As a lot of new people seem to be joining here, I thought I should have a go at an #introduction.
I am I guess a bit unusual in having been a serial entrepreneur, and a business advisor, but also a life-long socialist. I started my first business while still at school, and another at university; then I discovered social enterprise - using business models and methods not for private gain, but for common benefit. I got involved in the wholefood co-op and radical bookshop movements, then went on to work in social enterprise development, setting up a co-operative specialising in organisational structure design, writing a number of technical guides on this, and on how to restructure conventional organisations as co-ops and social enterprises - and indeed advising on some of the largest transformations to social enterprise in the UK. I went on to work internationally on the development of legislation and financial support for social enterprise, both for governments and international aid bodies.
Throughout I also worked with universities, first in cultural history and then in social enterprise. Alongside my PhD I taught on the Keele University 'American Mind' course - a broad cultural survey course. I've studied many aspects of history, culture and the arts - and been a part-time practitioner in both pottery and music (guitar) - but my main early focus was on literature. Later, naturally, I became more involved in teaching and researching social enterprise development, working with a number of universities and other organisations.
(he/him) 
