ABOUT
John Lyder
I have run BPO Consulting since 2002. Before and alongside that, I have built a European organisation from nothing, led companies on an interim basis, and worked on products and services that must pass through regulation before they reach a market.
What I sell is not method. It is judgement from having stood in it myself, and the ability to do something about it while I am there.
How I work
My engagements take three forms.
Sounding board
Regular conversations with the managing director or the board. No deliverable beyond better decisions. Typically a few hours a month, over time.
Project support
I take responsibility for progress, milestones and risk in a defined effort. Typically three to twelve months.
Management for hire
I step into an operational role in the organisation, with the responsibility that comes with it. I have served as chief executive, head of sales, deputy chief executive and compliance director on an interim basis in four companies since 2012.
The last form is what separates me from an adviser. I can describe what should be done, but I can also stay and do it.
Background
International build-up
For Biorigin I built the European organisation from nothing, with head office in Antwerp and employees in five countries. The organisation had a turnover of just over EUR 50 million and delivered several thousand tonnes of goods from the factories in Brazil.
Regulated health and medtech
As a partner at Provida Medical, from 2020 to March 2026 I worked on regulatory requirements, quality management systems, quality control and audits for medical devices. Today I am Compliance Director on an interim basis at Limitless Medicare.
Interim management
Chief executive at ECOparking and at CLARE, deputy chief executive at Rekrutteringspartneren. In the last case I carried out a turnaround and a national expansion.
Structure and costs
Through BPO Consulting I have led process improvement projects with documented cost reductions of around NOK 20 million.
Technology
From Digital Equipment Corporation, later Compaq, and GE Capital. Budget responsibility of more than NOK 500 million, product responsibility for the server portfolio, and sales of business-critical solutions to telecoms and oil and gas.
Where it started
From 1992 to 1995 I was chair of the board of the ambulance service in Vadsø and Nesseby.
The service was running at a loss, and pay was set without any rules. What each person earned was in practice a question of who was liked. That is not a detail in an emergency service. It decides who stays and who leaves.
We introduced standardised rules for setting pay that applied to everyone, and turned the finances from loss to surplus. The surplus meant we could buy a new ambulance.
I have also led medical rescue services for the Norwegian Civil Defence in Finnmark County, and I trained as a paramedic at Vestfold Hospital Trust, then Vestfold Central Hospital.
That is more than thirty years ago. But it is still the two things I do most often: make sure there is a rule that applies to everyone, and make the finances carry what you want to do.
Education
- FinanceUniversity of Liverpool
- GE Management Development InstituteGeneral Electric
- Paramedic trainingVestfold Hospital Trust (then Vestfold Central Hospital)
How I work with people
Organisations are not changed by documents. They change when people do something differently, and that rarely happens because someone was told to.
So I spend more time understanding how the work actually happens than describing how it ought to happen. And those who are going to use a solution should have taken part in shaping it. This is not about mood. It is about the alternative not working.
I often come in after something has gone wrong. There are usually people there who already feel they have failed. Finding out what actually happened requires that they dare to say it. That is a large part of the job, and that part is rarely in the brief.