Strategist. Futurist. Author. Builder of companies on four continents.
Godfrey Parkin has spent four decades at the intersection of technology, strategy, and human behaviour — helping organisations see where the world is going before it gets there, and positioning them to lead rather than follow.
He literally wrote the book on digital marketing. Published by Random House Penguin, Digital Marketing became the definitive guide to the field. His other books — including Own the Future: Strategies for Digital Disruption and Customer First: Persuasive Selling Skills — reflect the range of a mind equally at home in boardrooms and startups, in corporate transformation and entrepreneurial invention.
A career built on firsts
Before the internet was a business tool, Godfrey was pioneering it. He headed global business development at Nielsen, the FMCG research giant, before going on to found successful digital companies in Zurich, London, Washington D.C., and Cape Town — each one pushing the envelope of what technology could do for customers.
He patented virtual world and 3D avatar technologies still in use today. He built the largest project management e-learning company in the United States. He created North America’s best-selling enterprise digital transformation programme. He brought organisations like Georgia Tech, American Honda, and Kepner-Tregoe into the world of e-learning — years before it became mainstream.
His clients have included Cisco Systems, IBM, Ford, Credit Suisse, AT&T, and many of the Fortune 100. He helped Credit Suisse transform its operations, grow sales substantially, and rise to the top of customer reputation rankings. He is a co-founder of MindZu, a mathematics edtech company that beat more than 3,000 startups from 80 countries to reach the finals of the Global EdTech Startup Awards.
The work today
Godfrey now works with a small number of senior leaders and boards — people navigating markets being reshaped by technology, AI, and shifting consumer behaviour. The engagements are selective and substantive: strategy development, executive mentoring, and occasionally the kind of writing that requires both deep expertise and a clear voice.
He has advised companies in more than thirty countries, served on the boards of global technology startups. He is an Associate of the Centre for Innovative Leadership and serves on the faculty of USB-ED. His insight, his archive of real-world stories from across industries and continents, and his instinct for identifying what matters next make him a rare kind of thinking partner.
A few facts
Degree in Business Science, majoring in Marketing — University of Cape Town.
Based in Cape Town. Works worldwide.