Three wise men: John Bartle and Dare

Campaign

18/04/2008

Before starting up Dare Digital in 2000, the managing partner, Mark Collier, invited his friend and former boss John Bartle to be the agency's non-executive chairman. Bartle chairs the monthly board meeting, mentors Collier one morning a month and talks to him around three times a week on the phone. "Many of our conversations are extremely brief," Bartle reveals, "but Mark knows that he can always bounce something off me."

Bartle, who describes the difference between executive and non-executive in terms of the public face of the agency versus the internal, private one, admits that he wasn't appointed owing to his digital knowhow: "Mark didn't want me for my digital knowledge; he wanted me because I know about the industry, clients and how to build a business."

Asked what he gets from his chairmanship, he says: "I get something fresh out of it because I'm learning about a new sector. I actually think that keeps your brain working and keeps you young. I also get tremendous pleasure and satisfaction from their success."

And, according to Collier, even though Bartle has nothing to do with the agency's new-business machine, clients like the clout of prestigious non-executives: "They look at Bob [Willott, Dare's other non-executive director] and John and see knowledge, experience and wisdom. In our view, that can only be a good thing."

As for Bartle, he is modest about what he brings to Dare. "I don't think my contribution is more than marginal," he says. "It's sailing along, and I'm just helping it to adjust the tiller slightly."

What Bartle brings to Dare

‘You might expect a non-executive to be quite cautious, yet he's often pushing us to be more radical in terms of recruitment, expansion or investment.'

Mark Collier, managing partner

 

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