“Leadership is how people perceive themselves in your presence”

Mohamed Mansour is one of the founding Partners – and former Managing Partner – of Baringa Partners. If you have listened to episode 4 (https://bit.ly/CICep4) you’ll know that Mohamed held this role before passing the mantel over to Adrian Bettridge having decided the time was right to move back to his homeland of Canada.

Mohamed was also my boss for the first part of my time at Baringa and it was great to have the chance to sit down with him to find out about the early days of Baringa (most of which I didn’t know) and ask Mohamed some questions that I’d always wanted to know the answers to!

Mohamed has a really unique story; having started in Canada and moved across to the US to join the start up Consultancy, The Structure Group, he was offered the opportunity to help launch the firm’s European arm and found himself alongside his co-founders, running a Consulting firm in a country he didn’t know in his mid 20s. This subsequently grew in to Baringa Partners and as they say, the rest is history.

We cover a whole range of topics in this episode including:

How Mohamed found himself running a Consulting firm at such a young age and what key skills he had to develop as part of this.

Mohamed’s advice on how to become a good Leader.

The key foundations that Mohamed and the founding team put in place to create the unique culture that Baringa was, and still is, renowned for.

The importance of lateral thinking in Consulting and how you can develop this critical skill.

How to respond to feedback and know what you should take on board and what you should ignore.

How Mohamed is so good with names (something he was renowned for at Baringa)

And much much more!

You can find out more about Mohamed on his Linked In page – https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohamed-mansour-362b422/ or drop him an email at Amps.mansour@gmail.com

Specific things we discuss in the show:

Anderson Consulting – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Andersen#Andersen_Consulting_and_Accenture

The Structure Group – https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-structure-group

Colour personality types Mohamed mentions – https://www.fullcircletd.co.uk/insight-discovery/insights-discovery-colour-energies/         

Riipen – https://riipen.io/

John Timpson – https://www.timpson.co.uk/about/meet-the-timpsons

Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America: America’s Second Civil War and the Divisive Legacy of Richard Nixon by Rick Perlstein – https://amzn.eu/cmNPiW6

India After Gandhi: The History of the World’s Largest Democracy by Ramachandra Guha  – https://amzn.eu/asFNO7d      

What we talk about:

00:06:18 – Mohamed’s background and how he got to where he is today

00:16:20 – Mohamed’s move to the UK and how he decided to make the move

00:18:00 – How Mohamed and his co-founder Jim Hayward grew Baringa Partners in the early days

00:23:00 – How Mohamed decided on his niche in Consulting

00:24:15 – The key skills Mohamed had to develop as he grew Baringa Partners

00:26:33 – Mohamed’s advice on developing self awareness and taking on feedback

00:30:32 – The key skills for people thinking of starting their own Consulting firm

00:37:00 – The top questions Mohamed gets from people looking to start their own Consulting firms and how he answers them

00:42:19 – How to develop your skills in lateral thinking

00:44:00 – Mohamed’s view on evolving a firm as it scales

00:47:38 – How Mohamed and his co-founders decided on their growth strategy and how they achieved it

00:57:31 – Mohamed’s trick for remembering peoples names (along with their partner’s name, childrens’ names and sometimes half the family tree!)

01:06:39 – Mohamed’s current projects including Riipen

01:11:20 – Mohamed’s advice for Millennials and businesses looking to attract them

01:17:00 – Mohamed’s book recommendations

01:20:59 – Mohamed’s closing advice for you whether you’re just starting out in Consulting, In the middle grades or approaching Partner level.

01:23:41 – How you can get in touch with Mohamed