CAREER-VIEW MIRROR - biographies of colleagues in the automotive and mobility industries.

David Woollcott: on transitioning industries, handling redundancy and how it's finally okay for leaders to be both commercially successful and kind.

June 20, 2022 Andy Follows Episode 69
CAREER-VIEW MIRROR - biographies of colleagues in the automotive and mobility industries.
David Woollcott: on transitioning industries, handling redundancy and how it's finally okay for leaders to be both commercially successful and kind.
Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

When he felt his career was on a plateau David took himself to Australia to maintain momentum and after several years finally returned home to the UK when the timing was right. On his journey, he experienced corporate and personal success, significant challenge in his home life and a shock redundancy, all of which he shares openly during our conversation. I am pleased to be able to introduce you to David in this episode and look forward to hearing what resonates with you. 

David is a globally experienced executive across the premium & luxury consumer goods and automotive industries in the UK, EU, Australia and New Zealand. He holds tertiary qualifications in both engineering (B.Eng, Bath) business management (ADP, London Business School) & (Adv Dip. Bus, Deakin University, Melbourne). He's a passionate advocate of organisational & team development, strategic & operational rigor, continual change and programs to optimise the consumer experience. He's fluent in German, a Member of the UK Institute of Directors (IOD), Board Member of AMDEA, and a British and Australian citizen. 

And he's the founder of a concept not-for-profit called SaddleUp! supporting people recently made redundant. 

If you enjoy listening to my guests career stories, please follow CAREER-VIEW MIRROR in your podcast app.  

You can contact David via Linked In 

Why not follow us on Instagram @careerviewmirror where you can see a directory of all our episodes and comment on those you have enjoyed. 

 

This episode of Career-view Mirror is brought to you by Aquilae.  

Aquilae's mission is to enable Fullfilling Performance in the auto finance and mobility industry, internationally. Adopting our Fulfilling Performance Paradigm helps you identify what steps you need to take to enable Fulfilling Performance for yourself, your team and your business. Contact cvm@aquilae.co.uk for a no obligation conversation about your situation. 

 

Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk 

Episode recorded on 13 June 2022 

David Woollcott:

Anything related to cars was a borderline obsession. I mean, I remember having so many car magazines piled up in my bedroom as a narrow column that it actually broke on our floorboards.

Andy:

Welcome to Career-view Mirror the automotive podcast that goes behind the scenes with key players in the industry looking back over their careers so far, sharing insights to help you with your own journey. I'm your host Andy follows David Woollcott listeners. David is a global experienced executive across the premium and luxury consumer goods and automotive industries in the UK, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. He holds tertiary qualifications in both engineering with a B.Eng. from Bath, Business Management ADP, London Business School and Advanced Diploma in Business Deakin University Melbourne. He's a passionate advocate of organisational and team development, strategic and operational rigour, continual change and programmes to optimise the consumer experience. He's fluent in German, a member of the UK Institute of Directors, a board member of AMDEA and a British and Australian citizen, and he's the founder of a concept not for profit called Saddle Up supporting people recently made redundant. When he felt his career was on a plateau, David took himself to Australia to maintain momentum, and after several years, finally returned home to the UK when the timing was right. On his journey, he experienced corporate and personal success, significant challenge in his home life, and a shock redundancy, all of which he shares openly during our conversation. I'm pleased to be able to introduce you to David in this episode, and I look forward to hearing what resonates with you. If you enjoy listening to my guests career stories, please follow Career-view Mirror in your podcast app.

Aquilae Academy:

This episode of Career-view Mirror is brought to you by the Aquilae Academy. At the Academy we turn individual development into a team sport. We bring together small groups of leaders from non competing organisations to form their very own academy team. We build strong connection between team members and create a great environment for sharing and learning. We introduced the team to content that can help them tackle their current challenges. And we hold them accountable to take the actions that they decide are their priorities. We say we hold our team members feet to the fire of their best intentions. We do this internationally with teams across the world. If you'd like to learn more about the academy, go to www.aquilae.co.uk.

Andy:

Hello, David and welcome. Where are you coming to us from today?

David Woollcott:

I'm home in Northamptonshire. And yeah, that's where I that's where I live.

Andy:

Thanks very much. Thanks for joining me. I'm excited to have this conversation. We haven't seen each other in quite a long time. I'm sure it might even crop up where we last did see each other. But first of all, I wanted to ask where your journey began. Where did life start out for you? Where were you born?

David Woollcott:

Yeah, I was born in Northamptonshire. So I've travelled around the world a bit and worked in a few places. But I've actually come right back home. So I was born in Northamptonshire General Hospital in 1980.

Andy:

Right. Well, I met you in Australia. I think it was so I'm aware that you've travelled a little bit. And tell me a little about, first of all about growing up in Northamptonshire. What was your family situation? Have you got any brothers and sisters?

David Woollcott:

Yes, I've got a sister. She's three years older than me and she's a teacher at local school. Yeah, we have a great relationship. She's got two daughters who I see and they they play with my two kids. Yeah, I grew up in a lovely little village called Brixworth, which is where the famously the Mercedes McLaren Formula One engines are made. So it's a really unusual village with with an extraordinary history. Yeah. And my dad started his own business in the very late 70s and worked in a village just a few miles down the road. So everything that I did with my parents was based very much in Northamptonshire, because dad obviously wouldn't want to leave the business that he was building with two colleagues in the early 80s.

Andy:

Can I ask you a little bit more about that business? I always ask my guests what sort of jobs they had sight of when they were growing up. So I'm curious to know what what was your dad's business?

David Woollcott:

It was a specialist engineering firm, and they designed oil and gas separators so crude separators that were manufactured all over the World and ended up in specialist oil refineries and pre production of oil goods. And dad was made redundant with two other colleagues. And they ended up sort of setting up a business in West Haddon, which is as I said a village near us. And, yeah, they focused on these really specialists cyclonic pieces of equipment that separated crude oil and gas. And they ended up selling that business to a Norwegian company in the mid 1990s. Yeah, but some of it is actually still going. So there's one part called Paladon Systems, which has been since purchased by an Italian group, but unbelievably 40 odd years going, the brand is still out there. Dad has long since retired, but he's still retired from that business. But as a 78 year old, he's still actually working, he's a sort of specialist inspector in that particular field. So he's been an extraordinary example of work for me, because it certainly always felt like he enjoyed it. He was always challenged by it. He was ambitious, but always took a lot of people with him on that journey. And they remain pretty good friends of his to this day.

Andy:

I'm glad you said I was going to ask you, what impact did it have having an entrepreneurial Father, if you like, how's that affected you do you think in some of the ways you've approached your career?

