

could I state it in a way that the real requirement was ever likely to get fixed

WHO KNEW

EVERY ONE EACH NEW ADVISER - they all seemed to have their

angle their axe to grind‟ something to sell Something to defend

Then DISASTER struck - one day

I realized I was an equally big part of the problem

F

O

O

L

I SIMPLY COULDNrsquoT FIGURE IT OUT NOR GET THE

WHOLE DARNED THING LINED UP

SLIDING DOORS

I realized that my bdquothing or bit‟ was CONNECTED to other bdquothings‟ and bdquobits‟

They were vital ndash and they were outside of my control - in other parts of the firm

Anything might happen and it USUALLY did

THERE WAS NO WHOLE THING

There was no way we would ever win

We each had our own aims and objectives

Our own business cases Our own language

We spoke it daily We winked

We each had our own silo of activity

We defended it

We put up walls

We built our empires We were built that way

AND SADLY NOT MUCH HAS CHANGED

The whole messy charade of strategic

thinking problem solving or even bdquoinnovation‟ was

just so achingly dull that I became neurotic

Surely these were meant to be the

vitally inspiring meetings

Weren‟t they

WE KILLED BILL

Meetings became off-limits to sensible folk

Declared a disaster zone

Too toxic to touch

They were the stuff of legend

People WOULD watch us as we‟d enter the front line of the board rooms

knowing we were into combat They watched knowing some may never

come back Close friends waved white handkerchiefs tied yellow ribbons

They all had sad looks in their eyes

APOCALYPSE NOW(Coffee at 10-30)

MEETINGS BRAINSTORMS RETREATS

Call them what you like They were mostly utterly catastrophic

ridiculously expensive embarrassing - to most attendees and HIGHLY dangerous - in my experience

Sorely MISSED OPPORTUNITIES in my opinion

I was infected with the DEVILS Power Point

ldquoI watched sad decaying bedraggled administrators hunched in corners

capturing the evil sniggering of incoherent data hissed at us from increasingly

menacing people It became a major preoccupation for merdquo

I didn‟t want to turn up and so eventually I didn‟t

F

O

O

L

OK ENOUGH

THINK

I CHALLENGE THINKING

With huge respect to my clients I push them to search deeper inside

themselves to think differently Perhaps that little bit harder

The fool in me insists that I always ask those crazy questions

ldquoHowrdquo - ldquoBecauserdquo - ldquoWhyhellip and ldquoSo thatrdquo

The really interesting thing is that ndash increasingly ndash my clients

ask me to come along and do this more often because actually

they like to know the answers themselves

I find this all very encouraging

VISUALIZE THIS

Im fortunate in being able to visualize bdquoon the fly‟ ndash and I

love it Developing concepts at high speed - interpreting

ideas from peoples bdquolive‟ conversations

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

On the 1st January 2001 I decided to do something about it all ndash

to shine a light on it - pump up the volumehellip

hellip I created Group Partners

STOPhellip

And before all thathellip

The 1990s | CEO MCW ROCQM and then RMG International each

part of WPP Group plc

I left Acorn Computers plc in 1988 after many great and

highly informative years I got away with a lot

I left shortly after Olivetti bought the company - to run my

own integrated communication and strategic consultancy in London

MCW ndash Marketing Communications Workshop - it was acquired

by WPP in1996 This business developed strategy and implemented

complex informational and communication programs

for some pretty impressive enterprises

At MCW we were responsible for many large scale campaigns including the

entire Euro96 Football Championships and the global strategy for SAP

The consultancy also created major and award-winning marketing and

strategic programs for IBM Ford Oracle Benetton Philips Microsoft

Xerox Time Warner Sony and more

It‟s a long story

The 1980s | Head of Marketing Acorn Computers

I joined Acorn to run the communications

marketing and brand strategy and in the early 80s

launched the BBC Microcomputer Fun Crazy

During my time as Head of Marketing the turnover of the

business grew from $2m to $240m Very little if anything of

that was due to me

Acorn Computer was also the business that created the

highly successful Arm Technologies effectively one of the

UKs most successful technology businesses

This is also a long story

The 19rsquos| Crazy Fun

Somewhere before during in between on top underneath throughout and after

all this I ran mobile discorsquos night clubs did rock festivals saw the Pink Floyd

play lots of times - I think I painted drew skulked around a fair bit I would

sit stand Fall over I learned to drive fast sail fly run fast stay up all night and

do lotrsquos and lotrsquos that I cannot possibly talk about here

But by now you have a vivid enough picture

The 196070rsquos | Schooling stuff

Latterly I attempted a Foundational and Degree course in Fine Art at

Hogarth College of Fine Art Cambridge England It was complicated

Before that ndash I did A amp O levels galore at The Royal Hospital

School Holbrook Ipswich Suffolk England Europe Earth Milky Way

This was a fine school for the sons of Royal Naval Officers Before that ndash

Strange early forms of education at King Henry the V111 Grammar School

Somewhere in England I was probably beaten

I certainly played the fool

THE A TO Z OF GROUP PARTNERS | httpbitlybr7MWQ

RAMBLING ON STUFF |httpbitly6TWpsm

WHAT WE DO - IN 1 MINUTE | httpbitlycDbkQz

WHAT WE DO - IN 5 MINUTES | httpbitlyby4q7T

EASY GUIDES - HOW IT ALL WORKS | httpbitlybyzr32

WHAT‟S ON OUR MINDS | httpjohncaswellposterouscom

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER | httptwittercomjohncaswell

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK | httpwwwfacebookcomGroupPartners

THINKING There‟s an App for that - 4Dtrade

GROUP PARTNERS | WEBSITE httpwwwgrouppartnersnet

Helping our clients avoid solving the wrong problem really well_______________________________________________________________

INGLORIOUS

MEETINGS

AARGHhellip

MEETINGS

ARE THE DEVILS

OWN WORK

I‟m where I am today out of sheer frustration

This all kicked off when as a client myself I

couldnt get correct or just impartial

advice about anything At all Ever

GRRRRhellip

I GOT ALL OF OUR FOLKS TOGETHERhellip

We got ourselves into meeting rooms armed with

all our thoughts and ideas and documents

and and then we ndash and thenhellip

WE BROUGHT IN THE EXTERNAL ADVISERShellip

DOUBLE GRRRhellipDOUBLE GRRRhellip

Something dawned on mehellip

I saw that I COULDNrsquoT DESCRIBE THE REQUIREMENT properly

because I actually didn‟t know what it was

How could I I didn‟t have the full picture of my own organization - how

could I state it in a way that the real requirement was ever likely to get fixed

WHO KNEW

EVERY ONE EACH NEW ADVISER - they all seemed to have their

angle their axe to grind‟ something to sell Something to defend

Then DISASTER struck - one day

I realized I was an equally big part of the problem

F

O

O

L

I SIMPLY COULDNrsquoT FIGURE IT OUT NOR GET THE

WHOLE DARNED THING LINED UP

SLIDING DOORS

I realized that my bdquothing or bit‟ was CONNECTED to other bdquothings‟ and bdquobits‟

They were vital ndash and they were outside of my control - in other parts of the firm

Anything might happen and it USUALLY did

THERE WAS NO WHOLE THING

There was no way we would ever win

We each had our own aims and objectives

Our own business cases Our own language

We spoke it daily We winked

We each had our own silo of activity

We defended it

We put up walls

We built our empires We were built that way

AND SADLY NOT MUCH HAS CHANGED

The whole messy charade of strategic

thinking problem solving or even bdquoinnovation‟ was

just so achingly dull that I became neurotic

Surely these were meant to be the

vitally inspiring meetings

Weren‟t they

WE KILLED BILL

Meetings became off-limits to sensible folk

Declared a disaster zone

Too toxic to touch

They were the stuff of legend

People WOULD watch us as we‟d enter the front line of the board rooms

knowing we were into combat They watched knowing some may never

come back Close friends waved white handkerchiefs tied yellow ribbons

They all had sad looks in their eyes

APOCALYPSE NOW(Coffee at 10-30)

MEETINGS BRAINSTORMS RETREATS

Call them what you like They were mostly utterly catastrophic

ridiculously expensive embarrassing - to most attendees and HIGHLY dangerous - in my experience

Sorely MISSED OPPORTUNITIES in my opinion

I was infected with the DEVILS Power Point

ldquoI watched sad decaying bedraggled administrators hunched in corners

capturing the evil sniggering of incoherent data hissed at us from increasingly

menacing people It became a major preoccupation for merdquo

I didn‟t want to turn up and so eventually I didn‟t

F

O

O

L

OK ENOUGH

THINK

I CHALLENGE THINKING

With huge respect to my clients I push them to search deeper inside

themselves to think differently Perhaps that little bit harder

The fool in me insists that I always ask those crazy questions

ldquoHowrdquo - ldquoBecauserdquo - ldquoWhyhellip and ldquoSo thatrdquo

The really interesting thing is that ndash increasingly ndash my clients

ask me to come along and do this more often because actually

they like to know the answers themselves

I find this all very encouraging

VISUALIZE THIS

Im fortunate in being able to visualize bdquoon the fly‟ ndash and I

love it Developing concepts at high speed - interpreting

ideas from peoples bdquolive‟ conversations

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

On the 1st January 2001 I decided to do something about it all ndash

to shine a light on it - pump up the volumehellip

hellip I created Group Partners

STOPhellip

And before all thathellip

The 1990s | CEO MCW ROCQM and then RMG International each

part of WPP Group plc

I left Acorn Computers plc in 1988 after many great and

highly informative years I got away with a lot

I left shortly after Olivetti bought the company - to run my

own integrated communication and strategic consultancy in London

MCW ndash Marketing Communications Workshop - it was acquired

by WPP in1996 This business developed strategy and implemented

complex informational and communication programs

for some pretty impressive enterprises

At MCW we were responsible for many large scale campaigns including the

entire Euro96 Football Championships and the global strategy for SAP

The consultancy also created major and award-winning marketing and

strategic programs for IBM Ford Oracle Benetton Philips Microsoft

Xerox Time Warner Sony and more

It‟s a long story

The 1980s | Head of Marketing Acorn Computers

I joined Acorn to run the communications

marketing and brand strategy and in the early 80s

launched the BBC Microcomputer Fun Crazy

During my time as Head of Marketing the turnover of the

business grew from $2m to $240m Very little if anything of

that was due to me

Acorn Computer was also the business that created the

highly successful Arm Technologies effectively one of the

UKs most successful technology businesses

This is also a long story

The 19rsquos| Crazy Fun

Somewhere before during in between on top underneath throughout and after

all this I ran mobile discorsquos night clubs did rock festivals saw the Pink Floyd

play lots of times - I think I painted drew skulked around a fair bit I would

sit stand Fall over I learned to drive fast sail fly run fast stay up all night and

do lotrsquos and lotrsquos that I cannot possibly talk about here

But by now you have a vivid enough picture

The 196070rsquos | Schooling stuff

Latterly I attempted a Foundational and Degree course in Fine Art at

Hogarth College of Fine Art Cambridge England It was complicated

Before that ndash I did A amp O levels galore at The Royal Hospital

School Holbrook Ipswich Suffolk England Europe Earth Milky Way

This was a fine school for the sons of Royal Naval Officers Before that ndash

Strange early forms of education at King Henry the V111 Grammar School

Somewhere in England I was probably beaten

I certainly played the fool

THE A TO Z OF GROUP PARTNERS | httpbitlybr7MWQ

RAMBLING ON STUFF |httpbitly6TWpsm

WHAT WE DO - IN 1 MINUTE | httpbitlycDbkQz

WHAT WE DO - IN 5 MINUTES | httpbitlyby4q7T

EASY GUIDES - HOW IT ALL WORKS | httpbitlybyzr32

WHAT‟S ON OUR MINDS | httpjohncaswellposterouscom

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER | httptwittercomjohncaswell

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK | httpwwwfacebookcomGroupPartners

THINKING There‟s an App for that - 4Dtrade

GROUP PARTNERS | WEBSITE httpwwwgrouppartnersnet

Helping our clients avoid solving the wrong problem really well_______________________________________________________________

AARGHhellip

MEETINGS

ARE THE DEVILS

OWN WORK

I‟m where I am today out of sheer frustration

This all kicked off when as a client myself I

couldnt get correct or just impartial

advice about anything At all Ever

GRRRRhellip

I GOT ALL OF OUR FOLKS TOGETHERhellip

We got ourselves into meeting rooms armed with

all our thoughts and ideas and documents

and and then we ndash and thenhellip

WE BROUGHT IN THE EXTERNAL ADVISERShellip

DOUBLE GRRRhellipDOUBLE GRRRhellip

Something dawned on mehellip

I saw that I COULDNrsquoT DESCRIBE THE REQUIREMENT properly

because I actually didn‟t know what it was

How could I I didn‟t have the full picture of my own organization - how

could I state it in a way that the real requirement was ever likely to get fixed

WHO KNEW

EVERY ONE EACH NEW ADVISER - they all seemed to have their

angle their axe to grind‟ something to sell Something to defend

Then DISASTER struck - one day

I realized I was an equally big part of the problem

F

O

O

L

I SIMPLY COULDNrsquoT FIGURE IT OUT NOR GET THE

WHOLE DARNED THING LINED UP

SLIDING DOORS

I realized that my bdquothing or bit‟ was CONNECTED to other bdquothings‟ and bdquobits‟

They were vital ndash and they were outside of my control - in other parts of the firm

Anything might happen and it USUALLY did

THERE WAS NO WHOLE THING

There was no way we would ever win

We each had our own aims and objectives

Our own business cases Our own language

We spoke it daily We winked

We each had our own silo of activity

We defended it

We put up walls

We built our empires We were built that way

AND SADLY NOT MUCH HAS CHANGED

The whole messy charade of strategic

thinking problem solving or even bdquoinnovation‟ was

just so achingly dull that I became neurotic

Surely these were meant to be the

vitally inspiring meetings

Weren‟t they

WE KILLED BILL

Meetings became off-limits to sensible folk

Declared a disaster zone

Too toxic to touch

They were the stuff of legend

People WOULD watch us as we‟d enter the front line of the board rooms

knowing we were into combat They watched knowing some may never

come back Close friends waved white handkerchiefs tied yellow ribbons

They all had sad looks in their eyes

APOCALYPSE NOW(Coffee at 10-30)

MEETINGS BRAINSTORMS RETREATS

Call them what you like They were mostly utterly catastrophic

ridiculously expensive embarrassing - to most attendees and HIGHLY dangerous - in my experience

