Friday 20 April 2018 Mike Dobby (OL83) came back to school last night to give a talk on a ground-breaking new collaboration between his company, Deloitte, and McLaren of Formula 1 fame, that is helping businesses move forward, faster. Mike has been a partner with Deloitte for over 18 years, focusing on the technology, media and telecommunications sector. Along with colleagues at Deloitte, he recognised that the business model they had been operating for 100 years needed to change, and so began the search for a new product based business opportunity. In his talk, ‘Applying F1 technology and simulation to drive tomorrow’s high performance business’, Mike described how Deloitte and McLaren were a good fit, with McLaren’s expertise in digital simulation developed for the race track and Deloitte’s deep industry expertise and access to major companies. The new joint venture bridges the gap between the physical and the digital, using digital models that can be applied to businesses from brewing to aviation, increasing efficiency and the ability to deal with unforeseen circumstances. Mike described how, while his company still does the consultancy that it has always done, it’s no longer business as usual: “Deloitte now has a product business that requires different skills and offers different career paths, we are no longer ‘just’ consultants.” The talk was the latest in the annual lecture series established in honour of Dr Mark Bailey who was head of Leeds Grammar School and GSAL between 1999 and 2005. Alumni
