Russell Lawson, Managing Director, Optimus Education, London
SIPA: What was your first job out of college and how did you get into this business?
RUSSELL: I actually avoided work once I finished University and went travelling for a year. I came back five years later, after having wandered through central and southern Africa and southeast Asia, got involved with aid work in Nepal, “personality building” through pineapple picking in Australia and English teaching in Japan and Russia. When I finally got back to the U.K., I started looking for jobs and came across conference production at an educational publisher called Optimus Education. No one grows up wanting to be a conference producer, but it seemed like an odd enough choice for me at the time.
Has there been a defining moment in your career? Perhaps when you knew you were on the right road.
I remember taking over the conference team after a year or so and being able to have new ideas and turn them into new products and into profit, and being able to show others how to do it too. I’d never thought of work like that before.
In brief, describe your business/company?
Optimus Education provides professional development resources for school leaders and managers. We publish a range of print subscription titles for education professionals from Headteachers and School Business Managers to Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators and Curriculum Managers. We publish a range of books and ebooks that provide people in our market with the tools to improve themselves and their students. Our national conferences are considered the leading events for senior education professionals looking to turn new government policy into practice.
What are two or three important concepts or rules that have helped you to succeed in business?
– Know your market;
– Know what they need and know you can provide it;
– Never assume you know better than they do, but stay one step ahead of them.
What is the single-most successful thing that your company is doing now?
It’s been a difficult 18 months in education following the last election, the funding cuts and massive policy changes. We are most successful in areas where we know our market and meet their needs, but also stay one step ahead of them. New subscription sales in areas such as special educational needs and child protection, and policy implementation conferences around Academies and Performance Management are performing better than anyone had expected.
Do you see a trend or path that you have to lock onto as you look to 2012?
Our content is our marketing.
What are the key benefits of SIPA membership for you and your team?
Definitely seeing what others have done and what we can pick up. Our market tends to lag behind developments, particularly digital, and that gives us breathing space to observe others, investigate and make the right decisions for our market.
Where did you grow up?
East London.
What college did you attend? Is there a moment from that time that stands out?
I went to the University of Sheffield and studied modern history and politics. I struggle to make the memories I have fill the 3 years that I’m sure I was there.
Are you married? Do you have children?
Nope and nope.
Is there a book you recently read or movie you saw that you would recommend?
I’m currently re-reading The Master and Margarita by Bulgakov but recommend The Idiot by Dostoevsky. I know it makes me sound pretentious, but I do like Russian classics. Also, if you’ve never actually read Les Miserables, take the time to read it. Avoid War and Peace.
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Save the date!
Join many of your European colleagues at the
Online Publishing and Marketing Summit
Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011, at 9 a.m. in London
– see a keynote highlighting data and tracking and key metrics;
– observe best practice case studies;
– check out the sessions on Content and Control;
– or attend sessions on Community and Communications;
– and attend “What Do the Next 12 Months Look
Like for a Paid-For Content Provider?”
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