The operating manual.

1. 01

   Radical transparency

   News is news. Good or bad, say it early and say it plainly. I have told investors directly when I lost their money, and shared wins with the whole company the same day. The numbers are on display for everyone.

2. 02

   People first

   Companies are made of people and clients are full of them. I have made people my business: first understanding how I think, then really seeing the people I work with and for. Active listening, their position, their reasons. The question is never 'what did you do wrong'. It is 'how do we do this better'.

3. 03

   Hard work, sustained

   I have overworked myself and paid for it, more than once. Hard work still drives my decisions. What changed is that I now protect the recovery that makes it sustainable, for me and for the team. Burnt-out teams don't compound.

“We are not a family. We are a company: people accompanying each other toward a common objective.”

I take that word seriously. Lasting friendships, and more than one couple, have come out of the companies I've run. That is not a side effect of the culture. It is the culture working.

When the company's objective and each person's own objectives point the same way, the results are outstanding. It has held every time. My job is to put people where they will do their best work, give them what they need, and then raise the ceiling.

The mechanics are simple: weekly one-on-ones with everyone, a weekly L10 strategy meeting, a quarterly retreat where the review happens, and a culture where constructive criticism is the default rather than the exception.

Kreivo is Esperanto for creativity. It was the name of my first company and it is still what I bring to a P&L: lateral thinking, mixing concepts, carrying a solution from one sector to a problem in another.

• At Enso we wanted to rent flats short term, and the fines for doing it without a licence were brutal. I read the tenancy law myself, found the seasonal-rental regime that made the business legal in a grey area, and we signed the first flat the next morning.
• In team-building, I designed every programme around the actual team, so managers came back knowing how their people worked together, not just having had a good day out.
• In consulting, I routinely carry a solution from one client to an unrelated problem at another. Often it is more efficient. Sometimes it is simply better.

I protect my own capacity the same way I protect the team's. When I need to decompress, I clear the calendar, say so, and take the time. Everyone who has worked with me knows this, and it has never been an issue. I take care of myself first so I can take care of the rest. It is the least glamorous and most reliable thing I do.

Ask the people who have worked for me. The consensus is kind. The caveat, if they offer one, is that I am my own person. I can live with that.

Respect

everything rests on it

Hard work

bring it

Honesty

news is news