The Bit About Being A Safe Pair Of Hands (Again)

Readers of my book will know the importance of being 'A Safe Pair Of Hands', there's a chapter on the very subject and I'm a real believer in 'ASPOH'. It's the criteria for how I recruit people, team members and suppliers and also it's why my clients hire me.

Writer and entrepreneur Mike Southon recently interviewed me for his series of Beermat Radio podcasts sponsored by FT.com. The interview is available for download on the Beermat website or as a podcast on i-tunes. And the interview with me is also the subject of Mike’s ‘My Business’ column in today’s Financial Times.

Mike has a very relaxed approach to his interviews, with little premeditation about the themes we would be discussing. Half way through the interview Mike hit upon the theme for my own story: being that safe paid of hands. Throughout my entire career, whether working for an employer or for myself, my success has been because employers and clients knew they could trust me to do a job well. That I would make 'it' - whatever 'it' is - happen, on time, on budget and on brief. Okay, so it's a bit more complicated than that, but you get the idea. There are so many suppliers and managers out there who consistently DON'T do the job well, everyone loves someone who does.

As Mike Southon says about success at the end of his FT column, "…Above all, you have to deliver on your promises. Happy customers will tell all their friends. The world will then beat a path to your door. Being a 'safe pair of hands" can be very rewarding whether you are in business or politics”.


Read the full article here, online on FT.com or at Mike’s weekly ezine.