Meet Mary

Back in the 90’s I was the Flight Planning Manager for the UK’s largest tour operator and charter airline.

As I started out and eyed a climb of the corporate ladder, I was interested to observe the characters who had already made it to the giddy heights of the Board.

Being a very organised and practical type myself, I was fascinated and puzzled by the apparently illogical success of those directors who seemed to wreak havoc whenever they got involved hands-on in a project. And yet, their ideas were the ones breaking ground and making money for the company.

It didn’t compute!

But then what I spotted was that for every ideas man (and yes, they were all men back then) there was also a rock solid, trusted, patient, capable and tenacious implementation person who was always at their side. And it was this combination of ideas and implementation that allowed the creative entrepreneurs to thrive in a corporate world.

Nowadays I see it like this….

Creative entrepreneurs need to have the freedom to fly – to fly their thoughts, their ideas and often downright crazy schemes out there. But if they are to be successful, they need a flight planner on their team too.

The entrepreneur’s flight planner is the trusted sidekick who works with them to sort the possible from the impossible, to identify what is most likely to succeed in the real world and in their market.

The flight planner is the implementer who takes the seed of the entrepreneur’s notion, plots the route and sorts out the practicalities of how to make it successfully to the destination.

While the entrepreneur flies, the flight planner keeps their feet firmly on the ground and the connection between the two is vital for success.

So although my official job title isn’t Flight Planner any more, I certainly am an adviser and implementer in an entrepreneurial world.