David Woollcott:

Ah, very much so, I think mom and dad have been a inspiration. They had very defined roles. Dad was the breadwinner. And, you know, the very traditional setup of in that time where the dad earned the money and the mum was stay at home, we were comfortable growing up, we never had huge amounts of money. The business was sold and it was a reasonably successful outcome for mom and dad. But they had their defined roles. And they worked really hard to put me through school and university, and I'll ever be forever grateful for them really seeing education as an important, important part of, you know, an upbringing they didn't really have. They were both bright, but they didn't go to university, they worked really hard, and also had really hard working parents themselves. So I think work's always been an important part of their life as it is mine.

Andy:

So let me take you back to school. If I can ask you what sort of a student way?

David Woollcott:

I think I mean, I was I was pretty hopeless at reading. So which, as a 12, 13 year old, I discovered that I was dyslexic. But I was a real keen learner. I mean, I still am really keen to learn and to connect the dots and I'm naturally curious, but I did pretty well at GCSE level, but always felt I had to work hard or harder than the other students to do well, and

Andy:

Sorry to interrupt but until I until you found out you were dyslexic, that must be quite difficult. I'm just imagining just finding it really, really difficult to read and not being a great reader and then then finding out Ah, I'm this is why was it really helpful to have that diagnosis, or it wasn't very difficult before then, or have you not given it much thought,

David Woollcott:

I really haven't given it too much thought. I mean, I never thought I was I always found schoolwork, and particularly reading books boring. But I think that was about the content of the books that I was given, I was just not interested in reading for reading sake. But if there was something that sparked my interest, or on my imagination, I was naturally able to stick with the topic more. So I found it more difficult to apply myself over longer periods of time, which but then I you know, I did the test. Because I was really struggling, I was falling behind a bit in reading. So I learned some new skills. And I think the school got me like a coach or a development specialist to help with reading. So it's something that, you know, there's so many different types of dyslexia and so on, but I don't think I was ever severely impacted by it. And as I said, I did well at GCSE and A level and that took me to university. So it was more linked to the fact I think I had to work really hard. And I was I was pushed, I remember being pushed by my parents. They were certainly active in wanting me to do well, not to the point of hurting me, but they definitely were, you know, they definitely wanted me to do well

Andy:

there was an expectation.

David Woollcott:

There was definitely an expectation. Yeah, there was

Andy:

right. And so you mentioned that if that was a subject you're interested in, then that was you could engage with that. At what point did you start to make some choices and recognise what you were interested in?

David Woollcott:

It would have been, you know, early teens, the sciences always really interested me and particularly biology and chemistry were topics that I thought were so fascinating and anything related to cars was a borderline obsession. I mean, I remember having so many car magazines, they were piled up in my bedroom as a narrow column that it actually broke one of our floorboards. Because the pressure was sustained on a small area for so long. I had so many Top Gears, Auto Cars, car magazines, Evo, when that started, and that's still very much alive as a passion now, in all different forms, but I'm fascinated to see what's happening in the world of of automotive design. And if I won the lottery, then there wouldn't be any money left. I think I'd buy aircraft hangar and spend my life on Autotrader, I think buying all kinds of crazy stuff.

Andy:

Right. And when you left school, when you were coming towards the end of school, did you know what you wanted, what direction you want it to go in? Or was it trial and error?

David Woollcott:

It was kind of the sciences that I was interested in, and dad was flying around everywhere. So it was a small company, his company, but if it was a half term, and he was doing some work in Norway, or in Germany, then I would go with him at times. So I'd end up sitting in manufacturing facilities or offices not understanding a lot that was going on, but kind of being geeed on by dad's passion of engineering, and his partner was ex Cosworth, Cosworth Motorsport. So there was always that link somewhere to motorsport, as well. And I really didn't know what I wanted to do. But I did. I did maths, physics, chemistry and German at A level. And I think engineering was always going to be in my future, but not knowing what to what to do. I think I just copied dad. So I did an engineering, dad didn't get an engineering degree, he did BTech and then went into the merchant navy. But I did you know, I did mechanical engineering and materials, basically at Bath University. And that was, I wouldn't do that again. I don't believe in regrets, but, but I found that so difficult, and so not linked to who I am and how I like spending time. But I found myself at a really amazing one of the top engineering universities doing a topic where I loved the elementary side of it, the chemistry and the materials I found fascinating, but the maths was on a different level. And it became an basically an Applied Maths degree. That's the way I felt and I persevered and got through it. I don't know how. Loved university would not do that degree again

Andy:

Okay, that's fascinating. And not, you know, not surprising, because we're limited in what we know and we don't know exactly what we're going into. You take the which is why I always ask these questions about what roles had you seen, and you'd followed what your dad had done. But next level in terms of doing the degree, and I love the way you describe it as the sort of person I am. And how I like to spend my time as being the measures that you would now use you hopefully, you'd reflect on who you are, and how you like to spend your time and you'd use that to help guide you into the right sort of course, yeah, with the benefit of hindsight,

David Woollcott:

it is that you only pick these things up during the course of doing them. And, you know, when if and when I talk to young people, they talk about doing things, you know, Oh, I did that when I was 21 and I really didn't enjoy it. I'm like brilliant tick it off the list, you don't need to get back to that it's like is as valuable to understand the things that you're not suited to to find ultimately a couple of things where you are suited. Very few of us find exactly what we want to do at 21 and stick to that until we're 61

Andy:

Yeah, yeah, I'm a big advocate of getting involved and at least be doing something and then you can as you say you can tick it off you can or as the police say we can eliminate it from our inquiries and that way, rather than sitting at home and hoping that you're finally going to work it out what it is exactly you want to do you find out you find out by trying stuff whether it's closer or further away from how you enjoy spending your time going to use your phrase how you enjoy spending your time and the sort of person you are so so did you made it through you persevered?

David Woollcott:

Yeah, yep. No I got my Bachelor of Engineering and I did a two year then a one year working in Germany and then a one year back at university. So I did a year's placement that that was my sort of first introduction to BMW Group.

Andy:

Oh you did a placement did you?

David Woollcott:

I actually did the placement with Infineon Technologies. So that's a Siemens semiconductors for one of a better word at the physics level. So it was a we were we were growing high temperature super conductors in a laboratory environment

Andy:

I have no idea what that is. But it sounds pretty intense

David Woollcott:

You know, me neither. No, it was, it was a really high tech, we were growing wafers, semiconductor wafers that you see microchips made from them. They were in a really high tech environment, but the application was for products like Siemens VDO, and BMW fibre optic development, and so on. So they were developing some really extraordinary automotive, when fibre optic was quite early in automotive applications. That's what they were developing. So I was at a, again, an end of that industry that I didn't really enjoy. But spending a lot of time with understanding what was the solution? What was the problem from from a BMW perspective? And that was my, you know, entry, and the beginning of my love affair with Germany, which I, which I still have very misunderstood country. I absolutely love it. And those of you those of us and the listeners who have been to Bavaria, and Hanover, and Hamburg will know just how great Germany can be.

