Kevin Gaskell was born in 1958 in
England. Having been graduated, he started his career in Lamborghini and after
almost five years he could make a company near bankruptcy the most profitable
England automobile.
Kevin as CEO of four successful
brands and as an entrepreneur who has built international companies, has led
businesses in sectors including automotive, branded goods, technology, data,
professional services, marine and landscape gardening!
His energy and leadership has helped
companies including Porsche, BMW, Lamborghini, etc. to achieve world class
levels of customer service and financial performance.
he was appointed UK Managing Director
of Porsche at the age of 32 and BMW GB at the age of 37. He was recognized as
‘One of the top 40 leaders under 40 in the UK’.
There are a lot of gains he has in
the field of management and trades, and many of us have participated in his
classes and conferences. But what has made him a different manager is his being
adventurous. He is one among a few number of managers who has spent some parts
of his time doing weird and adventurous things, and one of these things is the
travel to the North Pole. His idea about his travel to the Arctic is written on
next page.

On our recent North Pole expedition
we knew that the competition would include intense cold, moving ice sheets and
hungry polar bears, so we prepared for all of those challenges. The unexpected
competitor was the one which eventually caused us the biggest concern – the
killer whale that would come through the ice in anticipation of a fleece
wrapped hot meal on skis!
Back at work half my time is spent
working closely with new and fresh young companies. Straight out of business incubators these
exciting businesses identify a new market niche, rush in with an innovative
proposition – often employing fresh technology or an application of social
media – try out new ideas, make mistakes, try another idea, learn quickly and
begin to grow rapidly.
I get enormous satisfaction from
investing in them and supporting their management. My challenge with these entrepreneurial
organizations is to get them to prepare for all the challenges ahead. I know that they will be fast on their feet
when the unexpected occurs, but in some situations they need to examine the
situation in more depth before leaping into action. Being unprepared for the occasional ‘hungry
polar bear’ could be fatal!
The other half of my time I am
advising large, established companies on corporate challenges. Whether it’s how to react to and deal with
the reality of losing customers to new entrant challengers or how to deal with
transformational technology being exploited by innovative competitors, my
challenge is often to get them to be creative and nimble if they are to protect
their future.
They must examine the market from
every angle and recognize that their new challengers will not only be the polar
bears and the competitors that they expect, but it may be a new organization
with a different approach. No matter how well prepared you think you are, you
must think well outside the box when it comes to anticipating threats or you
end up as lunch for an opportunist killer whale.
Working with companies at the
opposite ends of the business spectrum may seem like a contradiction, but I
think the two can learn from each other. New businesses need to learn from the
structure and systems that larger, established enterprises operate.
And even the leaders of the most
successful and established businesses must ensure that they encourage
innovation and new idea generation. They must also make sure that they nurture
the positive and energetic culture which allows that creativity to make a
meaningful difference to the business.
Does your business have the best of
both? It is well-prepared and planned for success or able to deal with hungry
polar bears? or does it have a fresh, energetic and creative business culture
on the lookout for killer whales?