Rob Worth – Editor

Rob Worth

Rob has had a 23-year-long career in The City, as a software developer and programme manager, then as a systems thinking management consultant, and now as an editor. All this makes Rob the perfect combination to work with you on your non-fiction book in the area of systems and complexity thinking, leadership, business, government, public sector, organisational development, economics, agile, improvement or psychology.

Rob is fascinated by working with authors who have something new to say and loves to help them create books that can really change the way people think, see, feel and act in the world.

Rob says:

“Only by taking the messages from the experts and putting them together in a way that is accessible, but retains the nuance of what can be abstract and esoteric ideas, insights and models, can we move away from outdated ways of organising the world into a new era where the messy problems we have are not solved, but dissolved.”

Rob is the author of Beat the Cuts – How to Improve Public Services and Easily Cut Costs.

Client Testimonials

Jamie Flinchbaugh, author of ’People Solve Problems’ – USA

Jamie Finchbaugh, author or People Solve Problems

“When I sent the first draft of my book, People Solve Problems, to Rob, many of the ideas were there, but it wasn’t yet a book. The flow wasn’t right, the message was a bit inconsistent, and the pieces didn’t all fit together. Rob’s first structural review gave me some excellent and honest feedback and several ideas that helped me reshape the book to something that is cohesive and ultimately more effective.”

Kelly Ann McKercher, author of ‘Beyond Sticky Notes’ – Australia

“Rob read and proofed Beyond Sticky Notes at a critical point in the writing process, where I could no longer see the wood for the trees. He was thorough, clear, kind and thoughtful with his suggestions. He was great to communicate with, answered emails promptly (despite being on the other side of the world) and made the proofing process easy to understand. Thanks Rob.”

Anna Eriksson, author of ‘Leading from Joy’ – Sweden

Anna Eriksson, author of Leading from Joy

“Rob was the first editor I got contact with. I liked his quick, honest and helpful responses and later also the taste of his editing. That first impression kept true. He also had the patience to wait for my first book, Leading from Joy, which took a year. When it finally was time for proofreading Rob took it on at a deep level, still keeping his time promise. Not only did he find small errors here and there. He also checked my references, how my explanation of exercises worked and others’ suggestions, as he knew my field. He also gave me tips about English writing – I am Swedish and this was my first book in English. I felt Rob as very trustworthy and skilled in his editing, easy to work with. I am happy to recommend Rob – you/we are worth it.”

Mark Graban, author of ‘Measures of Success’ – USA

Mark Graban

“As a reviewer of my book, Measures of Success: React Less, Lead Better, Improve More, Rob found a number of errors (in text and images) that had slipped past the other professional editors and proofreaders who had been involved in my project. He gave precise feedback that was very helpful. I would trust his combination of subject matter knowledge and his sharp eye for other projects in the future.”

Steve Hales, author of ‘Reframing ITIL’ – UK

Steve Hales

“I strongly recommend using Rob as your editor. I’d already published my book, Reframing ITIL, and thought that I’d finished editing and proofreading. So when Rob offered to have a look at my manuscript, I really wasn’t expecting him to find anything. In fact, he made loads of suggestions for the first chapter – and all of them were good. As a result we agreed that he look at the rest of the book and he continued to see things that I had missed. There’s no doubt that the end result is far superior and this exercise has given me peace of mind that the book is in the best state it can be. I strongly recommend using Rob for your book – it’s well worth it!”

Dave Gaster, author of ‘Thought Trilogy’ – UK

Dave Gaster

“I heartily recommend Rob as an editor. I’ve known Rob for many years, and he offered to read, comment on and edit my new science fiction books called the Thought Trilogy. He didn’t rush, he reflected and thought his way through how to feed back to me a few truths that I might not want to hear. The technical aspects were all very well made, very easy for me to accept. Observations about building the descriptions of characters, bringing out their personalities to create a “mind’s eye” for the readers also made sense. What Rob enabled, in a thoughtful way, was a restructuring to enhance my writing, to bring the stories to life, to make it possible for me to transition from an okay fiction writer, to a better professional one. My direction of travel is quite clear now, with Rob’s help.”

Ivo Velitchkov, author of ‘Essential Balances’ – Belgium

Ivo Velitchkov – author of ‘Essential Balances: Stop Looking and Start Seeing What Makes Organizations Work’

I consider myself lucky to have worked with Rob on my book Essential Balances. For me, as a non-native speaker and not living in an English-speaking country, collaborating with a good editor is a must. But I’m annoyingly picky as to how exactly something is put and very selective on when to block and when to invite interpretations. And I know first-hand the regular editor’s service. You get a report and invitation to call when something is unclear. Rob’s service is very far from that. He’s patient enough to understand the intention at the macro and micro scale and then works with you to realise it. Working on a book about balances, it was a pleasure to get such a balanced service – neither the typical hands-off, nor anything approaching the opposite, intervention. In my book, the struggle I had was to preserve rigour while making the text as readable and accessible as possible. And Rob, who has both deep and wide knowledge, and the empathy to read with the eyes of somebody who’s lacking them, was up to the challenge of this tension.

Katie Anderson, author of ‘Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn’ – USA

“Rob Worth‘s review of the final typeset proofs of my book, Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn, was invaluable. Rob’s sharp eye caught a number of errors throughout the book – in style, grammar, and layout – that other professional editors and proofreaders had not. Rob gave feedback directly in the working document, which made it easy for both me and my editor to action the edits. I will recommend Rob to other authors and would work with him on future projects.”