Andy:

Yes, absolutely. And you'd already done German at A level

David Woollcott:

I had, and I did it in a Tuesday afternoon session at university as well. So I didn't have a qualification with it. But I kept that going. So for a couple of years after A level I did German at uni as well.

Andy:

Okay, I'm curious how given that you lean towards the sciences, didn't particularly enjoy reading, you chose to do a language at A level and German which is a lot of people in the UK might have done French. German was a little bit less common. So what was the reason for that?

David Woollcott:

was their own family. And they would gather up students throw them in the back of the minibus, and we would end up 12 hours later in place called rylann felt so beautiful wine growing area in Germany, and at 12 or 13, we would stay over there. And then I developed a pen friend, who is still a mate, a really good mate of mine now called Sebastian, he works for Scania. So you know, in Germany, and when we met up a couple of years ago in, in Cologne, actually, so he's, he's a great guy. But so I was brought into the German culture at a very early age, Dad had lived in Germany, again, this common theme that dad had lived lived in Germany in the 60s, or early 70s. Can't remember, maybe late 60s, in Frankfurt, and he could speak German. And I learnt to speak German. So there's this, there's this sort of common theme, but to this day, Dad and I are all of our family, huge fans of Germany. My dad's best man was German.

Andy:

Right? So there were there are multiple reasons, not least though, the headmaster headmaster and Headmistress who took you out there and at the age of 12, so you could see it and experience it. And that, you know, these multiple factors, then, presumably, they played a part when you were deciding where to go and do your placement from Bath University, Germany was calling,

David Woollcott:

I felt very comfortable, always have done and always will, with Germans, they, you know, I don't want to talk stereotypes, but they are such fun. They're really straight. What you see is what you get. They're bright, hardworking, all the ones that I have met are, they're incredibly loyal. And I've you know, as I said, my, the beauty of Facebook and social media is that in latter years, I'm still in touch with them. Okay, it's only at social media level. So it's not as close as it could be. But at least there are flashes of contact that I keep with a lot of German friends.

Andy:

Yeah. Now I'm smiling because I have many, well, similar experiences, and many, many wonderful contacts with with German colleagues over the years. And so bring us back then to the end of your course you You graduated, and it was it. Was it a given then that you would go to to BMW or what was

David Woollcott:

no. So at that time, I was fairly convinced I wouldn't be an engineer anymore. Or I'd done the degree and I'd learn a lot of the skills that you develop as an engineer. So logic, critical thinking fairly decent maths capability, how to whip a spreadsheet together. Don't think I needed high temperature superconductors ever again. But the understanding that that gave me was was really valuable, but I'd fallen in love with BMW at that time. And I was introduced to the Graduate Development Programme at BMW UK. And that I thought was interesting because it was a commercial dealer related Graduate Development Programme. And I did have this passion like if you'd have asked me what my absolute goal was at 22 year old who was I want my own BMW dealership was like, wouldn't that be in the same way that it would be like the best toy box ever? And I loved the environment. And I thought that is as close to the product and the customer as you can get

Andy:

your face lit up when you said that word to have my own BMW Dealership

David Woollcott:

I mean, it's still out there. I mean, I know the economic environment now and it's still very much out there as a, again, a lottery moment. Like Damon Hill want you to invest in something like that. But it's, it's, I don't want to say it's not going to happen because you got to keep your dreams alive. But I think that was my dream then. But I went to work for the Cotswold Motor Group, straight after uni. So that was a small growing group of dealerships owned by a chap called Peter Harris and Peter Harris at that point owned Cheltenham. We had or Peter had just bought Hereford and was developing Gloucester and the business was going very well. So I was parked and I lived in Cheltenham. So I was parked in Cheltenham. But I would be trained by BMW UK in Bracknell, so I was up and down the M4 going on every single training course that actually Kevin Davidson was running it at that point. So Kevin and I are still in touch. He's now the MD of BMW in Ireland. And the old guard were the MDs like Jim O'Donnell and Greg Grieve. And so I got exposure to these extraordinary, in my view extraordinary leaders at that time. And I did every training course that was available to me. So Win Win outcomes and commit yourself commit others. And these were three day courses and introductions to BMW and Amanda Livermore, don't you remember Amanda, but she, you know, her and I are still very close. So we really stay in touch. And Amanda took in a lot of these courses, and we've just stayed in touch over time. And that was, again, my my beginning to corporate life was having this deep practical experience of being shouted at by customers on the showroom floor, whilst getting the theoretical experience that BMW offered as a graduate. And yeah I then spent the following 10 years and that took me to Australia and was a very formative part of not only my career, but my life really, hugely grateful to them.

Andy:

Tell me about how you came to go to Australia, then.

David Woollcott:

Yeah. So my graduate programme was coming to an end. So I did two years, it was just a two year programme, and that was coming to an end. And there wasn't the continuity that I would have hoped for. At that point, there was nothing available to me at BMW UK, or I don't know, maybe they didn't

Andy:

Oh, that's the truth isn't everybody's we're all making it want me at BMW UK, I don't know. At Cotswold it would have been, okay, you can have a role in sales, or you can work with the area manager at that time, it just didn't feel it felt like the trajectory which I hoped I was on was flattened really quickly. So I was in the cafe of the Centre for development. And I met somebody who had just come from working at BMW Melbourne. And I thought this is amazing, like, Melbourne sounds extraordinary. And I think I had a thing for Dannii Minogue at the time as well. I just thought this is going to be, there's something in this and then a character called Jonathan Puttock was described to me and he was the managing director of BMW Melbourne. And he was a Brit. And he had gone over there. So I set up a time to call him and I spoke to him and said, Look, can I come over for a Look See? I'll fly myself over, hadn't really thought it through. And he said, No, no chance. We don't do that. And I said, he said, What do you do? I said, Well, look, I'm kind of the Seven Series specialist at our dealer group. Because of the tenuous link to fibre optic and engineering development, I did know that car really well. And I don't know if you remember the year '65 7 series was a nightmare from a user it was the first I drive car. So really difficult for users. They needed three or four handovers and that was you know, muggins got that job. So I was doing that with the end consumers, and Jonathan needed that kind of skill set. So he was like, right, I'll fly you over. So he flew me over and I had a look, see of Melbourne, fell in love and said, we'll employ you as a we'll call you a corporate analyst, whatever that means. So he said we could bring you in and you can look after our special vehicles, seven series with the seven series manager and on EG to do some project work for BMW Melbourne. And I liked the link because BMW Melbourne was factory owned. So it was like Park Lane or BMW Sydney or BMW Manhattan or any of those. So I loved that link. And it kept me within the BMW Group. I kept on the dealer side. And then within four months I was there, I'd moved and Jonathan had got me a visa. Jonathan had helped me find a flat in St Kilda in Melbourne. He had done so much for me and he passed away last year. Not as an old man. He wasn't in the fittest of state. And yeah, I read at his funeral over zoom. Wow. Because him and his family, it meant so much to me, I wouldn't have met my wife, I wouldn't have had kids in Australia if I hadn't have met JP. And he was your old school dealer principle that we will never see again. But ran those businesses like they owned them and really developed a number of people. And then I left BMW Melbourne and I worked with James Harper, at the training centre. In training, I really loved delivering training. That was that was great fun. And then I went back to BMW Melbourne as General Manager Sales and Marketing. And then I moved to MINI as General Manager MINI nationally. And that was at the age of 29. And I think I was the youngest GM of a car brand in Australia or something crazy. So again, I've had a lot of legs up to get me to what was my first leadership role, I was still making up as I went along. up as we go along. And the sooner you find that out, the more liberating it is. Yeah, really good point. I'm loving all the there's there's some circumstances that played a big part in the direction you went. And then there are some people

