What has been your most valued professional achievement?
Launching and (at last) getting some peer recognition for walkit.com. It's been a long slog, but is beginning to pay off. When you begin to win awards and find the BBC, the Independent or Time Out are starting to take notice, then I think you're allowed a moment or two of self-congratulation! Ultimately, however, it's our user feedback that counts - and we get some incredibly supportive comments, even when things aren't going quite right...
Name the five most distinctive characteristics or attributes that have helped you to achieve your success:
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Staying power - if you really believe in the value of what you're doing, then that can sustain you though the numerous low points and knock-backs
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Don't necessarily believe 'the professionals' - I've had countless bits of ropey advice from highly paid so-called 'experts'. Trust your instincts!
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Be values-driven - I think people are now craving independent, slightly quirky and non-conformist products and services. Don't think you have to ape the established brands.
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Get angry! - If there's a problem out there that really frustrates you, then a little dose of anger can help summon up the energy to go out and solve it.
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Stay honest to yourself - while I can be in awe of all those fast-talking, uber-confident sales types, I think many people rather like it when you admit you ain't got everything right quite yet.
What makes your business distinctive?
In essence we're no more than an online routing service - but we do have a mission. We do want to get people out of cars, tubes, taxis and buses and get them walking. So while we're playing with the big boys - the Googles, Multimaps and Streetmaps - we hope our purpose and personality come through enough to make people choose us over them.
We also want to create much more of a community feel about what we do - so that all our users can begin to share their local 'walking knowledge'. Web 2.0 is what they call it I believe. What key skills have helped 'you' your Personal Brand become distinctive?
I don't think I have many skills that you won't find in countless other people! However, I do have a certain amount of drive and can be pretty tenacious - and that's connected with a passion to see us lead more sustainable lives. It's breath-taking that, in 2007, our cities are still bedevilled with such high levels of danger, noise and pollution associated with motorised transport. We need to completely transform urban mobility. Maybe my desire to try and help make this happen is what makes my 'brand' distinctive. Where do you look for inspiration?
I love following the progress of all those new companies that are really trying to do things differently - making sustainable living not just possible but desirable too. So Howies, Abel & Cole, Streetcar, G-wiz, Good Energy etc. They're still largely niche however - the real challenge is mainstreaming your product or service without losing your values. When the going gets tough what helps you through?
Get out! Go away and reconnect with nature somewhere - at this time of year it's completely uplifting watching everything burst into life. And what's also encouraging is that there are pockets of London where it's also pretty uplifting to go out and see how things are changing - the south bank walkway, the north side of Trafalgar Square, the Hungerford and Millennium bridges + countless other little bits of pedestrianisation that are slowly (painfully slowly) beginning to civilise urban living.
Advice you wished you'd had when starting out?
Ignore the public sector. I was under the misapprehension that as what we're doing connects with so many public policy objectives - tackling congestion, obesity, climate change etc - that local, regional and national government would be eager to support us. But the bureaucracy, the leaden ways of working, the 'not invented here syndrome' mentality, the empire building, the siloed thinking and action - I could go on - has meant we've got nowhere with them. It's completely shaken my faith in government as a catalyst for change. Most Valued Brand?
I'm a huge fan of Riverford - the veggie box company. No flashy logos or big marketing campaigns. They're just quietly, but quite radically, getting on with changing the way we buy food. It's high quality, largely local and seasonal, all organic, price-competitive fruit and veg. And it's delivered to your door. It's pretty inexcusable to whinge about Tesco, and yet still shop there, when you've got the likes of Riverford providing such a good service. Most inspirational famous Personal Brand or Celebrity Brand?
Just when we all thought Jamie Oliver was selling out and becoming too big for his boots, he goes and does that school food programme. Gripping telly, and done with purpose and passion. You've got to take your hat off to him. |