If you're a recruiter thinking about joining Aspiring Partners, you should know what I'm like before we talk. I've been doing this since 2003, I've helped build three search firms, and I know how I work.
RGF
At RGF we were successful, but a lot of that came from a handful of $1m billers rather than the team as a whole. I thought the company could do much more to help everyone do their job better. The rest of the leadership team thought nothing needed changing.
Most of the good ideas came from the team. People needed somewhere to grow, so I pushed for new titles: Associate, Principal and Managing Consultant. We also needed clear mission, vision and values, and better marketing. I took the team's ideas to the leadership table, something I hadn't done well at Boyd & Moore.
The CRM was a good example. The other leaders wanted good reports. I wanted my team to be able to find candidates, which is closer to making money for all concerned. What we had at the time was not much more than a data dump that generated a lot of dissatisfaction for the users.
As I got more frustrated, we brought in an outside consultant, who had us take a Myers-Briggs test. It sorts people into 16 types using four core personality traits. I came out as ENTJ, though the consultant thought I might actually be ENFJ. The other three leaders were all on the opposite side of the chart. Literally the polar opposite to me.
ENTJ means Extraverted, Intuitive, Thinking and Judging: someone direct and focused on the bigger picture, who decides on logic and likes to set a plan and get on with it. The downside is coming across as blunt or impatient.
ENFJ swaps Thinking for Feeling: still big picture and keen to get things moving, but more focused on people, deciding on values and bringing the team along. The downside is taking on too much. I do have a habit of overcommitting and burning out, and I can be fairly emotional, so that one fits too. It was one test I did once, so I can't say which is closer to reality.
E or I: Extraverted or Introverted. S or N: Sensing or Intuitive. T or F: Thinking or Feeling. J or P: Judging or Perceiving.
I don't remember exactly where the other three senior leaders landed. What I experienced was a team that was slow and methodical, wanted consensus, and needed every bit of data on the planet before making a decision or a change. That's how it felt to an ENTJ, anyway. (And yes, I may be prone to hyperbole when making my case.)
The consultant told the other three they needed to start listening to my ideas, and told me to slow down a little. I could see they weren't going to change and if they were to do so, it would be a frustrating journey for me. So I left.
They're all good people. We just weren't compatible, and I was very much the odd one out.
Experis
After RGF I started my own firm, Technology Futures, a joint venture with ManpowerGroup Japan, that was later fully acquired and turned into Experis Executive. It was my money that started the company and I held the bar high. Some people resented that, but I got the strategy right and we executed on it. The RPO business we built ended up as around half the firms revenue at that time.
What I didn't enjoy was what happened once we reached 30 to 50 people. Middle management came in, and the politics came with it. That's why Aspiring Partners has one layer of leadership. It is my firm belief that AI will replace middle management. AI can provide all the guidance necessary, and my door is always open to for those who want counsel. There simply is no value in having a middle manager wielding what amounts to little more than a clip board.
Coming back to Japan
I was part of the senior leadership at every search firm I've worked at, and all three were acquired: Boyd & Moore, RGF and Experis. I only noticed that when I was building up the courage to come back to Japan. After some years in New Zealand that didn't go the way I wanted, I'd lost my mojo, and really was out of sorts. Only when I paused and looked back at what I'd done in the past, could I get the confidence to try again.
I'm glad I did. In revenue terms year to date in 2026, I've almost done twice my previous best. Now I'm ready to help other recruiters build their practice, and I'm excited about my ideas for automated recruiting.
Leadership
I was quite a reserved kid and teenager actually. I didn't set out to be a leader, but the pattern started early. At the end of high school I went through a week-long officer selection with the Royal New Zealand Navy. They turned me down for being a bit too “loose” to be an officer, but the group of my peers voted me the one they would most want to go into battle under. I've never been good with authority for its own sake, and I've always stood up for the troops, so perhaps that was fitting.
At 30 I still wasn't experienced or comfortable leading a team, but I ended up there. The team at Boyd & Moore asked me to lead them, and the team at RGF voted me Best Leader in both years I was there. I grew into it in my mid-30s, and now, in my 50s, I'm comfortable with it.
Rugby was the same. When I came back to Tokyo in 2003 with a young family, I didn't want to play in all the competitions, but I got dragged into it by the Tokyo Gaijin RFC. One year the team voted me captain at the AGM. I was reluctant and only agreed because I had a capable vice captain.
That's how I want to run the business. At RGF I had an excellent number two - a great sounding board for all things great or small - who has since built a successful agency of his own. I'm not a one-man band. I need good people around me who share the vision, and I'd be glad to help some of them start their own businesses one day.
Working with me
I'm the ideas guy, and I don't switch off. Frankly, I'm either completely off or 100% on, and when I'm on, I'm thinking about how we can do things better. Expect a lot of ideas from me, and expect me to want to hear yours. If you don’t have them, that is fine, but if you are not open to improvements as we go, it may not work out.
I'm good at what it is that we do, and I expect the people around me to rise to the opportunity.
I care about results against the goal. If you're a long way behind your number, I won't high-five a small deal. I'll help you work out how to close the gap. Celebrate the small wins, but be focused on and define yourself by the goals.
I have no time for politics, groupthink, rumours, pettiness or people who play favourites. That stuff is unnecessary and exhausting.
Integrity matters a lot to me. I try to be honest and fair and to do the right thing by clients, candidates and the team, and I take it very personally if anyone questions that.
I don't have time for people who make everything about themselves. I respect people who care about their clients and being the best they can be.
I listen to the people doing the work. Most of the good changes I've made came from the team.
I don't take myself too seriously, and I want work to be fun.
If you want to take it easy and just have a job, and you think kissing my ass is how you'll keep it, this isn't the place for you.
If you want to be the best you can be, and you're open to learning and doing things a better way, let's talk. You might bring ideas that help everyone.
