Want to meet some of my colleagues? Go back to The Team page.
Andrea McGeachin
CEO
Goal 1 is Hope
This is a bit open-ended and can only be measured by achievement of what you hope for. I think that success in terms of an achievement of something that you have been trying to do is important; this is not a singular, isolated item or one person’s efforts. Hope involves multiple people, dependencies and milestones of learning whilst keeping that hope at the forefront of the focus allows for the success - be that health, wealth or friendship.
Goal 2 is to Cultivate Talent
Talent is the most important natural resource, and leading companies are showing how to develop it. They coach and empower small teams; deploy talent based on skills, not hierarchy; and fill gaps through training and development. The bottom line: a better employee experience delivers better results. This works within my company and our Clients. To measure the success here lies in the results the talent deliver and feed further hope.
Goal 3 is to Press the need for speed
The pandemic forced many organisations to move fast. Now the priority is to sustain that speed by designing it into the organisation. Think of speed as a muscle to be developed. Invest in new collaboration technologies. Anticipate shifts in demand. Focus on outcomes. This can mean less is more in some cases, but all ways look to it.
Goal 4 is to centre strategy on sustainability
Business actions to ensure that sustainability is more than a buzzword. Interesting challenges in our business and our clients is to consider what we can, want and will do. The very action of thought and deployment is significant. Even if it is simply to spend on Zoom versus flight tickets? It all counts and so I want to keep it at the heart of our thinking.
My goals:
Me in a nutshell:
I am a sponge... forever listening, watching, thinking and talking - be it a recipe for interesting food, or a story of a client's experience when they discovered something new. I do have the wonderful luxury of having worked and socialised with amazing people with various experiences, religions, education topics, cultures and taste. I absorb all of these daily, and think how to use such lessons and knowledge to do the next thing. I adore sharing these developed ideas and lessons with others to collaborate and move the journey forward for us all, a real Zebra-like strategy!
Born into a wholesale and retailer family of fruit, vegetables and flowers near Liverpool, England, I learnt quickly that to get what you want, you have to work for it. I studied Politics but stuck with retail, joining J Sainsbury's graduate scheme in early 1980’s a year before my degree would have completed. At that time a good guy at Uni suggested, 'It's 1983! Go take the opportunity!'. And he was right... Thanks, George!
I added the brilliance of learning from the teams and people at Sainsbury’s with the corporate time at Exxon, Cable and Wireless and Xerox. I never really felt I was a woman in a male environment; I was just working hard all the time. But I do have stories and lessons of where it was a challenge.
I was then given the opportunity in the start-up world, in charge of the European commercial business for a Boston-based Nasdaq-quoted company (now called Nuance). This led to joining a UK company as a Sales Director at a Software in Digital Imaging Company chaired by David Young, Baron Young of Graffham. That was a great board to be part of. In a seven year period we financed, IPO’d, and then trade sold.
After this l joined the world of digital payments and learnt about e-money, card issuing and program management and processing then into the world of lending. I built my knowledge and became more networked than ever and learned the goodness of partnerships.
in 2013 Amack was created, it was just me for a few years, we are now a team of >30 people - all different, all fascinating and all with their own Zebra uniqueness.
Background:
Connect:
Fun fact:
If I had a Zebra I would name it Ziggy (openly a massive David Bowie fan). I would take it to watch Arsenal play (a scouser that supports Arsenal is probably my toughest, but happy, challenge over the years).
For more inspiration, insight and general musings on SMEs, strategy and more, read Andrea’s blog.
