Welcome to my business weblog. You can email me here. You can receive all the latest articles with a free RSS newsfeed subscription; click here for details. Twitter fans can follow me on @jimisambard.

Who writes the articles on this blog? Let’s be clear - it’s me, Jim Donovan. This blog is separate from my activities at the various companies and organisations I’m involved in, but obviously they are significant parts of who/what I am, and they may feature in what I say, given this is a business-oriented blog. I did get help to set the blog up, but although I get PR and marketing advice in my other capacities, including whether or not this blog was a good idea in the first place, there is no army of PR and ad guys looking over my shoulder here. Unlike Dilbert’s boss, I compose and enter all my own stuff here, and manage the blog myself (except when I need something technical done!)

I’m trying to reach a general business leadership audience, as well as techbiz people, business commentators and other influencers. Why would you be interested? I flatter myself that I have some good ideas to share and that I can offer some useful insights, and that you’ll find some interesting dialogue. Why am I doing this? It’s called networking. It may lead to more business for the companies I am involved with, it may increase my influence, it may get me involved in some interesting new projects. Who knows? But at heart, I just love talking about this stuff. At the very least, I might do some good, learn something, and do little harm.

I intend to touch on business-oriented topics like:

• General business thinking (strategy, marketing, branding, leadership, operations, etc);
• Industry, trade and the economy;
• Technology business (rather than technology itself);
• Comments on companies that I am associated with (that are relevant in a personal blog);
• People, places and practices I think worth noting (for better or worse);
• Articles, speeches, etc. that I want to share.
• Reviews and events in which I think you might be interested;
• Isambard Kingdom Brunel (you’ll have to read my posts for that one);
• Education (a particular interest of mine);
• Thoughts and ravings on concepts and issues that catch my fancy;
• Other stuff that might be relevant to a business blog.

This blogsite is titled after Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s personal motto ‘En Avant’ - which means “Get Going’. Anyone who knows my leadership style knows that I want to get things going, get started, start delivering value.

Thanks to Tapio, Mike and Andrew for getting this built for me. I don’t have a clue how it all works - but I don’t need to. Hey, I’m a ‘big picture’ guy! Isn’t technology great? Also, thanks to Unlimited magazine and Matt Grace for the flattering photo.

Again, welcome, and I hope you find it worth visiting and joining in the conversation.

Some background information on me

I was born in London UK, went to the Duke of York’s Royal Military School in Dover, and achieved a B.Tech (hons) in Computer Science at Brunel University in West London. I’ve had various epithets applied to me - serial CEO, company doctor, and business change agent are some of the more polite ones. My personal favourite is “No-shit Jim“.

Current activities include:

• Isambard Investments Ltd’s current investment focus is on established, attractive mid-size companies in which our management company can play an active role. We are always interested in interesting businesses, co-investing with investment funds and private investors. We also hold some passive early stage investments (although not our primary focus anymore).
• Isambard Ltd works with business owners, directors and executives (and key advisers) to define and deliver strategic change. Isambard does not provide valuation, financial or legal advice (other than assessing business performance) and we do not promote businesses for sale. Because our group focus is on active ownership, we do not normally seek out clients for our services; however, we will occasionally undertake engagements for organisations which approach us, either directly or through advisers. Services include:
  • directorship, governance and leadership;
  • business strategy & operational improvement - both development and implementation;
  • ownership, acquisition & divestment - planning, preparation and execution, pre- and post-deal, buy-side and sell-side.

• Non-executive director and chairman, Click Suite - an award-winning interactive multimedia creative design and development studio.
• Non-executive director and chairman, OpenBorder - a new venture still under wraps.
• Non-executive board member, NZ Tertiary Education Commission - which funds most learning and research in universities, polytechnics, industry training, adult education, etc..
• Talking on business strategy and related matters - which led to starting this blog.

Previous activities include:

• CEO of Fronde Systems Group Ltd, an IT services business with offices in Wellington, Auckland, London, and New York.
• CEO and co-owner of telecommunications equipment maker Deltec Telesystems - Hi-Tech Company of the Year and Hi-Growth Company of the Year in 2000; we sold the business to Andrew Corporation in 2001.
• CEO of mid-size electricity company Electra, which we successfully took through corporatisation and industry deregulation.
• Strategy consultant and partner at Ernst & Young, advising major companies in NZ, Australia and SE Asia.
• Executive/change roles in subsidiaries of Fletcher Challenge, Lasercorp, and BOC.
• Early career with ICL (now Fujitsu) - systems engineer, project manager, sales, marketing and strategy.
• Several directorships associated with the above companies, plus various national industry boards, regional economic development agencies and government taskforces.