Sorely MISSED OPPORTUNITIES in my opinion

I was infected with the DEVILS Power Point

ldquoI watched sad decaying bedraggled administrators hunched in corners

capturing the evil sniggering of incoherent data hissed at us from increasingly

menacing people It became a major preoccupation for merdquo

I didn‟t want to turn up and so eventually I didn‟t

F

O

O

L

OK ENOUGH

THINK

I CHALLENGE THINKING

With huge respect to my clients I push them to search deeper inside

themselves to think differently Perhaps that little bit harder

The fool in me insists that I always ask those crazy questions

ldquoHowrdquo - ldquoBecauserdquo - ldquoWhyhellip and ldquoSo thatrdquo

The really interesting thing is that ndash increasingly ndash my clients

ask me to come along and do this more often because actually

they like to know the answers themselves

I find this all very encouraging

VISUALIZE THIS

Im fortunate in being able to visualize bdquoon the fly‟ ndash and I

love it Developing concepts at high speed - interpreting

ideas from peoples bdquolive‟ conversations

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

On the 1st January 2001 I decided to do something about it all ndash

to shine a light on it - pump up the volumehellip

hellip I created Group Partners

STOPhellip

And before all thathellip

The 1990s | CEO MCW ROCQM and then RMG International each

part of WPP Group plc

I left Acorn Computers plc in 1988 after many great and

highly informative years I got away with a lot

I left shortly after Olivetti bought the company - to run my

own integrated communication and strategic consultancy in London

MCW ndash Marketing Communications Workshop - it was acquired

by WPP in1996 This business developed strategy and implemented

complex informational and communication programs

for some pretty impressive enterprises

At MCW we were responsible for many large scale campaigns including the

entire Euro96 Football Championships and the global strategy for SAP

The consultancy also created major and award-winning marketing and

strategic programs for IBM Ford Oracle Benetton Philips Microsoft

Xerox Time Warner Sony and more

It‟s a long story

The 1980s | Head of Marketing Acorn Computers

I joined Acorn to run the communications

marketing and brand strategy and in the early 80s

launched the BBC Microcomputer Fun Crazy

During my time as Head of Marketing the turnover of the

business grew from $2m to $240m Very little if anything of

that was due to me

Acorn Computer was also the business that created the

highly successful Arm Technologies effectively one of the

UKs most successful technology businesses

This is also a long story

The 19rsquos| Crazy Fun

Somewhere before during in between on top underneath throughout and after

all this I ran mobile discorsquos night clubs did rock festivals saw the Pink Floyd

play lots of times - I think I painted drew skulked around a fair bit I would

sit stand Fall over I learned to drive fast sail fly run fast stay up all night and

do lotrsquos and lotrsquos that I cannot possibly talk about here

But by now you have a vivid enough picture

The 196070rsquos | Schooling stuff

Latterly I attempted a Foundational and Degree course in Fine Art at

Hogarth College of Fine Art Cambridge England It was complicated

Before that ndash I did A amp O levels galore at The Royal Hospital

School Holbrook Ipswich Suffolk England Europe Earth Milky Way

This was a fine school for the sons of Royal Naval Officers Before that ndash

Strange early forms of education at King Henry the V111 Grammar School

Somewhere in England I was probably beaten

I certainly played the fool

THE A TO Z OF GROUP PARTNERS | httpbitlybr7MWQ

RAMBLING ON STUFF |httpbitly6TWpsm

WHAT WE DO - IN 1 MINUTE | httpbitlycDbkQz

WHAT WE DO - IN 5 MINUTES | httpbitlyby4q7T

EASY GUIDES - HOW IT ALL WORKS | httpbitlybyzr32

WHAT‟S ON OUR MINDS | httpjohncaswellposterouscom

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER | httptwittercomjohncaswell

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK | httpwwwfacebookcomGroupPartners

THINKING There‟s an App for that - 4Dtrade

GROUP PARTNERS | WEBSITE httpwwwgrouppartnersnet

Helping our clients avoid solving the wrong problem really well_______________________________________________________________

MEETINGS

ARE THE DEVILS

OWN WORK

I‟m where I am today out of sheer frustration

This all kicked off when as a client myself I

couldnt get correct or just impartial

advice about anything At all Ever

GRRRRhellip

I GOT ALL OF OUR FOLKS TOGETHERhellip

We got ourselves into meeting rooms armed with

all our thoughts and ideas and documents

and and then we ndash and thenhellip

WE BROUGHT IN THE EXTERNAL ADVISERShellip

DOUBLE GRRRhellipDOUBLE GRRRhellip

Something dawned on mehellip

I saw that I COULDNrsquoT DESCRIBE THE REQUIREMENT properly

because I actually didn‟t know what it was

How could I I didn‟t have the full picture of my own organization - how

could I state it in a way that the real requirement was ever likely to get fixed

WHO KNEW

EVERY ONE EACH NEW ADVISER - they all seemed to have their

angle their axe to grind‟ something to sell Something to defend

Then DISASTER struck - one day

I realized I was an equally big part of the problem

F

O

O

L

I SIMPLY COULDNrsquoT FIGURE IT OUT NOR GET THE

WHOLE DARNED THING LINED UP

SLIDING DOORS

I realized that my bdquothing or bit‟ was CONNECTED to other bdquothings‟ and bdquobits‟

They were vital ndash and they were outside of my control - in other parts of the firm

Anything might happen and it USUALLY did

THERE WAS NO WHOLE THING

There was no way we would ever win

We each had our own aims and objectives

Our own business cases Our own language

We spoke it daily We winked

We each had our own silo of activity

We defended it

We put up walls

We built our empires We were built that way

AND SADLY NOT MUCH HAS CHANGED

The whole messy charade of strategic

thinking problem solving or even bdquoinnovation‟ was

just so achingly dull that I became neurotic

Surely these were meant to be the

vitally inspiring meetings

Weren‟t they

WE KILLED BILL

Meetings became off-limits to sensible folk

Declared a disaster zone

Too toxic to touch

They were the stuff of legend

People WOULD watch us as we‟d enter the front line of the board rooms

knowing we were into combat They watched knowing some may never

come back Close friends waved white handkerchiefs tied yellow ribbons

They all had sad looks in their eyes

APOCALYPSE NOW(Coffee at 10-30)

MEETINGS BRAINSTORMS RETREATS

Call them what you like They were mostly utterly catastrophic

ridiculously expensive embarrassing - to most attendees and HIGHLY dangerous - in my experience

Sorely MISSED OPPORTUNITIES in my opinion

I was infected with the DEVILS Power Point

ldquoI watched sad decaying bedraggled administrators hunched in corners

capturing the evil sniggering of incoherent data hissed at us from increasingly

menacing people It became a major preoccupation for merdquo

I didn‟t want to turn up and so eventually I didn‟t

F

O

O

L

OK ENOUGH

THINK

I CHALLENGE THINKING

With huge respect to my clients I push them to search deeper inside

themselves to think differently Perhaps that little bit harder

The fool in me insists that I always ask those crazy questions

ldquoHowrdquo - ldquoBecauserdquo - ldquoWhyhellip and ldquoSo thatrdquo

The really interesting thing is that ndash increasingly ndash my clients

ask me to come along and do this more often because actually

they like to know the answers themselves

I find this all very encouraging

VISUALIZE THIS

Im fortunate in being able to visualize bdquoon the fly‟ ndash and I

love it Developing concepts at high speed - interpreting

ideas from peoples bdquolive‟ conversations

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

On the 1st January 2001 I decided to do something about it all ndash

to shine a light on it - pump up the volumehellip

hellip I created Group Partners

STOPhellip

And before all thathellip

The 1990s | CEO MCW ROCQM and then RMG International each

part of WPP Group plc

I left Acorn Computers plc in 1988 after many great and

highly informative years I got away with a lot

I left shortly after Olivetti bought the company - to run my

own integrated communication and strategic consultancy in London

MCW ndash Marketing Communications Workshop - it was acquired

by WPP in1996 This business developed strategy and implemented

complex informational and communication programs

for some pretty impressive enterprises

At MCW we were responsible for many large scale campaigns including the

entire Euro96 Football Championships and the global strategy for SAP

The consultancy also created major and award-winning marketing and

strategic programs for IBM Ford Oracle Benetton Philips Microsoft

Xerox Time Warner Sony and more

It‟s a long story

The 1980s | Head of Marketing Acorn Computers

I joined Acorn to run the communications

marketing and brand strategy and in the early 80s

launched the BBC Microcomputer Fun Crazy

During my time as Head of Marketing the turnover of the

business grew from $2m to $240m Very little if anything of

that was due to me

Acorn Computer was also the business that created the

highly successful Arm Technologies effectively one of the

UKs most successful technology businesses

This is also a long story

The 19rsquos| Crazy Fun

Somewhere before during in between on top underneath throughout and after

all this I ran mobile discorsquos night clubs did rock festivals saw the Pink Floyd

play lots of times - I think I painted drew skulked around a fair bit I would

sit stand Fall over I learned to drive fast sail fly run fast stay up all night and

do lotrsquos and lotrsquos that I cannot possibly talk about here

But by now you have a vivid enough picture

The 196070rsquos | Schooling stuff

Latterly I attempted a Foundational and Degree course in Fine Art at

Hogarth College of Fine Art Cambridge England It was complicated

Before that ndash I did A amp O levels galore at The Royal Hospital

School Holbrook Ipswich Suffolk England Europe Earth Milky Way

This was a fine school for the sons of Royal Naval Officers Before that ndash

Strange early forms of education at King Henry the V111 Grammar School

Somewhere in England I was probably beaten

I certainly played the fool

THE A TO Z OF GROUP PARTNERS | httpbitlybr7MWQ

RAMBLING ON STUFF |httpbitly6TWpsm

WHAT WE DO - IN 1 MINUTE | httpbitlycDbkQz

WHAT WE DO - IN 5 MINUTES | httpbitlyby4q7T

EASY GUIDES - HOW IT ALL WORKS | httpbitlybyzr32

WHAT‟S ON OUR MINDS | httpjohncaswellposterouscom

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER | httptwittercomjohncaswell

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK | httpwwwfacebookcomGroupPartners

THINKING There‟s an App for that - 4Dtrade

GROUP PARTNERS | WEBSITE httpwwwgrouppartnersnet

Helping our clients avoid solving the wrong problem really well_______________________________________________________________

I‟m where I am today out of sheer frustration

This all kicked off when as a client myself I

couldnt get correct or just impartial

advice about anything At all Ever

GRRRRhellip

I GOT ALL OF OUR FOLKS TOGETHERhellip

We got ourselves into meeting rooms armed with

all our thoughts and ideas and documents

and and then we ndash and thenhellip

WE BROUGHT IN THE EXTERNAL ADVISERShellip

DOUBLE GRRRhellipDOUBLE GRRRhellip

Something dawned on mehellip

I saw that I COULDNrsquoT DESCRIBE THE REQUIREMENT properly

because I actually didn‟t know what it was

How could I I didn‟t have the full picture of my own organization - how

could I state it in a way that the real requirement was ever likely to get fixed

WHO KNEW

EVERY ONE EACH NEW ADVISER - they all seemed to have their

angle their axe to grind‟ something to sell Something to defend

Then DISASTER struck - one day

I realized I was an equally big part of the problem

F

O

O

L

I SIMPLY COULDNrsquoT FIGURE IT OUT NOR GET THE

WHOLE DARNED THING LINED UP

SLIDING DOORS

I realized that my bdquothing or bit‟ was CONNECTED to other bdquothings‟ and bdquobits‟

They were vital ndash and they were outside of my control - in other parts of the firm

Anything might happen and it USUALLY did

THERE WAS NO WHOLE THING

There was no way we would ever win

We each had our own aims and objectives

Our own business cases Our own language

We spoke it daily We winked

We each had our own silo of activity

We defended it

We put up walls

We built our empires We were built that way

AND SADLY NOT MUCH HAS CHANGED

The whole messy charade of strategic

thinking problem solving or even bdquoinnovation‟ was

just so achingly dull that I became neurotic

Surely these were meant to be the

vitally inspiring meetings

Weren‟t they

WE KILLED BILL

Meetings became off-limits to sensible folk

Declared a disaster zone

Too toxic to touch

They were the stuff of legend

People WOULD watch us as we‟d enter the front line of the board rooms

knowing we were into combat They watched knowing some may never

come back Close friends waved white handkerchiefs tied yellow ribbons

They all had sad looks in their eyes

APOCALYPSE NOW(Coffee at 10-30)

MEETINGS BRAINSTORMS RETREATS

Call them what you like They were mostly utterly catastrophic

ridiculously expensive embarrassing - to most attendees and HIGHLY dangerous - in my experience

Sorely MISSED OPPORTUNITIES in my opinion

I was infected with the DEVILS Power Point

ldquoI watched sad decaying bedraggled administrators hunched in corners

capturing the evil sniggering of incoherent data hissed at us from increasingly

menacing people It became a major preoccupation for merdquo

I didn‟t want to turn up and so eventually I didn‟t

F

O

O

L

OK ENOUGH

THINK

I CHALLENGE THINKING

With huge respect to my clients I push them to search deeper inside

themselves to think differently Perhaps that little bit harder

The fool in me insists that I always ask those crazy questions

ldquoHowrdquo - ldquoBecauserdquo - ldquoWhyhellip and ldquoSo thatrdquo

The really interesting thing is that ndash increasingly ndash my clients

ask me to come along and do this more often because actually

they like to know the answers themselves

I find this all very encouraging

VISUALIZE THIS

Im fortunate in being able to visualize bdquoon the fly‟ ndash and I

love it Developing concepts at high speed - interpreting

ideas from peoples bdquolive‟ conversations

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

On the 1st January 2001 I decided to do something about it all ndash

to shine a light on it - pump up the volumehellip

hellip I created Group Partners

STOPhellip

And before all thathellip

The 1990s | CEO MCW ROCQM and then RMG International each

part of WPP Group plc

I left Acorn Computers plc in 1988 after many great and

highly informative years I got away with a lot

I left shortly after Olivetti bought the company - to run my

own integrated communication and strategic consultancy in London

MCW ndash Marketing Communications Workshop - it was acquired

by WPP in1996 This business developed strategy and implemented

complex informational and communication programs

for some pretty impressive enterprises

At MCW we were responsible for many large scale campaigns including the

entire Euro96 Football Championships and the global strategy for SAP

The consultancy also created major and award-winning marketing and

strategic programs for IBM Ford Oracle Benetton Philips Microsoft

Xerox Time Warner Sony and more

It‟s a long story

The 1980s | Head of Marketing Acorn Computers

I joined Acorn to run the communications

marketing and brand strategy and in the early 80s

launched the BBC Microcomputer Fun Crazy

During my time as Head of Marketing the turnover of the

business grew from $2m to $240m Very little if anything of

that was due to me

Acorn Computer was also the business that created the

highly successful Arm Technologies effectively one of the

UKs most successful technology businesses

This is also a long story

The 19rsquos| Crazy Fun

Somewhere before during in between on top underneath throughout and after

all this I ran mobile discorsquos night clubs did rock festivals saw the Pink Floyd

play lots of times - I think I painted drew skulked around a fair bit I would

sit stand Fall over I learned to drive fast sail fly run fast stay up all night and

do lotrsquos and lotrsquos that I cannot possibly talk about here

But by now you have a vivid enough picture

The 196070rsquos | Schooling stuff

Latterly I attempted a Foundational and Degree course in Fine Art at

Hogarth College of Fine Art Cambridge England It was complicated

Before that ndash I did A amp O levels galore at The Royal Hospital

School Holbrook Ipswich Suffolk England Europe Earth Milky Way

This was a fine school for the sons of Royal Naval Officers Before that ndash

Strange early forms of education at King Henry the V111 Grammar School

Somewhere in England I was probably beaten

I certainly played the fool

THE A TO Z OF GROUP PARTNERS | httpbitlybr7MWQ

RAMBLING ON STUFF |httpbitly6TWpsm

WHAT WE DO - IN 1 MINUTE | httpbitlycDbkQz

WHAT WE DO - IN 5 MINUTES | httpbitlyby4q7T

EASY GUIDES - HOW IT ALL WORKS | httpbitlybyzr32

WHAT‟S ON OUR MINDS | httpjohncaswellposterouscom

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER | httptwittercomjohncaswell

