| About Ian Dover |
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I grew up in country Australia, finished high school in Michigan US and graduated from Mining & Metallurgical Engineering at the University of Queensland, Australia. As a young metallurgical engineer, my work often involved looking for cost reduction through simplification of the processes where I worked. These included a project for Alcoa and General Motors in the US auto industry (which became my Master of Engineering thesis), alloy and process development for Norsk Hydro in Norway, and a production improvement project for Palmer Tube Mills in Australia (which was my PhD thesis). Simplifying specific manufacturing processes like these continued to become the simplification of other parts of businesses in R&D and Sales & Marketing in subsequent years. I was then given the challenge of general management in my first business turnaround in 1990 and guided this business from loss to profit by creating a simpler focus in overall strategy, product development, sales & service and organization structure. Since then I have worked as a general manager, business advisor or board-member to increase the performance of a range of businesses and value chains. These have included sectors like manufacturing, IT, telecommunications, healthcare, professional services, resources, utilities and education. In all cases I introduced simpler ways to analyze, strategize and change the businesses in various ways. Over the years, CEOs and General Managers have found that some of the tools and processes available in the latest management programs deliver substantial business improvement, while other techniques in the same programs have much less effect. This is a prime example of the universal 80/20 rule. So let's use this experience to improve business. My personal objective for the Simpler Business Institute is to help more businesses around the world capture the benefits of this 80/20 thinking. The business tools and programs from the Institute all focus on achieving the 80% of benefits from the 20% of resources. And we are bringing together the 20% of techniques that provide 80% of the benefit, no matter where these techniques originate, to create a resource for owners and managers who want better results in a shorter time with less overall business stress. I look forward to hearing how you have adopted or adapted this thinking to improve your own business. PS, if you want to read about the few real "ah-hahs" in my career that have led me to the concepts of simpler business, please take a quick look at Ian's Simpler Business Journey below - this has come from the e-Book Simpler Business. Simply does it! Ian Dover BSc MEng PhD CMP FAICD |
