Logged In With….Coolpink MD Mark Bower
Logged In with: Mark Bower
Organisation: Coolpink
Job title: Managing director of the Leeds-based digital agency
Career highlights:
Well it’s been a scary but hugely rewarding roller coaster ride for much of the past 10 years! There have been so many ups and downs along the way, but a clear highlight would have to be my appointment as MD a couple of years ago. This eventually led to the MBO last year with business partner Simon Crossland, and our then investor Andy Jones both exiting the business – leaving me in full control, backed by our new investment partner, Justin Whitston.
Who has had the biggest influence on your career to date?
Interesting. I haven’t had many personal mentors that I could point to as great influencers, but have always relied quite heavily on positive books and tapes to get me through the tough times. Even though I haven’t met him in person, I’d have to say that the work of the American self-help guru Tony Robbins has had the greatest impact over all. I really relate to his approach and have definitely gone back to this stuff over and over again when faced with what seemed like insurmountable challenges. After that, I’d have to say that our previous investor Andy Jones was a huge influence in terms of his professionalism and focus.
What do you enjoy most and least about your role?
Although I still enjoy getting hands on with clients and projects, my favourite part of the role these days is definitely the strategic planning element. I get a real buzz out of tinkering around with forecasts and spreadsheets, looking at how various factors affect the business both positively and negatively and setting out the vision for the development of the business over the coming years.
As a business leader, what’s the key to managing people?
Our business has a lot of bright, ambitious young people. Often these people are motivated as much by recognition and the feeling of being part of something great as they are by potential financial rewards. A big part of managing a team of this nature is creating and maintaining an atmosphere of excitement and passion for the work. We are big believers in giving people responsibility and freedom to think for themselves, but with a quality control system in place to ensure that we always get the right end result. A lot of times the team is pretty much self-managing, largely because we always hire the best possible people that we can find!
What are the biggest barriers to your organisation’s success?
The barriers to growth constantly change as the business develops. In the old days we were too small to attract really great clients and staff, but now days it seems that we have developed far enough that this is no longer such a problem. Going forward the main challenge for us is to grow the business to the next level without losing the fantastic sense of team spirit that has allowed us to get to where we are today.
How well do you feel this region is placed to weather the recession?
That’s a difficult question for me to answer as our particular sector has fared better than most when it comes to surviving the downturn. As for the economy in general, I really don’t have much of a view as to how Yorkshire would compare to anywhere else. It seems so sector dependant. If you are in building or manufacturing I doubt if you have been having much fun for the last 12 months or so irrespective of where you are based.
How has technology changed your life in the last five years?
It’s really easy to get over excited about this kind of question, but if I really think about it I don’t think that anything that’s happened in the last five years has had such a big impact that I’d say it has changed my life. Yes, today we all use email and online services to an extent that would have been hard to imagine even five years ago, but has any of this had a life changing effect? I don’t really think so. For me, the life changing effect has been that I have been involved in a business in the technology sector that has been relatively successful. The fact that more and more people are using the technology to a greater and greater extent has had the knock on effect of changing my life quite considerably. For the most part, however, we are all still sort of doing what we were doing anyway – it’s just that now everyone is under increased pressure to do everything instantaneously!
If you weren’t doing what you’re doing now, what alternative career would you choose and why?
I’ve always harboured secret desires to do something “creative”. I play a couple of instruments and have fantasised about recording music at some stage. My longest standing ambition has always been to write a novel. If I wasn’t MD at Coolpink, I hope that I’d try to give myself the time to pursue some of these activities and see if I have what it takes to succeed!
Which sectors do you think will thrive/ struggle in the coming years?
It seems pretty obvious that the digital sector still has some way to go to reach its peak. For those of us inside the business it still feels like we are just getting started. We are literally still having the same conversations with some people that we’ve been having for almost 10 years, although in most cases mindsets have finally started to change to some extent. As for other sectors, if Branson is getting into space tourism then that’s probably one to keep an eye on – and my own personal tip would be cosmetic surgery. I remember watching the Sci-Fi series ‘Logan’s Run’ years ago and the whole population were young and beautiful and everyone was at the cosmetic surgeon’s every two minutes and I thought – “I bet that happens one day”. I still think it will.
In five words, describe your character.
Pedantic, irritating, ambitious, arrogant, manipulative. (Answers supplied by Sally Aisbitt, Head of Ops)
Which actor/actress would you chose to play you in a film?
Definitely NOT Arnie! Maybe someone a bit lower key – like Sean Penn or Kevin Spacey?
