Kenny Fraser
After 30+ years advising technology businesses across more than 40 countries and with a deep recent focus on AI, I’ve decided to relaunch sunstone, my advisory practice.
For now, my advisory business is just me. So this post is about me. Not a comfortable subject to write about but the timing feels right. I exited my digital health business at the end of June. This is the next phase.
An old friend and colleague reminded me recently that being an individual requires clarity, simplicity and some boundaries. I am not always great at the last aspect - been around too long and too excited about new things.
Part of the relaunch is figuring out what I say about myself - for meeting people, speaking, writing, socials and my website.
I have given that plenty of thought and I have developed a lot of text. The whole thing will live on the about me page of my website. Mostly people will see this through headlines and snippets in my bio or when we meet. Since I suspect no-one will read the former, I thought it was worth gathering it all in one longish post.
I am not the best storyteller so there is not much of a narrative - you could probably put the sections in any order. And there is nothing extraordinary or different about me. Just a middle class boy from a rich country who has been lucky enough to pursue a rewarding, fun and traditional professional career.
You can read the chronology and the job titles on my LinkedIn page (does anyone care about that stuff?) This is a much more natural way for me to describe myself and my life. Any comments or feedback are welcome - especially to point out the flaws I have missed or glossed over.
Who I am
I have been married for 41 years with two lovely grown up kids and now a gorgeous baby granddaughter.
My home and my roots are in my family and in Scotland. I have lived most of my life in Glasgow but always with a deep connection to the highlands, specifically the Black Isle.
I am of Scotland, not in Scotland. My travels to work in more than 40 countries and my three years living in africa are also a massive part of who I am.
Life is not all about work. I read widely and love to explore other cultures. I have a lifelong interest in history, politics and current affairs. Over time, I have developed a deep interest in economics and especially business economics and economic history.
I also spend time running and playing golf. I love sports as a spectator and I am deep in the history of athletics, rugby, golf and a few others. Playing or doing always trumps watching for me though.
That feeds into the way I live and work. I have always learned more by doing. For me doing, means exploring, asking questions and learning.
Work is not about telling people what to do (or being told!). Applying theories, methods and checklists or doing the same things again and again don't work for me either.
Mainly because doing the same thing is no fun and life and work should always be fun.
What I do
I am an expert in the business of AI. I have advised technology businesses for more than 30 years in over 40 countries. As a global leader in PwC, then as a founder and an advisor to early stage tech companies. I add most value when everything around is uncertainty, unknowns and complexity.
That sounds great but what do I actually do? Three things:
Advisory - Strategy, performance improvement, challenges and problems
Writing - The Lighthouse substack focused on the business of AI. You can subscribe here.
Speaking - Helping groups at events, workshops and seminars stimulate ideas and actions for the changes AI will bring.
Why would you want to work with me. This is my summary of what I bring to all types of work I do.
Experience
I have been working since 1984. My first day of chargeable work involved visiting the Ravenscraig steelworks during a miner's strike. A different world. So how can I summarise what all that experience brings?
People
I have worked with an incredible number of great people as clients and as colleagues, many of them now friends. Working with the people leading change, doing the work and living through the challenges is just the best, most fun way to learn.
Business
That brings a deep understanding of how businesses work. Alongside business culture, wider cultures and working styles in many countries and environments, and a broad perspective on the impact of changes and events. Whether driven by internal business priorities or external factors.
Personal
Luckily for me personal growth and development is a massive focus in the PwC culture. That included an amazing selection of formal training and learning including programmes at Harvard and 6 other leading business schools, working on personal skills with actors and much more.
It was embedded in the lived reality of everything I did for 29 years and I can't shake that off now.
Expertise
I had three first days: 1984, 1991 when I arrived in Johannesburg and 1994 when I returned to the UK. That time I was sent down to St Vincent Street to meet the CFO of a new telecoms business setup by ScottishPower.
Tech and Telecoms
That was the start of my career in technology and telecoms. I have been working in the sector ever since and loving everything about it. A ridiculous canter through some of the changes I have experienced and advised clients how to handle:
1990s - the internet, mobile, deregulation, altnets, Y2K, SAP
2000s - dotcom & telecoms crashes, mobile explosion, peak nokia, blackberry, iPhone, AWS and M Pesa all launch.
2010s - smartphones, social media, startups, saas, backlash against big tech
2020s - covid, AI….
What’s next? I can’t wait to find out.
Professional services
I held leadership positions in PwC from groups up to UK business units, Global networks and client relationship teams covering every country. In those roles, I developed a second specialism in the business of professional services.
Strategy, operations, finance
I was never a neat fit as a functional specialist. My advice is always based on a deep understanding of the business and its context so industry specialism is always at the forefront.
Typically that means helping diagnose and define business problems or opportunities, then developing and driving actions to meet those challenges. That is actually a pretty good definition of strategy. In practice, my engagements covered strategy, operations, major change projects and plenty of things with a strong base in finance - I am still a chartered accountant deep inside.
Leadership, team building, incentives
Change is always the key driver for revenues in all areas of professional services, none more so than in consulting. Theories and expertise are all very well for making plans, but in practice executing change is always a people thing.
So every piece of client work had leadership, building teams and incentives at its heart. There are no secrets to getting people to change. Only context and choices around those three things. Substitute metrics for incentives and your change project is already in trouble.
Why
Change is part of everything I have done and it is also the main reason I keep doing what I do. Part of that is in my nature and part is just the fun and satisfaction I have had over all those years. I am at my best dealing with unknowns and uncertainty and solving the problems that come with them.
I love the outward looking, global and international aspect. My capacity and desire to travel is less than it once was but I am still of Scotland not in Scotland.
Tech is a great platform for both these things. So I remain deep in that world, building up expertise specifically in the business of AI.
That means I am still meeting great people, engaging with new ideas and problems and having fun.
Most importantly, people tell me I still add value doing what I do. When I stop hearing that, it will be time to stop.
If you managed to get this far, special thanks for reading.