Phil Atherton... Getting to know our leadership team
Getting to know our leadership team. Meet…
Phil Atherton
Chief Innovation Officer, Istoria Group | Co-Founder, Solverboard
1. Where were you born - and brought up?
I was born and brought up in mid-Bedfordshire in a classic home counties small town. There were two types of people there – those who loved the security and familiarity of a small town environment and wanted to stay forever and those who couldn’t wait to get out and see the world. I was definitely amongst the latter!
2. What did you want to be when you grew up?
I had two aspirations – to be an archaeologist or an architect. I was surrounded by books on ancient cultures growing up, which fed the first ambition, and I come from a family of engineers, so technical questioning about how things work was always present too.
3. Tell us about the career journey that brought you to Istoria Group?
I studied engineering, but quickly discovered I didn’t love engineering. I worked for major companies such as Renault Trucks and BAE Systems, gaining extensive cost analysis and project management experience, and discovered along the way my true passion as an agent of business change. The pace of change in larger corporations was too slow for me in the end, however, because of shareholder reporting, whilst Istoria Group was really evolving and accelerating its own pace of change at that point. The speed with which you could see changes taking effect quickly became addictive. It’s been an exciting ten years ever since!
4. What do you most enjoy about your current role?
With Istoria Group, I love working with so many smart, collaborative people who epitomise our EPIC brand values. I love how every day is different. I enjoy the focus on business performance and strategic thinking and testing out the functionality of all that we do in order to meet customer expectations. The need to be mentally agile at all times is something I really value.
With Solverboard – our all-in-one innovation management platform helping companies to test, optimise and validate their innovation programmes - I’ve hugely enjoyed the build-up to the platform launch.
5. What does a typical day look like for you?
It’s often pretty manic! The day starts with the rush to get the kids to school and then the work day starts with a team meeting, where it’s always great to feed off the energy of everyone else. My main focus is often to respond to the needs of my Solverboard team to make sure that no one’s stuck or in need of advice, decisions or whatever it takes to enable them to move forward. For Istoria Group, it's about checking progress and status and responding to business forecasts. Whenever I’m flagging – at lunchtime or the end of the day – I go for a swim.
6. Which part(s) of Istoria Group’s ethos are you most passionate about and why?
Definitely ‘E for Entrepreneurial’, which is what the Group has been about from day one. When it comes to Solverboard, the ‘I for Intelligent Thinking’ is the biggest aspect to developing the business and the incredible complexity involved in how the platform works. There’s been a mind-boggling amount of innovation! ‘C for Collaboration’ is also important. There’s an incredible team spirit here.
7. What have been the biggest lessons of your career to date?
The importance of being open and honest, both in terms of sharing information and being open to new ways of thinking. In the last 3-5 years, the latest generation of people coming into business has brought the biggest step change for a long while I think – in a good way. You have to keep reminding yourself as you grow older - and in view of the widening of influences on business life - how little you know and how important it is to keep learning.
8. What drives and motivates you?
Change, plain and simple. I’m someone who really needs new energy. I need to see how things could be better and to witness the impact of decisions and a sense of progress.
9. Do you have any tips for being a successful company leader?
The job of any leader is to try and create positive change by keeping everyone’s focus on the future. At any level of a business, a shared vision is very important, whilst for a leader, rallying a new team to ensure buy-in to that future vision is key. You have to encourage people to take risks, at least small ones, and to embark on a path of trying, learning, failing, improving and succeeding.
My biggest tip would be that once people have bought into a vision and direction, you have to allow them enough space to flourish and avoid micro-managing them.
10. What kind of people do you most enjoy working with – both as colleagues and as clients?
Without a doubt, smart people and people who are happy to roll up their sleeves. I like radical thinkers too, who are unafraid of being contentious, whilst at the same time remaining focused on the values of the business. I also believe very strongly in having fun at work.
11. Do you have any mantras or quotes that inspire you in your work?
I think remembering to keep perspective is vital, whatever the day’s events. ‘The world will still be spinning tomorrow’ as someone once said to me in my first job!
I investigated Buddhism when I was younger and took from that the wisdom of worrying about what you can change and where you can have an impact, rather than taking on the totality of everything at all times, which can be paralysing.
Finally, a life of mistakes is better than a life spent not trying. It’s so important to me to try things and not be afraid.
12. Who do you personally admire in the wider world?
I get inspired by seeing and appreciating the people all around me. I love the brilliance of everyday people and it’s really that for me - rather than far-distant figures - that inspires me to want to keep doing and being better.
13. Where would we find you at weekends?
Getting the kids outdoors, into the countryside or onto a beach. For me, anything to do with the sea is good!
14. Name a book everyone should read?
I’m reading Oliver Burkeman’s ‘Four Thousand Weeks’ at the moment and it’s great. It’s all about making your predicted 4000 weeks on earth as good as you can.
Also, anything by the writer and historian Yuval Noah Harari. I’ve read all his books and he has such an incredible breadth of knowledge and a unique ability to synthesise history, geography, anthropology and culture - and still make it communicable to all. His book ‘Sapiens’ has sold 12 million copies to date, for example – an extraordinary figure for a popular science book.
15. What future ambitions still burn for you?
Finding a way to deal with some of the mega challenges that lie ahead of us as a species – climate change, water scarcity and how we’re going to feed the population – as well as working out what people will do for a job as technology does more and more of what we used to do. As a father, these things pre-occupy me!
For the Solverboard business, I would love to create an ecosystem of bringing in new start-ups – particularly businesses that are seeking to make a positive change. There’s too much lip service paid to sustainability right now, so businesses that can have a positive impact on that are important – and which have more potential to bring about a better world than most governments right now!
Phil Atherton, Chief Technology Officer, Istoria Group & Co-Founder, Solverboard