I first met the engaging Ben Freeman in 1998 at Cole & Mason’s Farnborough offices. After a long career as a Finance Director and COO, Ben chose interim. Since then, he’s been a successful interim executive for nearly 20 years.
More recently, we met again for the second in Holdsway’s interview series, The Expert Game Changers. During our quick-fire questions, I asked him what makes a great interim.
Your company is called Make Change Happen – so, do you? To answer that, I’m really clear about the value I can add in a short time. When I came up with the name, I realised the power of ‘self-branding’. I didn’t just focus on communicating my proposition to clients, or ‘what it says on the tin’; I also used it to channel my own values while working as an interim. At the time, HR and technology dominated the terms ‘change’ and ‘transformation’. However, it was less common for a finance professional to combine analytical skills, project management, and operational leadership into a change leadership role.
Is it rash to ditch a permanent career to become an interim? On the contrary, I felt my CV was strong enough to take the risk. It was a mix of ‘running away’ from permanent roles I felt were too slow-moving for me, but at the same time, I was also ‘running towards’ opportunities to really make a difference to a series of businesses.
Is being an interim a lifestyle move then? Not exactly. I put a lot of energy into my work, and I wanted interesting, challenging assignments, as well as the ability to choose what I did next.
Is being an interim an easy life? No! In fact, it’s tough between assignments. Nevertheless, I’m clear on my strengths and the work I enjoy. This is essential both to succeed at interviews and to know when to say no to roles that aren’t right. Whilst tough, the ability to work in roles you enjoy more than compensates for the downtime in between.
What kind of interim are you? I’m Chief Optimist Officer. A big part of what I do is embedding confidence and self-belief in the future. Moreover, I back this up with experience of ‘making change happen’. Ultimately, I’m more interested in what I actually do than what people call me.
What’s the hardest thing you’ve done as an interim? I walked into a business which seemed too broken…and I’ve seen a lot of broken businesses. Even so, there’s always a way forward. In this case, Boston Consulting Group joined me, and together, we worked on the problems. As a result, you get to understand the plusses and minuses of consulting and interim, and how to work together to help businesses.
Can you compare interim and management consultant? They are both solutions to doing nothing, but it is a complex question, and every situation is different. Consultants can often be part of the change journey. Yet, in my view, the interim is better placed to lead operational change, using their expertise to build belief and get the best out of people. As I built my interim career, I assimilated best practices by working with consultants. I also constantly evolve, acting as an agile resource and sharing what works in one business with many others. This is the real acceleration of change. I don’t think you get that fast, adaptive, and tailored approach from large consulting firms.
Do you favour soft or hard power as an interim? My focus is on ‘making change happen ’, and I’ve found that using hard power as a shortcut to a solution doesn’t work. You need to bring the team with you, and without that, even the right answer does not lead to successful change. So interims need the ability to inspire and persuade rather than rely on brute authority. I love that. Joining a business and getting stuff done by encouraging openness and seeking out ‘change allies’ to work with. I’m always looking for people who are open, honest and direct with me. If you can get people to open up, you can open an organisation up to embrace change.
As an interim, are you a questioner or listener? I like to be a listening and questioning catalyst. If you start with questions, then you get the listening, and you learn an awful lot very fast. A lot of that is down to building trust.
What’s the argument for an interim specialist vs a recruiter? Specialist interim firms are different. They need to quickly understand what you are about as an interim and a person, and then match that to the beating heart of a client. This type of hiring moves fast and requires instinct, intuition, and a natural ability to connect the right people. Traditional recruiters often don’t suit this approach, since hiring interims isn’t a ‘box-ticking’ exercise.
Do you ever ‘hold the fort’ in interim assignments? Never! The art of an interim is about being able to unlock potential, to embrace the ideas of others but, at the same time, apply learning from elsewhere – regardless of role. I love to progress and improve things and leave a good legacy – even if it’s just getting people to think differently. Interim is about bringing in outside thinking. Look what Steve Jobs did – the classic ‘outsider-insider’.
What’s the best CV? Long or short? I have a lot of ground to cover, but as an interviewer myself, I think four pages is the absolute max. You can always expand on it in a meeting. It’s a conversation starter, isn’t it?
Is career DNA important to an interim’s succes? Yes, it is. I think my journey to interim is like a salmon going back to its source and feeding off it. As an interim, I wanted to connect the faster-moving ideation of entrepreneurial companies from my early career with my subsequent understanding of what good looks like in larger companies. The past informs the present, particularly in interim, where we’re applying a lifetime of skills and experience.
Do you need a ‘secret sauce’ to be a successful interim? Does that exist? I suppose it does. You have to be brave to want to make a big difference. It’s about energy levels and a positive spirit. You have to enjoy working with people, give them hope, and believe in their potential. You cannot be distracted by the relentless waves of challenge and disruption. Most of all, I stay optimistic and focus on the art of the possible.
Holdsway ranks as one of the UK’s highest-rated brands in interim management and maintains a network of pre-interviewed and benchmarked interims to help businesses manage change.
Contact Nick Diprose to hire an interim.
