I've never been particularly interested in doing something just because that's how the industry does it.
Building and eventually selling my own business taught me to look outside the obvious places for answers. That habit has stuck.
I've spent 20-plus years around business: revenue, conversion, communication, sales, presenting, and the decisions founders make when nobody is telling them what to do next.
I built and sold my own company. Along the way I delivered 4,700-plus presentations, spoke to 160,000-plus people, wrote two #1 international bestsellers, became the presentation coach for IBM TechXchange, and started The Growth Focus Podcast.
But the thread underneath all of it is the same. I've always been more interested in how things work than in copying how they're done.
Early on I noticed something: most businesses in an industry do things almost identically, and then wonder why none of them stand out. The defaults get accepted. The questions stop getting asked.
I started looking outside my industry for ideas instead. Guarantees and risk reversal where competitors were afraid to offer them. Premium positioning in markets racing to the bottom. Sales approaches borrowed from sectors that had nothing to do with mine.
I'm not contrarian for attention. I just have a habit of questioning things other people have stopped questioning.
Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast. Better before more. Better results often begin with a different question.
The same question, asked different ways.
That habit found its way into two books. Average to Expert asked how people and businesses become recognised as the expert rather than staying interchangeable. How to Make More Money Speaking and Presenting asked how communication creates movement and commercial outcomes.
I didn't call it Revenue Performance back then. But I'd been circling the same question the whole time: why do some people and businesses get more from the opportunities in front of them than others?
These days I spend a lot of time in founder conversations: on the podcast, as an advisor, and occasionally working directly with a leadership team. Looking at what's happening. Challenging what needs challenging. Helping decide what matters next.
A life, not just a résumé.
Hiking with my wife and the dog. Time outdoors. Travel: Bali, temples, scuba, the kind of places that make you think differently about everything you came from.
I'm not interested in selling a lifestyle. I'm interested in building a life, and letting the curiosity that drives the work spill over into the rest of it.