David Woollcott:

Incredible. I think it's James and Jonathan. who really helped out and the combination of the reasons why you did engineering why you were drawn towards Germany, why you, you know, the link to the stack of car magazines, and then into BMW. And yeah, not surprisingly, the trajectory. I love your the You know, Jonathan did a lot from the dealer side. But fact that you recognised or had that impression that No, I thought I was on one trajectory, and that flattened out. And so, but you then took it upon yourself to get the trajectory back where you thought it should be. And if that meant flying yourself to Melbourne for a look and see you were prepared to do it. And it was fortunate that you had the experience that was needed by Jonathan and that he then took over and said no, come and then he obviously did so much for you, which is wonderful. working for James even though I only worked for James Harper for two years. I think what I learned from James I'm still using now.

Andy:

Yeah, James is someone else who had an incredible journey and who was gracious enough to sit down and share it with me for one of these episodes.

David Woollcott:

I listened to it, Yeah, it was good

Andy:

So there you are now in Melbourne living in St. Kilda, which is beautiful, 29 years old General Manager of MINI Australia working now for the national sales company rather than the factory owned store. But now you're back in England. So what? And you're not with BMW. So what happened? Yeah,

David Woollcott:

I'm 42. Now. So I loved the BMW role and the MINI role. And at that time, we had a change of Managing Director of the national sales company. So Phil Horton came in, another great guy. So I enjoyed working with him, albeit briefly, and I got married, the year that I joined MINI.

Andy:

So you mentioned you met your wife because of the role in Melbourne

David Woollcott:

Ah, only becauseI was in Melbourne at the same time as she was but she's English. She was working for Meyer that's like British Home Stores as a buyer, and yeah, we met and we met in St Kilda and we got married couple of years later. And then Mel fell pregnant a couple of months after we got married. And that's when Mel was earning a lot more than me at the time. And you know, we loved BMW but they're not amazing payers, well they weren't then, particularly to a 29 year old, so what I needed to do or what we need to do to do as a family is I wanted to accelerate my income. And this is a, you know, I reflect most on this decision. More than anything, I left a passion to move into something which has become a passion, but wasn't when I started. I absolutely left for money and opportunity. And I would never have admitted that at the time. But it's worked out. Okay. It's worked out. Well.

Andy:

What did you tell yourself at the time?

David Woollcott:

I told myself that the current role I was in at MINI wasn't right to me. I was focused on what was happening in that week. And that month that wasn't that comfortable. And I thought, it's not everyone's fault. But I can do better over here, because it's all green grass over there. And it's where, in hindsight, none of that was right. MINI was going really well. We'd just launched the Countryman, team was growing, the dealers were dealers, they were as grumpy or as happy as they are at any one time. And I was working with Phil, and it was, it was good. But I was or had become friendly with the managing director of Miele appliances in Australia, that was a very successful business under a very successful MD. The guy was called Michael James, I'm still in touch with Michael. And he said, did you want to come and join us sales director. And that pretty much doubled my income, potentially overnight, which meant Mel, my wife wouldn't have to work, she could stay at home and look after Izzy. And being Brits in Australia means you don't have the family support. So you kind of have to have or it's really helpful. If you don't have that family network, then you know, your first child, we didn't know what we're doing. So it was you know, kind of with Izzy with Isabella, we she's 11. In August, you know, we had Izzy and that was nice, because I felt I was really earning to be able to provide for the family, but wasn't really into the product. The brand was a really strong brand, but not BMW strong. So I had to do a big adjustment and ended up ended up really enjoying my time at Meile. It was a good, it was a really good four years. But the change from automotive to appliances was, you know, interesting.

Andy:

So it's a relatively, it's a relatively short time. But you said you enjoyed, you managed to this is not your word. But you managed to teach yourself if you like to feel differently about that or to feel excited about that, that brand. How did you do that? How did you because it's so easy. It's not hard to fall in love with BMW or a similar premium car brand. Because well, for some of us cars are exciting. They just, you know, it's not difficult to you know, people, you walk into magazines stores, and there are magazines about the thing we do for a job, you know, you don't get that for lots of other jobs. So how did you talk yourself round? Or how did you become equally excited and passionate about Meile products and the brand?

David Woollcott:

look, I think the learning was the motivation in itself, because it was fascinating to learn about an industry that I knew nothing about. And understanding some of the technology and some of the history of this company was was really interesting, understanding how they organise themselves globally. Meile at that time was the second largest market for Meile globally. Unbelievable. So

Andy:

a real anomaly. Australia was the second largest market?

David Woollcott:

Yeah. And I think still, it's fourth or fifth or something. So it's still huge, huge, hugely important for the Meile company. And the family members and the owners of the company were still very involved. So there was Dr Zinkan, Dr. Meile, and they were still very much involved in the company and meeting them as fourth generation owners was was really inspiring to understand how they'd kept that together as a family entity over four generations and built a really successful business. But then what that did give me was a real interest in home design, kitchen design, architecture, not so much the technology of the product, but how they're executed in the home. But I thought that was really exciting. And I loved working with retailers who, unlike BMW, an appliance retailer has a number of options, do you know what I mean, so you know, BMW retailers, they sell BMW and BMW only. And now you have a store environment where the retailer can sell any number of your competitors and that for me was another really interesting dynamic to try and understand. Blimey, how do we keep the brand ahead, how do we keep the product ahead when competitors were at us constantly. So that was a really interesting dynamic and working with the retailers who had their own plans on what they wanted to sell and how they wanted to present their brand as a retailer, I got particularly interested in but that all came to a screeching halt when my wife had our second called Ben, but she had heart failure at hospital. So she was taken really unwell, and was hospitalised for a number of weeks, and gradually got better over a period of sort of six to 12 months. And so then I was, you know, at home looking after a three year old and a newborn, with help, you know, we had some external help. But that was a huge stress, for me, to a point where I had to leave Miele, because I couldn't deal with, you know, a whopping job we were turn over was what, hundreds of millions of dollars 250 in the sales team, 350 retailers, it was a big one. And then I had this, you know, family crisis that really, really unsettled me. That yeah, I learned a lot through that really stressful period, incredibly stressful period, and ended up sort of having to see a counsellor. And she really helped me through that particular period, because I was not coping, but then that forced the change to Sydney. And a retailer who I'd worked really close with called the Winning Group asked me to join them, so we got Mel better and then we transferred our family and medical records and everything and moved to Sydney that was brilliant, a real adventure, we needed it because the family we'd have been under such duress for 12 months. So it was great to go to Sydney to enjoy that and work for what is still I believe, Australia's largest independent retailer, specialist retailer. And I was the CEO of that company it's another fourth generation family company. That was good. We built some new stores and changes a lot of a lot of our approach. But ultimately that that didn't end well. And I was made redundant about two and a half years after joining Winnings.

