p>Nigel Collin
The Game of Inches
THE GAME OF INCHES
WHY SMALL CHANGE WINS BIG RESULTS
NIGEL COLLIN
First published in 2016 by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd
42 McDougall St, Milton Qld 4064
Office also in Melbourne
© Through Design Pty Ltd 2016
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data:
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (for example, a fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review), no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, communicated or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission. All inquiries should be made to the publisher at the address above.
Cover design by Wiley
Title graphics by © pialhovik/iStockphoto
Disclaimer
The material in this publication is of the nature of general comment only, and does not represent professional advice. It is not intended to provide specific guidance for particular circumstances and it should not be relied on as the basis for any decision to take action or not take action on any matter which it covers. Readers should obtain professional advice where appropriate, before making any such decision. To the maximum extent permitted by law, the author and publisher disclaim all responsibility and liability to any person, arising directly or indirectly from any person taking or not taking action based on the information in this publication.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nigel created his first business at the age of twenty and sold it at twenty-one. He then went on to build Absurd Entertainment, one of Australia largest entertainment design companies. He worked extensively on the 2000 Olympic Games, was entertainment advisor at the 2000 Paralympic Games, and holds the accolade of being show director for Australia's largest ever corporate event in 2005. Having passed the baton by selling the Absurd in 2004, he moved into the world of consulting, advising his clients on implementing ideas and everyday innovation.
In 2013, armed with a video camera, Nigel set off on an initiative to travel throughout Australia, solo on his motorbike, to discover ingenious Australians and share their stories. His quest was, through his ‘Ingenious Oz Project', to inspire the ideas of a nation. In 2014, as an ambassador of Start Up Australia, he interviewed over 50 of Australia's top entrepreneurs and business leaders. He is now founder and maestro of ‘Game of Inches'.
He has advised C-Suite executives, Ministers of Parliament and entrepreneurs in both public and private sectors. As an international speaker, he has presented his experience and expertise to organisations in myriad industries including IT, Franchise, Events, Marketing, Finance, Pharmaceuticals, Government and Telecommunications.
When not speaking, working with clients, writing or riding his motorcycle he spends his time between Sydney and the rural mid north coast of NSW with his family.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This is the page most people skip over and never read. Please don't do that because without the people listed below, none of the wisdom and extraordinary advice in this book would have been possible and as a result the pages that follow would be blank.
So a huge personal thanks to all the extraordinary individuals who contributed by allowing me to interview or meet with them. To Mark and Judy Evans, Robyne Carmichael, Shane Kelly, Kristy-Lee Billett, Kirsty Dunphey, Mike McEnearney, Kenton Campbell, Phillipe Carlier, Alisa Camplin, Graham Davies, David Vitek, Eddie Geller, Adam Hudson, Paul Hawker, Sylvia and Danny Wilson, Lyndon Frearson, Jeff Morgan, Denis and Bob (2 blokes on bikes), and Rick Ball, not only has your input been immensely valuable but I've enjoyed every conversation.
Huge thanks also to my business mentors Siimon Reynolds and Brian Sher, not only for their insightful and useful advice over the years but also for their input and friendship. Thanks especially to Siimon for writing this book's foreword and to Brian for giving me the opportunity to interview many brilliant entrepreneurs for Start Up Australia.
Another big thanks to my writing mentor Megan Kerr who has nurtured my skill and belief over many years now.
Also, thank you to the wonderful team at Wiley, Ingrid Bond, Lucy Raymond, Chris Shorten and Jem Bates, who not only took on the project with great enthusiasm but who were integral to making it happen. Thanks also to Dr Jason Fox for that generous email.
Then of course there is my darling, beautiful wife who when I decided to head off into remote Australia on my motorbike with dream and ambition in hand, as always, not only supported me but never questioned my motives (well not to me anyway).
Finally, I want to thank all of the entrepreneurs, business owners, leaders and friends who over many years inspired me and contributed to an enormous pool of knowledge, wisdom and advice.
FOREWORD BY SIIMON REYNOLDS
The trouble with most business books is twofold.
First, the typical author is often not experienced enough in business to create a breakthrough, high-impact point of view. The result of this is a million books that say basically the same things.
Second, the typical author cannot get close enough to business high achievers, so they never really get the truth of the matter from people who really know. They merely report what others have reported.
Very fortunately for you, the reader, Nigel Collin is not your typical author.
He has over 30 years of experience in business – seeing close up what it takes to make a business survive and then thrive. You can feel his hard-won wisdom in every chapter – this guy has been there. He understands the real grit and fire of business.
Nigel has also interacted with a lot of business super stars. In fact he's got closer to more of them than almost anyone else in the country. He's done over eighty one-on-one, in-depth interviews with the cream of the Australian corporate world. This unprecedented access to our country's finest business minds has enabled him to not only understand the somewhat arcane art of money making, but to also create a cogent, highly practical system that literally anyone can follow to achieve better business results.
In nutshell, do what he says and your business will improve. Simple as that.
But you'll need more than a pen and pad to follow his business treasure map; you'll need something quite rare in the corporate realm – a totally open mind.
Because what follows in this book is far from your typical business growth template. Instead, Nigel suggests a counterintuitive way to think and act in order to succeed. In Nigel's world more is not more, strategy is not obvious and the usual road travelled is for chumps.
All of this makes for a very lively read and at times you'll be stunned by some of the conclusions and the forthrightness with which they're expressed. But at every step, you'll see the care that Nigel has taken to back up his assertions with research, logic and the simple clarity that can only come from somebody who doesn't just report, but understands.
I'm honoured to write the foreword for this unusual and fine book. As they say in the classics, it's a corker.
START HERE
It's a game of inches
Over the past couple of years I have interviewed many successful people, from high-profile entrepreneurs to unrecognised individuals throughout Australia who are doing amazing things that you and I may never have heard about.
My odyssey began in April 2013, when I set off one morning from my home in Sydney heading for remote