Chris Newham
Helping enterprises and individuals address complex business issues involving
technology, product, market and organization. My professional interests include
technology, commerce and people. The relationship between the individual
and his work is my continuing focus, and reflects my own need to better
understand my relationship with the world. When my priority was to earn a
living to support myself and my family, I engaged in commerce. And initially,
in order to understand the culture in which I lived, I chose to study and
develop technology. My pattern is to work in the area of my current personal
challenge.
Technology: I grew up in technology hungry, post-war England. American
technology was dominating the cold war, world commerce, and soon the race
for the moon. EMI Electronics (62-69) sponsored my Brunel University degree
in Applied Physics and I supported several of their research projects. The
most interesting, on silicon devices, was founded on the work of Noyce &
Moore prior to their fame at Fairchild & Intel. But EMI was more interested
in Beatles record sales (a sound decision), so instead I helped with process
& product development at SGS-Fairchild (69-71). The context for product
development in both corporations was unclear to me, and I guessed that if
in future I followed the money trail, that might change.
Commerce & Technology: Europe was playing catch up in semiconductors
and I had the technical skills needed to sell manufacturing equipment for
Efco and Sola Basic (71-73). I discovered I still didn't understand the culture
of this US driven business, but fifteen years in the US with American
Microsystems Inc. (74-79) and Fairchild/National Semiconductor (79-89) solved
that problem. I was fortunate to participate in the developing semiconductor
industry, conducting business world-wide, working in Europe and Asia, and
from 1978 in the US where I learned and practiced marketing and management.
Soon, because I had discovered how the technology, the business and the
organization worked together as a system, I was in demand as an internal
consultant to deal with issues around technology, product, market and
organizational strategies. Following the technology and money had been useful,
but not until the people, their relationships, and their ideas were consciously
included, did I find the real frontier. This is the place of highest leverage,
but in most corporations few insiders are permitted to consistently play
in that game.
People, Commerce & Technology: My consulting practice,
the CPR Group(http://www.mithya.com/cpr/cpr.html) and Power Marketing (est. 1990)
are rooted in the idea that relationships between an enterprise and its
stakeholders are only sustainable with healthy supporting systems. Consulting
assignments are predominantly around bringing congruence to strategy and
organization through executive team and individual coaching, so enterprises
develop new capacities to engage with customers, partners, investors and
employees. Clients range from start-ups to Fortune 500 corporations.
Email Chris Newham at crnewham@aol.com