THE DAVID AXSON STORY
Learnings
- The beauty of being one’s own boss
- Global insights into the art of management decision making
- The impact of uncertainty, volatility and unpredictability on today’s businesses
- The obsolescence of most traditional management processes
- The power of technology to globalize the world economy
- How to entertain while educating
Global insights into the art of management
2004 - To Date
Sonax Group, Bath Ohio, USA
Founder & President
Clients include:
Adastra (Czech Republic), BiLo Stores, Cognos, Eventful Management (Australia), Intuit, Karabus Management, Raytheon, Rockwell Collins, SAP, Sprint, Thomson Corporation.
Founder of a research, consulting and business advisory firm in the fields of business strategy, finance and technology.
Author of three books "From Data to Decisions – Best Practices in Planning and Management Reporting" (Wiley 2003), Best Practices in Planning and Performance Management (Wiley 2007) and Half The World Away (to be published later in 2008 by Countinghouse Press 2008)
I have served on the boards of a number of small companies. Currently a board member of the Northern Ohio Golf Association (NOGA) Charities and Foundation and Old Trail School. Serve as a volunteer rules official for the United States Golf Association.
Influences
Living through my daughter via Coldplay, My Chemical Romance and introducing her to the delights of Def Leppard and AC/DC
Learnings
- Being accountable for change
- Selling and then managing major behavioral change in a large complex organization
- Why I hate large bureaucracies and could never work for one again.
- Large scale M&A – BofA’s purchase of Fleet Boston
- The importance of reputation in risk management
- No time for music, too busy!
No time for music, too busy
2003 - 2004
Bank of America, Charlotte, NC, USA
Head of Corporate Planning
Completed a one-year assignment as Senior Vice President & Head of Corporate Planning for Bank of America reporting to the Bank’s CFO leading a fundamental redesign and restructuring of the Bank’s planning, forecasting and reporting processes.
Influences
As an executive in corporate America my life was ruled by Sarbanes Oxley, the Fed, The Wall Street Journal and Ken Lewis, perhaps the most under-appreciated CEO in America today.
Learnings
- The power of best practices to transform business performance
- Automating inefficiency just gives you bad data faster
- Only ten percent of all companies can be in the top decile of performance!
- How companies make really simple things really complicated
- Bootstrapping a business with no capital to taking it public in 6 years
Simplifying the complex
1991 - 2002
The Hackett Group, Hudson, Ohio, USA
Co-founder & Chief Operating Officer
Clients include:
A.C. Neilsen, Alcoa, AT&T, Bank of America, Capital One, CBS, Dell, General Motors, Hewlett Packard, International Paper, Koch Industries, Labatts, Mattel, Morgan Stanley, PfizerTextron, Unilever (Netherlands), United Technologies, Waste Management.
Co-founder of The Hackett Group a leading business benchmarking and research firm. Designed many of the firms benchmarks and analyzed the management practices of nearly 2,000 different organizations. As Chief Operating Officer I helped negotiate the sale the business in 1997 and was a member of the leadership team that took The Hackett Group public on NASDAQ in 1998.
Influences
Hootie, Collective Soul, Oasis, The Verve…
Learnings
- Working in a global world; dealing with multi-cultural, multi-lingual and multinational change
- Asia poised for economic take-off
- Most management process issues are the same the world-over
- Being English is a distinct advantage in the global world
Global complexity
1989 - 1991
A.T. Kearney, London, England
Manager
Clients include:
Bank of Thailand (Thailand), Bank Utama (Malaysia), Barclays Bank (UK) Lloyds TSB (UK), Postipankki (Finland), Standard Chartered Bank.
Founding member of the global financial services practice serving clients in North America, Europe and Asia. Completed strategy, organizational and systems projects in the U.K., U.S., Belgium, Finland, Italy, Malaysia, Singapore, Switzerland and Thailand.
Influences
Falling in love with America – sad but true and it was not just a love of Journey, REM and Bon Jovi.
Learnings
- The role of risk in management
- Building a business from scratch in leading the establishment of a new securities trading operation from scratch – everything from systems to trash cans
- There’s more to food than fish and chips
There’s more to food than fish & chips
1985 - 1989
Deloitte, Haskins & Sells. London, England
Manager
Clients include:
Baring Brothers, Cable & Wireless, Merrill Lynch, S.G. Warburg, Winterflood Securities.
Served financial services clients in the City of London through an intense period of deregulation and global expansion.
Influences
Dare I admit to Duran Duran, but also Springsteen, Meatloaf, and Live Aid.
Learnings
- Its all about common sense
- The pain of process
- The power of cash
- London is the coolest city in the world
The power of cash!
1983 - 1985
Lloyds Bank Plc. London, England
Lending Officer
Influences
Dire Straits, ABC, Donald Fagen, Terrence Trent D’Arby, Genesis and walking out of a Michael Jackson show.
Learnings
- The promise of technology (much of which has still not been realized 25 years later)
- The power of numbers to both clarify and confuse
Education
1980 - 1983
University of Leeds, Leeds, England
Honours degrees in Accounting and Computer Science with a minor in Sam Smiths Brewery Biitter.
Member of the British Computer Society
Influences
The power of the live show – Elvis Costello, The Police, Annie Lennox, The Stones, The Kinks, Grandmaster Flash, Squeeze, Barclay James Harvest.
Learnings
- The basics - walking, talking, the alphabet, etc.
- How to play cricket - badly!
- An inability to sing or dance
The Early Years
Born in Stoke-on-Trent, England in 1961, I grew up in Congleton, Cheshire and attended Sandbach Grammar School from 1970 to 1980 graduating with A-levels in Economics, Geography, Statistics and General Studies. Represented the school at athletics (believe it or not) chess, cricket, rugby, and swimming (five time district champion in the backstroke). Also captained Congleton Golf Club's junior golf team to two regional championships in 1977 and 78 beginning a lifelong addiction to chasing little white balls across fields.
Influences
Dad - a small businessman who got his degree at 47 while running his own business full time Slade, T-Rex, Moody Blues, Ten Years After, and a little of John, Paul, George and Ringo.
