Episode 6 - Simon Dennis - Gate One

Simon Dennis is co-founder of Gate One (www.gateone.co.uk). Gate One are an award winning Business Transformation Consultancy who specialise in Digital, Operating Model and People Change. Since founding the business Gate One have grown rapidly going from an idea to £25m cumulative revenue in their first 5 years trading. As well as their award winning Consultancy offering Gate One also runs its own internal Start Up Incubator. Giving their team the opportunity to explore their own entrepreneurial ambitions and help grow new business ideas alongside the Consultancy. The latest idea to go through the Incubator, Pinga (http://pinga-app.com/), has seen some great early success and is looking to grow rapidly, something we discuss in today’s episode. Simon and I first met when I was deciding whether to stay in Consulting or pursue a start-up idea that I had. Throughout our conversations about joining Gate One it was clear that Simon and his team were looking to do it differently and create something unique in the Consulting industry. I ended up pursuing the start-up idea (sadly unsuccessfully) but Simon and I have stayed in touch ever since and I’ve had the pleasure of watching as Gate One have gone from strength to strength. We cover a whole range of topics in this episode including: How and why Simon and his Co-founders started Gate One Gate One’s unique ‘ripple’ approach to Consultancy What you should think about if you’re looking to make the move from a big Consultancy to a small one Simon’s top books for anyone looking to climb in Consulting or start their own business The Gate One start-up incubator and much much more! You can find out more about Simon on his Linked In page – https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-dennis-28416b1/ or drop him a message at Simon.Dennis@GateOne.co.uk Specific things we discuss in the show: Simon’s Recommended Reading List: Managing the Professional Services Firm by David Maister - http://amzn.eu/8gfLD5m Start with Why by Simon Sinek - http://amzn.eu/dU3ZgMq Drive by Dan Pink - http://amzn.eu/6Nne2Xr Mindset by Carol Dweck - http://amzn.eu/h2fAzeu The Icarus Deception by Seth Godin - http://amzn.eu/73hkExk Quiet Leadership by David Rock - http://amzn.eu/71y201l Happiness by Design by Paul Dolan - http://amzn.eu/3kEqGr2 Bounce by Matthew Syed - http://amzn.eu/icRAp5S Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey A Moore - http://amzn.eu/7SiieF4 The Founder's Mentality by Chris Zook and James Allen Pinga – http://pinga-app.com/ Acai Berry - https://www.webmd.boots.com/healthy-eating/guide/acai-berries-health-benefits

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As a management consultant myself I’ve always been lucky to have mentors who have guided me through my career. When I was in house I regularly had quality time with Senior Partners that helped me rapidly accelerate my career and has continued to help since I’ve gone out on my own. While I had this great resource and knowledge bank to draw on I know many friends in Consulting aren’t as lucky with some only speaking with senior partners on a monthly or quarterly basis. That’s why I created this podcast. I wanted to help people like you who want to accelerate their careers in consulting by interviewing leaders in the field to share the advice, tips and strategies that they used to get to the top so that you can to so that you can too. In each Episode I’ll be interviewing a senior figure in the industry so that you can learn from them. We’ll be going deep in to their background, how they succeeded and what their advice would be for you. This podcast is brought to you by Create Engage the Digital Marketing agency for the disruptive Management Consultancy. Digital Marketing has moved forward, but most consulting firms haven’t. Many Consulting firms still see their corporate blog as their sole Digital Marketing channel and find themselves frustrated when these blogs yield little if any results. To help those of you who want to harness the power of Digital Marketing to grow your Consulting Business but don’t have the knowledge, capacity or in-house capability to do so I launched Create Engage, the first Digital Marketing agency for the Management Consulting Industry. If you’d like to find out more about how Create Engage can help you use Digital Marketing to take your business to the next level then drop me an email at Nick@CreateEngage.co.uk or go to our website www.createengage.co.uk where you can download our free case study that breaks down down the Digital Marketing strategies used by one successful Consulting firm to help them grow over 400% in just 3 years and gives you the secrets they used, so that you can apply them in your own firm.