Professor of Innovation and executive coach helping leaders, managers and entrepreneurs.

​I started my career in the music business, first as a member of Passenger (ie: music) and then as one half of Grasscut (Ninja Tune, Lo Recordings). I also managed Grasscut, organising European tours, including shows at the Pompidou Centre and Royal Albert Hall, and negotiating sync deals (Google, Mazda, K-mart, HSBC, Nespresso, Boots). 

 

As an arts critic, meanwhile, I wrote for the Guardian, the Independent, the Times and the Financial Times and appeared on the BBC and CNN, interviewing everyone from Ed Sheeran to Brian Eno. 

 

I then moved into higher education: I am currently Professor of Innovation and Creativity at Kingston University, where I am Director of the Design, Arts and Creative Practice Knowledge Exchange and Research Institute. 

 

I also work as an independent consultant. 

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Coaching and training

While many of my clients come from the creative industries organisations such as United Talent Agency and Arts Council England, I have also worked in sectors from healthcare to education to real estate. 

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I have also delivered training around the world from Accra to Amman, for instance supporting cultural leaders from Mexico, music industry managers from the Gulf and creative hub leaders from West Africa. 

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Books 

Distributed Creativity (Palgrave 2019), which I wrote as researcher in residence at Digital Catapult, examined the impact of blockchains on the creative economy. 

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Different Every Time (Serpent’s Tail 2014), my biography of the musician Robert Wyatt, was a BBC Radio 4 book of the week and a book of the year in several national newspapers. 

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I am also co-editor of Mute Records: Artists, Business, History (Bloomsbury 2019). 

 

​​​I am currently writing a book on creative leadership for Cambridge University Press.

 

Academic publications

I have published in peer-reviewed journals including Popular Communication, Strategic Change, Popular Music, IASPM@Journal, Life Writing, Journal of Risk Finance and International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation. 

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I have also published in edited collections including Decentralised Music: Exploring Blockchain for Artistic Research; ’Pataphysics Unrolled; The Canterbury Sound in Popular Music: Scene, Identity and Myth; Music by Numbers: The Use and Abuse of Statistics in the Music Industry; Life Writing and Celebrity: Exploring Intersections; Business Transformation Through Blockchain: Volume 2; Punk Pedagogies: Music, Culture and Learning; and Jazz and Totalitarianism. 

 

Reports

I have written or co-written a number of industry-facing reports, including Web3 and the Music Industry: A Second Wave of Blockchain Innovation; A Practical Toolkit for Cultural Governance; How Blockchain is Transforming the Creative Industries: Copyright and Rights Management in the Second Era of the Internet; and Music on the Blockchain: Possible Futures.

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Funding 

My work has been supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Economic and Social Research Council, Research England, Office for Students, UK Shared Prosperity Fund, Greater London Authority, British Council, Linux Foundation, Institute of Coding, Publicis Media and Blockchain Research Institute.

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Speaking 

As well as giving keynotes at academic conferences, I have spoken to industry audiences from KPMG in London to Thomson Reuters in New York to the King Fahed Cultural Centre in Riyadh. 

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NED roles

​​ I am a non-executive director of the Featured Artists Coalition trade body, alongside members of Blur, Radiohead and Pink Floyd, and Knowledge Exchange UK. ​​I was previously a non-executive director of Enterprise Educators UK. ​I have also been a charity trustee and a school governor.

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Qualifications

​I have a PhD in collaborative creativity from Middlesex University; an MBA from the Open University; a PG Cert in executive coaching from the Institute of Leadership and Management; and a PG Cert in team coaching from Aston University. I also hold LEGO Serious Play, Scrum and PRINCE2 certifications.

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Contact 

Want to chat? Drop me an email.