Oliver Dyer's Linkedin Analytics

What were your teenage ambitions? I had two. My number one was to become ‘Master of Arts’. Because it sounded sooo cool. Number two is more complicated. Today I’m working to make Skew the worlds most effective brand extension agency. We’ve developed successful licensing programs and brand identities for the worlds favourite entertainment, sports and lifestyle brands. I’m on a mission to create a company bursting with opportunities for growth, fun and fulfilment. To make that happen I’m trying to be my true self at work each day but that’s not how I started. I’d convinced myself that my second ambition of ‘running my own business’ was sparked by seeing my Dad retired off after 30 years with a pat on the back. Except, that’s a load of bull. It was really about getting his attention. By 30 I had already fulfilled those early ambitions, getting my MA in fashion from St.Martins and setting up Skew Studio a few years later, from a bedsit in Notting Hill, with a £5,000 loan and a borrowed Mac. My Dad was an orphan done good. He was, is, a hugely gregarious extrovert. I tried to be this outgoing, assertive template of masculinity. As Skew grew and I moved through design and art direction to business development and leadership I set out to schmooze, dazzle and network like him. It worked. For a while. Until it didn’t. And then I burned out. Becoming a father myself helped me pause to think about what I wanted next. My Dad grew up without a family yet he’d raised me by being true to himself. What I needed to grow was to be true to myself for my son and for my health. I’ve learned I love strategy more than implementation. I am social but I prefer a one-to-one to working a room full of strangers. I can dazzle in a pitch when I’ve done my homework and know my stuff. In short I am an introvert, and proud of it. Whatever the underlying motivation to start Skew, today is what matters. I’ve got new ambitions and they’re all my own.