Andy:

Just before we talk about that, then David, thanks for sharing incredibly trying time that you had. And was it then because of your you already knew people at Winning, was that how you came to get that position?

David Woollcott:

Yeah, I knew the I knew the current CEO, who was moving back to America, obviously, being a customer of ours. And I knew John Winning the fourth generation Group CEO at that time, but my role was to run Winning appliances. That was the bricks and mortar. Very, it's an inspiring business. Winnings is a is a brilliant, brilliant business, unbelievably well detailed retailer that have cooking experiences in store. And yes, it's an interesting business. But ultimately, they decided they didn't need a CEO for Winnings. So that was my first and hopefully last redundancy, which was a real shock. Obviously, my career had gone off like a, you know, a rocket, and then somebody says no to it's like, oh, absolutely not prepared for that.

Andy:

I presume you can remember the actual experience, how did that transpire.

David Woollcott:

Ah devastating. We just walked into a room and the chairman and the CEO said we don't need your role anymore. And your contracts three months. Thanks for coming.

Andy:

And you hadn't expected that at all?

David Woollcott:

No. But that that you know not to talk too specifically about that experience. But that does show you viscerally how companies treat people and how if I reflect on the BMW, Meile and who I work for now, they simply don't do that. They take difficult decisions around people, but they don't do that. You tend to know it's coming. You tend to know your told as a leader and a manager, don't surprise your team or an individual. They need to understand how they're performing, how they're doing, what the expectations are, and be treated with dignity. I think it's probably all I want to say about that. But I have huge respect for the company that made me redundant, but I can honestly say I still have admiration for BMW, Meile, everyday isn't ice cream day with those two companies right but I still have a lot of affection for them in hindsight where, yeah, it's just the way they way they treat people. And certainly, Fisher and Paykel has brought that on more and more into my consciousness.

Andy:

Let's hear more about that when we get to that point. So you went home? And you've got two young children at this

David Woollcott:

Yeah. And we went back. Yeah, we went back. point. So when I was made redundant again, I knew Fisher and Paykel very well as a business. And they were wanting to expand operations in the UK and Europe. And I had a good sense a fairly deep understanding of Fisher and Paykel and its people. And the Senior Vice President, for this particular area, you know, approached me and said, did you want to give it a go? And when he said the office was in Milton Keynes, and I lived in Northampton, I'm like wow, that's, that's close. So

Andy:

Had you decided, after the Winning after being made redundant from Winnings had you decided you would move back to the UK at that point, or were you looking

David Woollcott:

Yeah, we were, we were ready. But it's not quite as simple as saying, we're gonna go and do that now. Because you've got to connect all the dots for roles, and where your gonna live and schools. And so, but I think in life, you've got to, you've got to work out when there are two or three things that are aligned, then you can probably make it work. It's not like I was trying to push a square peg through a round hole like this was great company. Good opportunity for me. The role rit made sense. We were ready to come home

Andy:

So the conversations were taking place in Australia, were they David about this opportunity?

David Woollcott:

Ah, before before I move back, yeah,

Andy:

yeah. So and how did they know it? Was this because they knew you'd become available that they approached you? Or had you been looking?

David Woollcott:

No, no, no, absolutely hadn't been looking. So it was, it happened really quickly, that again, it's serendipity isn't, it looks pretty bleak. And then suddenly, there's an opportunity. And you know, a lot, a lot of that moment in time gave me the inspiration to build SaddleUp, which is what I did during lockdown, because I then really had that feeling in my stomach on what so many other people go through during derailment, or redundancy, and just how bloody lonely it can be, particularly when many of us link their lifes lead their life to their work so closely. And many of us do that. And I very much link what I do, to who I am maybe too much, but it's very much it's linked to my identity. And when somebody removes that from you, then first thing you feel is you thought you were in control of something and you're not. So that's a good, that's a good lesson in humility. Really, you probably need that once once every once every so often. But it also, the Fisher and Paykel thing told me that there's always hope and opportunity, there's actually always something better out there. And that's, that's what I enjoy talking to other people about a lot is all is not lost.

Andy:

I wish we could take every example of someone having a real down moment like you had, and then juxtapose it with and then look what happened next, which is exactly what we're doing exactly what we're doing now. And then if you could, if you like bottle that and administer it to people who have just had the blow, and we try and do it don't we but it's still you'd like to have some science behind it or some some evidence based conversation. So let's take this opportunity. It seems like a really good time to ask you about Saddle Up. And then we'll talk about Fisher and Paykel and your transition there. But as you've mentioned that this was a time when you were really you know, you'd been knocked off your feet by completely unexpected redundancy. And then so tell us about I know it happened later Saddle Up, but but tell us tell us about Saddle

David Woollcott:

Well Saddle Up was. It was the first lockdown. Up So two years ago now. Is it two years ago? It is isn't it? Yes.

Andy:

2020? Yeah.

David Woollcott:

So it was a first lockdown. And I put a post on LinkedIn. So I enjoy LinkedIn. I find it useful, but I also really enjoy engaging with other with other people who are who I work with. And I wrote, I just wrote, I think I had a couple of glasses of wine. But I went right here we go. I felt inspired. And I said, Look, I've been made redundant in the past. And I do understand what it's like. And even if I can't, it's unlikely I can help you directly with a role. But please reach out. And I'm going to commit two hours a week in six sessions of 20 minutes. And if you want to set up a time, it's confidential Of course it's free, it's not going to cost you but let's talk about our shared experience. And, you know, I have found good roles after it, or a good role after my negative experience. And I went to bed, and I picked up 72,000 views, been shared 1000s of times this thing had gone crazy. I've never had that, you know, I share passionately things we're doing at work and other people. And, you know, well, that's a good, that's 100 likes or 250 likes, and this one had gone crazy. And then I didn't have the capacity.

