14 Glynn Purnell

Glynn Purnell from Paul Hadley on Vimeo.

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One man who has been leading the art of good food is Glynn Purnell. He started his craft when still at school, practicing and honing his skills on family and friends, and has made industry-recognised progress throughout his career development. So much so, his Purnell’s Restaurant in Birmingham boasts a Michelin Star.

Key to the success of his restaurants is the ethos of strong leadership, management, and teamwork. In this short feature I get to see a little snapshot of what happens behind the scenes, watch the team in action and ask Glynn a few questions, not about his cooking skills, but about his management and leadership style.

Named at Number 14 on 2009’s Birmingham Post Power 50 list, without doubt, Glynn Purnell is Birmingham’s premier chef, internationally recognised and respected by his peers, a fact that features in many magazine and newspaper reviews and frequent TV appearances.

Oh, and yes, I sampled one of the dishes (Goats’ cheese royal – textures of Beetroot – Rosary foam ), and yes, it was delicious. Comes with the project I suppose… call it a perk ;-) Thanks Glynn. I’ll be back, paying next time.

1 Paul Thandi

1 Paul Thandi from Paul Hadley on Vimeo.

Fantastic news !
Today (3rd Feb, 2011), TheBusinessDesk.com have announced that Paul Thandi, Chief Executive of The NEC Group is to receive an honorary doctorate from Birmingham City University.
During his time there, he has worked to boost the group’s international portfolio and overseen the £40m refurbishment of the NEC exhibition centre and £30m revamp and rebrand of the NEC Arena, now the LG Arena.

Shortly before this announcement was made, I had the opportunity to interview Paul, where he gave me a valuable insight to his management and leadership style, describing what drives him, where his inspiration comes from, and how he applies it whilst running a very successful business.

2 Paul Kehoe

Today, as part of my BP50 project, I had the pleasure of interviewing Paul Kehoe, Chief Executive of Birmingham Airport.
With a wealth of past experience in many related areas and industries, Paul told me about how his management and leadership style has been influenced over the years, and how he applies it in his current role.

Paul Kehoe from Paul Hadley on Vimeo.

It was interesting to learn (off camera) that during extreme weather conditions, he wears a different hat- the one of snow plough driver- and his colleagues all do something similar to ensure that the airport remains open for business.
Recent years have seen many changes at the airport, and the future holds more challenges and changes to come. Here Paul tells me how these plans are currently progressing, and describes what the impact on the local economy and landscape will be.

HS2: High Speed 2

hs2-train

(image supplied by Birmingham Chamber of Commerce)

Today I attended the West Midlands High Speed Rail Business Debate at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham (UK).

Hosted by Birmingham Chamber of Commerce & moderated by Patrick Burns, (Political Editor, BBC Midlands), the event featured panel guests:
Philip Hammond MP, Secretary of State for Transport.
Simon Topman MBE, Chairman & President of WM Trade Visits and MD of Acme Whistles
Paul Kehoe, CEO, Birmingham Airport
Paul Thandi, Chief Executive, NEC Group Continue reading

36 Paul Bradshaw

Fresh from his lecturing role in online journalism (and others) at Birmingham City University, Paul has just started the next stage of his career.

The founder of Help Me Investigate, Paul’s knowledge and experience comes from previous roles in editing magazines and websites.

During a short lunch break, I managed to spend some time with Paul at the Custard Factory, where we spoke about his professional and academic history, current trends and the influences of technology for holding those in power to account, and briefly touched on what the future for the media industry could possibly have in store.

Paul Bradshaw from Paul Hadley on Vimeo.

27 Professor Nick James

You know, there comes a time when you meet someone that is truly the leading authority in their specialised field- for me, that time was today, with Nick.

Such a wealth of knowledge and experience guide Nick’s leadership choices, and if ever there was an example of good teamwork making a real difference to someone’s life, then surely, this is it.

Professor Nick James from Paul Hadley on Vimeo.

39- James Yarker

Very rarely does one find a performing arts company that has the opportunity and ability, not only to challenge the status quo in an avant-garde manner, but manages to continually succeed, leads the city, region, and country in the international marketplace and generates its own sustainable future.

James Yarker from Paul Hadley on Vimeo.

