19/11/2008 | MBA Admissions, MBA Careers

John Davies profile

By: James Donald

“If you can survive your MBA course, you can survive anything.” John Davies says he totally immersed himself in his course at Cass Business School in London and relished the opportunity the exercise his brain to its maximum potential. “By the end of the course you crave information as you have learnt so much in such a short space of time.”

John, like many MBA candidates, was at a crossroads in his career when he decided to go to Cass. “I had been working in marketing for 15 years and decided to take the MBA as a catalyst to change my career.” He chose Cass Business School as it was in central London and he liked their new buildings and the friendliness of the staff. He went to several MBA fairs and found Cass to be “the least pompous of the business schools”. When he was on his MBA, he found the staff to be very supportive and appreciated the “diverse range of skills, talents and geographical spread of the students.”

John has now totally immersed himself into his career. “When I left Cass I went self employed. I left London and returned to Wales, where I come from, and started the Oatmeal group four years ago.” The Oatmeal group was started as a direct result of his time at Cass where he had researched why so many presentations failed and he began Oatmeal to help companies improve their presentations. Their courses teach skills of being persuasive, speaking with impact and presenting confidently and also help companies to prepare for any eventuality, including a failure of technology or the presentation being unexpectedly cut short. The company has since developed into other areas including consulting, corporate development, integral marketing and corporate adventures.

“During the course of the MBA you become more knowledgeable, more confident, and far more efficient with your time. Even after graduating, the learning doesn’t stop, I still refer to my textbooks building on my taught knowledge and understanding. As a new company, I use the majority of my MBA day to day, but it’s the belief in being able to knock down those business hurdles that really sticks with me.

A testimonial for John’s presentation skills course comes from Women in Banking and Finance: "Women in Banking and Finance (WIBF) network has a membership of more than 750. John Davies of The Oatmeal Group has delivered a number of training workshops on 'Creating Presentations with Impact' for WIBF. These workshops tend to be hugely successful with an attendance of approximately 70, these events were very well presented and exceeded my expectations"

John has now started a new company 11 months ago – again as a direct result of his time at Cass. “When I was at Cass the sailing team was called Lobster Bob and I bought the domain name.” The company is a surf shop, which specialises in everything to do with beach and surfing wear. They have two shops, one in Hayward’s Heath near Brighton and one in Cardiff, as well as an online shop at www.lobsterbob.com. “I knew nothing about retail – but it is a business like any other business and the skills I learnt at Cass help you deal with any business.” John hopes that Lobster Bob will double in size next year.

John’s advice to any potential MBA students is simple and to the point: “Don’t think about it, just do it. The course will give you the confidence to go and do anything you want to.” He sums up the benefit: “The great thing about an MBA is that it gives you an insight into what makes companies tick; areas that were once shrouded in mystery became crystal clear” and concludes that his MBA was “priceless. It enabled me to pursue a lifetime dream and develop a career that I am passionate about, to the point of obsession.”

www.theoatmealgroup.com
www.lobsterbob.com
www.cass.city.ac.uk