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK | httpwwwfacebookcomGroupPartners

THINKING There‟s an App for that - 4Dtrade

GROUP PARTNERS | WEBSITE httpwwwgrouppartnersnet

Helping our clients avoid solving the wrong problem really well_______________________________________________________________

I GOT ALL OF OUR FOLKS TOGETHERhellip

We got ourselves into meeting rooms armed with

all our thoughts and ideas and documents

and and then we ndash and thenhellip

WE BROUGHT IN THE EXTERNAL ADVISERShellip

DOUBLE GRRRhellipDOUBLE GRRRhellip

Something dawned on mehellip

I saw that I COULDNrsquoT DESCRIBE THE REQUIREMENT properly

because I actually didn‟t know what it was

How could I I didn‟t have the full picture of my own organization - how

could I state it in a way that the real requirement was ever likely to get fixed

WHO KNEW

EVERY ONE EACH NEW ADVISER - they all seemed to have their

angle their axe to grind‟ something to sell Something to defend

Then DISASTER struck - one day

I realized I was an equally big part of the problem

F

O

O

L

I SIMPLY COULDNrsquoT FIGURE IT OUT NOR GET THE

WHOLE DARNED THING LINED UP

SLIDING DOORS

I realized that my bdquothing or bit‟ was CONNECTED to other bdquothings‟ and bdquobits‟

They were vital ndash and they were outside of my control - in other parts of the firm

Anything might happen and it USUALLY did

THERE WAS NO WHOLE THING

There was no way we would ever win

We each had our own aims and objectives

Our own business cases Our own language

We spoke it daily We winked

We each had our own silo of activity

We defended it

We put up walls

We built our empires We were built that way

AND SADLY NOT MUCH HAS CHANGED

The whole messy charade of strategic

thinking problem solving or even bdquoinnovation‟ was

just so achingly dull that I became neurotic

Surely these were meant to be the

vitally inspiring meetings

Weren‟t they

WE KILLED BILL

Meetings became off-limits to sensible folk

Declared a disaster zone

Too toxic to touch

They were the stuff of legend

People WOULD watch us as we‟d enter the front line of the board rooms

knowing we were into combat They watched knowing some may never

come back Close friends waved white handkerchiefs tied yellow ribbons

They all had sad looks in their eyes

APOCALYPSE NOW(Coffee at 10-30)

MEETINGS BRAINSTORMS RETREATS

Call them what you like They were mostly utterly catastrophic

ridiculously expensive embarrassing - to most attendees and HIGHLY dangerous - in my experience

Sorely MISSED OPPORTUNITIES in my opinion

I was infected with the DEVILS Power Point

ldquoI watched sad decaying bedraggled administrators hunched in corners

capturing the evil sniggering of incoherent data hissed at us from increasingly

menacing people It became a major preoccupation for merdquo

I didn‟t want to turn up and so eventually I didn‟t

F

O

O

L

OK ENOUGH

THINK

I CHALLENGE THINKING

With huge respect to my clients I push them to search deeper inside

themselves to think differently Perhaps that little bit harder

The fool in me insists that I always ask those crazy questions

ldquoHowrdquo - ldquoBecauserdquo - ldquoWhyhellip and ldquoSo thatrdquo

The really interesting thing is that ndash increasingly ndash my clients

ask me to come along and do this more often because actually

they like to know the answers themselves

I find this all very encouraging

VISUALIZE THIS

Im fortunate in being able to visualize bdquoon the fly‟ ndash and I

love it Developing concepts at high speed - interpreting

ideas from peoples bdquolive‟ conversations

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

On the 1st January 2001 I decided to do something about it all ndash

to shine a light on it - pump up the volumehellip

hellip I created Group Partners

STOPhellip

And before all thathellip

The 1990s | CEO MCW ROCQM and then RMG International each

part of WPP Group plc

I left Acorn Computers plc in 1988 after many great and

highly informative years I got away with a lot

I left shortly after Olivetti bought the company - to run my

own integrated communication and strategic consultancy in London

MCW ndash Marketing Communications Workshop - it was acquired

by WPP in1996 This business developed strategy and implemented

complex informational and communication programs

for some pretty impressive enterprises

At MCW we were responsible for many large scale campaigns including the

entire Euro96 Football Championships and the global strategy for SAP

The consultancy also created major and award-winning marketing and

strategic programs for IBM Ford Oracle Benetton Philips Microsoft

Xerox Time Warner Sony and more

It‟s a long story

The 1980s | Head of Marketing Acorn Computers

I joined Acorn to run the communications

marketing and brand strategy and in the early 80s

launched the BBC Microcomputer Fun Crazy

During my time as Head of Marketing the turnover of the

business grew from $2m to $240m Very little if anything of

that was due to me

Acorn Computer was also the business that created the

highly successful Arm Technologies effectively one of the

UKs most successful technology businesses

This is also a long story

The 19rsquos| Crazy Fun

Somewhere before during in between on top underneath throughout and after

all this I ran mobile discorsquos night clubs did rock festivals saw the Pink Floyd

play lots of times - I think I painted drew skulked around a fair bit I would

sit stand Fall over I learned to drive fast sail fly run fast stay up all night and

do lotrsquos and lotrsquos that I cannot possibly talk about here

But by now you have a vivid enough picture

The 196070rsquos | Schooling stuff

Latterly I attempted a Foundational and Degree course in Fine Art at

Hogarth College of Fine Art Cambridge England It was complicated

Before that ndash I did A amp O levels galore at The Royal Hospital

School Holbrook Ipswich Suffolk England Europe Earth Milky Way

This was a fine school for the sons of Royal Naval Officers Before that ndash

Strange early forms of education at King Henry the V111 Grammar School

Somewhere in England I was probably beaten

I certainly played the fool

THE A TO Z OF GROUP PARTNERS | httpbitlybr7MWQ

RAMBLING ON STUFF |httpbitly6TWpsm

WHAT WE DO - IN 1 MINUTE | httpbitlycDbkQz

WHAT WE DO - IN 5 MINUTES | httpbitlyby4q7T

EASY GUIDES - HOW IT ALL WORKS | httpbitlybyzr32

WHAT‟S ON OUR MINDS | httpjohncaswellposterouscom

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER | httptwittercomjohncaswell

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK | httpwwwfacebookcomGroupPartners

THINKING There‟s an App for that - 4Dtrade

GROUP PARTNERS | WEBSITE httpwwwgrouppartnersnet

Helping our clients avoid solving the wrong problem really well_______________________________________________________________

Something dawned on mehellip

I saw that I COULDNrsquoT DESCRIBE THE REQUIREMENT properly

because I actually didn‟t know what it was

How could I I didn‟t have the full picture of my own organization - how

could I state it in a way that the real requirement was ever likely to get fixed

WHO KNEW

EVERY ONE EACH NEW ADVISER - they all seemed to have their

angle their axe to grind‟ something to sell Something to defend

Then DISASTER struck - one day

I realized I was an equally big part of the problem

F

O

O

L

I SIMPLY COULDNrsquoT FIGURE IT OUT NOR GET THE

WHOLE DARNED THING LINED UP

SLIDING DOORS

I realized that my bdquothing or bit‟ was CONNECTED to other bdquothings‟ and bdquobits‟

They were vital ndash and they were outside of my control - in other parts of the firm

Anything might happen and it USUALLY did

THERE WAS NO WHOLE THING

There was no way we would ever win

We each had our own aims and objectives

Our own business cases Our own language

We spoke it daily We winked

We each had our own silo of activity

We defended it

We put up walls

We built our empires We were built that way

AND SADLY NOT MUCH HAS CHANGED

The whole messy charade of strategic

thinking problem solving or even bdquoinnovation‟ was

just so achingly dull that I became neurotic

Surely these were meant to be the

vitally inspiring meetings

Weren‟t they

WE KILLED BILL

Meetings became off-limits to sensible folk

Declared a disaster zone

Too toxic to touch

They were the stuff of legend

People WOULD watch us as we‟d enter the front line of the board rooms

knowing we were into combat They watched knowing some may never

come back Close friends waved white handkerchiefs tied yellow ribbons

They all had sad looks in their eyes

APOCALYPSE NOW(Coffee at 10-30)

MEETINGS BRAINSTORMS RETREATS

Call them what you like They were mostly utterly catastrophic

ridiculously expensive embarrassing - to most attendees and HIGHLY dangerous - in my experience

Sorely MISSED OPPORTUNITIES in my opinion

I was infected with the DEVILS Power Point

ldquoI watched sad decaying bedraggled administrators hunched in corners

capturing the evil sniggering of incoherent data hissed at us from increasingly

menacing people It became a major preoccupation for merdquo

I didn‟t want to turn up and so eventually I didn‟t

F

O

O

L

OK ENOUGH

THINK

I CHALLENGE THINKING

With huge respect to my clients I push them to search deeper inside

themselves to think differently Perhaps that little bit harder

The fool in me insists that I always ask those crazy questions

ldquoHowrdquo - ldquoBecauserdquo - ldquoWhyhellip and ldquoSo thatrdquo

The really interesting thing is that ndash increasingly ndash my clients

ask me to come along and do this more often because actually

they like to know the answers themselves

I find this all very encouraging

VISUALIZE THIS

Im fortunate in being able to visualize bdquoon the fly‟ ndash and I

love it Developing concepts at high speed - interpreting

ideas from peoples bdquolive‟ conversations

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

On the 1st January 2001 I decided to do something about it all ndash

to shine a light on it - pump up the volumehellip

hellip I created Group Partners

STOPhellip

And before all thathellip

The 1990s | CEO MCW ROCQM and then RMG International each

part of WPP Group plc

I left Acorn Computers plc in 1988 after many great and

highly informative years I got away with a lot

I left shortly after Olivetti bought the company - to run my

own integrated communication and strategic consultancy in London

MCW ndash Marketing Communications Workshop - it was acquired

by WPP in1996 This business developed strategy and implemented

complex informational and communication programs

for some pretty impressive enterprises

At MCW we were responsible for many large scale campaigns including the

entire Euro96 Football Championships and the global strategy for SAP

The consultancy also created major and award-winning marketing and

strategic programs for IBM Ford Oracle Benetton Philips Microsoft

Xerox Time Warner Sony and more

It‟s a long story

The 1980s | Head of Marketing Acorn Computers

I joined Acorn to run the communications

marketing and brand strategy and in the early 80s

launched the BBC Microcomputer Fun Crazy

During my time as Head of Marketing the turnover of the

business grew from $2m to $240m Very little if anything of

that was due to me

Acorn Computer was also the business that created the

highly successful Arm Technologies effectively one of the

UKs most successful technology businesses

This is also a long story

The 19rsquos| Crazy Fun

Somewhere before during in between on top underneath throughout and after

all this I ran mobile discorsquos night clubs did rock festivals saw the Pink Floyd

play lots of times - I think I painted drew skulked around a fair bit I would

sit stand Fall over I learned to drive fast sail fly run fast stay up all night and

do lotrsquos and lotrsquos that I cannot possibly talk about here

But by now you have a vivid enough picture

The 196070rsquos | Schooling stuff

Latterly I attempted a Foundational and Degree course in Fine Art at

Hogarth College of Fine Art Cambridge England It was complicated

Before that ndash I did A amp O levels galore at The Royal Hospital

School Holbrook Ipswich Suffolk England Europe Earth Milky Way

This was a fine school for the sons of Royal Naval Officers Before that ndash

Strange early forms of education at King Henry the V111 Grammar School

Somewhere in England I was probably beaten

I certainly played the fool

THE A TO Z OF GROUP PARTNERS | httpbitlybr7MWQ

RAMBLING ON STUFF |httpbitly6TWpsm

WHAT WE DO - IN 1 MINUTE | httpbitlycDbkQz

WHAT WE DO - IN 5 MINUTES | httpbitlyby4q7T

EASY GUIDES - HOW IT ALL WORKS | httpbitlybyzr32

WHAT‟S ON OUR MINDS | httpjohncaswellposterouscom

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER | httptwittercomjohncaswell

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK | httpwwwfacebookcomGroupPartners

THINKING There‟s an App for that - 4Dtrade

GROUP PARTNERS | WEBSITE httpwwwgrouppartnersnet

Helping our clients avoid solving the wrong problem really well_______________________________________________________________

I saw that I COULDNrsquoT DESCRIBE THE REQUIREMENT properly

because I actually didn‟t know what it was

How could I I didn‟t have the full picture of my own organization - how

could I state it in a way that the real requirement was ever likely to get fixed

WHO KNEW

EVERY ONE EACH NEW ADVISER - they all seemed to have their

angle their axe to grind‟ something to sell Something to defend

Then DISASTER struck - one day

I realized I was an equally big part of the problem

F

O

O

L

I SIMPLY COULDNrsquoT FIGURE IT OUT NOR GET THE

WHOLE DARNED THING LINED UP

SLIDING DOORS

I realized that my bdquothing or bit‟ was CONNECTED to other bdquothings‟ and bdquobits‟

They were vital ndash and they were outside of my control - in other parts of the firm

Anything might happen and it USUALLY did

THERE WAS NO WHOLE THING

There was no way we would ever win

We each had our own aims and objectives

Our own business cases Our own language

We spoke it daily We winked

We each had our own silo of activity

We defended it

We put up walls

We built our empires We were built that way

AND SADLY NOT MUCH HAS CHANGED

The whole messy charade of strategic

thinking problem solving or even bdquoinnovation‟ was

just so achingly dull that I became neurotic

Surely these were meant to be the

vitally inspiring meetings

Weren‟t they

WE KILLED BILL

Meetings became off-limits to sensible folk

Declared a disaster zone

Too toxic to touch

They were the stuff of legend

People WOULD watch us as we‟d enter the front line of the board rooms

knowing we were into combat They watched knowing some may never

come back Close friends waved white handkerchiefs tied yellow ribbons

They all had sad looks in their eyes

APOCALYPSE NOW(Coffee at 10-30)

MEETINGS BRAINSTORMS RETREATS

Call them what you like They were mostly utterly catastrophic

ridiculously expensive embarrassing - to most attendees and HIGHLY dangerous - in my experience

