Kyle MacRae

Cycling is my passion. But I know it can go from awesome to awful with a twist in the wind. Why? Because your mind tells you stories, and they’re not always true.

I wrote The Mental Cyclist to explore the psychological blocks and barriers that can so often hold cyclists back from enjoying our sport to the max. The book is wholly accessible, 100% practical, and includes 30 journal exercises to help readers develop deep self-expertise. Background story here.

I joined Mantra as Strategy and Innovation Director, tasked with helping the agency embrace new opportunities for growth, especially internationally.

I led the development of new business with L’Oréal’s international teams, where projects included developing employee value propositions for the Professional Products and Luxe divisions, designing and running a global awards program for 20,000 employees, and developing training materials to help newcomers navigate L’Oréal’s culture.

In 2017, I took the role of Managing Partner to help the business owner restructure the business. In 2019, I stepped away to focus on a personal project, The Mental Cyclist. Today I freelance as a consultant on occasional strategic projects.

I joined TRC Media to run the annual transformational Cross Creative training program. Over the course of 9 months, I led groups of top creative professionals and business owners on a journey of personal and professional development, designed to help Scotland’s creative sector compete with the best in the world.

Each program included a field trip to Silicon Valley, where I organised visits to the tech giants like Facebook and Google, world-leading creative companies like Pixar, and the most innovative start-ups.

I also led the development and rollout of Special Edition, a direct spin-out from Cross Creative but open only to women. Special Edition was intended to help address the under- representation of women in the boardroom in Scotland. The outcomes were remarkable.

Blasted Heath was a partnership with self-publishing pioneer, Allan Guthrie. In 2011, Allan had just proven the potential to reach audiences directly with his own titles, and together we spotted an opportunity to disrupt the traditional publishing model with an ebook-only approach.

Specialising in hardboiled crime fiction, Blasted Heath published excellent authors who were otherwise struggling to find, or unwilling to sign up to, traditional publishing deals. With our low overheads, agile processes and direct marketing strategies, we took authors to market quickly and effectively, and built something of a cult following.   

Blether Media, a dedicated social media marketing agency, was born of my experience with Scoopt, where I’d demonstrated that a one-person unfunded Scottish start-up could build the biggest brand in its space with nothing more than a good story. 

Through client services and training, I helped hundreds of businesses get to grips with the strange, exciting new world of social media. I helping them create a level playing field for customer attention regardless of the competition, using great content and storytelling to trump marketing spend.   

As part of the acquisition deal, I was employed by Getty Images on a one-year contract to lead Scoopt through the transitional period. 

In 2004, cameras were becoming commonplace in mobile phones. I realised that every breaking news event would soon be captured first by a member of the public, not a professional. I created a market for what became known as ‘citizen journalism’ by bridging the gap between people who found themselves in the right place at the right time, and the global media.

Scoopt was a truly disruptive business. Highlights included striking a deal with Sony Ericsson to embed Scoopt in 10m cameraphones worldwide, steering a challenging path between legitimate photo opportunities and invasive amateur paparazzi opportunitists, and engaging with every major media agency in M&A talks. 

In 2007, just 18 months after launch, I sold Scoopt to Getty Images.

Haynes Publishing was renowned for its car and motorcycle manuals. However, the market for these books was decreasing as vehicles became more computerised and less amenable to amateur tinkering. Haynes needed to try something new.

I was engaged by Haynes to write an experimental book on consumer technology, The Computer Manual. This was an immediate hit and led to a long series of technology manuals. I wrote / co-wrote around 12 hardback titles, plus annual updates. 

Despite working in the fashion business for over 10 years, my real passion was writing. I blagged my way into journalism with a couple of speculative pitches, and developed a specialism in making complex technology accessible for everyone.

This led to a long and successful career as a freelance journalist, where I wrote extensively for the Mirror newspaper (often ghost-writing for Carol Vorderman, which I found amusing), ComputerActive magazine, and a wide range of consumer media. 

Having graduated with a degree in Philosophy, I naturally became a fashion designer. I expanded quickly to run a clothing factory, which was fun until it burned down and I went bust.

I then embarked on a career in the rag trade where I became the Production Director for two mail order companies, Blooming Marvellous and, laterally, Boden. In 1996, it was time for a complete change. 

Having no clue what to do with my life, but loving literature, an Eng Lit degree was the obvious choice. I discovered Philosophy in my first year and was instantly smitten, so I decided to do a joint degree. I use my Philosophy training daily, in various weird ways.