Thomas Power BackStory 1980-2020

Nick Warren
Stories That Mean Business
Mob/WhatsApp: +44 0 7976 836506
nick@nickwarren.com
STORIESTHAT MEAN BUSINESS.com
Thomas Power
With Nick Warren

Nick Warren. Stories That Mean Business. Mob/WhatsApp: +44 0 7976 836506. nick@nickwarren.com
When I ask CEOs to lift their eyes
to the horizon and think about the
future, most of them ﬂinch.
STORIESTHAT MEAN BUSINESS
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It’s not their fault.
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They already have two phones,
three-hundred notiﬁcations, and
four more meetings to get to
before lunch.
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When you’re under siege,
everything beyond ‘right now’ feels
like a threat.
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They have board members on
their back, institutional investors,
and business models born in the
20th century.
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What they don’t have is time.
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You can’t think about the future
if the present is screaming in
your face.
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I know that from experience.
My ﬁrst tech job was working
for Alan Sugar.
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It was a four-letter education. He
taught me the value of research,
the power of planning, and the
need for execution. (Both kinds.)
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“Tell me something I don’t know. Give
me an edge. Don’t come back unless
you’ve got ALL the information.”
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Back then, research meant a dumb
phone, an old car or a seat in
economy class.
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I got to hang out with other
youngsters in tech – people like
Bill Gates, Steve Balmer and
Michael Dell.
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And they all understood the
same thing...
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Research. Plan. Execute.
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I thought I understood it too. I
was looking for my chance. A
billionaire in training.
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I spent the nineties waiting and
watching. Different jobs. Different
companies. One focus…
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Get the information. Get the edge.
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Then, in 1998, my wife and I saw
our chance and created one of the
ﬁrst social networks.
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Before Facebook. Before Twitter.
Before LinkedIn.
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The network was Ecademy -
a community for business
people - and we loved it like
one of our children.
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We nurtured it with tender care.
Day and night. Through the dotcom
boom. Through the dotcom bust.
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Link by link. Member by member.
Country by country. Twelve
months. Then two years. Then four.
Then eight.
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By 2006 we had 650,000
members in sixty countries, thirty-
thousand subscribers, and Big
Money knocking at the door.
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But it came at a price.
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We were living the millionaire life.
Perhaps you know it. Beautiful
home. Beautiful family. Miserable
soul-crushing stress.
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There were months when I
averaged 50 meetings a week. Plus
phone calls. Plus emails. Plus
speaking engagements.
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No space to research, plan or
execute. No time to lift our eyes
and understand the future that
was bearing down.
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So when Big Money came
knocking, we weren’t prepared.
We said no to the right offer, then
yes to the wrong one. Nothing
went right.
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We spiralled down, desperate and
bereaved. Watching it all slip away.
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By 2012 it was over.
Ecademy was gone.
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And on that day I lost my business,
my identity, my self-respect, and
my mind.
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Not just a failed billionaire. A failed
businessman, husband and father.
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It’s hard to admit to that kind
of darkness, but even harder
to live with.
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Our family suffered other
tragedies. There were weeks and
months when I wanted to die.
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Thank God we had each other,
three inspiring children, and many
loving friends.
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Eventually, I got help, and
understood that the damage is
done by the gap between the mask
we wear and the reality beneath.
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That makes sense. After Ecademy, I
wore my THOMAS mask for years.
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It was the THOMAS mask that forced itself
out of bed in the morning. The THOMAS mask
that looked back from the mirror. And the
THOMAS mask that made it back to work.
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I became a non-executive director
and joined boards around the world.
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In 2014, I began working with
Jay Shetty.
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He was bright and brilliant and had
no trouble looking to the future.
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He just needed a map.
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A way to focus on the things that
matter, and let go of the things
that don’t.
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Something was changing, but I was
still THOMAS. Still damaged.
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Then, in March 2018, the ﬁnal wake-
up call. Bowel cancer. Stage 3.
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Act now, or it’s over.
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And here’s the dark truth. Once the
future is in doubt, it’s all you can
focus on. A horizon screaming in
your face.
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An operation. Recovery. Brutal
chemotherapy - ﬁfty-two hours at
a time.
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Brutal but wonderful. Time to
think. Time to let go. Time to ﬁnd
Thomas again.
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And that’s what happened. The
mask burned away with the cancer.
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In 2019, I bought an old fashioned
address book – an A to Z – and
started noting down the disruptive
technology and ideas that will hit
before 2030.
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Within a month, I had over
one-hundred.
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I call it The Road To 2030, but it
isn’t really a road. It’s a map.
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It’s a map for people willing to ﬁnd
a little time, take off their masks
and raise their eyes.
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In December 2019 I gave my ﬁrst
Road To 2030 presentation –
to Fujitsu.
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Come join us and learn more.
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Got a story that needs telling?
Visit GetYourLegend.com or contact Nick Warren on LinkedIn or Twitter.
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Thomas Power BackStory 1980-2020

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