It was a great month meeting lots of great people. Thank you for making me feel welcome.
For those of you who I have not met yet, here is my story so far:
Chapter 1 - Baker-Hamson
I joined the family business (Baker-Hamson) when I was 19. I worked with my father as a consultant specialising in management information systems, business performance improvement and system integration. During my time working in our family business, I learnt a lot from my father and the varied client base I was exposed to. Every project was a learning curve!
The main thing I learnt is that technology is great, but it’s only great if it’s implemented well. It is key to have a clear reason for implementing the system. And this starts with clear communication and consultation with all users – if it doesn’t do what’s needed then it won’t be correctly used or, even worse, may not be used at all. This will just create more complexities along the way, particularly when it comes to using any data.
Our biggest client was Sun Microsystems (now part of Oracle) and working for them reaffirmed my love for technology.
Chapter 2 - Sun Microsystems
Change is good, if not a little scary, but when I was offered a permanent role as Report Analyst in Sun Microsystems, EMEA Enterprise Services Decision Support Group, I took it. Here I continued to develop my passion for technology and its implementation. I was given access to a web server, which supported learning JavaScript, Unix and how to keep a web server running (all of which is now very rusty!).
Unfortunately, it was eventually time for me to move on, I was made redundant when the .com bubble burst. This was a hard time for both me and Helen, but it taught me what matters to me in my working life at a very early age.
Chapter 3 - John Lewis Partnership (JLP)
After turning a hobby into a job and doing some casual backstage work in a local theatre for a few months, I started working for JLP as a selling assistant at the High Wycombe branch. It was very quickly suggested to me that I should apply for the management training scheme, for which I was accepted. When we moved, I applied for a transfer to the Oxford Street branch where I continued my training, including being one of the managers in the Christmas department.
Chapter 4 - Waitrose
I then moved to work in Waitrose Head Office as an Assistant Analyst in the Space management team. The department I was in eventually became Store Development, where I had multiple roles. The last of these was as Department Co-ordinator and took me back to my roots as I developed a database to manage the department’s projects.
Chapter 5 - Training & Volunteering
My time working at JLP was great, but Helen was stepping up to cover for the company secretary at Atkins so we took advantage of my 10 years plus service, and I applied for 6 months leave. I used this time to do my bike maintenance training and to take on all the household admin, so that we could have the work life balance that we both wanted. It worked that well I didn’t go back, and I left JLP in 2015. I then decided to volunteer and use my level 3 in bike mechanics at a local bike charity and then some of my grocery skills at a local foodbank, where H and I spent a lot of our lock down!
Chapter 6 - HN06
This chapter has only just begun! Setting up HN06 with H and becoming part of the governance world. As you can see, I have a lot of transferable skills. but I do have rather a lot to learn too!
Where to start?
I am going to start with all the acronyms terms and phrases. I had forgotten how much the business world likes a good acronym!
Acronyms and the languages within different sectors can sometimes be daunting. It can also be a little scary to ask what someone means by ‘XYZ’, particularly if you are in a meeting full of your peers or a potential partner/client. While no-one wants to seem stupid or annoy others in the room and stop their flow, it is often the case that you won’t be the only one in the dark. And it’s always the case that everyone in that room was in your situation once so don’t be afraid to ask for clarification – you can only contribute fully if you understand what’s going on.
All that said, I am very lucky to have a business partner/wife who has 19+ years experience to ask. Some of you out there won’t be so lucky. So, I have decided to create my own series of blogs to help capture as many acronyms, terms and phrases as possible to try and help others joining the world of governance. Watch this space for more…
Nathan
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