Winner of CEO of the Year 2022

Organisational change is often a thankless task, however, this year, I received the CEO of the year award for 2022, and appeared on the front cover of the December 2022 edition of CEO monthly magazine.

What is important about this award is that the work we are doing with organisations is being noticed outside of the agile bubble. Having a real world business impact has always been at the heart of everything we have done and being recognised in this way shows other people are noticing too.

In 2016, I won the most popular Agile Conference Speaker of the year. That award was important for me at the time, as it showed that our message resonated with other experts in the agile space. Agile conferences are still incredibly important, and provide a platform for people to learn the new challenges organisations face and new ways of dealing with them.

This award shows that what we talked about all those years ago; works. And it works for everyone, not just the agile crowd.

Being a CEO is often a balancing act. Balancing my own desires for my own progression with those of the companies growth and development. Balancing our need for short term delivery against medium and longer term strategies that will keep up relevant and impactful to our customers not only now but in years to come. Balancing the needs of staff with the needs of customers, cashflow, and their personal development.

I think we have done pretty well for a small company in that we have had a massive impact, first and continuously in the agile and organisational change space, and most importantly in the organisations we serve either directly through our coaching and consultancy, or indirectly through the people we train, who then go on to make working life better for everyone.

This award is really for the whole AWA wider team, and as corny as that sounds, it really is the case. No one can be CEO on their own and do anything meaningful. This team is truly world class and world renowned. We would also be nothing without those people who come on our classes and are curious enough to learn and grow, and to those in the organisations who hire us, in their excitement for change and willingness to engage and trust us with something so important as the future of their organisations.

Long may this amazing journey continue.