Andy:

No, I hadn't thought that far ahead. I was with you thinking how marvellous. And then Whoa, hang on a minute. That's a lot of 20 minutes.

David Woollcott:

I know I was like no way, so quickly worked it out, was like great. Now that was in May, and great I'm up to October now. So I was like, this is just not gonna work. And then a guy called Nick Tutor who was a mate of mine. From my uni days, we went to different unis. But through his now ex girlfriend, we became mates, Nick and I, and Nick's a director, director of Barclays Bank, and he said, I'll do financial services. Oh, that's amazing. Then other people reached out. And now there's 26 of us in all different sectors who are doing their sector specific Saddle Up. So I kind of look after consumer durables, we've got many people from automotive, including a ex human resource director of BMW who's doing automotive. And you go on to Saddle Up on LinkedIn, you go to Google form, and you pick your Sadler. And then I set up the call. And that's it. and we have, we're now 2200 calls or

Andy:

Brilliant something we've no 2200 contacts, we've made, so, kind of my career coaching sessions for one of a better word. Some of them lead to immediate opportunities, just building a network of Oh, sorry. And the one thing that the Sadler has to have is that they have to have been made redundant. That's your price of entry. You need some form of career derailment. Okay, if your names not down, you're not coming in as if your names down, you're not coming.

David Woollcott:

And we need and preferably, we also need to know that you have made redundancies. Because that's redundancy isn't a nasty thing, right? It's a mech it needs to happen for the survival of the company against the strategy. And to go back to my winning days, personally awful. But the board and the exec or whoever it was, had to take a decision, which is in their best interests. So just because you're not in control of that doesn't mean that redundancy is a bad thing. And I hope I never have to do it. But in my role, I need to be prepared to make a difficult decision for the benefit of everybody else. And this isn't greed, often it's survival of that company. And we always play this through that you've, you know, that is that is really important. Now, put that to one side, then we deal with how it's done. And that's where there's a whole load of learning, because the people I've spoken to sometimes the way in which they've been treated on the way out all the way through is not acceptable. So that's the that's the fine line. And, again, redundancies, you know, I'll say it again, it's, it's required, it's unfortunate, sometimes it's down to bad management but sometimes down to COVID, right, that a lot of industries couldn't possibly have coped with, without a combination of furlough, redundancy, restructuring to get them through the other side. So it's not a you know, the conversations, we make sure we've got a process and we've got a document around how we want to approach this conversation. And we don't provide mental health support, because we're not qualified. We don't provide financial support, and we don't certainly provide legal support. And we do not berate the the companies that have had to make a difficult decision. That's just a fruitless activity.

Andy:

Right. Yeah. So you make sure it's fairly administered, fairly treated

David Woollcott:

Yeah. And, and future and future oriented. So Saddle U p is about, you know, the action of getting back on the saddle and

Andy:

How did you come up with the name. I mean, it's a great name. Was that another glass of wine? Or was that

David Woollcott:

Probably. There was a lot of those that went on during lockdown. Any number of 1000s of wines, I don't I really don't know. But it was about I think it was just about you've got to, you know, We've all got to get back on our saddles, when the time's right and with the right support, and I think you would have to have processed what's happened. You can't, you can't suddenly think oh that's right, you know that there is, and we've got a four, this basic four stage process of understanding and digesting, what's gone on, to try to get to some form of closure. So you can move on is, is as important, and that's where you can talk to family members and other people who've been made redundant and your friends and your network, because sometimes it's, you know, often it's a personal shock.

Andy:

Yeah. So this was born from your own personal difficult experience. Then, by the time you were in the first lockdown, and you had the inspiration to start saddle up, you'd already navigated your way through it, you'd processed it, you'd had the success on the other side, you'd got a nice role. And so you were you were equipped at that point, you're in the right sort of place to be able to say, okay, look, I've been through this, and I can help people. And what a great idea, and it's grown very rapidly in two and a half years to over, as you say, over 2000 network contacts and conversations taking place, and now different people coming in and helping with their own specialisms. So yeah, yeah, I really wanted to give you the opportunity to talk about that. I remember the very first time I saw the post and Oh, really, so yeah, I saw it and I thought, wow, that guys nailed it.

David Woollcott:

That's really stupid.

Andy:

No, I thought that's a hell of a gesture. And I could see the the engagement that it was getting.

David Woollcott:

I mean, it really, it really took the lift when Naga Munchetty from the BBC picked up on it. I don't know how actually I do. It was through a PR company, who did some work for Saddle Up free of charge to get the message out there. And they got in touch with the BBC contact. And then I was interviewed on on the radio with one of the Sadler's who we were helping, who is now back in work. So that was just a little bit of PR and again, off it went and we were sc rambling. So the vision is to get is to get to nine, we're at 26. I want to get to 9000 Sadler's.

Andy:

Okay, so a Sadler give us the definitions then.

David Woollcott:

So a Sadler is somebody who gives two hours a week, or up to two hours a week in six sessions. And there are some Sadlers who have only ever taken two or three calls. So it's not a huge impost. At the moment, the employment market is of course, red hot. So, you know, it's great. We're pretty much out of we're out of work at Saddle Up. This is the only business model that when we have no work, it's a very good thing. We we don't have a lot of work at the moment. But if we were to get to it fantasyland if we were to get to 9000 Sadler's, and a Saddler is somebody who gives two hours or up to two hours per week in their area of specialism. But if we get to 9000, then we can get to 1.1 million people in 10 weeks. Right? And that is the number of people who were displaced during COVID. So if there's another COVID, then, like a reservist army, we can we can pop out and just provide that kind of backstop, I think it will just have a very positive impact that we are actually all looking out for one another. And we kind of do know what it's like to have a crap, very crap day at work.

Andy:

How much? Yeah, how much of this vision for Saddle Up? How much did you have a vision for this? And how much was it a knee jerk reaction to COVID. And I thought I can help here. I know, as you said, a couple of glasses of wine, get my thumbs on to onto my phone and LinkedIn and offer a little bit of help, like, what could I do? I could do 20 minutes, six times two hours a week I could afford that. Or was it somewhere in between or because you've now become the founder of a really, you know, a great, very relevant, very helpful, necessary. All makes sense. And it's got beautiful name and everything else. So what were you thinking at the time was it just just happened?

David Woollcott:

So I think you know, my Fisher and Paykel work we plan to the nth degree and we look forward. There is like anyone working at our level Andy, there's a big amount of detail. This wasn't like that. This was one thing led to another. It was the How can I best describe it? You know, it was a Sunday afternoon project that became something much, much bigger And it started to gather its own momentum. Yeah. And it was through the advice and the feedback that we got from others as well on what we need to do more often less of that gave it its change of direction. So I'm definitely not a startup person, you know, I've worked for big entities with big systems and detailed processes and governance. But this is probably as close to startup as I've ever been, because it's just, let's just cast it off and see where it goes. Because there's no risk, the investment was people's time, which, if you think about it, is millions of pounds worth of consultancy? So if you add all up those hours, and you charge your whatever an hour, then there's quite a big investment there. But it's a fully philanthropic.

