In honour of Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s 202nd birthday today, I’m reposting why he’s my hero:

Everyone needs a hero - not because your hero is perfect, but because he or she has some admirable qualities or achievements which can inspire you to greater things. My hero is Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

Brunel was a 19th century engineer who built the Great Western Railway, the best railway of the times. He built the Great Western, the Great Britain and the Great Eastern - the largest steamships of their age. He built great bridges and tunnels. He made things happen, and his works still stand today as examples of innovation, design, entrepreneurship and execution. In an extensive national poll accompanied by in-depth BBC TV documentaries in 2002, Brunel was voted the second greatest Briton of all time.

Brunel seems to have always been around in my early years. My parents’ families lived near the GWR at Hayes and Hounslow (the local pub was called the Great Western). I studied Computer Science at Brunel University in London. My early career in the UK was at both ends of the GWR - near Paddington Station and Bristol - and Brunel’s constructions were nearby.

Brunel’s life story is as fascinating as his work. The more I learnt about the man, the more I identified with his sense of ethics, his egalitarian elitism, his setting of grand goals (not just his works themselves, but why they were built) and his ability to achieve them.

This weblog is titled after his 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. It will come as no surprise that my private companies (Isambard Ltd and Isambard Investments Ltd) are named after him. I have a small but growing collection of Brunel books, pictures, DVDs and souvenirs. My car number plate is ISAMBD (which has most personalised-plate translators completely stumped).

I even have a life-size banner photograph of the great little man hanging on my study wall - the only place allowed by my family! Top hat, 3-piece suit, cigar, and muddy boots - what an icon!

This blog is named En Avant, after the personal motto of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the 19th-century engineer (and my personal hero). En avant is a French phrase with several meanings, including Charge! and Forward pass, as I learnt in France recently. In Brunel’s case, it meant Get going!

In an article urging people to “Just do it,” Jamie Quint wrote that,”Rarely do people regret things they did in life more than things they wished they had done.

I can relate to that. Apart from remorse for unintentional hurt I have caused to others, my regrets are never about wrong decisions, or things that didn’t work out, or investments that bombed. That might sound like chutzpah to some, but you need a little to have the confidence to make decisions quickly. No, my regrets are about things I didn’t try. Mind you, I don’t dwell on them - what’s the point?

When things go pear-shaped, and they will sometimes, it’s easy to get demoralised by the stress and tension of the situation, but in the grand scheme of things, “This too shall pass“. Life goes on, and you’ll have learnt from the experience.

By all means identify and manage your risks, but don’t be paralysed by them. If you’ve got an idea or a dream, En avant - get going!

Everyone needs a hero - not because your hero is perfect, but because he or she has some admirable qualities or achievements which can inspire you to greater things. My hero is Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

Brunel was a 19th century engineer who built the Great Western Railway, the best railway of the times. He built the Great Western, the Great Britain and the Great Eastern - the largest steamships of their age. He built great bridges and tunnels. He made things happen, and his works still stand today as examples of innovation, design, entrepreneurship and execution. In an extensive national poll accompanied by in-depth BBC TV documentaries, Brunel was voted the second greatest Britain of all time.

Brunel seems to have always been around in my early years. My parents’ families lived near the GWR at Hayes and Hounslow (the local pub was called the Great Western). I studied Computer Science at Brunel University in London. My early career in the UK was at both ends of the GWR - near Paddington Station and Bristol - and Brunel’s constructions were nearby.

Brunel’s life story is as fascinating as his work. As I learnt more about the man, the more I identified with his sense of ethics, his egalitarian elitism (the subject of another post one day), his setting of grand goals (not just his works themselves, but why they were built) and his ability to achieve them.

This blogsite is titled after his 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. It is no coincidence that I was a very willing sponsor when Fronde decided to really take on Agile Project Management and Agile Development (which I say is just En Avant brought up to date).

It will come as no surprise that my private companies are named after him. I have a small but growing collection of Brunel books, pictures, DVDs and souvenirs. My car number plate is ISAMBD (which has most personalised-plate translators completely stumped). I even have a life-size banner photograph of the great little man hanging on my study wall - the only place allowed by my family! Top hat, 3-piece suit, cigar, and muddy boots - what an icon!

Blame Rod Drury and Tapio Sorsa for this. I started reading blogs to see how our name change at Fronde had gone, and I found myself joining in all sorts of discussions. Rod was too polite to call me a blog-hog to my face, but I know what he was saying when I wasn’t there. Tapio thought it was great profile. Anyway, the consensus was that I should start a blog of my own, so blame them.

I intend this to be a business-oriented site, touching on topics like:

• General business thinking (strategy, marketing, leadership, operations, etc);
• Industry, trade and the economy;
• Technology business (rather than technology itself);
• Comments on my companies (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’m the CEO of Fronde Systems Group Ltd, a leading NZ-based IT services business. We design, build and operate industrial-strength business transaction and payment systems which connect the world to your business and your business to the world. With around 200 professionals in Wellington, Auckland, London and Singapore, we plan to expand into Australia and North America.

Other current activities include:

• Owner and director of Isambard Ltd and Isambard Investments Ltd, my private companies. Venture investments include Surveylab and Compudigm.
• Non-executive member of the NZ Tertiary Education Commission, which is the principal funding agency for post-school education, training and related research.
• Talking on business strategy and related matters - which led me to starting this blog.

Previous activities include:

• CEO and co-owner of telecommunications equipment maker Deltec Communications Group (HiTech Company of the Year 2000, sold to Andrew Corporation in 2001).
• CEO of mid-size electricity company Electra.
• Strategy consulting partner at Ernst & Young.
• Several boards associated with the above companies plus economic development agencies and government taskforces.

Later on, I’ll post my CV and other background information.