My early career was with British Telecom as a telecommunications engineer, technical trainer, training manager, management trainer and internal consultant. As an internal consultant I worked in collaboration with line managers to support the implementation of large scale change initiatives such as customer care and total quality management.My time in internal consultancy coincided with studying for a Diploma in Management Studies so I was able to sample the delights and dramas of working with individual, team and organisational change from both a theoretical and a practical perspective. One of the outcomes of this experience was a different appreciation of the opportunities waiting in the world outside of British Telecom.In 1990 I left BT to work as an independent consultant, working with a variety of clients – mostly large organisations in IT and utilities – on issues of learning, development and change. In 1998 I joined Castleton, focusing since then on developing and delivering products and services based around coaching conversations, management development and building organisational capability. In 1997 I started my athletics career by entering the first London triathlon, followed over the next couple of years by another three events. Since then not much has happened and as the years pass I have become fluent in boring innocent bystanders with long-winded and barely credible stories that justify my lack of progress towards training targets. More than a decade later I am still “between triathlons” - although an attempt to take part in the 2009 Worthing triathlon was defeated by knee surgeryOutside of this punishing schedule my time is taken up with tending the vast collection of seashells I keep on permanent display on beaches throughout the world.Specialties: sensemaking, networked organisations, open innovation, coaching conversations, management development