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thoughts and perspectives on the web, business and the new economy
Mario Thomas
An ideas man in a digital world
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Chartered Director
Running a start up can be surprisingly lonely – there's generally nobody to bounce ideas off. Worse still, because you don't want to look like you don't know what you're doing, you tend not to speak to those nearest and dearest to you either.
Needing More
At the end of 2003 I decided enough was enough, I'd endured sitting in endless meetings with accountants and advisors who seemed to speak a different language. I needed to be able to interact at their level. I spoke to the Institute of Directors (IoD) and they told me all about the Company Direction Programme.
I had been at the helm of Chapter Eight for more than two years and at that point had not experienced any professional development since being at Regional Independent Media. The thought of going back to the classroom was daunting to say the least, but I needed to feel stretched and challenged.
Exam Nerves
Most importantly, I needed to stop running the business with my heart and instead start using my head. In August 2004 I started attending courses at the IoD in London with an interesting mix of people from public and private sector organisations, SME businesses and global businesses. All were there for the same thing – to improve themselves as Directors but more importantly – improve their companies.
In August 2005 I had completed the full suite of course and had decided that I was going to give the Diploma in Company Direction a go. I hadn't been in an exam since 1998 when I got my degree so to find myself in a room of 30 people in total silence for 3 hours was a little unsettling. The run up to the exam was also hard work – running the business and swatting for hours was just not possible, so I booked a week off work and started cramming.
In October 2005 I found out that I had passed the exam and had gained a new qualification. I now had a Diploma in Company Direction. I certainly felt different and I was certainly by this time making better business decisions. Most importantly I actually understood what the accountants and advisers were saying to me.
One Step Further
Passing the exam had really spurred me on and I decided that to stop at this stage would be a stupid idea. To become a Chartered Director you have to submit a portfolio to the IoD, you are then invited to attend an interview which lasts about an hour with a panel of two other Chartered Directors.
I attended my interview in January 2006 after completing my portfolio – which seemed to take forever. The interview was the most nervous I had been since taking my driving test in 1992 – I remembered back to being a school boy sat sweating next to an examiner who had the power to give me my first real bit of freedom.
The interview lasted about an hour and was brilliant, I was immediately put at ease and asked to talk about my specialist subject – me. Once I'd got started I don't think I really stopped until the end. This was a warts and all overview of the decisions I had made, the actions I had taken and things I had done in my career and most importantly in my time as a Director.
At the end of the interview I headed to the Members bar at the IoD to have a long drink and an even longer wait to find out how I'd got on. Four weeks passed and a letter arrived at home from the IoD. I knew what was inside but didn't dare open it.
At the time, if it was good news it would make me the youngest Chartered Director so far – so no pressure then. Well I finally decided I needed to know the result. I opened the envelope and to my delight I found out that I had become a Chartered Director. All the hard work and study, balancing my job and a course, taking an exam and enduring the run up to the interview had all paid off.
But the real difference was in the business. I had completely restructured the company, turned it around from being a loss maker to making a profit. Taking difficult decisions, putting people in the right jobs and realising that I was setting the company up to run itself – without needing to baby sit it to the extent I had done before becoming a Chartered Director.
I'm now working on exciting new projects within the company and looking at ways of taking us forward and growing revenues and of course profit. In addition, my career has taken on a whole new dimension too, these days as well as being Managing Director of Chapter Eight, I'm also a Non Executive Director at Kids Count, a Non Executive Director at Credit Style and advise the BBC and IoD on two Advisory Panels.
I no longer feel like I'm in a lonely place with nobody to bounce ideas off. I've created a network of contacts who each can be called on when I need a different opinion. Professionally I no longer feel like I'm lost in a wilderness of business building and career destruction. Indeed, it's quite the opposite.
The Company Direction Programme has helped me enormously and I would recommend anyone joining a Board or starting a company should at least attend the courses, they'll stand you in good stead and will be something you can call upon for the rest of your professional life.
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