Andy:

Yes. And what you've done is you've given people a way to give back that they feel comfortable with that they think actually, no, I am sufficiently you know, I understand this, I, I know what I'm doing in this field. So I'm wondering if, so you had that you call it Sunday afternoon project, that kind of step by step grew. And it obviously you are highly experienced, highly professional in the corporate world. So whilst you, you had that inspirational idea, you then would have been automatically being quite meticulous and process oriented and sensible about how you structured it and everything. And I'm wondering is, could it be fair to say that it would be something that Sunday afternoon project that would rank quite highly in the things that you're most proud of, of what you've done over your

David Woollcott:

without doubt, like, it's, this isn't the you know, what we're talking about now, like, it's never gonna go away, it is, it's never going to go, it'll be simplistically a line on my LinkedIn, which is always going to remain. And it will always remain part of my philosophy that, you know, it's spoken about, in many ways, like send the elevator back down. And you know, we talk about it, but I think that's so bloody important. And the other thing is not like nobody was doing anything. And then came Saddle Up it's like people have done this forever. And I've been the recipient of a very, very generous leaders and managers who have given their time and their energy, and they've taken risks for me and with me. And I think some people have a view of business leaders as being like at count P&L driven and god look at your costs and more money. And we're in a generational change. Now, we are at least midway through a generational change of looking at all of the topics we should be looking at, which is about diversity, equity, inclusion, and sustainability. So we've moved from kind of a governance world into a world of a human world, where we're actually only being encouraged to act, how we probably want to act anyway, which is with kindness and compassion. But suddenly more people are doing it. So they're like, Ah, I can do this now

Andy:

Yeah, it's almost becoming acceptable. It's becoming acceptable to be nice. So now, the more people that do that, and just have the park bench reach out or have a call, particularly with egocentric men, you know, that's the, you know, exhibit A, that's the real thing that has changed, because I think it hasn't been accepted for tough, hard Doesn't make you any less doesn't make you any lesser a business leaders to be kind and friendly. Now, there have been many of them. And there are many of them. It's just not, it hasn't been the projection of success has it? the projection of success has been, I'm impervious to that. And I certainly don't reach into areas which Don't involve me. But I think that that's definitely, you know, a movement. I'm delighted to say I'm part of, but I'm still absolutely responsible for my P&L still responsible for the results still responsible. leader?

David Woollcott:

No, no. And it doesn't mean that difficult conversations don't exist. And we all live in holiday camps now. So that's also not happening. That can't happen. But we're talking about four day work week, we're talking about openly people balancing what's going on in their homes at work and trying to get the and not the or right what can we do which gives both which gives the double positive outcome rather than we can't do that. And, you know, you can't do both things at once when you might be able to.

Andy:

Well, congratulations on Saddle Up. And it has been great to dive into that with you and understand the origin story. It must be so good to have a way of giving back ahead a way of I like your expression sending the elevator back down a way of helping people that you've kind of created yourself, really, and it fits, and you've been able to share it with others so that they can give back through saddle up as well. Not to mention all the people who benefit from from getting the help. So well done on that, David. And so if we can go back to Fisher on Paykel then so you're in Australia, you're having conversations, and you're looking at two or three things that align about could this work for us now to go back? So tell me about the conversation at home, when this was being discussed? And then how you came to come back?

David Woollcott:

So. So yeah, I mean, I started to talk to Fisher and Paykel about this particular opportunity, which was a new role. So there were, and there still are a good group of managers who run the business really successfully, before I came. But we knew that with the products that were coming, and the growth, strong growth we were getting in other markets, that now is the time to really invest more in the UK and in Europe. And so the brief looked great, I had a couple of phone calls with the team in the UK, before I joined, I knew the reputation and the potential of the brand. In the UK, we weren't reaching anything like our potential, again, for no other reason that there hadn't been the investment and the focus. In this particular market. We've been in the market, we have been in the market for about 20 years. But we've really focused on free standing refrigeration, and Distraw, which is really a you know, an iconic, iconic appliance that we manufacturing we've designed. But we have this extraordinary cooking product on the horizon. And now is the time that we could do full kitchens. And that's really been the focus of the team. For the last four and a half years that I've been back. Plus, we needed to get the capability up. So recruit the right people train the right people in capability, it was was changed our location, our lease was running out. So we needed to find a new property that reflected our ambition, that was safe, new, modern, reflecting our ambition. So the move was big moving a warehouse during a lockdown, I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy that aged all of us. But we had a great team, we've got a sticks stuck together and delivered a amazing property move that we're really proud of and it's fully sustainable property that we've moved into. And it's in a really lovely location. So we're really, really happy. And we've tripled the size of the team. So we were sort of 30 ish. And now we're about 100 people in the UK. So we've had rapid growth and even more rapid revenue growth. So we're really happy with where we're going. We're still very underweight. So we've got a lot more that we can deliver in the UK alone. And the European project is also one that's going to take a little bit more time, because we're going to get it right, but we'll be we'll be gaining momentum in Europe in the coming months and years.

Andy:

Right. So do you currently which markets do you operate in? Is it just the UK with European markets to come?

David Woollcott:

So we directly operate in the UK and Ireland, as Fisher and Paykel UK and Fisher and Paykel Ireland and in Europe, we run through a number of distributor partners. So from Israel to Spain, right the way down to Greece, we have a number of distributors who we work with who look after our brand, and we supply directly to them to work in their local markets that are highly, highly specific. And in Scandinavia, so we operate in an additional 20 countries in Europe. But the model there is through distributors not through a direct channel, but they're in our timezone not Auckland's timezone so I get to work with them and our team get to work with them because it's it's more convenient from anengagement perspective.

