Stuart Lynn, Non-Executive Director, Visiting Professor, Founder and Managing Director of Stuart Lynn Consulting
Digital Tech Sector Evangelist, Business Leader, Independent Consultant, NED, Visiting Professor,
TechNorthEast Founder
Stuart Lynn is a renowned technology business leader and former executive of the Sage Group PLC.
More recently, alongside running his own consultancy business. Stuart is a Non-Executive Director at Newcastle Strategic Solutions Ltd, and a Visiting Professor and Industrial Advisory Board Chair at the University of Sunderland.
Stuart is also the Founder of 'Tech North East' the North East of England's digital tech sector collaboration network, where he is a strong advocate of the regions thriving digital technology sector.
Who do you most admire in business?
I feel like many people of my generation and industry background. I admire the Apple Founder, Steve Jobs. He was a true visionary within our industry, and he created a great legacy.
What companies or brands do you like or do you think are getting it right?
Whilst there are many companies doing well today, the one that stands out for me is Microsoft. Mainly because many people wrote Microsoft off during the Steve Balmer years, but since the appointment of Satya Nadella the direction and culture of the company have been reinvented, and the commercial success that followed has been super impressive.
What is the best advice you have ever received?
"Nothing is ever as good as you think it is, and nothing is ever as bad as you think it is." is probably the best advice I've ever received. It has certainly helped me keep a balanced perspective when dealing with some very difficult situations over the years.
What drives or motivates you each day?
I'm motivated by the opportunity to make a difference and do things better, whether that's in business or my personal life.
What are your thoughts on the future of social media?
Whilst the original intentions were good; social media is rapidly becoming anti-social. Today, people use it to broadcast opinion and position rather than to collaborate through digital communication platforms.
The recent election in the UK was a good example of how easily social media can be abused for political gain, not only was there a deluge of information but it was hard, if not impossible, to separate fact from fake news. I have to admit that I'm concerned about the ongoing impact that social media is having on young people, especially.
Do you have a mentor or do you mentor anyone?
I don't have a formal mentor today, albeit I have had many mentors in the past. My first was a lady by the name of Tara Jones from Lane 4 and whilst at the time I didn't think I'd benefit from having a mentor, with her help I significantly changed my life and career. Subsequently, I always recommend having a mentor, and I personally mentor a number of people today.
How do you network?
Mostly I network on a one to one basis in local coffee establishments. I contact people and suggest a chat and a coffee, over the years I must have met hundreds of people this way, and to date, nobody has ever refused the invitation. What's more, it's good to get out of the formalities of the office environment. And most of my consulting engagements have been a result of networking.
How did you get into this line of work and What advice would you have for someone looking to get into the same line of work?
Originally computing was a hobby before it was a career. Like many people in the 80's, I bought a Commodore 64 to play and write computer games. A hugely rewarding career followed, and from the humble beginnings as a computer programmer, I was fortunate to end up running all of Research and Development worldwide for Sage Group PLC.
I can attest to the statement that if you do something you love, you'll never work another day in your life. This makes me biased, but I still feel we're in the early stages of the digital technology revolution, and there will be huge opportunities in this industry for anyone entering it today.
What do you wish you had known when you started out?
It took me too long as a leader to discover that people, and relationships, rather than being good at task management, are the key ingredients to success.
What's the most common reason for people failing or giving up?
I feel people give up when they feel the goal is beyond their reach. This can lead to a loss of confidence, and they lose the belief that they can succeed.
What are you most proud of in your life?
Very easy, I'm most proud of my family. I'm more proud of their achievement that I ever was of my own, and it great to see them doing well.
How do you define success?
Success comes in many shapes and sizes, but my definition of success is simply to achieve what you set out to do. This can be in business when you are delivering a product to a customer, or in your personal life when you want to run a half marathon in a certain time.
What do you think your unique skill(s) is that has helped you become successful?
