Leaders of Change: Niall O'Gorman
NIALL O'GORMAN is currently Chief Strategy Officer and Co-founder, along with John Beckett (CEO) of ChannelSight, a global leader in enabling the 'Digital Path To Commerce' across all direct and indirect channels for global brands.
For over twenty years, Niall has been leading global Omnichannel Strategy, Activation and Innovation initiatives for global brands like Gateway, Iomega and Mondelez. He’s helped many others externally while leading international operations for Channel Intelligence (Acquired by Google) one of the first “Where to Buy” SaaS platforms and CNET Content Solutions (Part of CBS Interactive), which acquired, normalised and translated millions of product data sheets as a service for global retailers to auto generate e-commerce pages.
Why did you choose to pursue eCommerce in your career? I was looking after the EU Servers Support Team at Gateway Computers (Think cow spotted boxes), out of their EMEA HQ in Dublin around the beginning of 1999, and an opportunity to manage the team of webmasters, who were responsible for running the e-commerce sites across Europe came up. I had no background in managing a web team, no coding skills, nor any practical experience with e-commerce at the time.
My then girlfriend (still together twenty years later, A.K.A. my boss), Bernie could see that I was very apprehensive but very interested in the role. She said to me “what is the worst that could happen? they could say no, so what!”. So I put my hat in the ring for the role and spent the entire weekend figuring out how to build a website. This was back in the days when you had to code them by hand, and the following Monday afternoon I presented my little website during the interview.
Suffice to say I got the job by demonstrating that I knew enough about building websites to be dangerous and that combined with my background in managing tech support teams, convinced them to take a chance on me.
I will be forever grateful to both Gerry Canavan and Conor Wickham who interviewed me on that day. While I did not realise it until many years later, that was one of the most impactful moments in my career to date.
What is your biggest strength, and how have you used it for your success in eCommerce? My ability to remain calm when everyone else is headed hurriedly towards the lifeboats. When all appears hopeless, I can process numerous inputs quickly, solve problems on the fly, see potential solutions where others do not and convince a sufficient number of people to stick around and help make the solution happen.
E-commerce is a very dynamic, high stakes, fast evolving and ever more important opportunity for global brands, vendors and the agencies that enable it. One day it can be all plain sailing and the next you find yourself in the eye of a storm, dealing with any number of potentially expensive and reputation damaging issues.
Having the ability to stay calm, think clearly and motivate others to do the same during such moments, has proved invaluable during my career to date.
What is the weirdest skill or talent to come in handy in your eCommerce experience? Growing up in Ireland, my dad was by all accounts a workaholic who ran a successful imports/exports business during the day and in the evenings and on weekends a hobby farm where we lived in the foothills surrounding Dublin, Ireland where I was raised.
This in turn meant that as his kids we had two simple choices, either run away to join the circus or alternatively get stuck in and involved in either, or both businesses. Getting animals in general to do what you want them to do is not always straight forward and that could be said as true for ‘Sheep’, unless you have a well-trained collie dog by your side (I never did).
Believe it or not, there are many correlations to the apparently random movements of a herd of ‘sheep’, who would rather do anything than what you would like them to do, and the movement of people through a website or more specifically an e-commerce website.
Being able to anticipate how sheep may (or may not) move through any given space, then in real-time adjust your strategy and related tactics to compensate, has helped me solve many an digital ‘shopper journey’ conundrum over the years.
How have you most successfully influenced change within your organization (or with your clients)? Every time i have defended my team or provided air cover for them even when they were in the wrong, and it hurts my credibility with others internally or externally. They have paid me back in spades, by focusing their efforts on solving the problem, learning from their mistakes, putting in place solutions, processes and tooling to avoid them in the future, which are usually better than was in place before and ultimately makes us all look good.
The 'blame game' or highlighting failures, rarely motivates people to take responsibility and to do their best work.
What was your most “valuable” career failure, and why? I have thankfully failed in many potential careers along my journey to e-commerce. Everything from flipping burgers to working on building sites or renting cars out at the airport. Every one of them a “valuable” career failure, as they allowed me to get to where I needed to be and I through those failures, I learned a lot along the way.
In the last five years, what new belief, behavior or habit has most improved your life? In the last five years, the one thing that has had the single biggest positive impact on my life and that of those around me is to move my critical thinking and planning from computer to paper.
Initially by embracing ‘Bullet Journaling’ or ‘BUJO’. Originally created by Ryder Carroll, it's a straightforward planner, journal, calendar, and all-around organizational framework which does not need any special tools, expensive software, a lot of time or energy to grasp. All you need is a paper notebook and a pen or pencil to get started.
Over the years, how I journal day to day has evolved into what I call ‘Intent Journaling’ or ‘INJO’ (I know, how original right). While my system has its roots from ‘BUJO’, it shares more similarity with the agile software development method, which for those who don’t know is an approach to project management that is utilised in software development. This method assists teams in responding to the unpredictability of constructing software.
This helps keep me on track and focussed on what needs to be done for me, my family or at work, versus what either my wandering mind or others want done which may not be a real priority. If I follow the system, then all tends to run more smoothly and certainly allows me to better course correct back to the plan, when having to deal with a necessary or unnecessary interruption.