Andy:

So you've come from if we look back the attraction originally of cars, the car magazines, the BMW brand, the working in a dealership Cotswold group, being the seven series specialist, if you like and finding it easy to be passionate about the products that you were surrounded with right up to being general manager of MINI in in Australia and then transferring into a completely different product sector with Mila. And now Fisher and Paykel. And the phrase I picked it out at the time about if you were to look at the sort of person you are and the way you like to spend your time, you'd use that as your compass, if you like for picking a role. So what is it about the sort of person you are and the way you like to spend your time that makes your role at Fisher and Paykel good for you. Now,

David Woollcott:

interesting question. I think, I think as we as we move in our careers opportunities and challenges and problems are all optimised with people. And I know that's stating the absolute obvious. But I think when you're younger, you're about a you fixing stuff, and you're more about things. And then as you get older, you begin to understand that you are highly limited, not only in your own capabilities, but in your bandwidth. So I just really enjoy working with people, enthusiastic people who really believe in what we're trying to achieve, that do often achieve what they believe they can achieve for a purpose, which is sort of beyond the product. And that's certainly what Fisher and Paykel delivers. It's about the purpose way beyond just the appliance. And we study the way in which people live their lives around appliances. And there is a belief that we can definitely enhance lives by the selection of Fisher and Paykel in your home. So that sounds a bit marketingy. But that's certainly what we're doing from a product perspective. And it's certainly the way that the designers and the engineers are working in Auckland, day in day out to deliver those solutions. So I think the reason I'm getting so much fulfilment now is I've got those two pillars going on, I've got a solution, which goes way beyond product. And I've got a group of people in the UK and in Auckland, who believe in what we're trying to achieve. And I'm working really closely with them. And when I mean closely, I mean, we are absolutely connected to Auckland. So that's sometimes not ideal when you're on the phone at nine or 10 at night, frequently, but you have to do that to meet the timezone changes. So our team work very flexibly, because we need to spend our time where we get the most value, which is often connecting globally, on the myriad of topics. So it's a bit of a sweet spot at the moment, and we're winning. So we're growing really well. So the the feel in the camp is really good. I mean, it's got it's wobbles, for sure. But by and large, we're we're on a really strong growth trajectory and realising some of that potential of the brand, which is, which is really good. But I think as much as I love Fisher and Paykel, I think from a personal perspective, it's about doing that stuff and that work with people, which becomes more and more important, and is ultimately the most fulfilling part when you see others win and then you win,

Andy:

I love it. It's so much there. Yeah, sorry, David, I interrupted your wonderful piece there wonderful answer to my question. And I'm delighted that you mentioned fulfilment, my mission Aquilae's mission is enabling fulfilling performance. So it's about performing at a high level whilst experiencing a sense of fulfilment, through the work that we're doing. That means we come home, and we can still be great parents, partners, all around human beings. So for you to mention that. And this idea of purpose, one of the components of that is purpose and being able to have something bigger than the solution or bigger than the product, if you like that is fueling what you're doing, and is the reason for what you're doing. So can you just say a little bit more about how you deliver that how you bring that to life, in your business here with the people, if I if I came to your offices and spoke to some of the people about what they were doing, and why were they doing it? How what would they tell me that would show me that their their purpose was aligned with something bigger?

David Woollcott:

Well, I mean, first of all, we test that very principle. So we ask our whole team using software, three or four times a year, do you know what our purpose is? And are you connected? And do you know the value of your work and what you're doing and how it connects to the purpose. So we're absolutely drilling into trying to understand that more. But before you do that, we need to talk to them about the purpose in a way which is digestible and understandable. And that is repeated. So we really need to talk about it a lot so that we all know why we're doing it. Like what is the what is the greater higher purpose if you like of doing what we're doing? So if you were to ask them Andy, I hope that they would answer it in a way that backed up what I've just said, but we have a very aligned purpose on what we're doing. We definitely treat everyone as individuals. So there's no we are again, our scale is perfect because that 100 people you know, everyone and I know everyone and I know most of their partner's names, and I know most of what's going on in their lives. Again, more in the office than in the field. But I genuinely know. And on Thursday, we've got everyone coming into our carpark doesn't sound very nice, but we've got a marquee and barbecue. And we're getting everybody in just to talk through that purpose again. And to make sure that the new people, the 20 odd people we've recruited this year, know one another, and can connect in a way which isn't PowerPoint driven. So, yes, so our week, we work on a weekly cadence. So all of our teams have one on ones weekly. That's kind of the only rule that we have really. And where they work is now becoming more and more flexible, which I've seen a big bump in people's positivity by giving them not giving them once they've asked by allowing, if you'd like that remote working. There's somebody used to work for us in the office, Lisa, and she's now living in Cornwall, so she's moved miles away to be closer to her daughter, she comes back intermittently and when we need her, and that's all agreed, but three years ago would never have you thought that'd be possible or even a valid request. But it's, it's really good to see that. And I think that's gonna that's gonna keep moving for some time as we find the new norm, but I hope the new norm keeps more of what we've got now then 2020.

Andy:

Yeah, no Wonderful. Well, it does sound like you're very deliberately taking purpose as a component of the organisation that's going to going to help you and help everyone in it. And testing that every for every quarter just to make sure people people are appreciating it and wish you all the very best doing that. Is there anything else I should that brings us up to present day? Yeah, that's what you're doing now. We're up to we're talking about next Thursday. It's not even present day. This coming? Thursday, sorry. Yeah. So we're very much at present day. Is there anything I haven't asked you that you think I should have done?

David Woollcott:

No, feels slightly self indulgent, sharing everything. But I've, I've enjoyed a quick, quick trip down memory lane.

Andy:

Well it's been very enjoyable for me. I've really enjoyed hearing your story. And I think there's lots of fascinating components to it, and lessons that we can take away and different bits will resonate with different people, as I always say, but I'd like to just thank you very much again, for joining me, it's been really great to reconnect with you and have this conversation.

David Woollcott:

Yeah, you too. Andy. Thanks for the opportunity.

Andy:

You've been listening to Career-view Mirror with me, Andy follows, I hope you found some helpful points to reflect on in David's story that can help you with your own career journey, or that of those who lead parent or mentor, you are unique. And during my conversation with David, you'll have picked up on topics that resonate with you. A few things I noticed were, it's only by trying things that we really find out what we enjoy or dislike. He was aware of his own trajectory. And he took action when he felt that he was on a plateau, finding his way to Melbourne, Australia, how he was able to find passion in a completely new industry. And he enjoyed the learning process, how over time he identified that we can't do much as individuals and that career success and fulfilment become more about people and purpose than oneself and things. Redundancy can come suddenly and without warning, and how his experience of redundancy and recovering very well from it enabled him to start saddle up during the pandemic, when many others were facing a similar fate. You can contact David via LinkedIn and we'll put links in the show notes to this episode. We publish these episodes to celebrate my guests careers, listen to their stories and learn from their experiences. And I'm genuinely interested in what resonated with you. Thank you to all of you for sharing your feedback. Thanks also to Hannah and Julia, who as part of the Career-view Mirror team here at Aquilae work so hard to deliver these episodes to you. And remember folks if you know people who would benefit from hearing these stories, please show them how to find us. Thanks for listening

Welcome, family and school
Bath University and a placement year in Germany leading to first links with BMW
First job with the Cotswold Motor Group through the BMW Graduate Training Scheme
Move to Australia with BMW and then on to MINI as GM
Leaving a passion for something that became a passion
A family crisis, leaving Meile, move to Sydney and joining Winning Group as CEO
Shock redundancy
Offer of position with Fisher and Paykel back in the UK
The creation of Saddle Up
Fisher and Paykel
Purpose
Wrapping up and takeaways