What is your background?
I trained as a Chartered Accountant – to provide a solid base – I certainly did not want to BE an accountant. I couldn’t wait to get out into the wide world of business.
I always enjoyed challenges and learning new skills. I have always loved jobs that offer variety – hell for me would be doing the same thing each month.
This is why I guess I tried internal auditing - you could assess any part of the organisation – I have always had a pragmatic approach – and have been trying to educate others ever since, directly or indirectly to recognise that auditing and risk management are vibrant, fun and critical to organisation success
How did you get into training?
I had been asked to speak at conferences and found that I really enjoyed it – moreover I did not find it too difficult – I had done amateur dramatics and public speaking before.
I had worked most of my life in large organisations until 11 years ago and decided I did not want to do so any more. So I decided to take a risk and set up Business Risk Management Ltd in 1999. 11 years on it has achieved everything I wanted and a bit more
Initially it was mostly consultancy – helping organisations introduce formal risk management programmes etc – with some training. Quite soon the balance changed – probably because I love training so much – but also because training is an excellent way to attract consultancy clients – people buy people don’t they?
What are your favourite course to teach?
Risk based Auditing – it blends my two passions of risk management and internal auditing – and I love to provide ideas and insights that challenge delegates – the feedback even from experienced professionals is exceptional
What training experience are you most proud of?
I think it must be delivering a course to 60 delegates in Latvia in a cold dirty school in Riga. Each delegate had paid out of their own pockets the equivalent of a month’s salary to attend the course. The only way to make the course viable was to have 60 attendees. I have never worked so hard for 3 days or had such an attentive audience – none of the delegates spoke a word of English and I cannot, of course speak Latvian – the whole event was delivered with simultaneous translation. It was an incredibly challenging, humbling and magical experience
What makes you unique?
I have been told that it is my ability to take potentially dull and boring subjects and make them vibrant and exciting.
I am also told that I offer insights and ideas into risk management, internal audit and fraud which are available nowhere else.
I firmly believe that people learn and retain information when they are enjoying themselves. My training courses are always fun. – quite a challenge, particularly with some of the topics e.g. fraud
Why are you passionate about training?
I love to inspire others to try different approaches and challenge the status quo. I like to offer the WOW factor. (e.g. when delegates say ‘I would have never thought of that- I will implement it immediately on my return)
I also love the performance aspect of training – I must be a frustrated actor
I like to weave in stories and anecdotes from my many years in business – when I meet people years after attending a course, they often remind me of the stories.
What else inspires / drives you / are you passionate about (when you’re not training)?
My passions are many and varied. Travel and learning about different cultures being one of the top ones. I have visited over 100 countries and would like to see the rest
My family is also a real passion. I have been married for 35 years to Margaret who is also my fellow Director in the business. I have 2 children and 4 grandchildren who I adore
I love music of all types – from the 60’s to the present day
I enjoy quizzes and trivia
I am driven by the desire to pass on whatever knowledge and experience I have to others who can benefit from it
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