John M Clegg

In a career spanning three continents and more than three decades, John M Clegg has lived and breathed the creation and capture of sustainable value through innovation. He has worked in multiple countries in engineering, manufacturing, sales and operations for the oil and gas industry and his variety of roles has allowed him to see the innovation value chain through multiple sets of eyes. This led John to realise that invention and innovation are not the same. When we come up with an exciting and original new idea, by itself that idea is not an innovation. It is simply an invention, possibly a great invention, but at that point the hard work is still to be done. Innovation is that hard work. It is the process of turning that idea into something of value. John has worked internally on the engineering of new products and services and the creation of new business models, and externally with customers and other stakeholders on understanding the value that innovation can bring to them. He has often joked that his role was always one of interpreter – turning customer and stakeholder needs into the language that technology developers would understand. His exposure to the oil and gas industry taught him about the importance of external stakeholders. It’s no understatement to say that the oil and gas industry is not as popular as it used to be, and John has learnt to navigate negative investor and public opinion while actively helping the industry to pivot, embracing new energy sources and thereby providing good for society. John was educated in Engineering Science at Worcester College, Oxford University and is an alumnus of Oxford’s Saïd Business School, where he was awarded a Diploma in Global Business. He is the principal of J M Clegg Ltd, a consultancy specializing both in drilling and in innovation as a strategic discipline. After spending many years overseas, John now lives in Cheltenham, England with his wife and two dogs.