Mike Schorah

What a great experience for my first time using 99designs! I wrote a decent brief and tried to provide fast & honest feedback. I worked through 158 designs from dozens of designers, whether solo artists or companies. Impact Designers stood out through their attention to details in the brief; creative interpretation; spontaneous initiative in providing variations of the design; and showing mock-ups of the design if used in real life... They were fast and accurate in responding to feedback and initiated a call (from India to UK) to clarify their understanding. Nothing seemed too much trouble and I got exactly what I asked for. We deliver value hidden in the depths of data to make money and save money. The logo neatly captures our technical collaboration around data.

They labelled me a “Directing Motivator” - Apparently that means I’m Results focused, decisive and assertive; combined with drive, enthusiasm and positive thinking. We had about forty of us (Executive Leadership Team, regional directors, their reports and some “heads of” from business central operations) go through the Insights Discovery process. It’s probably the most accurate personality profiling tool I’ve yet experienced: almost uncannily accurate, not just for me but most of the others. Mike is a good people manager because he has the ability to see what may lie ahead and then communicate his vision to others. His natural intuition, fed by a drive to discover, brings with it the readiness to work long and hard in the pursuit of an ongoing dream.  Mike is seen by others as pragmatic, dependable and able to get things done.  He exhibits an infectious enthusiasm for living.  Curious and alert, Mike  prefers to understand rather than judge.  He is ...

Frankly I was a bit shocked to realise that I hadn't been blogging since 2014. Of course, I knew it'd been a long time (mostly due to embargo from employers), but I've realised that there's value to publishing my content on a site that's mine and not, say, LinkedIn's. My first reflection today is that I'm great at leading teams to solve problems and deliver results . I like building teams that make a difference and get things done , while having a lot of fun in the process. But, secondly, I do this best when there's some element of challenge around starting things up, or turning things around, or maybe making changes to get things back on course. In other words, I don't do well in a routine or stable business-as-usual state. Of course, I work best in teams. Some recent analysis has marked me out as a "Directing Motivator" and I'm looking forward to developing my strengths in the next venture. I'll try to establish the bl...

It was frustrating to sit with the General Manager and the owner's representative at a business in the Middle East earlier this week. They're leaking tremendous value from the business and don't seem to realise it. The General Manager was trying to drive down production costs, say by an extra 5% year on year. He'd already got piece costs down to 22 cents per item compared to European costs of more than 70 cents. He was trying to argue that he couldn't invest in new stuff because his prices weren't as high as the Europeans'. Instead of holding prices and cutting costs to give him the margin for his investment, he was just cutting sales prices, while costs might well be rising... I soon realised it wasn't worth pointing out he was comparing apples with oranges: I'd guess that factoring in the difference between regional wage, tax, property and utilities rates would bring the numbers more in line between the European and Middle Eastern regions. ...

When Apple Watch was announced last week, like many I was surprised that it didn't include the Touch ID fingerprint security first revealed in the iPhone 5S. But it doesn't need it; and this could be key to awesome value from the Apple Watch. A killer feature. We know that the Apple Watch will need to be unlocked, authenticated, once each day. But that it'll remain unlocked as long as it's on your wrist. However we don't know how it gets unlocked. Tapping in a passcode on the watch screen would be a step backwards after Touch ID. Here's a better plan: we know the Watch needs an iPhone. Place it on your wrist for the first time that day and let the watch communicate with your nearby iPhone for you to confirm your identity, ideally with Touch ID rather than a passcode. Then let the iPhone confirm who you are back to the Watch and it can remain unlocked so long as you keep it on your wrist. Great. But it gets better: once the Watch knows it's securely on...

“Squeaky clean since 1918” is the tag line for the Paragon laundry group, a family-owned business with >600 staff and an impressive slice of the UK commercial laundry market; along with some interests in the Middle East and elsewhere… From Monday 8th September I’m thrilled to be appointed as head of NewGen International, the group’s software subsidiary. It’s an interesting time with some pioneering “Internet of Things” work, including embedding RFID tags in laundry items to add value in a number of innovative ways. And I’m excited that the group MD’s have spotted some great opportunities with the Red Starfish software. I’m delighted that I’m retaining my interests in Starfish CI alongside this new role.  Get more like this