Sorely MISSED OPPORTUNITIES in my opinion

I was infected with the DEVILS Power Point

ldquoI watched sad decaying bedraggled administrators hunched in corners

capturing the evil sniggering of incoherent data hissed at us from increasingly

menacing people It became a major preoccupation for merdquo

I didn‟t want to turn up and so eventually I didn‟t

F

O

O

L

OK ENOUGH

THINK

I CHALLENGE THINKING

With huge respect to my clients I push them to search deeper inside

themselves to think differently Perhaps that little bit harder

The fool in me insists that I always ask those crazy questions

ldquoHowrdquo - ldquoBecauserdquo - ldquoWhyhellip and ldquoSo thatrdquo

The really interesting thing is that ndash increasingly ndash my clients

ask me to come along and do this more often because actually

they like to know the answers themselves

I find this all very encouraging

VISUALIZE THIS

Im fortunate in being able to visualize bdquoon the fly‟ ndash and I

love it Developing concepts at high speed - interpreting

ideas from peoples bdquolive‟ conversations

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

On the 1st January 2001 I decided to do something about it all ndash

to shine a light on it - pump up the volumehellip

hellip I created Group Partners

STOPhellip

And before all thathellip

The 1990s | CEO MCW ROCQM and then RMG International each

part of WPP Group plc

I left Acorn Computers plc in 1988 after many great and

highly informative years I got away with a lot

I left shortly after Olivetti bought the company - to run my

own integrated communication and strategic consultancy in London

MCW ndash Marketing Communications Workshop - it was acquired

by WPP in1996 This business developed strategy and implemented

complex informational and communication programs

for some pretty impressive enterprises

At MCW we were responsible for many large scale campaigns including the

entire Euro96 Football Championships and the global strategy for SAP

The consultancy also created major and award-winning marketing and

strategic programs for IBM Ford Oracle Benetton Philips Microsoft

Xerox Time Warner Sony and more

It‟s a long story

The 1980s | Head of Marketing Acorn Computers

I joined Acorn to run the communications

marketing and brand strategy and in the early 80s

launched the BBC Microcomputer Fun Crazy

During my time as Head of Marketing the turnover of the

business grew from $2m to $240m Very little if anything of

that was due to me

Acorn Computer was also the business that created the

highly successful Arm Technologies effectively one of the

UKs most successful technology businesses

This is also a long story

The 19rsquos| Crazy Fun

Somewhere before during in between on top underneath throughout and after

all this I ran mobile discorsquos night clubs did rock festivals saw the Pink Floyd

play lots of times - I think I painted drew skulked around a fair bit I would

sit stand Fall over I learned to drive fast sail fly run fast stay up all night and

do lotrsquos and lotrsquos that I cannot possibly talk about here

But by now you have a vivid enough picture

The 196070rsquos | Schooling stuff

Latterly I attempted a Foundational and Degree course in Fine Art at

Hogarth College of Fine Art Cambridge England It was complicated

Before that ndash I did A amp O levels galore at The Royal Hospital

School Holbrook Ipswich Suffolk England Europe Earth Milky Way

This was a fine school for the sons of Royal Naval Officers Before that ndash

Strange early forms of education at King Henry the V111 Grammar School

Somewhere in England I was probably beaten

I certainly played the fool

THE A TO Z OF GROUP PARTNERS | httpbitlybr7MWQ

RAMBLING ON STUFF |httpbitly6TWpsm

WHAT WE DO - IN 1 MINUTE | httpbitlycDbkQz

WHAT WE DO - IN 5 MINUTES | httpbitlyby4q7T

EASY GUIDES - HOW IT ALL WORKS | httpbitlybyzr32

WHAT‟S ON OUR MINDS | httpjohncaswellposterouscom

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER | httptwittercomjohncaswell

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK | httpwwwfacebookcomGroupPartners

THINKING There‟s an App for that - 4Dtrade

GROUP PARTNERS | WEBSITE httpwwwgrouppartnersnet

Helping our clients avoid solving the wrong problem really well_______________________________________________________________

EVERY ONE EACH NEW ADVISER - they all seemed to have their

angle their axe to grind‟ something to sell Something to defend

Then DISASTER struck - one day

I realized I was an equally big part of the problem

F

O

O

L

I SIMPLY COULDNrsquoT FIGURE IT OUT NOR GET THE

WHOLE DARNED THING LINED UP

SLIDING DOORS

I realized that my bdquothing or bit‟ was CONNECTED to other bdquothings‟ and bdquobits‟

They were vital ndash and they were outside of my control - in other parts of the firm

Anything might happen and it USUALLY did

THERE WAS NO WHOLE THING

There was no way we would ever win

We each had our own aims and objectives

Our own business cases Our own language

We spoke it daily We winked

We each had our own silo of activity

We defended it

We put up walls

We built our empires We were built that way

AND SADLY NOT MUCH HAS CHANGED

The whole messy charade of strategic

thinking problem solving or even bdquoinnovation‟ was

just so achingly dull that I became neurotic

Surely these were meant to be the

vitally inspiring meetings

Weren‟t they

WE KILLED BILL

Meetings became off-limits to sensible folk

Declared a disaster zone

Too toxic to touch

They were the stuff of legend

People WOULD watch us as we‟d enter the front line of the board rooms

knowing we were into combat They watched knowing some may never

come back Close friends waved white handkerchiefs tied yellow ribbons

They all had sad looks in their eyes

APOCALYPSE NOW(Coffee at 10-30)

MEETINGS BRAINSTORMS RETREATS

Call them what you like They were mostly utterly catastrophic

ridiculously expensive embarrassing - to most attendees and HIGHLY dangerous - in my experience

Sorely MISSED OPPORTUNITIES in my opinion

I was infected with the DEVILS Power Point

ldquoI watched sad decaying bedraggled administrators hunched in corners

capturing the evil sniggering of incoherent data hissed at us from increasingly

menacing people It became a major preoccupation for merdquo

I didn‟t want to turn up and so eventually I didn‟t

F

O

O

L

OK ENOUGH

THINK

I CHALLENGE THINKING

With huge respect to my clients I push them to search deeper inside

themselves to think differently Perhaps that little bit harder

The fool in me insists that I always ask those crazy questions

ldquoHowrdquo - ldquoBecauserdquo - ldquoWhyhellip and ldquoSo thatrdquo

The really interesting thing is that ndash increasingly ndash my clients

ask me to come along and do this more often because actually

they like to know the answers themselves

I find this all very encouraging

VISUALIZE THIS

Im fortunate in being able to visualize bdquoon the fly‟ ndash and I

love it Developing concepts at high speed - interpreting

ideas from peoples bdquolive‟ conversations

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

On the 1st January 2001 I decided to do something about it all ndash

to shine a light on it - pump up the volumehellip

hellip I created Group Partners

STOPhellip

And before all thathellip

The 1990s | CEO MCW ROCQM and then RMG International each

part of WPP Group plc

I left Acorn Computers plc in 1988 after many great and

highly informative years I got away with a lot

I left shortly after Olivetti bought the company - to run my

own integrated communication and strategic consultancy in London

MCW ndash Marketing Communications Workshop - it was acquired

by WPP in1996 This business developed strategy and implemented

complex informational and communication programs

for some pretty impressive enterprises

At MCW we were responsible for many large scale campaigns including the

entire Euro96 Football Championships and the global strategy for SAP

The consultancy also created major and award-winning marketing and

strategic programs for IBM Ford Oracle Benetton Philips Microsoft

Xerox Time Warner Sony and more

It‟s a long story

The 1980s | Head of Marketing Acorn Computers

I joined Acorn to run the communications

marketing and brand strategy and in the early 80s

launched the BBC Microcomputer Fun Crazy

During my time as Head of Marketing the turnover of the

business grew from $2m to $240m Very little if anything of

that was due to me

Acorn Computer was also the business that created the

highly successful Arm Technologies effectively one of the

UKs most successful technology businesses

This is also a long story

The 19rsquos| Crazy Fun

Somewhere before during in between on top underneath throughout and after

all this I ran mobile discorsquos night clubs did rock festivals saw the Pink Floyd

play lots of times - I think I painted drew skulked around a fair bit I would

sit stand Fall over I learned to drive fast sail fly run fast stay up all night and

do lotrsquos and lotrsquos that I cannot possibly talk about here

But by now you have a vivid enough picture

The 196070rsquos | Schooling stuff

Latterly I attempted a Foundational and Degree course in Fine Art at

Hogarth College of Fine Art Cambridge England It was complicated

Before that ndash I did A amp O levels galore at The Royal Hospital

School Holbrook Ipswich Suffolk England Europe Earth Milky Way

This was a fine school for the sons of Royal Naval Officers Before that ndash

Strange early forms of education at King Henry the V111 Grammar School

Somewhere in England I was probably beaten

I certainly played the fool

THE A TO Z OF GROUP PARTNERS | httpbitlybr7MWQ

RAMBLING ON STUFF |httpbitly6TWpsm

WHAT WE DO - IN 1 MINUTE | httpbitlycDbkQz

WHAT WE DO - IN 5 MINUTES | httpbitlyby4q7T

EASY GUIDES - HOW IT ALL WORKS | httpbitlybyzr32

WHAT‟S ON OUR MINDS | httpjohncaswellposterouscom

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER | httptwittercomjohncaswell

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK | httpwwwfacebookcomGroupPartners

THINKING There‟s an App for that - 4Dtrade

GROUP PARTNERS | WEBSITE httpwwwgrouppartnersnet

Helping our clients avoid solving the wrong problem really well_______________________________________________________________

I SIMPLY COULDNrsquoT FIGURE IT OUT NOR GET THE

WHOLE DARNED THING LINED UP

SLIDING DOORS

I realized that my bdquothing or bit‟ was CONNECTED to other bdquothings‟ and bdquobits‟

They were vital ndash and they were outside of my control - in other parts of the firm

Anything might happen and it USUALLY did

THERE WAS NO WHOLE THING

There was no way we would ever win

We each had our own aims and objectives

Our own business cases Our own language

We spoke it daily We winked

We each had our own silo of activity

We defended it

We put up walls

We built our empires We were built that way

AND SADLY NOT MUCH HAS CHANGED

The whole messy charade of strategic

thinking problem solving or even bdquoinnovation‟ was

just so achingly dull that I became neurotic

Surely these were meant to be the

vitally inspiring meetings

Weren‟t they

WE KILLED BILL

Meetings became off-limits to sensible folk

Declared a disaster zone

Too toxic to touch

They were the stuff of legend

People WOULD watch us as we‟d enter the front line of the board rooms

knowing we were into combat They watched knowing some may never

come back Close friends waved white handkerchiefs tied yellow ribbons

They all had sad looks in their eyes

APOCALYPSE NOW(Coffee at 10-30)

MEETINGS BRAINSTORMS RETREATS

Call them what you like They were mostly utterly catastrophic

ridiculously expensive embarrassing - to most attendees and HIGHLY dangerous - in my experience

Sorely MISSED OPPORTUNITIES in my opinion

I was infected with the DEVILS Power Point

ldquoI watched sad decaying bedraggled administrators hunched in corners

capturing the evil sniggering of incoherent data hissed at us from increasingly

menacing people It became a major preoccupation for merdquo

I didn‟t want to turn up and so eventually I didn‟t

F

O

O

L

OK ENOUGH

THINK

I CHALLENGE THINKING

With huge respect to my clients I push them to search deeper inside

themselves to think differently Perhaps that little bit harder

The fool in me insists that I always ask those crazy questions

ldquoHowrdquo - ldquoBecauserdquo - ldquoWhyhellip and ldquoSo thatrdquo

The really interesting thing is that ndash increasingly ndash my clients

ask me to come along and do this more often because actually

they like to know the answers themselves

I find this all very encouraging

VISUALIZE THIS

Im fortunate in being able to visualize bdquoon the fly‟ ndash and I

love it Developing concepts at high speed - interpreting

ideas from peoples bdquolive‟ conversations

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

On the 1st January 2001 I decided to do something about it all ndash

to shine a light on it - pump up the volumehellip

hellip I created Group Partners

STOPhellip

And before all thathellip

The 1990s | CEO MCW ROCQM and then RMG International each

part of WPP Group plc

I left Acorn Computers plc in 1988 after many great and

highly informative years I got away with a lot

I left shortly after Olivetti bought the company - to run my

own integrated communication and strategic consultancy in London

MCW ndash Marketing Communications Workshop - it was acquired

by WPP in1996 This business developed strategy and implemented

complex informational and communication programs

for some pretty impressive enterprises

At MCW we were responsible for many large scale campaigns including the

entire Euro96 Football Championships and the global strategy for SAP

The consultancy also created major and award-winning marketing and

strategic programs for IBM Ford Oracle Benetton Philips Microsoft

Xerox Time Warner Sony and more

It‟s a long story

The 1980s | Head of Marketing Acorn Computers

I joined Acorn to run the communications

marketing and brand strategy and in the early 80s

launched the BBC Microcomputer Fun Crazy

During my time as Head of Marketing the turnover of the

business grew from $2m to $240m Very little if anything of

that was due to me

Acorn Computer was also the business that created the

highly successful Arm Technologies effectively one of the

UKs most successful technology businesses

This is also a long story

The 19rsquos| Crazy Fun

Somewhere before during in between on top underneath throughout and after

all this I ran mobile discorsquos night clubs did rock festivals saw the Pink Floyd

play lots of times - I think I painted drew skulked around a fair bit I would

sit stand Fall over I learned to drive fast sail fly run fast stay up all night and

do lotrsquos and lotrsquos that I cannot possibly talk about here

But by now you have a vivid enough picture

The 196070rsquos | Schooling stuff

Latterly I attempted a Foundational and Degree course in Fine Art at

Hogarth College of Fine Art Cambridge England It was complicated

Before that ndash I did A amp O levels galore at The Royal Hospital

School Holbrook Ipswich Suffolk England Europe Earth Milky Way

This was a fine school for the sons of Royal Naval Officers Before that ndash

Strange early forms of education at King Henry the V111 Grammar School

Somewhere in England I was probably beaten

I certainly played the fool

THE A TO Z OF GROUP PARTNERS | httpbitlybr7MWQ

RAMBLING ON STUFF |httpbitly6TWpsm

WHAT WE DO - IN 1 MINUTE | httpbitlycDbkQz

WHAT WE DO - IN 5 MINUTES | httpbitlyby4q7T

EASY GUIDES - HOW IT ALL WORKS | httpbitlybyzr32

WHAT‟S ON OUR MINDS | httpjohncaswellposterouscom

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER | httptwittercomjohncaswell

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK | httpwwwfacebookcomGroupPartners

THINKING There‟s an App for that - 4Dtrade

GROUP PARTNERS | WEBSITE httpwwwgrouppartnersnet

Helping our clients avoid solving the wrong problem really well_______________________________________________________________

THERE WAS NO WHOLE THING

There was no way we would ever win

We each had our own aims and objectives

Our own business cases Our own language

We spoke it daily We winked

We each had our own silo of activity

We defended it

We put up walls

We built our empires We were built that way

AND SADLY NOT MUCH HAS CHANGED

The whole messy charade of strategic

thinking problem solving or even bdquoinnovation‟ was

just so achingly dull that I became neurotic

Surely these were meant to be the

vitally inspiring meetings

Weren‟t they

WE KILLED BILL

Meetings became off-limits to sensible folk

Declared a disaster zone

Too toxic to touch

They were the stuff of legend

People WOULD watch us as we‟d enter the front line of the board rooms

knowing we were into combat They watched knowing some may never

come back Close friends waved white handkerchiefs tied yellow ribbons

They all had sad looks in their eyes

APOCALYPSE NOW(Coffee at 10-30)

MEETINGS BRAINSTORMS RETREATS

Call them what you like They were mostly utterly catastrophic

ridiculously expensive embarrassing - to most attendees and HIGHLY dangerous - in my experience

