Today is the tenth anniversary of the starting of our company, TomorrowToday. Ten years ago today, Barrie Bramley, Keith Coats and Graeme Codrington had lunch at a restaurant called Ruby’s in Fourways Mall, Sandton. We had already been working together for a few years, but that day we agreed to formalise our work, form a company and position ourselves as a team. Keith came up with the name – and it’s been a winner ever since: “Tomorrow’s competitive advantage today”, “understanding tomorrow’s world today” and “making tomorrow a reality today” and many more versions have been taglines that have helped positon us and explain what we do.
We now have two full time offices: South Africa and UK/Europe, with another opening in Singapore in the near future. We have worked in more than 50 countries, with over 500 clients, helping people at all levels of organisations from every industry to understand the forces that are shaping the new world of work, and what they mean for people, leaders, teams and strategies.
We have employed more than 50 people during the past decade, and numerous staff and employees have gone on to start their own specialist consulting companies (with our blessing): Terry Bakker, Buhle Dlamini, Raymond de Villiers, Lynda Smith, Lezelle Taljaard, Nicky Edwards, Glenda Warrin, Aiden Choles, Mike Stopforth, Raylene Shipham, Steve Griffiths, Jackie Ronson and Barrie Bramley to name a few. We’ve had some leave to join the corporate world (Michael Mol left to become CEO of one of our clients) and others have moved into politics (Mmusi ‘Aloysias’ Maimane recently was the Democratic Alliance’s candidate for mayor of Johannesburg).
Many of them are still associates and work with us on selected client projects. Our current list of preferred associates and those with a close business connections to TomorrowToday include: Prof Nick Barker, Pete Laburn, Gary Bailey, Lynda Smith, Paul Adlam, Dawna MacLean, Paul Bridle, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, Terry Bakker and the great team at DigitLab.
It’s fitting to mention those who have been directors of the company, and since moved on: Barrie Bramley (a founding shareholder), Michael Mol, Raymond de Villiers, Steve Griffiths and Jackie Ronson (both founding shareholders of our UK business).
Current shareholders and directors are: Graeme Codrington, Keith Coats, Dean van Leeuwen, Catherine Garland, James Dunne, Vicky Coats, Jude Foulston, Saffron Baggallay and Mike Saunders. We are excited to have Nick Barker join us in 2012, with a view to starting our Singapore operations more formally in the near future.
We have engaged with over 500 clients during the last 10 years. Many have become both repeat clients and friends. A list of some of our more recent clients is available on our website, including some of their comments and testimonials about our work. We are really proud of the work we’ve done in the last ten years, and the difference we have made in so many companies.
I cannot begin to count them, but I would guess that we have easily written more than a million words in books, blog entries (we have two official blogs: SA and UK/Europe), newsletters (again, we have an SA and a UK/Europe version), white papers, handouts for our presentations, workshops and training courses, research projects, social media, and all of the media contributions we have made.
And we do all of this for just two simple reasons: (1) Because we believe that there is a better way to work, and that by understanding the forces shaping a new world of work, we can bring about a change in the way we live and work, and (2) because we love it.
Thanks for sharing the journey. Here’s to the next decade!