James Yarker is the Artistic Director with Stan’s Cafe (pronounced ‘Caff’ – not Café like wot I did!), and along with Craig Stephens and Charlotte Martin (both lovely people that I met again today), the company are moving forwards with ambitious plans, and gaining rightful international recognition with every performance they produce.

I dare say, that we will be hearing a lot more from Stan’s Cafe in the future, and I for one will be attending some of their performances, in what looks like a very ambitious and exciting programme of future productions.

I urge you to do the same wherever you are… if Stan’s Cafe appear near you, please make an effort to go check them out. You can find more information at http://stanscafe.co.uk

41- Kerry Thomas

In this video, I visit Kerry Thomas and Dave at Fused Magazine.

We talk about the past history and success achieved, and Kerry gives us an insight into what the future holds, both for them, and also for print-based media, and the creative industries in Birmingham.

Kerry Thomas from Paul Hadley on Vimeo.

Many thanks to Kerry for giving me some of her valuable time- especially on print deadline day.

37- Helga Henry

I managed to steal 15 minutes of Helga’s time at the Fierce Earth offices in The Big Peg, right in the heart of Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter.

Contained within the interview, Helga tells us her thoughts on the creative industries and a way forwards for Birmingham; her use of social media, connectivity and communications; and how the use of digital media in the arts requires an attitude shift from cultural providers, to encourage listening to audiences, and the democratic process involved when engaging with them. Finally, we hear of Fierce Earth’s upcoming programme and their plans for the future.

Helga Henry, Fierce Earth. from Paul Hadley on Vimeo.

Helga is a graduate in Drama and French, a qualified lawyer and a former Associate at Wragge & Co.

Her experience includes Business Development Manager for Second Sight and being the first administrator for Women & Theatre. Helga is a Board Member of Bright Space (UK) Ltd and Geese Theatre and has previously held the position of Chair of the Board for Creative Republic.

In addition, Helga has particular expertise in professional services marketing, presentation skills training and meeting facilitation. Currently, Helga is leading the on-line campaign team behind Birmingham’s City of Culture bid.

Self-described as “Tireless champion of the West Midlands’ creative industries and fan of a nice cup of tea” – you can contact Helga via her blog, twitter or LinkedIn.

Production Lab- Sustainability and Social Media

This week was the first back at BCU after an extended Christmas break. Over the period, I’ve had the opportunity to progress the Enterprise module in practice by linking in with some top-quality business events, forming some strong partnerships in the process, gathering new and potential clients and earning some money in the process (see http://eventwith.me for more information)

Now though, we move onto module 2- Production Lab.

Like it says in the title, this module is all about experimentation, evaluation, risk management, development, action and measurable outcomes. Not too much heavy reading of theory- this is all about putting my learning into practice.

Firstly, here’s Dave Harte’s introduction lecture on what the module is all about:

Linking in nicely with some of the content delivered by EASN at the recent Communication and Collaboration – the future of automotive strategy – event, where much discussion revolved around the development and cross-European integration of different technologies and fuel sources, and the sharing of such information and collaborative strategy work, there appears to be a good link into my next project: Sustainability and Social Media.

The aim is to work with Advantage West Midlands and industry to support companies working in the environmental sector to encourage an increase in digital engagement. The Production Lab project came about because, even though the managers at AWM have great contacts in local industry, they are looking to improve communications and effective networking opportunities within the Sustainability-related and manufacturing industries.

The cross-over of discussion topics will, I suspect, be very similar those recently seen at EASN (read time taken vs money/profit). The challenge for me will be that I will be working with a completely unfamiliar area of industry, and breaking through the ‘traditional’ communications barrier will be a significant factor of whether this project is successful or not.

The opportunity to integrate my studies, be a representative of BCU and work closely with Advantage West Midlands will come to a climax during the Sustainability Live exhibition and seminars, during which I am hoping to run a social media surgery session with some colleagues. Then, after that, there will be a conference/workshop to deliver, and of course, a full report to write, in addition to my MA study deadline documents.

So, forgive me if this blog takes a different direction for a few months. I hope you will enjoy the journey with me.

In the meantime, here’s a document link from Bridget Fleetwood that I’ll keep in my ‘toolkit’ : http://www.out-law.com//default.aspx?page=10759