Tony Prouse

Strategic Mentor

 

About

About Tony Prouse

What Is Differentiation?

Differentiation comes from a combination of advantages that will help set ourselves apart 

These advantages are underpinned by our core competences, which have the power to enable our organisations to grow sustainably.

The Art of Differentiation is all about honing in on these competences.  It is a skill that can be learnt and, in my experience, those organisations that adopt it will be able to add real value to their customers and so secure long-term success.

By working closely with the management team, I use a combination of Workshops and Strategic Mentoring to help businesses to acquire strategic competences, so they can maximise their differentiation.  As a result, they are able to target customers that truly value their unique set of capabilities and, crucially, target those that are ready and willing to pay.

My approach is to build competences within the business, so that the business develops its strategic and operational capability along the way.  I find helping others to develop is very rewarding and the goal is always to help the management team develop their skills, so they are less reliant on external support going forward.

Who Is Tony Prouse?

I'm a strategic mentor and chartered engineer and I was educated at Nottingham and Cambridge Universities. 

Building on a solid engineering foundation, I've spent twenty years successfully managing both established and start-up enterprises, located in the UK and Europe. I've built and managed effective teams to grow businesses in a sustainable fashion.

Over the last ten years, I've focused on helping dozens of other businesses to grow, during which time I spent five years as an Industrial Fellow for the Institute for Manufacturing at Cambridge University.

Likes: Teams, Rugby, Skiing, Golf, Walking, Reading, Travelling, Being With Exciting/Passionate People, Fresh Challenges
Dislikes: Closed minds, Negative people,  Over cooked vegetables
Favourite Leader: King Alfred
Top Books: The Goal – Eli Goldratt, Purple Cow – Seth Godin, E Myth – Michael Gerber, The Saxon Stories – Bernard Cornwall, The Conqueror Series – Conn Iggulden
Favourite Film: Raiders of the Lost Ark

What People Say

"Tony worked with the Accrofab team in 2014 to help develop our business strategy. We were impressed with his quality of insight and clarity of thought, delivered in a very personable manner. It was refreshing to find someone who understood life in an SME, rather than some of the corporate clones that circulate on the Business Improvement circuit. We would be happy to work with him again."

- Nick Willers Accrofab Limited Director

"We recently worked with Tony on a 3 day Business Growth Strategy Workshop and we found the process and the results that were produced extremely valuable. We believe that the suggested projects which came out of the course will have a very positive impact on our business and will help us go from strength to strength and achieve our growth target. "

- Rachel Garrett CMG Technologies Limited Managing Director

"If you are thinking about engaging Tony to help you in the development of strategy, mentoring staff or developing ideas I recommend him highly and would say don't think about it any longer just do it."

- Mike Campbell Vortex Exhaust Technology Limited Director

"Tony helped and developed my senior team and chartered a number of options for us to create our future direction both as a company but also as a team. Thank you"

- Jonathan Eddy B Hepworth & Co Limited CEO

"I've now worked with Tony on a couple of projects and the results have been great. Tony worked well within the management team group, achieving trust whilst being able to challenge the norm. I'd have no hesitation in using Tony once again"

- Simon Moore BSA Guns Limited Managing Director

"Tony worked extremely well with the team and helped us work through a detailed analysis of our business and provided us with the tools to take our business plans forward. Tony had an immediate grasp of the issues facing our organisation and I would have no hesitation about working with him again."

- Richard Tennant Tennant Group Limited Managing Director

"Tony provided us with an alternative perspective on our company's operations and enabled us to highlight new business opportunities. From time to time we still find ourselves quoting from Tony's "lessons" and would recommend him to other businesses looking for new insights."

- Alex Ainley Universal Beer Dispense Limited Operations Director

"The Cambridge strategy programme was delivered expertly by Tony giving our business the confidence to move to the next stage of development. Tony's oustanding professionalism and selfless pursuit of the identified goals has been an enormous benefit to our company. His ability to give sound strategic advice complemented with practical support is exceptional. I have no hesitation in recommending Tony."

- Graham Caunce Rudd Macnamara Limited Managing Director

"Tony has the great ability to see the opportunity to help you improve and bring the full force of the Cambridge guys to bear on the problem. We were very impressed with the results that we were able to realise in a short time and it is no understatement to say it moved the business to a new level. Tony gave great support throughout and has kept in contact to ensure we have realised maximum value. Call him now you will be impressed with not only Tony but what he has to offer. "

- Bob Smith B Hepworth & Co Limited Operations Director