Sorely MISSED OPPORTUNITIES in my opinion

I was infected with the DEVILS Power Point

ldquoI watched sad decaying bedraggled administrators hunched in corners

capturing the evil sniggering of incoherent data hissed at us from increasingly

menacing people It became a major preoccupation for merdquo

I didn‟t want to turn up and so eventually I didn‟t

F

O

O

L

OK ENOUGH

THINK

I CHALLENGE THINKING

With huge respect to my clients I push them to search deeper inside

themselves to think differently Perhaps that little bit harder

The fool in me insists that I always ask those crazy questions

ldquoHowrdquo - ldquoBecauserdquo - ldquoWhyhellip and ldquoSo thatrdquo

The really interesting thing is that ndash increasingly ndash my clients

ask me to come along and do this more often because actually

they like to know the answers themselves

I find this all very encouraging

VISUALIZE THIS

Im fortunate in being able to visualize bdquoon the fly‟ ndash and I

love it Developing concepts at high speed - interpreting

ideas from peoples bdquolive‟ conversations

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

On the 1st January 2001 I decided to do something about it all ndash

to shine a light on it - pump up the volumehellip

hellip I created Group Partners

STOPhellip

And before all thathellip

The 1990s | CEO MCW ROCQM and then RMG International each

part of WPP Group plc

I left Acorn Computers plc in 1988 after many great and

highly informative years I got away with a lot

I left shortly after Olivetti bought the company - to run my

own integrated communication and strategic consultancy in London

MCW ndash Marketing Communications Workshop - it was acquired

by WPP in1996 This business developed strategy and implemented

complex informational and communication programs

for some pretty impressive enterprises

At MCW we were responsible for many large scale campaigns including the

entire Euro96 Football Championships and the global strategy for SAP

The consultancy also created major and award-winning marketing and

strategic programs for IBM Ford Oracle Benetton Philips Microsoft

Xerox Time Warner Sony and more

It‟s a long story

The 1980s | Head of Marketing Acorn Computers

I joined Acorn to run the communications

marketing and brand strategy and in the early 80s

launched the BBC Microcomputer Fun Crazy

During my time as Head of Marketing the turnover of the

business grew from $2m to $240m Very little if anything of

that was due to me

Acorn Computer was also the business that created the

highly successful Arm Technologies effectively one of the

UKs most successful technology businesses

This is also a long story

The 19rsquos| Crazy Fun

Somewhere before during in between on top underneath throughout and after

all this I ran mobile discorsquos night clubs did rock festivals saw the Pink Floyd

play lots of times - I think I painted drew skulked around a fair bit I would

sit stand Fall over I learned to drive fast sail fly run fast stay up all night and

do lotrsquos and lotrsquos that I cannot possibly talk about here

But by now you have a vivid enough picture

The 196070rsquos | Schooling stuff

Latterly I attempted a Foundational and Degree course in Fine Art at

Hogarth College of Fine Art Cambridge England It was complicated

Before that ndash I did A amp O levels galore at The Royal Hospital

School Holbrook Ipswich Suffolk England Europe Earth Milky Way

This was a fine school for the sons of Royal Naval Officers Before that ndash

Strange early forms of education at King Henry the V111 Grammar School

Somewhere in England I was probably beaten

I certainly played the fool

THE A TO Z OF GROUP PARTNERS | httpbitlybr7MWQ

RAMBLING ON STUFF |httpbitly6TWpsm

WHAT WE DO - IN 1 MINUTE | httpbitlycDbkQz

WHAT WE DO - IN 5 MINUTES | httpbitlyby4q7T

EASY GUIDES - HOW IT ALL WORKS | httpbitlybyzr32

WHAT‟S ON OUR MINDS | httpjohncaswellposterouscom

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER | httptwittercomjohncaswell

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK | httpwwwfacebookcomGroupPartners

THINKING There‟s an App for that - 4Dtrade

GROUP PARTNERS | WEBSITE httpwwwgrouppartnersnet

Helping our clients avoid solving the wrong problem really well_______________________________________________________________

The whole messy charade of strategic

thinking problem solving or even bdquoinnovation‟ was

just so achingly dull that I became neurotic

Surely these were meant to be the

vitally inspiring meetings

Weren‟t they

WE KILLED BILL

Meetings became off-limits to sensible folk

Declared a disaster zone

Too toxic to touch

They were the stuff of legend

People WOULD watch us as we‟d enter the front line of the board rooms

knowing we were into combat They watched knowing some may never

come back Close friends waved white handkerchiefs tied yellow ribbons

They all had sad looks in their eyes

APOCALYPSE NOW(Coffee at 10-30)

MEETINGS BRAINSTORMS RETREATS

Call them what you like They were mostly utterly catastrophic

ridiculously expensive embarrassing - to most attendees and HIGHLY dangerous - in my experience

Sorely MISSED OPPORTUNITIES in my opinion

I was infected with the DEVILS Power Point

ldquoI watched sad decaying bedraggled administrators hunched in corners

capturing the evil sniggering of incoherent data hissed at us from increasingly

menacing people It became a major preoccupation for merdquo

I didn‟t want to turn up and so eventually I didn‟t

F

O

O

L

OK ENOUGH

THINK

I CHALLENGE THINKING

With huge respect to my clients I push them to search deeper inside

themselves to think differently Perhaps that little bit harder

The fool in me insists that I always ask those crazy questions

ldquoHowrdquo - ldquoBecauserdquo - ldquoWhyhellip and ldquoSo thatrdquo

The really interesting thing is that ndash increasingly ndash my clients

ask me to come along and do this more often because actually

they like to know the answers themselves

I find this all very encouraging

VISUALIZE THIS

Im fortunate in being able to visualize bdquoon the fly‟ ndash and I

love it Developing concepts at high speed - interpreting

ideas from peoples bdquolive‟ conversations

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

On the 1st January 2001 I decided to do something about it all ndash

to shine a light on it - pump up the volumehellip

hellip I created Group Partners

STOPhellip

And before all thathellip

The 1990s | CEO MCW ROCQM and then RMG International each

part of WPP Group plc

I left Acorn Computers plc in 1988 after many great and

highly informative years I got away with a lot

I left shortly after Olivetti bought the company - to run my

own integrated communication and strategic consultancy in London

MCW ndash Marketing Communications Workshop - it was acquired

by WPP in1996 This business developed strategy and implemented

complex informational and communication programs

for some pretty impressive enterprises

At MCW we were responsible for many large scale campaigns including the

entire Euro96 Football Championships and the global strategy for SAP

The consultancy also created major and award-winning marketing and

strategic programs for IBM Ford Oracle Benetton Philips Microsoft

Xerox Time Warner Sony and more

It‟s a long story

The 1980s | Head of Marketing Acorn Computers

I joined Acorn to run the communications

marketing and brand strategy and in the early 80s

launched the BBC Microcomputer Fun Crazy

During my time as Head of Marketing the turnover of the

business grew from $2m to $240m Very little if anything of

that was due to me

Acorn Computer was also the business that created the

highly successful Arm Technologies effectively one of the

UKs most successful technology businesses

This is also a long story

The 19rsquos| Crazy Fun

Somewhere before during in between on top underneath throughout and after

all this I ran mobile discorsquos night clubs did rock festivals saw the Pink Floyd

play lots of times - I think I painted drew skulked around a fair bit I would

sit stand Fall over I learned to drive fast sail fly run fast stay up all night and

do lotrsquos and lotrsquos that I cannot possibly talk about here

But by now you have a vivid enough picture

The 196070rsquos | Schooling stuff

Latterly I attempted a Foundational and Degree course in Fine Art at

Hogarth College of Fine Art Cambridge England It was complicated

Before that ndash I did A amp O levels galore at The Royal Hospital

School Holbrook Ipswich Suffolk England Europe Earth Milky Way

This was a fine school for the sons of Royal Naval Officers Before that ndash

Strange early forms of education at King Henry the V111 Grammar School

Somewhere in England I was probably beaten

I certainly played the fool

THE A TO Z OF GROUP PARTNERS | httpbitlybr7MWQ

RAMBLING ON STUFF |httpbitly6TWpsm

WHAT WE DO - IN 1 MINUTE | httpbitlycDbkQz

WHAT WE DO - IN 5 MINUTES | httpbitlyby4q7T

EASY GUIDES - HOW IT ALL WORKS | httpbitlybyzr32

WHAT‟S ON OUR MINDS | httpjohncaswellposterouscom

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER | httptwittercomjohncaswell

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK | httpwwwfacebookcomGroupPartners

THINKING There‟s an App for that - 4Dtrade

GROUP PARTNERS | WEBSITE httpwwwgrouppartnersnet

Helping our clients avoid solving the wrong problem really well_______________________________________________________________

Meetings became off-limits to sensible folk

Declared a disaster zone

Too toxic to touch

They were the stuff of legend

People WOULD watch us as we‟d enter the front line of the board rooms

knowing we were into combat They watched knowing some may never

come back Close friends waved white handkerchiefs tied yellow ribbons

They all had sad looks in their eyes

APOCALYPSE NOW(Coffee at 10-30)

MEETINGS BRAINSTORMS RETREATS

Call them what you like They were mostly utterly catastrophic

ridiculously expensive embarrassing - to most attendees and HIGHLY dangerous - in my experience

Sorely MISSED OPPORTUNITIES in my opinion

I was infected with the DEVILS Power Point

ldquoI watched sad decaying bedraggled administrators hunched in corners

capturing the evil sniggering of incoherent data hissed at us from increasingly

menacing people It became a major preoccupation for merdquo

I didn‟t want to turn up and so eventually I didn‟t

F

O

O

L

OK ENOUGH

THINK

I CHALLENGE THINKING

With huge respect to my clients I push them to search deeper inside

themselves to think differently Perhaps that little bit harder

The fool in me insists that I always ask those crazy questions

ldquoHowrdquo - ldquoBecauserdquo - ldquoWhyhellip and ldquoSo thatrdquo

The really interesting thing is that ndash increasingly ndash my clients

ask me to come along and do this more often because actually

they like to know the answers themselves

I find this all very encouraging

VISUALIZE THIS

Im fortunate in being able to visualize bdquoon the fly‟ ndash and I

love it Developing concepts at high speed - interpreting

ideas from peoples bdquolive‟ conversations

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

On the 1st January 2001 I decided to do something about it all ndash

to shine a light on it - pump up the volumehellip

hellip I created Group Partners

STOPhellip

And before all thathellip

The 1990s | CEO MCW ROCQM and then RMG International each

part of WPP Group plc

I left Acorn Computers plc in 1988 after many great and

highly informative years I got away with a lot

I left shortly after Olivetti bought the company - to run my

own integrated communication and strategic consultancy in London

MCW ndash Marketing Communications Workshop - it was acquired

by WPP in1996 This business developed strategy and implemented

complex informational and communication programs

for some pretty impressive enterprises

At MCW we were responsible for many large scale campaigns including the

entire Euro96 Football Championships and the global strategy for SAP

The consultancy also created major and award-winning marketing and

strategic programs for IBM Ford Oracle Benetton Philips Microsoft

Xerox Time Warner Sony and more

It‟s a long story

The 1980s | Head of Marketing Acorn Computers

I joined Acorn to run the communications

marketing and brand strategy and in the early 80s

launched the BBC Microcomputer Fun Crazy

During my time as Head of Marketing the turnover of the

business grew from $2m to $240m Very little if anything of

that was due to me

Acorn Computer was also the business that created the

highly successful Arm Technologies effectively one of the

UKs most successful technology businesses

This is also a long story

The 19rsquos| Crazy Fun

Somewhere before during in between on top underneath throughout and after

all this I ran mobile discorsquos night clubs did rock festivals saw the Pink Floyd

play lots of times - I think I painted drew skulked around a fair bit I would

sit stand Fall over I learned to drive fast sail fly run fast stay up all night and

do lotrsquos and lotrsquos that I cannot possibly talk about here

But by now you have a vivid enough picture

The 196070rsquos | Schooling stuff

Latterly I attempted a Foundational and Degree course in Fine Art at

Hogarth College of Fine Art Cambridge England It was complicated

Before that ndash I did A amp O levels galore at The Royal Hospital

School Holbrook Ipswich Suffolk England Europe Earth Milky Way

This was a fine school for the sons of Royal Naval Officers Before that ndash

Strange early forms of education at King Henry the V111 Grammar School

Somewhere in England I was probably beaten

I certainly played the fool

THE A TO Z OF GROUP PARTNERS | httpbitlybr7MWQ

RAMBLING ON STUFF |httpbitly6TWpsm

WHAT WE DO - IN 1 MINUTE | httpbitlycDbkQz

WHAT WE DO - IN 5 MINUTES | httpbitlyby4q7T

EASY GUIDES - HOW IT ALL WORKS | httpbitlybyzr32

WHAT‟S ON OUR MINDS | httpjohncaswellposterouscom

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER | httptwittercomjohncaswell

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK | httpwwwfacebookcomGroupPartners

THINKING There‟s an App for that - 4Dtrade

GROUP PARTNERS | WEBSITE httpwwwgrouppartnersnet

Helping our clients avoid solving the wrong problem really well_______________________________________________________________

MEETINGS BRAINSTORMS RETREATS

Call them what you like They were mostly utterly catastrophic

ridiculously expensive embarrassing - to most attendees and HIGHLY dangerous - in my experience

Sorely MISSED OPPORTUNITIES in my opinion

I was infected with the DEVILS Power Point

ldquoI watched sad decaying bedraggled administrators hunched in corners

capturing the evil sniggering of incoherent data hissed at us from increasingly

menacing people It became a major preoccupation for merdquo

I didn‟t want to turn up and so eventually I didn‟t

F

O

O

L

OK ENOUGH

THINK

I CHALLENGE THINKING

With huge respect to my clients I push them to search deeper inside

themselves to think differently Perhaps that little bit harder

The fool in me insists that I always ask those crazy questions

ldquoHowrdquo - ldquoBecauserdquo - ldquoWhyhellip and ldquoSo thatrdquo

The really interesting thing is that ndash increasingly ndash my clients

ask me to come along and do this more often because actually

they like to know the answers themselves

I find this all very encouraging

VISUALIZE THIS

Im fortunate in being able to visualize bdquoon the fly‟ ndash and I

love it Developing concepts at high speed - interpreting

ideas from peoples bdquolive‟ conversations

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

On the 1st January 2001 I decided to do something about it all ndash

to shine a light on it - pump up the volumehellip

hellip I created Group Partners

STOPhellip

And before all thathellip

The 1990s | CEO MCW ROCQM and then RMG International each

part of WPP Group plc

I left Acorn Computers plc in 1988 after many great and

highly informative years I got away with a lot

I left shortly after Olivetti bought the company - to run my

own integrated communication and strategic consultancy in London

MCW ndash Marketing Communications Workshop - it was acquired

by WPP in1996 This business developed strategy and implemented

complex informational and communication programs

for some pretty impressive enterprises

At MCW we were responsible for many large scale campaigns including the

entire Euro96 Football Championships and the global strategy for SAP

The consultancy also created major and award-winning marketing and

strategic programs for IBM Ford Oracle Benetton Philips Microsoft

Xerox Time Warner Sony and more

It‟s a long story

The 1980s | Head of Marketing Acorn Computers

I joined Acorn to run the communications

marketing and brand strategy and in the early 80s

launched the BBC Microcomputer Fun Crazy

During my time as Head of Marketing the turnover of the

business grew from $2m to $240m Very little if anything of

that was due to me

Acorn Computer was also the business that created the

highly successful Arm Technologies effectively one of the

UKs most successful technology businesses

This is also a long story

The 19rsquos| Crazy Fun

Somewhere before during in between on top underneath throughout and after

all this I ran mobile discorsquos night clubs did rock festivals saw the Pink Floyd

play lots of times - I think I painted drew skulked around a fair bit I would

sit stand Fall over I learned to drive fast sail fly run fast stay up all night and

do lotrsquos and lotrsquos that I cannot possibly talk about here

But by now you have a vivid enough picture

The 196070rsquos | Schooling stuff

Latterly I attempted a Foundational and Degree course in Fine Art at

Hogarth College of Fine Art Cambridge England It was complicated

Before that ndash I did A amp O levels galore at The Royal Hospital

School Holbrook Ipswich Suffolk England Europe Earth Milky Way

This was a fine school for the sons of Royal Naval Officers Before that ndash

Strange early forms of education at King Henry the V111 Grammar School

Somewhere in England I was probably beaten

I certainly played the fool

THE A TO Z OF GROUP PARTNERS | httpbitlybr7MWQ

RAMBLING ON STUFF |httpbitly6TWpsm

WHAT WE DO - IN 1 MINUTE | httpbitlycDbkQz

WHAT WE DO - IN 5 MINUTES | httpbitlyby4q7T

EASY GUIDES - HOW IT ALL WORKS | httpbitlybyzr32

WHAT‟S ON OUR MINDS | httpjohncaswellposterouscom

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER | httptwittercomjohncaswell

