Share Sounds from Track Record

Siddharth Shankar says he has unashamedly exploited the potential opportunities from Brexit by founding Tail’s Trading, a company opening up British SMEs to a mammoth Asian market. He realised, not far in to an engineering degree, that he’d rather work in finance and says he made the decision to ‘jump in’ (a method he heartily recommends!). He loves jazz music, reflected here in some of his musical choices, and cites Warren Buffett as a great business role model.

Alistair Gilfillan has recently been awarded the title ‘UK Young Banker Of The Year’, thanks to his innovative ideas around community banking. He works in market risk reporting for Lloyds Banking Group, having joined under the company’s graduate trainee scheme. He’s worked in youth work, guided by his strong Christian faith; he’s also had time in recruitment and almost became a K-Pop composer - something he may well have pursued had it not been for other commitments at the time! Some of his musical works have been published and that remains one of his big hobbies. He’s also a self-confessed numbers geek!

Lucy McCarraher has always worked in publishing, founding her first publishing house whilst she was still at university. She runs her own business-focused business, Rethink Press, and founded the Business Book Awards in 2017. She’s positive about about promoting women’s business writing; she admits to some bad days and bumps in the road in her own career! She’s also worked in television production, on series as diverse as ‘Go Wild’ for children and ‘The Lover’s Guide’ – a ground-breaking series on sexual relations.

Rachel Kellett has worked in strategic planning and within education throughout her career, and is working on the new T-levels (technical levels) being rolled out from 2020. She is Head of Qualifications and Product Development at the Association of Accounting Technicians. She urges people not be afraid of ‘scaring to fail’, or who might be watching in favour of a bolder approach to career change. She’s also a keen equestrian who harbours an ambition to be a dressage judge.

Tayo Dada was introduced to computing when he was child, on an old Commodore 64. In his teens, he was a hacker, who started out hacking his friends’ Sony Walkmans, before successfully hacking into Citibank and Lloyds of London. He was offered a role with KPMG to set up the UK’s first ‘ethical hacking’ team. He is now a leading cybersecurity expert, working with FSTE listed companies and latterly, specialising in private equity.

Shiv Khera is a former car washer, franchisee, entrepreneur and business advisor whose approach to business is rooted in philosophy. In lecturing and speaking about business change, he says that ‘winners don’t do different things, they do things differently’. ‘You Can Achieve More’ is his latest book on fulfilment, a subject he teaches widely to individuals and Fortune 100 companies alike. He’s a former political activist in his native India and is a well-known international broadcaster.

Alex Moyle was an early entrepreneur – he starting selling fizzy pop to his school friends aged just 11. He says he learned the three tenets of strong sales from a tennis racket salesman (you can hear what they are in this edition of Track Record!). He later became a tennis coach and says that also laid the foundations for his career in business development – that he enjoys coaching, inspiring and helping people achieve more than they thought. He runs his own company, Alex Moyle Learning and Development and has worked with major companies on training sales teams and latterly, helping organisations develop their unique company cultures. He’s a published author and accomplished workshop leader and speaker.

David Glover is a franchising specialist, who spent his early career in the law. He was instrumental in setting up the Subway chain as a successful franchise before spending time with Mailboxes and in serviced apartments. He says franchising ought to be ‘taught in schools’ and is the perfect route for becoming your own boss. He’s acting managing director of franchise care provider Caremark and is Chair for the London and South East forum for the British Franchise Association. He’s a keen cricketer and one-time student DJ.

Dr Andy Cope is a psychologist who has written extensively about the power of positive mood and thought and runs The Art of Brilliance, delivering workshops on the topic of ‘happy’. He lectures widely, and has worked with the workforces of some leading organisations – IKEA, DHL and Toyota among them. He favours smiley-face t-shirts rather than suits, and says that only about 2% of the population are stand out happy and positive, and that we can learn a lot from them if we allow ourselves to catch their ‘contagious poistivity’. He’s also a children’s author.

Mike Southon is a former mobile DJ, musician and singer as well as an astute businessman. He was co-founder of The Instruction Set in 1984, selling training in computer services, later selling on out to Hoskyns (now Cap Gemini Ernst & Young). He’s collaborated in and helped set up numerous companies, and is a published author several times over – and is regarded as one of the most experienced entrepreneur mentors in the UK. His original book from 2002, ‘The Beermat Entrepreneur’ has been updated for 2018. He says one the secrets of entrepreneurial success is to ‘find a foil’ – someone who compliments what you do, and be nice!