You were reassuringly amateurish

In the 1990s my sole focus was Team 121 which we grew from 2 to 400+ SAP consultants and finally sold via trade to Logica. During that period of rapid growth, 100% year on year, I learned a lot about business and I met a lot of great people.  We were hiring constantly and so many of the ex-121er have gone on to amazing careers. Today it is humbling to think that I was at some point responsible for hiring them into a role and company culture that was part of the mix that contributed to their future success.

On of them was John Blakey, a sweet-as-guy I would say today in New Zealand but not just because he joined our then small firm after 13 years with Cadbury. He has since progressed via various corporate executive roles to become a high profile executive coach, book author and public speaker. See his video How Can I Build Trust as a Leader.
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In 2016, he published The Trusted Executive, a follow-up to 2012's co-authored Challenging Coaching. The Trusted Executive was subsequently shortlisted as the Chartered Management Institute book of the year and led to John being named as one of the top 100 thought leaders in trust by Trust Across America. The book has been featured in Forbes, Inc. Magazine, The Big Issue and on the BBC's 'Daily Politics' programme.

In his book The Trusted Executive, John cites an example from his time at Team 121 which has afforded me with the dubious distinction of coming up as the first Google hit for 'You were reassuringly amateurish'.  Thankfully, John puts a positive spin on it. ​

I was shocked at the levels of openness shown by Rudi and Iain. For Rudi, it showed up in his dress sense: at one vitally important board-level sales pitch he wore an orange suit with polka-dot Dr Martin shoes! Incredibly, we won the work and afterwards when I asked the client why they had chosen us ahead of major players like Accenture and Deloitte Consulting, he replied, 'You were reassuringly amateurish.' I didn't know how to take his comment at the time, but now I realise that he was praising our vulnerability; Rudi's authentic dress sense was a symbol of the company's openness.

John Blakey Author of The Trusted Executive

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