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK | httpwwwfacebookcomGroupPartners

THINKING There‟s an App for that - 4Dtrade

GROUP PARTNERS | WEBSITE httpwwwgrouppartnersnet

Helping our clients avoid solving the wrong problem really well_______________________________________________________________

I was infected with the DEVILS Power Point

ldquoI watched sad decaying bedraggled administrators hunched in corners

capturing the evil sniggering of incoherent data hissed at us from increasingly

menacing people It became a major preoccupation for merdquo

I didn‟t want to turn up and so eventually I didn‟t

F

O

O

L

OK ENOUGH

THINK

I CHALLENGE THINKING

With huge respect to my clients I push them to search deeper inside

themselves to think differently Perhaps that little bit harder

The fool in me insists that I always ask those crazy questions

ldquoHowrdquo - ldquoBecauserdquo - ldquoWhyhellip and ldquoSo thatrdquo

The really interesting thing is that ndash increasingly ndash my clients

ask me to come along and do this more often because actually

they like to know the answers themselves

I find this all very encouraging

VISUALIZE THIS

Im fortunate in being able to visualize bdquoon the fly‟ ndash and I

love it Developing concepts at high speed - interpreting

ideas from peoples bdquolive‟ conversations

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

On the 1st January 2001 I decided to do something about it all ndash

to shine a light on it - pump up the volumehellip

hellip I created Group Partners

STOPhellip

And before all thathellip

The 1990s | CEO MCW ROCQM and then RMG International each

part of WPP Group plc

I left Acorn Computers plc in 1988 after many great and

highly informative years I got away with a lot

I left shortly after Olivetti bought the company - to run my

own integrated communication and strategic consultancy in London

MCW ndash Marketing Communications Workshop - it was acquired

by WPP in1996 This business developed strategy and implemented

complex informational and communication programs

for some pretty impressive enterprises

At MCW we were responsible for many large scale campaigns including the

entire Euro96 Football Championships and the global strategy for SAP

The consultancy also created major and award-winning marketing and

strategic programs for IBM Ford Oracle Benetton Philips Microsoft

Xerox Time Warner Sony and more

It‟s a long story

The 1980s | Head of Marketing Acorn Computers

I joined Acorn to run the communications

marketing and brand strategy and in the early 80s

launched the BBC Microcomputer Fun Crazy

During my time as Head of Marketing the turnover of the

business grew from $2m to $240m Very little if anything of

that was due to me

Acorn Computer was also the business that created the

highly successful Arm Technologies effectively one of the

UKs most successful technology businesses

This is also a long story

The 19rsquos| Crazy Fun

Somewhere before during in between on top underneath throughout and after

all this I ran mobile discorsquos night clubs did rock festivals saw the Pink Floyd

play lots of times - I think I painted drew skulked around a fair bit I would

sit stand Fall over I learned to drive fast sail fly run fast stay up all night and

do lotrsquos and lotrsquos that I cannot possibly talk about here

But by now you have a vivid enough picture

The 196070rsquos | Schooling stuff

Latterly I attempted a Foundational and Degree course in Fine Art at

Hogarth College of Fine Art Cambridge England It was complicated

Before that ndash I did A amp O levels galore at The Royal Hospital

School Holbrook Ipswich Suffolk England Europe Earth Milky Way

This was a fine school for the sons of Royal Naval Officers Before that ndash

Strange early forms of education at King Henry the V111 Grammar School

Somewhere in England I was probably beaten

I certainly played the fool

THE A TO Z OF GROUP PARTNERS | httpbitlybr7MWQ

RAMBLING ON STUFF |httpbitly6TWpsm

WHAT WE DO - IN 1 MINUTE | httpbitlycDbkQz

WHAT WE DO - IN 5 MINUTES | httpbitlyby4q7T

EASY GUIDES - HOW IT ALL WORKS | httpbitlybyzr32

WHAT‟S ON OUR MINDS | httpjohncaswellposterouscom

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER | httptwittercomjohncaswell

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK | httpwwwfacebookcomGroupPartners

THINKING There‟s an App for that - 4Dtrade

GROUP PARTNERS | WEBSITE httpwwwgrouppartnersnet

Helping our clients avoid solving the wrong problem really well_______________________________________________________________

OK ENOUGH

THINK

I CHALLENGE THINKING

With huge respect to my clients I push them to search deeper inside

themselves to think differently Perhaps that little bit harder

The fool in me insists that I always ask those crazy questions

ldquoHowrdquo - ldquoBecauserdquo - ldquoWhyhellip and ldquoSo thatrdquo

The really interesting thing is that ndash increasingly ndash my clients

ask me to come along and do this more often because actually

they like to know the answers themselves

I find this all very encouraging

VISUALIZE THIS

Im fortunate in being able to visualize bdquoon the fly‟ ndash and I

love it Developing concepts at high speed - interpreting

ideas from peoples bdquolive‟ conversations

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

On the 1st January 2001 I decided to do something about it all ndash

to shine a light on it - pump up the volumehellip

hellip I created Group Partners

STOPhellip

And before all thathellip

The 1990s | CEO MCW ROCQM and then RMG International each

part of WPP Group plc

I left Acorn Computers plc in 1988 after many great and

highly informative years I got away with a lot

I left shortly after Olivetti bought the company - to run my

own integrated communication and strategic consultancy in London

MCW ndash Marketing Communications Workshop - it was acquired

by WPP in1996 This business developed strategy and implemented

complex informational and communication programs

for some pretty impressive enterprises

At MCW we were responsible for many large scale campaigns including the

entire Euro96 Football Championships and the global strategy for SAP

The consultancy also created major and award-winning marketing and

strategic programs for IBM Ford Oracle Benetton Philips Microsoft

Xerox Time Warner Sony and more

It‟s a long story

The 1980s | Head of Marketing Acorn Computers

I joined Acorn to run the communications

marketing and brand strategy and in the early 80s

launched the BBC Microcomputer Fun Crazy

During my time as Head of Marketing the turnover of the

business grew from $2m to $240m Very little if anything of

that was due to me

Acorn Computer was also the business that created the

highly successful Arm Technologies effectively one of the

UKs most successful technology businesses

This is also a long story

The 19rsquos| Crazy Fun

Somewhere before during in between on top underneath throughout and after

all this I ran mobile discorsquos night clubs did rock festivals saw the Pink Floyd

play lots of times - I think I painted drew skulked around a fair bit I would

sit stand Fall over I learned to drive fast sail fly run fast stay up all night and

do lotrsquos and lotrsquos that I cannot possibly talk about here

But by now you have a vivid enough picture

The 196070rsquos | Schooling stuff

Latterly I attempted a Foundational and Degree course in Fine Art at

Hogarth College of Fine Art Cambridge England It was complicated

Before that ndash I did A amp O levels galore at The Royal Hospital

School Holbrook Ipswich Suffolk England Europe Earth Milky Way

This was a fine school for the sons of Royal Naval Officers Before that ndash

Strange early forms of education at King Henry the V111 Grammar School

Somewhere in England I was probably beaten

I certainly played the fool

THE A TO Z OF GROUP PARTNERS | httpbitlybr7MWQ

RAMBLING ON STUFF |httpbitly6TWpsm

WHAT WE DO - IN 1 MINUTE | httpbitlycDbkQz

WHAT WE DO - IN 5 MINUTES | httpbitlyby4q7T

EASY GUIDES - HOW IT ALL WORKS | httpbitlybyzr32

WHAT‟S ON OUR MINDS | httpjohncaswellposterouscom

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER | httptwittercomjohncaswell

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK | httpwwwfacebookcomGroupPartners

THINKING There‟s an App for that - 4Dtrade

GROUP PARTNERS | WEBSITE httpwwwgrouppartnersnet

Helping our clients avoid solving the wrong problem really well_______________________________________________________________

THINK

I CHALLENGE THINKING

With huge respect to my clients I push them to search deeper inside

themselves to think differently Perhaps that little bit harder

The fool in me insists that I always ask those crazy questions

ldquoHowrdquo - ldquoBecauserdquo - ldquoWhyhellip and ldquoSo thatrdquo

The really interesting thing is that ndash increasingly ndash my clients

ask me to come along and do this more often because actually

they like to know the answers themselves

I find this all very encouraging

VISUALIZE THIS

Im fortunate in being able to visualize bdquoon the fly‟ ndash and I

love it Developing concepts at high speed - interpreting

ideas from peoples bdquolive‟ conversations

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

On the 1st January 2001 I decided to do something about it all ndash

to shine a light on it - pump up the volumehellip

hellip I created Group Partners

STOPhellip

And before all thathellip

The 1990s | CEO MCW ROCQM and then RMG International each

part of WPP Group plc

I left Acorn Computers plc in 1988 after many great and

highly informative years I got away with a lot

I left shortly after Olivetti bought the company - to run my

own integrated communication and strategic consultancy in London

MCW ndash Marketing Communications Workshop - it was acquired

by WPP in1996 This business developed strategy and implemented

complex informational and communication programs

for some pretty impressive enterprises

At MCW we were responsible for many large scale campaigns including the

entire Euro96 Football Championships and the global strategy for SAP

The consultancy also created major and award-winning marketing and

strategic programs for IBM Ford Oracle Benetton Philips Microsoft

Xerox Time Warner Sony and more

It‟s a long story

The 1980s | Head of Marketing Acorn Computers

I joined Acorn to run the communications

marketing and brand strategy and in the early 80s

launched the BBC Microcomputer Fun Crazy

During my time as Head of Marketing the turnover of the

business grew from $2m to $240m Very little if anything of

that was due to me

Acorn Computer was also the business that created the

highly successful Arm Technologies effectively one of the

UKs most successful technology businesses

This is also a long story

The 19rsquos| Crazy Fun

Somewhere before during in between on top underneath throughout and after

all this I ran mobile discorsquos night clubs did rock festivals saw the Pink Floyd

play lots of times - I think I painted drew skulked around a fair bit I would

sit stand Fall over I learned to drive fast sail fly run fast stay up all night and

do lotrsquos and lotrsquos that I cannot possibly talk about here

But by now you have a vivid enough picture

The 196070rsquos | Schooling stuff

Latterly I attempted a Foundational and Degree course in Fine Art at

Hogarth College of Fine Art Cambridge England It was complicated

Before that ndash I did A amp O levels galore at The Royal Hospital

School Holbrook Ipswich Suffolk England Europe Earth Milky Way

This was a fine school for the sons of Royal Naval Officers Before that ndash

Strange early forms of education at King Henry the V111 Grammar School

Somewhere in England I was probably beaten

I certainly played the fool

THE A TO Z OF GROUP PARTNERS | httpbitlybr7MWQ

RAMBLING ON STUFF |httpbitly6TWpsm

WHAT WE DO - IN 1 MINUTE | httpbitlycDbkQz

WHAT WE DO - IN 5 MINUTES | httpbitlyby4q7T

EASY GUIDES - HOW IT ALL WORKS | httpbitlybyzr32

WHAT‟S ON OUR MINDS | httpjohncaswellposterouscom

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER | httptwittercomjohncaswell

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK | httpwwwfacebookcomGroupPartners

THINKING There‟s an App for that - 4Dtrade

GROUP PARTNERS | WEBSITE httpwwwgrouppartnersnet

Helping our clients avoid solving the wrong problem really well_______________________________________________________________

I CHALLENGE THINKING

With huge respect to my clients I push them to search deeper inside

themselves to think differently Perhaps that little bit harder

The fool in me insists that I always ask those crazy questions

ldquoHowrdquo - ldquoBecauserdquo - ldquoWhyhellip and ldquoSo thatrdquo

The really interesting thing is that ndash increasingly ndash my clients

ask me to come along and do this more often because actually

they like to know the answers themselves

I find this all very encouraging

VISUALIZE THIS

Im fortunate in being able to visualize bdquoon the fly‟ ndash and I

love it Developing concepts at high speed - interpreting

ideas from peoples bdquolive‟ conversations

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

On the 1st January 2001 I decided to do something about it all ndash

to shine a light on it - pump up the volumehellip

hellip I created Group Partners

STOPhellip

And before all thathellip

The 1990s | CEO MCW ROCQM and then RMG International each

part of WPP Group plc

I left Acorn Computers plc in 1988 after many great and

highly informative years I got away with a lot

I left shortly after Olivetti bought the company - to run my

own integrated communication and strategic consultancy in London

MCW ndash Marketing Communications Workshop - it was acquired

by WPP in1996 This business developed strategy and implemented

complex informational and communication programs

for some pretty impressive enterprises

At MCW we were responsible for many large scale campaigns including the

entire Euro96 Football Championships and the global strategy for SAP

The consultancy also created major and award-winning marketing and

strategic programs for IBM Ford Oracle Benetton Philips Microsoft

Xerox Time Warner Sony and more

It‟s a long story

The 1980s | Head of Marketing Acorn Computers

I joined Acorn to run the communications

marketing and brand strategy and in the early 80s

launched the BBC Microcomputer Fun Crazy

During my time as Head of Marketing the turnover of the

business grew from $2m to $240m Very little if anything of

that was due to me

Acorn Computer was also the business that created the

highly successful Arm Technologies effectively one of the

UKs most successful technology businesses

This is also a long story

The 19rsquos| Crazy Fun

Somewhere before during in between on top underneath throughout and after

all this I ran mobile discorsquos night clubs did rock festivals saw the Pink Floyd

play lots of times - I think I painted drew skulked around a fair bit I would

sit stand Fall over I learned to drive fast sail fly run fast stay up all night and

do lotrsquos and lotrsquos that I cannot possibly talk about here

But by now you have a vivid enough picture

The 196070rsquos | Schooling stuff

Latterly I attempted a Foundational and Degree course in Fine Art at

Hogarth College of Fine Art Cambridge England It was complicated

Before that ndash I did A amp O levels galore at The Royal Hospital

School Holbrook Ipswich Suffolk England Europe Earth Milky Way

This was a fine school for the sons of Royal Naval Officers Before that ndash

Strange early forms of education at King Henry the V111 Grammar School

Somewhere in England I was probably beaten

I certainly played the fool

THE A TO Z OF GROUP PARTNERS | httpbitlybr7MWQ

RAMBLING ON STUFF |httpbitly6TWpsm

WHAT WE DO - IN 1 MINUTE | httpbitlycDbkQz

WHAT WE DO - IN 5 MINUTES | httpbitlyby4q7T

EASY GUIDES - HOW IT ALL WORKS | httpbitlybyzr32

WHAT‟S ON OUR MINDS | httpjohncaswellposterouscom

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER | httptwittercomjohncaswell

