Mark has been involved with business change and transformation for over 25 years. This includes working with the major music labels (EMI, Warner Music and Universal) through a period of major upheaval as a result of the digitalisation of media content, new business models and rapidly changing consumer expectations.
Throughout this time, he was instrumental in the delivery of a wide range of global digital transformation programmes and projects, across many different countries, often in highly challenging and politically sensitive situations.
For many organisations this period has challenged the very core of their value proposition, causing them to fundamentally re-invent themselves. Whilst unprecedented at the time, this need to question, re-invent and adapt at lightning speed is becoming ever more critical to staying relevant, regardless of sector.
Mark’s keen interest in human behavior was driven from the reactions of many of his peers and clients at a critical time in the music and publishing sectors. The common approach was to resist until it was too late although there were some exceptions where change and innovation has happened at eyewatering pace. He became increasingly curious about the factors that cause us to resist change in some circumstances whilst embracing it in others.
He formed Applied Change in 2010 with a vision to help make change easier for everyone. He and the team at Applied Change have been working closely with University of the West of England (UWE) Psychological Sciences Research Group to develop simple, practical models and tools that re-orientate the approach to business change, starting from the human perspective. These tools are designed to be used by anyone leading change, regardless of previous experience, using hard data to understand and track the so called “soft factors” of engagement, empowerment and commitment to change within the workforce.