I believe a few things made me successful in business. I like taking accountability and ownership. I'm confident in my own abilities and experience. I'm well organised and always have a plan. I have the ability to stay balanced and keep calm under pressure, I enjoy working with people, I have a natural ability to motivate people, and I'm a commercial technical leader, i.e. I make a point of understanding how technology can make a company successful, and I'm able to communicate technical issues to commercial leaders in a way they can understand.
What valuable lessons have you learned so far that you could share with our audience?
Storytelling is such a crucial skill – the most successful business leaders and businesses are great at this. If you can't easily describe what you do and why you do what you do, you can't tell your team and prospective customers why you're different, and you will find it so much harder to beat your competition, succeed and grow. Check out Simon Sinek 'Start with Why' on YouTube to discover more about this topic.
No plan is a plan to fail - If you don't have a business plan linked to performance outcomes, then there is no plan for your success. You're ultimate 'just doing work' and risk treading the same path and making no progress. It's important to remember that all business activity needs to have a purpose, over and above best endeavours.
Forget trying to hire ready-made skills, especially for the emergent tech – you're wasting your time as they don't exist, or if they do then they're super rare. Instead hire people who demonstrate initiative, can learn fast, and create an environment where they can tap into experts and experiment.
Forget about the customer at your peril – a common mistake with some business is that they forget, or deviate significantly from, their original purpose of delivering solutions to address customer needs. Instead, they spend a disproportionate amount of time focusing internally on structure, operating models, and business processes. Keep asking yourself, why do we really need this, and will this activity help the business scale faster.
"Go big or go home" – a much-overused saying but set your growth ambitions high and make sure you ask for enough investment, in time and resources, to make a significant difference rather than enough for just a small difference. Of course, you will likely have to earn the right to any investment, so make sure you are rock solid on points 1 and 2.
Never be afraid to ask for help and advice - maximise the rich ecosystem that's available across your network. There are normally lots of opportunities, inside and outside of business, that anyone can readily access. I've worked with large business, scale-ups and startups, across private, public and third sectors, and without exception, all of them are supportive and willing to give up some of their time for a chat over a coffee.
Is there anything new you are working on that you would like to share?
One of the new roles I've recently taken on is Chair of the North East Local Enterprise Partnership's Digital Strategy steering group. The objective of the Digital Strategy is to help the North East region grow and prosper through growing the digital technology sector directly and the adoption of digital technology across all other sectors. This is a massive undertaking, but also a massive opportunity for the region if we can execute it effectively.
Where's your favourite place?
I spent so much of my working life travelling the world with work; my favourite place is at home. That's not to say I don't enjoy going on holiday, but I rarely go back to the same place more than once.
What is your hobby?
I have two main hobbies, I'm a keen golfer, and I'm a keen sprinter still competing at the national level.
Best holiday of choice?
Best holiday would involve adventure activities or exploring. Least favourite is beaches, absolutely hate sand, and get bored very quickly sitting around.
What are you not very good at and What are you good at?
I'm not good at sitting still, and I get bored very quickly. I'd like to think I'm good at and take great satisfaction from, helping people through my mentoring relationships.
Which words do you overuse?
As someone who is naturally curious, I use the word 'Why' constantly, why do we need that, why is it important, why do we need to do it that way. I also use the phrase "bent out of shape" quite a lot to describe when someone isn't happy about something.
Your social media platform of choice?
Facebook for personal use and LinkedIn for business use. Twitter reluctantly to promote my business and the North East Region and can't see the point of Instagram.
When are you happiest?
When I see other people succeeding in their personal or professional life.
Your favourite movie?
Two movies, 'Pulp Fiction' and 'It's a Wonderful Life', the latter being an annual tradition in the Lynn household.
What living person do you most admire?
I most admire Liz, my wife of 25 years. Not just for being a great companion, soul mate and mother to our wonderful children, but for her voluntary work over the past decade with the UK Citizens Advice Bureau who help those people in most need.
A positive quote that you like to share with people.
"Hard work beats talent if talent doesn't work hard."