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK | httpwwwfacebookcomGroupPartners

THINKING There‟s an App for that - 4Dtrade

GROUP PARTNERS | WEBSITE httpwwwgrouppartnersnet

Helping our clients avoid solving the wrong problem really well_______________________________________________________________

The really interesting thing is that ndash increasingly ndash my clients

ask me to come along and do this more often because actually

they like to know the answers themselves

I find this all very encouraging

VISUALIZE THIS

Im fortunate in being able to visualize bdquoon the fly‟ ndash and I

love it Developing concepts at high speed - interpreting

ideas from peoples bdquolive‟ conversations

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

On the 1st January 2001 I decided to do something about it all ndash

to shine a light on it - pump up the volumehellip

hellip I created Group Partners

STOPhellip

And before all thathellip

The 1990s | CEO MCW ROCQM and then RMG International each

part of WPP Group plc

I left Acorn Computers plc in 1988 after many great and

highly informative years I got away with a lot

I left shortly after Olivetti bought the company - to run my

own integrated communication and strategic consultancy in London

MCW ndash Marketing Communications Workshop - it was acquired

by WPP in1996 This business developed strategy and implemented

complex informational and communication programs

for some pretty impressive enterprises

At MCW we were responsible for many large scale campaigns including the

entire Euro96 Football Championships and the global strategy for SAP

The consultancy also created major and award-winning marketing and

strategic programs for IBM Ford Oracle Benetton Philips Microsoft

Xerox Time Warner Sony and more

It‟s a long story

The 1980s | Head of Marketing Acorn Computers

I joined Acorn to run the communications

marketing and brand strategy and in the early 80s

launched the BBC Microcomputer Fun Crazy

During my time as Head of Marketing the turnover of the

business grew from $2m to $240m Very little if anything of

that was due to me

Acorn Computer was also the business that created the

highly successful Arm Technologies effectively one of the

UKs most successful technology businesses

This is also a long story

The 19rsquos| Crazy Fun

Somewhere before during in between on top underneath throughout and after

all this I ran mobile discorsquos night clubs did rock festivals saw the Pink Floyd

play lots of times - I think I painted drew skulked around a fair bit I would

sit stand Fall over I learned to drive fast sail fly run fast stay up all night and

do lotrsquos and lotrsquos that I cannot possibly talk about here

But by now you have a vivid enough picture

The 196070rsquos | Schooling stuff

Latterly I attempted a Foundational and Degree course in Fine Art at

Hogarth College of Fine Art Cambridge England It was complicated

Before that ndash I did A amp O levels galore at The Royal Hospital

School Holbrook Ipswich Suffolk England Europe Earth Milky Way

This was a fine school for the sons of Royal Naval Officers Before that ndash

Strange early forms of education at King Henry the V111 Grammar School

Somewhere in England I was probably beaten

I certainly played the fool

THE A TO Z OF GROUP PARTNERS | httpbitlybr7MWQ

RAMBLING ON STUFF |httpbitly6TWpsm

WHAT WE DO - IN 1 MINUTE | httpbitlycDbkQz

WHAT WE DO - IN 5 MINUTES | httpbitlyby4q7T

EASY GUIDES - HOW IT ALL WORKS | httpbitlybyzr32

WHAT‟S ON OUR MINDS | httpjohncaswellposterouscom

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER | httptwittercomjohncaswell

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK | httpwwwfacebookcomGroupPartners

THINKING There‟s an App for that - 4Dtrade

GROUP PARTNERS | WEBSITE httpwwwgrouppartnersnet

Helping our clients avoid solving the wrong problem really well_______________________________________________________________

VISUALIZE THIS

Im fortunate in being able to visualize bdquoon the fly‟ ndash and I

love it Developing concepts at high speed - interpreting

ideas from peoples bdquolive‟ conversations

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

On the 1st January 2001 I decided to do something about it all ndash

to shine a light on it - pump up the volumehellip

hellip I created Group Partners

STOPhellip

And before all thathellip

The 1990s | CEO MCW ROCQM and then RMG International each

part of WPP Group plc

I left Acorn Computers plc in 1988 after many great and

highly informative years I got away with a lot

I left shortly after Olivetti bought the company - to run my

own integrated communication and strategic consultancy in London

MCW ndash Marketing Communications Workshop - it was acquired

by WPP in1996 This business developed strategy and implemented

complex informational and communication programs

for some pretty impressive enterprises

At MCW we were responsible for many large scale campaigns including the

entire Euro96 Football Championships and the global strategy for SAP

The consultancy also created major and award-winning marketing and

strategic programs for IBM Ford Oracle Benetton Philips Microsoft

Xerox Time Warner Sony and more

It‟s a long story

The 1980s | Head of Marketing Acorn Computers

I joined Acorn to run the communications

marketing and brand strategy and in the early 80s

launched the BBC Microcomputer Fun Crazy

During my time as Head of Marketing the turnover of the

business grew from $2m to $240m Very little if anything of

that was due to me

Acorn Computer was also the business that created the

highly successful Arm Technologies effectively one of the

UKs most successful technology businesses

This is also a long story

The 19rsquos| Crazy Fun

Somewhere before during in between on top underneath throughout and after

all this I ran mobile discorsquos night clubs did rock festivals saw the Pink Floyd

play lots of times - I think I painted drew skulked around a fair bit I would

sit stand Fall over I learned to drive fast sail fly run fast stay up all night and

do lotrsquos and lotrsquos that I cannot possibly talk about here

But by now you have a vivid enough picture

The 196070rsquos | Schooling stuff

Latterly I attempted a Foundational and Degree course in Fine Art at

Hogarth College of Fine Art Cambridge England It was complicated

Before that ndash I did A amp O levels galore at The Royal Hospital

School Holbrook Ipswich Suffolk England Europe Earth Milky Way

This was a fine school for the sons of Royal Naval Officers Before that ndash

Strange early forms of education at King Henry the V111 Grammar School

Somewhere in England I was probably beaten

I certainly played the fool

THE A TO Z OF GROUP PARTNERS | httpbitlybr7MWQ

RAMBLING ON STUFF |httpbitly6TWpsm

WHAT WE DO - IN 1 MINUTE | httpbitlycDbkQz

WHAT WE DO - IN 5 MINUTES | httpbitlyby4q7T

EASY GUIDES - HOW IT ALL WORKS | httpbitlybyzr32

WHAT‟S ON OUR MINDS | httpjohncaswellposterouscom

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER | httptwittercomjohncaswell

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK | httpwwwfacebookcomGroupPartners

THINKING There‟s an App for that - 4Dtrade

GROUP PARTNERS | WEBSITE httpwwwgrouppartnersnet

Helping our clients avoid solving the wrong problem really well_______________________________________________________________

Im fortunate in being able to visualize bdquoon the fly‟ ndash and I

love it Developing concepts at high speed - interpreting

ideas from peoples bdquolive‟ conversations

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

On the 1st January 2001 I decided to do something about it all ndash

to shine a light on it - pump up the volumehellip

hellip I created Group Partners

STOPhellip

And before all thathellip

The 1990s | CEO MCW ROCQM and then RMG International each

part of WPP Group plc

I left Acorn Computers plc in 1988 after many great and

highly informative years I got away with a lot

I left shortly after Olivetti bought the company - to run my

own integrated communication and strategic consultancy in London

MCW ndash Marketing Communications Workshop - it was acquired

by WPP in1996 This business developed strategy and implemented

complex informational and communication programs

for some pretty impressive enterprises

At MCW we were responsible for many large scale campaigns including the

entire Euro96 Football Championships and the global strategy for SAP

The consultancy also created major and award-winning marketing and

strategic programs for IBM Ford Oracle Benetton Philips Microsoft

Xerox Time Warner Sony and more

It‟s a long story

The 1980s | Head of Marketing Acorn Computers

I joined Acorn to run the communications

marketing and brand strategy and in the early 80s

launched the BBC Microcomputer Fun Crazy

During my time as Head of Marketing the turnover of the

business grew from $2m to $240m Very little if anything of

that was due to me

Acorn Computer was also the business that created the

highly successful Arm Technologies effectively one of the

UKs most successful technology businesses

This is also a long story

The 19rsquos| Crazy Fun

Somewhere before during in between on top underneath throughout and after

all this I ran mobile discorsquos night clubs did rock festivals saw the Pink Floyd

play lots of times - I think I painted drew skulked around a fair bit I would

sit stand Fall over I learned to drive fast sail fly run fast stay up all night and

do lotrsquos and lotrsquos that I cannot possibly talk about here

But by now you have a vivid enough picture

The 196070rsquos | Schooling stuff

Latterly I attempted a Foundational and Degree course in Fine Art at

Hogarth College of Fine Art Cambridge England It was complicated

Before that ndash I did A amp O levels galore at The Royal Hospital

School Holbrook Ipswich Suffolk England Europe Earth Milky Way

This was a fine school for the sons of Royal Naval Officers Before that ndash

Strange early forms of education at King Henry the V111 Grammar School

Somewhere in England I was probably beaten

I certainly played the fool

THE A TO Z OF GROUP PARTNERS | httpbitlybr7MWQ

RAMBLING ON STUFF |httpbitly6TWpsm

WHAT WE DO - IN 1 MINUTE | httpbitlycDbkQz

WHAT WE DO - IN 5 MINUTES | httpbitlyby4q7T

EASY GUIDES - HOW IT ALL WORKS | httpbitlybyzr32

WHAT‟S ON OUR MINDS | httpjohncaswellposterouscom

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER | httptwittercomjohncaswell

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK | httpwwwfacebookcomGroupPartners

THINKING There‟s an App for that - 4Dtrade

GROUP PARTNERS | WEBSITE httpwwwgrouppartnersnet

Helping our clients avoid solving the wrong problem really well_______________________________________________________________

AND THIShellip

AND THIShellip

On the 1st January 2001 I decided to do something about it all ndash

to shine a light on it - pump up the volumehellip

hellip I created Group Partners

STOPhellip

And before all thathellip

The 1990s | CEO MCW ROCQM and then RMG International each

part of WPP Group plc

I left Acorn Computers plc in 1988 after many great and

highly informative years I got away with a lot

I left shortly after Olivetti bought the company - to run my

own integrated communication and strategic consultancy in London

MCW ndash Marketing Communications Workshop - it was acquired

by WPP in1996 This business developed strategy and implemented

complex informational and communication programs

for some pretty impressive enterprises

At MCW we were responsible for many large scale campaigns including the

entire Euro96 Football Championships and the global strategy for SAP

The consultancy also created major and award-winning marketing and

strategic programs for IBM Ford Oracle Benetton Philips Microsoft

Xerox Time Warner Sony and more

It‟s a long story

The 1980s | Head of Marketing Acorn Computers

I joined Acorn to run the communications

marketing and brand strategy and in the early 80s

launched the BBC Microcomputer Fun Crazy

During my time as Head of Marketing the turnover of the

business grew from $2m to $240m Very little if anything of

that was due to me

Acorn Computer was also the business that created the

highly successful Arm Technologies effectively one of the

UKs most successful technology businesses

This is also a long story

The 19rsquos| Crazy Fun

Somewhere before during in between on top underneath throughout and after

all this I ran mobile discorsquos night clubs did rock festivals saw the Pink Floyd

play lots of times - I think I painted drew skulked around a fair bit I would

sit stand Fall over I learned to drive fast sail fly run fast stay up all night and

do lotrsquos and lotrsquos that I cannot possibly talk about here

But by now you have a vivid enough picture

The 196070rsquos | Schooling stuff

Latterly I attempted a Foundational and Degree course in Fine Art at

Hogarth College of Fine Art Cambridge England It was complicated

Before that ndash I did A amp O levels galore at The Royal Hospital

School Holbrook Ipswich Suffolk England Europe Earth Milky Way

This was a fine school for the sons of Royal Naval Officers Before that ndash

Strange early forms of education at King Henry the V111 Grammar School

Somewhere in England I was probably beaten

I certainly played the fool

THE A TO Z OF GROUP PARTNERS | httpbitlybr7MWQ

RAMBLING ON STUFF |httpbitly6TWpsm

WHAT WE DO - IN 1 MINUTE | httpbitlycDbkQz

WHAT WE DO - IN 5 MINUTES | httpbitlyby4q7T

EASY GUIDES - HOW IT ALL WORKS | httpbitlybyzr32

WHAT‟S ON OUR MINDS | httpjohncaswellposterouscom

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER | httptwittercomjohncaswell

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK | httpwwwfacebookcomGroupPartners

THINKING There‟s an App for that - 4Dtrade

GROUP PARTNERS | WEBSITE httpwwwgrouppartnersnet

Helping our clients avoid solving the wrong problem really well_______________________________________________________________

AND THIShellip

On the 1st January 2001 I decided to do something about it all ndash

to shine a light on it - pump up the volumehellip

hellip I created Group Partners

STOPhellip

And before all thathellip

The 1990s | CEO MCW ROCQM and then RMG International each

part of WPP Group plc

I left Acorn Computers plc in 1988 after many great and

highly informative years I got away with a lot

I left shortly after Olivetti bought the company - to run my

own integrated communication and strategic consultancy in London

MCW ndash Marketing Communications Workshop - it was acquired

by WPP in1996 This business developed strategy and implemented

complex informational and communication programs

for some pretty impressive enterprises

At MCW we were responsible for many large scale campaigns including the

entire Euro96 Football Championships and the global strategy for SAP

The consultancy also created major and award-winning marketing and

strategic programs for IBM Ford Oracle Benetton Philips Microsoft

Xerox Time Warner Sony and more

It‟s a long story

The 1980s | Head of Marketing Acorn Computers

I joined Acorn to run the communications

marketing and brand strategy and in the early 80s

launched the BBC Microcomputer Fun Crazy

During my time as Head of Marketing the turnover of the

business grew from $2m to $240m Very little if anything of

that was due to me

Acorn Computer was also the business that created the

highly successful Arm Technologies effectively one of the

UKs most successful technology businesses

This is also a long story

The 19rsquos| Crazy Fun

Somewhere before during in between on top underneath throughout and after

all this I ran mobile discorsquos night clubs did rock festivals saw the Pink Floyd

play lots of times - I think I painted drew skulked around a fair bit I would

sit stand Fall over I learned to drive fast sail fly run fast stay up all night and

do lotrsquos and lotrsquos that I cannot possibly talk about here

But by now you have a vivid enough picture

The 196070rsquos | Schooling stuff

Latterly I attempted a Foundational and Degree course in Fine Art at

Hogarth College of Fine Art Cambridge England It was complicated

Before that ndash I did A amp O levels galore at The Royal Hospital

School Holbrook Ipswich Suffolk England Europe Earth Milky Way

This was a fine school for the sons of Royal Naval Officers Before that ndash

Strange early forms of education at King Henry the V111 Grammar School

Somewhere in England I was probably beaten

I certainly played the fool

THE A TO Z OF GROUP PARTNERS | httpbitlybr7MWQ

RAMBLING ON STUFF |httpbitly6TWpsm

WHAT WE DO - IN 1 MINUTE | httpbitlycDbkQz

WHAT WE DO - IN 5 MINUTES | httpbitlyby4q7T

EASY GUIDES - HOW IT ALL WORKS | httpbitlybyzr32

WHAT‟S ON OUR MINDS | httpjohncaswellposterouscom

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER | httptwittercomjohncaswell

