Nigel Wood has extensive experience in finance and business management. He started his own firm, HarleyPartners, in 2013 after 30 years working for another business. Some of his early jobs included working as a waiter and barman. He does not follow any single business role model but values integrity, honesty, and avoiding exploitation of others. His favorite activities include skiing, sailing, and learning to play piano. The biggest challenge currently facing Isle of Man businesses is managing change, especially with increasing technology disruption and unpredictable revenues.

1. Q&A:
NIGEL WOOD
PRINCIPAL AND DIRECTOR
OF HARLEYPARTNERS;
CHAIRMAN OF
GOVERNORS OF KING
WILLIAM’S COLLEGE AND
THE BUCHAN SCHOOL
WHAT IS YOUR BUSINESS BACKGROUND?
Sadly, my father died very suddenly when I was 18, so
I had to leave University and work in my family travel
agency for two years. I then took a training contract
and qualified as a Chartered Accountant. I left practice
and joined an emergent risk and financial services
group where I quickly became a partner running the
Fiduciary side for a while, then Finance Director and
more latterly Group Managing Director.
I left that business after 30 years and in 2013
started HarleyPartners. I named it after my grand-
father Harley Moore, as I had a lot of respect for him
and he stood for many of the things I hold dear in both
my personal and commercial life: trust, integrity,
honesty, fun and good friendship.
WHAT WAS YOUR VERY FIRST JOB?
My first real job was working as a waiter at the Grand
Island Hotel in Ramsey. But I have earned a living as a
barman, labouring and even as a musician for a year.
When I was a student, I used to buy (wholesale) ladies
clothes in Liverpool and Manchester for my mother’s
fashion shop in Ramsey! My friends used to say I was
into ladies clothes!
WHO IS YOUR BUSINESS ROLE MODEL?
I do not follow any one particular person. Society tends
to measure success in terms of money, but money is
simply one crude way of assessing it - there are so
many others. One can sometimes find a successful
business person you admire, but then you discover
that they display disappointing tendencies, or seek to
exploit people. I tend to follow my own gut instinct, as
it can take a very long time to really get to know what
people are like. If you have to exploit, or be cruel or
unkind, to be a success, then I would rather be a happy
failure.
IF YOU HADN’T CHOSEN YOUR CURRENT CAREER, IS
THERE ANOTHER CAREER PATH YOU WOULD HAVE
LIKED TO HAVE PURSUED?
I wanted to read medicine at University and become a
GP. However I spent most of my sixth form years
playing sport and sailing, so despite having offers, I did
not get the grades at A-level to get into medical school.
WHAT’S THE BEST BUSINESS LESSON YOU’VE EVER
LEARNED, AND HOW DID THAT COME ABOUT?
I was given a project to launch a sales and distribution
company in London. I was guided by an older, senior
and very experienced manager who front-loaded a
high marketing spend on the project and over-
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8 8committed us. The project failed and I was responsible
for the loss of a lot of money. So the best lesson is to
fail occasionally. It focuses the mind. Give me a
manager who has failed and recovered!
WHAT’S THE BEST THING ABOUT YOUR JOB?
HarleyPartners has only been going for three years so
we are still a start-up really. But certainly the variety
and challenges that every day brings.
There’s a lot of satisfaction in helping add real value
to my clients – they allow me the privilege of
understanding their businesses so that I can advise
and help.
I enjoy the independence and self-reliance, also
meeting lots of people who work differently, but no
less effectively.
WHAT IS THE BEST BUSINESS ADVICE YOU COULD
OFFER TO ANYONE?
It came from my late father (and a Greek philosopher
before him):
God gave us two ears and one mouth. Listen twice
as much as you speak. For when you speak, others are
listening and they could be learning that you are an
idiot!
DO YOU OWN AN iPAD?
I don’t have an iPad (although I steal my wife’s one
occasionally) but I do have an iPhone and three
computers.
WHAT ARE YOUR FAVOURITE GADGETS?
I am not really into gadgets but I guess it’s a corkscrew!
And after that it would be my Bose headphones - great
for long-haul flights.
WHAT WEBSITES DO YOU VISIT MOST?
BBC and TED talks for information. Amazon and easyjet
for purchases
DO YOU SHOP ONLINE AND IF SO WHAT FOR?
Yes I do for books, music and coffee pods but I prefer
to shop local and spend my resource on the island,
even if it is a little more expensive. As the son of a
shopkeeper, I know you have to use it or lose it!
WHERE IN THE WORLD WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO
VISIT AND WHY?
I am very fortunate as I have travelled widely, but it has
to be Antarctica or the Galapagos Islands. The
remoteness and wildlife would be fascinating.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE TV SERIES?
House of Cards on Netflix although the recent The
Night Manager came close.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE FILM
There are so many but if I had to choose it would be
Master and Commander. Aubry’s “the lesser of two
weevils” joke always cracks me up!
WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE ALBUM?
My taste in music is eclectic and covers rock, musicals,
folk and classical. I am a great fan of Counting Crows,
a band that did not last very long. I think their Hard
Candy album is terrific. There is a bonus track at the
end which is an awesome cover of Joni Mitchell’s Big
Yellow Taxi. And you have to go a long way to beat the
Eagles’ Hotel California.
WHAT IS THE MOST MEMORABLE EVENT YOU HAVE
ATTENDED?
Sorry, there are four: marrying Lorraine and the births
of our three children.
NAME 3 THINGS YOU WOULD LIKE TO DO BEFORE
YOU DIE?
I want Lorraine and my three children to be happy and
fulfilled in whatever they do. But aside from that I’d like
to spend a ski season in the Alps, sail the Atlantic
Ocean and learn to play the piano - well!
WHAT IS THE BEST PIECE OF PERSONAL ADVICE YOU
COULD OFFER?
Be true, be honest, be kind (never weak), laugh a lot
(mostly at yourself!), never ever give up on anything or
anybody.
WHAT IS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE FACED BY
BUSINESSES ON THE ISLAND TODAY?
The management of change. The rate of change is
exponential, fuelled by access to technology and this
will challenge and destroy some traditional business
models.
But crisis and opportunity always go hand in hand
and I have every confidence that the Island will
continue to thrive if we can address some key issues.
One of these is controlling costs as revenues will
continue to be unpredictable. The current State sector
pension arrangements are unsustainable and the
situation will get worse before it gets better, as it will
for the Health Service generally.
The only way to address this is to “trade out” of
where we are now to where we need to get to. To my
mind this will be a different model, with more people
having to take responsibility for their care and
retirement, because governments generally cannot
afford the reality of their rhetoric.
This will create opportunities for savings products,
healthcare products and investment products,
alliances with the private sector. Technology will drive
unit costs down and enable more active trading in
volatile conditions. Biotech, Fintech and the application
of blockchain technology must provide high value, low
impact opportunity.
I am delighted at the Government's international
engagement process. The Common Reporting
Standard has left the station, you either get on the train
or get hit by it. But we also have a developing network
of full OECD tax treaties to enable engagement with the
EU. This will help us to facilitate international business
from a sophisticated well-regulated jurisdiction that
can show it is managing change elegantly. This is
currently an under-utilised resource.
So the future is bright but with some caveats, as I
think there are many issues still to deal with. It’s a great
time to bring on the problem solvers and let us help to
work “on” businesses and not necessarily “in’ them.
DIGITAL AGE