Capitalising On Opportunities

The Age

Wednesday February 13, 2008

Paul Edwards

Mike McGrath, management consultant

THANKFULLY, I've had a varied and colourful career. It started early, at 14, with an after-school job delivering pharmaceuticals for a chemist in Hamilton, Ontario. Two years later, I was a merchandising assistant at a large Canadian grocery chain.

I consider those experiences critical to the development of my long-term career. They not only gave me a valuable opportunity to see the business world from the coalface but also to interact with people from different backgrounds.

Another job I had during these formative years was helping to construct houses for a custom-home builder, which I did for two summer holidays in a row.

I continued seeking work even after getting into Brock University in Ontario. One job I had there was as a learning skills assistant, helping mature students with study programs, time management and extracurricular activities.

I was a head resident on campus, which is a prefect-type role. Aged 20, I headed a team of six students who supervised about 300 other students staying in the dormitory.

I graduated from Brock University in 1990 with a marketing degree and a minor in sociology then, aged 23, walked straight into a job at Bell Canada, Canada's largest telecommunications firm. The role was part of the company's new managers' development program.

I was responsible for managing a territory and 15 technicians, most of whom were a lot older than me. Our job was to look after the telephone installation and maintenance needs in the region.

I spent 15 years at Bell Canada. Although I began on the technical side - in functional areas such as operations, networking and telecommunications technology - I went on to take on key sales and marketing, product management and strategy roles. Parallel to this, I somehow managed to find time to complete an MBA at Queens University. The Bell Canada experience proved very rewarding. I found myself quickly moving up the organisation and was fortunate enough to move to a new role every 12 to 18 months or so.

That provided me with a tremendous opportunity to gain exposure to pretty much all operational areas of this massive organisation. My positions included associate director of business transformation; general manager of customer account management; general manager of strategy and business development; vice-president of the Ontario consumer market and vice-president of distribution channels and sales.

I was lucky enough to undertake some very interesting professional development programs, including Stanford University's e-commerce executive program and the internet business strategy program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Things started to change direction in 2002, just as I was appointed vice-president of Bell Canada's small to medium-sized enterprises division. My wife and I decided we wanted a bit of an adventure.

The decision coincided with discussions I'd been having with a few PricewaterhouseCoopers partners about joining the firm and helping build its advisory practice. The result was that we ended up coming to Australia in 2003 to meet some of the firm's key clients. I guess it was a reconnaissance mission before uprooting my family from Canada.

I liked what I saw here, and in 2003 agreed to become an executive director at PwC Australia. My task initially was to build the firm's client base in the telecommunications sector. My efforts would also feed into PwC's long-term consultancy plans. In July 2005, I was invited to become a partner. I now lead the firm's Australia's growth practice in performance improvement, which consists of nine partners and about 100 consulting staff. The division - which works across the telecoms, financial services, energy, resources, transport logistics and government sectors - has done pretty well, generating about 25% revenue growth each year.

It's enormously satisfying helping clients to capitalise on their opportunities and resolve their business problems, just as it is rewarding to engage with a range of different organisational cultures and establish unique business partnerships.

The challenge never ends. I've learnt that you have to continually earn the right to play in the top end of the consulting market and you're only as good as your last job - which is precisely what makes every day so exhilarating. -- PAUL EDWARDS

CV

Born Hamilton, Ontario, 1967.

Educated Christ the King Primary School 1972-1981; St Mary's High School 1981-1986; Brock University 1987-1990; Queens University 1994-1996; Stanford University, 2000; Sloan School, MIT, 2000.

Jobs Bell Canada, PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Career highs Working with hugely diverse and interesting people in Canada and Australia; being inspired by this diversity.

Career lows The work-life balance is always a challenge.

Mentors My parents.

Five years from now? Who knows? Life is full of exciting opportunities.

Unwinding Weekend sports with my children and, about once a week, ballroom dancing with my wife. And, yes, a good glass of Australian shiraz.

© 2008 The Age

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