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK | httpwwwfacebookcomGroupPartners

THINKING There‟s an App for that - 4Dtrade

GROUP PARTNERS | WEBSITE httpwwwgrouppartnersnet

Helping our clients avoid solving the wrong problem really well_______________________________________________________________

On the 1st January 2001 I decided to do something about it all ndash

to shine a light on it - pump up the volumehellip

hellip I created Group Partners

STOPhellip

And before all thathellip

The 1990s | CEO MCW ROCQM and then RMG International each

part of WPP Group plc

I left Acorn Computers plc in 1988 after many great and

highly informative years I got away with a lot

I left shortly after Olivetti bought the company - to run my

own integrated communication and strategic consultancy in London

MCW ndash Marketing Communications Workshop - it was acquired

by WPP in1996 This business developed strategy and implemented

complex informational and communication programs

for some pretty impressive enterprises

At MCW we were responsible for many large scale campaigns including the

entire Euro96 Football Championships and the global strategy for SAP

The consultancy also created major and award-winning marketing and

strategic programs for IBM Ford Oracle Benetton Philips Microsoft

Xerox Time Warner Sony and more

It‟s a long story

The 1980s | Head of Marketing Acorn Computers

I joined Acorn to run the communications

marketing and brand strategy and in the early 80s

launched the BBC Microcomputer Fun Crazy

During my time as Head of Marketing the turnover of the

business grew from $2m to $240m Very little if anything of

that was due to me

Acorn Computer was also the business that created the

highly successful Arm Technologies effectively one of the

UKs most successful technology businesses

This is also a long story

The 19rsquos| Crazy Fun

Somewhere before during in between on top underneath throughout and after

all this I ran mobile discorsquos night clubs did rock festivals saw the Pink Floyd

play lots of times - I think I painted drew skulked around a fair bit I would

sit stand Fall over I learned to drive fast sail fly run fast stay up all night and

do lotrsquos and lotrsquos that I cannot possibly talk about here

But by now you have a vivid enough picture

The 196070rsquos | Schooling stuff

Latterly I attempted a Foundational and Degree course in Fine Art at

Hogarth College of Fine Art Cambridge England It was complicated

Before that ndash I did A amp O levels galore at The Royal Hospital

School Holbrook Ipswich Suffolk England Europe Earth Milky Way

This was a fine school for the sons of Royal Naval Officers Before that ndash

Strange early forms of education at King Henry the V111 Grammar School

Somewhere in England I was probably beaten

I certainly played the fool

THE A TO Z OF GROUP PARTNERS | httpbitlybr7MWQ

RAMBLING ON STUFF |httpbitly6TWpsm

WHAT WE DO - IN 1 MINUTE | httpbitlycDbkQz

WHAT WE DO - IN 5 MINUTES | httpbitlyby4q7T

EASY GUIDES - HOW IT ALL WORKS | httpbitlybyzr32

WHAT‟S ON OUR MINDS | httpjohncaswellposterouscom

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER | httptwittercomjohncaswell

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK | httpwwwfacebookcomGroupPartners

THINKING There‟s an App for that - 4Dtrade

GROUP PARTNERS | WEBSITE httpwwwgrouppartnersnet

Helping our clients avoid solving the wrong problem really well_______________________________________________________________

And before all thathellip

The 1990s | CEO MCW ROCQM and then RMG International each

part of WPP Group plc

I left Acorn Computers plc in 1988 after many great and

highly informative years I got away with a lot

I left shortly after Olivetti bought the company - to run my

own integrated communication and strategic consultancy in London

MCW ndash Marketing Communications Workshop - it was acquired

by WPP in1996 This business developed strategy and implemented

complex informational and communication programs

for some pretty impressive enterprises

At MCW we were responsible for many large scale campaigns including the

entire Euro96 Football Championships and the global strategy for SAP

The consultancy also created major and award-winning marketing and

strategic programs for IBM Ford Oracle Benetton Philips Microsoft

Xerox Time Warner Sony and more

It‟s a long story

The 1980s | Head of Marketing Acorn Computers

I joined Acorn to run the communications

marketing and brand strategy and in the early 80s

launched the BBC Microcomputer Fun Crazy

During my time as Head of Marketing the turnover of the

business grew from $2m to $240m Very little if anything of

that was due to me

Acorn Computer was also the business that created the

highly successful Arm Technologies effectively one of the

UKs most successful technology businesses

This is also a long story

The 19rsquos| Crazy Fun

Somewhere before during in between on top underneath throughout and after

all this I ran mobile discorsquos night clubs did rock festivals saw the Pink Floyd

play lots of times - I think I painted drew skulked around a fair bit I would

sit stand Fall over I learned to drive fast sail fly run fast stay up all night and

do lotrsquos and lotrsquos that I cannot possibly talk about here

But by now you have a vivid enough picture

The 196070rsquos | Schooling stuff

Latterly I attempted a Foundational and Degree course in Fine Art at

Hogarth College of Fine Art Cambridge England It was complicated

Before that ndash I did A amp O levels galore at The Royal Hospital

School Holbrook Ipswich Suffolk England Europe Earth Milky Way

This was a fine school for the sons of Royal Naval Officers Before that ndash

Strange early forms of education at King Henry the V111 Grammar School

Somewhere in England I was probably beaten

I certainly played the fool

THE A TO Z OF GROUP PARTNERS | httpbitlybr7MWQ

RAMBLING ON STUFF |httpbitly6TWpsm

WHAT WE DO - IN 1 MINUTE | httpbitlycDbkQz

WHAT WE DO - IN 5 MINUTES | httpbitlyby4q7T

EASY GUIDES - HOW IT ALL WORKS | httpbitlybyzr32

WHAT‟S ON OUR MINDS | httpjohncaswellposterouscom

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER | httptwittercomjohncaswell

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK | httpwwwfacebookcomGroupPartners

THINKING There‟s an App for that - 4Dtrade

GROUP PARTNERS | WEBSITE httpwwwgrouppartnersnet

Helping our clients avoid solving the wrong problem really well_______________________________________________________________

The 1990s | CEO MCW ROCQM and then RMG International each

part of WPP Group plc

I left Acorn Computers plc in 1988 after many great and

highly informative years I got away with a lot

I left shortly after Olivetti bought the company - to run my

own integrated communication and strategic consultancy in London

MCW ndash Marketing Communications Workshop - it was acquired

by WPP in1996 This business developed strategy and implemented

complex informational and communication programs

for some pretty impressive enterprises

At MCW we were responsible for many large scale campaigns including the

entire Euro96 Football Championships and the global strategy for SAP

The consultancy also created major and award-winning marketing and

strategic programs for IBM Ford Oracle Benetton Philips Microsoft

Xerox Time Warner Sony and more

It‟s a long story

The 1980s | Head of Marketing Acorn Computers

I joined Acorn to run the communications

marketing and brand strategy and in the early 80s

launched the BBC Microcomputer Fun Crazy

During my time as Head of Marketing the turnover of the

business grew from $2m to $240m Very little if anything of

that was due to me

Acorn Computer was also the business that created the

highly successful Arm Technologies effectively one of the

UKs most successful technology businesses

This is also a long story

The 19rsquos| Crazy Fun

Somewhere before during in between on top underneath throughout and after

all this I ran mobile discorsquos night clubs did rock festivals saw the Pink Floyd

play lots of times - I think I painted drew skulked around a fair bit I would

sit stand Fall over I learned to drive fast sail fly run fast stay up all night and

do lotrsquos and lotrsquos that I cannot possibly talk about here

But by now you have a vivid enough picture

The 196070rsquos | Schooling stuff

Latterly I attempted a Foundational and Degree course in Fine Art at

Hogarth College of Fine Art Cambridge England It was complicated

Before that ndash I did A amp O levels galore at The Royal Hospital

School Holbrook Ipswich Suffolk England Europe Earth Milky Way

This was a fine school for the sons of Royal Naval Officers Before that ndash

Strange early forms of education at King Henry the V111 Grammar School

Somewhere in England I was probably beaten

I certainly played the fool

THE A TO Z OF GROUP PARTNERS | httpbitlybr7MWQ

RAMBLING ON STUFF |httpbitly6TWpsm

WHAT WE DO - IN 1 MINUTE | httpbitlycDbkQz

WHAT WE DO - IN 5 MINUTES | httpbitlyby4q7T

EASY GUIDES - HOW IT ALL WORKS | httpbitlybyzr32

WHAT‟S ON OUR MINDS | httpjohncaswellposterouscom

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER | httptwittercomjohncaswell

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK | httpwwwfacebookcomGroupPartners

THINKING There‟s an App for that - 4Dtrade

GROUP PARTNERS | WEBSITE httpwwwgrouppartnersnet

Helping our clients avoid solving the wrong problem really well_______________________________________________________________

The 1980s | Head of Marketing Acorn Computers

I joined Acorn to run the communications

marketing and brand strategy and in the early 80s

launched the BBC Microcomputer Fun Crazy

During my time as Head of Marketing the turnover of the

business grew from $2m to $240m Very little if anything of

that was due to me

Acorn Computer was also the business that created the

highly successful Arm Technologies effectively one of the

UKs most successful technology businesses

This is also a long story

The 19rsquos| Crazy Fun

Somewhere before during in between on top underneath throughout and after

all this I ran mobile discorsquos night clubs did rock festivals saw the Pink Floyd

play lots of times - I think I painted drew skulked around a fair bit I would

sit stand Fall over I learned to drive fast sail fly run fast stay up all night and

do lotrsquos and lotrsquos that I cannot possibly talk about here

But by now you have a vivid enough picture

The 196070rsquos | Schooling stuff

Latterly I attempted a Foundational and Degree course in Fine Art at

Hogarth College of Fine Art Cambridge England It was complicated

Before that ndash I did A amp O levels galore at The Royal Hospital

School Holbrook Ipswich Suffolk England Europe Earth Milky Way

This was a fine school for the sons of Royal Naval Officers Before that ndash

Strange early forms of education at King Henry the V111 Grammar School

Somewhere in England I was probably beaten

I certainly played the fool

THE A TO Z OF GROUP PARTNERS | httpbitlybr7MWQ

RAMBLING ON STUFF |httpbitly6TWpsm

WHAT WE DO - IN 1 MINUTE | httpbitlycDbkQz

WHAT WE DO - IN 5 MINUTES | httpbitlyby4q7T

EASY GUIDES - HOW IT ALL WORKS | httpbitlybyzr32

WHAT‟S ON OUR MINDS | httpjohncaswellposterouscom

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER | httptwittercomjohncaswell

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK | httpwwwfacebookcomGroupPartners

THINKING There‟s an App for that - 4Dtrade

GROUP PARTNERS | WEBSITE httpwwwgrouppartnersnet

Helping our clients avoid solving the wrong problem really well_______________________________________________________________

The 19rsquos| Crazy Fun

Somewhere before during in between on top underneath throughout and after

all this I ran mobile discorsquos night clubs did rock festivals saw the Pink Floyd

play lots of times - I think I painted drew skulked around a fair bit I would

sit stand Fall over I learned to drive fast sail fly run fast stay up all night and

do lotrsquos and lotrsquos that I cannot possibly talk about here

But by now you have a vivid enough picture

The 196070rsquos | Schooling stuff

Latterly I attempted a Foundational and Degree course in Fine Art at

Hogarth College of Fine Art Cambridge England It was complicated

Before that ndash I did A amp O levels galore at The Royal Hospital

School Holbrook Ipswich Suffolk England Europe Earth Milky Way

This was a fine school for the sons of Royal Naval Officers Before that ndash

Strange early forms of education at King Henry the V111 Grammar School

Somewhere in England I was probably beaten

I certainly played the fool

THE A TO Z OF GROUP PARTNERS | httpbitlybr7MWQ

RAMBLING ON STUFF |httpbitly6TWpsm

WHAT WE DO - IN 1 MINUTE | httpbitlycDbkQz

WHAT WE DO - IN 5 MINUTES | httpbitlyby4q7T

EASY GUIDES - HOW IT ALL WORKS | httpbitlybyzr32

WHAT‟S ON OUR MINDS | httpjohncaswellposterouscom

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER | httptwittercomjohncaswell

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK | httpwwwfacebookcomGroupPartners

THINKING There‟s an App for that - 4Dtrade

GROUP PARTNERS | WEBSITE httpwwwgrouppartnersnet

Helping our clients avoid solving the wrong problem really well_______________________________________________________________

The 196070rsquos | Schooling stuff

Latterly I attempted a Foundational and Degree course in Fine Art at

Hogarth College of Fine Art Cambridge England It was complicated

Before that ndash I did A amp O levels galore at The Royal Hospital

School Holbrook Ipswich Suffolk England Europe Earth Milky Way

This was a fine school for the sons of Royal Naval Officers Before that ndash

Strange early forms of education at King Henry the V111 Grammar School

Somewhere in England I was probably beaten

I certainly played the fool

THE A TO Z OF GROUP PARTNERS | httpbitlybr7MWQ

RAMBLING ON STUFF |httpbitly6TWpsm

WHAT WE DO - IN 1 MINUTE | httpbitlycDbkQz

WHAT WE DO - IN 5 MINUTES | httpbitlyby4q7T

EASY GUIDES - HOW IT ALL WORKS | httpbitlybyzr32

WHAT‟S ON OUR MINDS | httpjohncaswellposterouscom

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER | httptwittercomjohncaswell

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK | httpwwwfacebookcomGroupPartners

THINKING There‟s an App for that - 4Dtrade

GROUP PARTNERS | WEBSITE httpwwwgrouppartnersnet

Helping our clients avoid solving the wrong problem really well_______________________________________________________________

THE A TO Z OF GROUP PARTNERS | httpbitlybr7MWQ

RAMBLING ON STUFF |httpbitly6TWpsm

WHAT WE DO - IN 1 MINUTE | httpbitlycDbkQz

WHAT WE DO - IN 5 MINUTES | httpbitlyby4q7T

EASY GUIDES - HOW IT ALL WORKS | httpbitlybyzr32

WHAT‟S ON OUR MINDS | httpjohncaswellposterouscom

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER | httptwittercomjohncaswell

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK | httpwwwfacebookcomGroupPartners

THINKING There‟s an App for that - 4Dtrade

GROUP PARTNERS | WEBSITE httpwwwgrouppartnersnet

Helping our clients avoid solving the wrong problem really well_______________________________________________________________