What are you learning right now? I’m a big fan of ‘Low Code / No Code’ and have been for many years, especially when coupled with the amplification power of digital ecosystems and API’s, the connective tissue between them.
The whole team is constantly evaluating how we can further leverage such capabilities internally within ChannelSight, to better support and enable the great brands who we partner with, and the ever growing ecosystem of retailers, agencies, integrators and platform vendors that we integrate and co-operate with on an ongoing basis.
What are the 1-3 songs that would make up your career soundtrack today?
- Tubthumping by Chumbawamba: While like everyone else, i have many flaws, one strong characteristic which I have amply demonstrated during my career to date, is that of having ‘true grit’. As the song goes “I get knocked down, but I get up again, You are never gonna keep me down”. In other words, for me, failure has always been a means to an end, versus a destination. The trick is to learn from your past mistakes in order to shorten the distance between the two states, as you progress through the journey that is life. When anyone figures out how to consistently 'live' this way every day, then write a book and I will buy the first copy!.
What are the 1-3 books you’ve gifted the most or that have greatly influenced your life, and why?
- The Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris: In my early career, it was one of the first catalysts towards rewiring my brain to work ‘smarter’ vs ‘harder’. I have never had an issue with working hard, its working on the important verses the seemingly important and what is important to me, my family and my team versus that of others. Which when exhausted, distracted, or under stress can elude me if I am not vigilant.
- The 7 & 8th Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey: As per the introduction, it ignores the latest ‘trend’ or 'pop psychology'. Instead the book focuses on the timeless principles of fairness, integrity, honesty, and human dignity. I revisit both books on a regular basis and humbly accept there is plenty left for me to apply day to day at home and in work.
- The Martian by Andy Weir: As there are many parallels with the journey of working within a Startup/Scaleup. From dealing with the unknown, to figuring out how to survive against all the odds, when disaster strikes. Taking a moment to allow yourself to appreciate the simple pleasures in life and the importance of gaining perspective before taking action.
If you could have a gigantic billboard for the world to see with anything on it, what would it say, and why?
When you tell me "it" cannot be done. No I am sorry but...
- You may disagree with doing it
- You may not want to do it
- You may not be able to do it
- You may be afraid to do it
- You may not be allowed to do it
- You may think it’s worthless to do it
- You may not have the money to do it
However, rest assured, given sufficient time, energy, resources and motivation
It can be done!
On behalf of all the people who come from a place of "can" and "do" please step aside and let us get on with the business of making it happen.
What are the worst recommendations or advice you have heard related to eCommerce? Build it and they will come, they simply will not! Before you build anything, discover what you are trying to build and why. How does it fit into the overall mission that your company is on and how will it serve the strategy that is going to get you there. Who is it going to serve and who is it not going to serve.
What advice would you give to a future leader of change about to enter business, or specifically the eCommerce field? Always be curious, constructively question everything, try to enable and unleash the talent within your team. If you don’t regularly feel like an imposter within your role, then you are likely not challenging yourself or learning anything new. It is a long road to success, with many hurdles, setbacks and frustrations along the way. Take time to enjoy the wins, try to have fun and remain humble.
What specific, industry-related change do you believe will happen that few others seem to see? ‘Conscious Consuming’ or ‘Conscious Consumption’ is an important topic based on people's increased awareness of the impact of their purchasing decisions, particularly those which are e-commerce related.
More and more people are realising the negative impacts that their Online or Omnichannel purchasing activity is having on our planet. Everything from the congestion on our motorways and cities, related to e-purchases or e-returns, the massive amount of related packaging that ends up in land fill or worse polluting our Oceans, and the non-sustainable impacts of the throwaway society which is our everyday reality today.
This is being translated into adjusted purchasing behaviour, demands of brands to rethink their products manufacturer, materials, packaging, lifespan, replenishment and responsible recycling.
Retailers also face a backlash from a growing number of consumers on how they facilitate this throwaway society, who are applying pressure on them to rethink how products are packaged, sold, returned and responsibly disposed of in their physical and digital stores.
There are many grass roots community, business and startup initiatives, which are leading the way testing, learning and ultimately scaling business models which help people make smarter choices on their initial purchase decision, show them how to reuse, upcycle, sell, swap or rent items versus simple purchase new items and discard old ones.
Coupled with the growing trends of ‘Life Decluttering’ and ‘Experiences vs Consumerism”, present both a monumental challenge and significant opportunity for the global brands who embrace, adapt and show leadership in how they manufacture, market and sell their products in the future, while additionally helping their consumers to recycle them at the end of their useful lifespan.
What is the last thing you bought online, and why? A personalised A5 Moleskine notebook / journal from the Moleskine DTC with an personalised inscription on the bottom of the front cover that reads “Never tell me the odds!” -- said by Han Solo in the Star Wars movie ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ -- to remind me that pretty much anything is possible when you put your mind to it.
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Leaders of Change is a weekly interview series featuring select industry pioneers who are driving the evolution of commerce, the consumer and everything in between. If you would like to recommend a Leader of Change for consideration, please reach out to me on LinkedIn.