In this episode I'm joined by Colin Tomlinson.

Colin owns a learning and development company specialising in teaching Project Leadership and Management in the Civil Engineering and Construction industry. He uses techniques adapted from his 24 years career as an Officer in the Royal Engineers and his 12 years of experience within the industry to help navigate through the complexities of working on projects. He has recently completed two legs of The Clipper Race sailing almost 15,000 miles from Australia to Seattle via Vietnam and China.

When he and I talked about his recent sailing adventure I found myself fascinated by why he’d decided to do it, how he went about it, what was the impact on his business and family, what was the experience really like and what did he take from it that has remained with him now he’s back at home and back in his business.

Colin kindly agreed to join me to create this episode and answer all my questions. In doing so he shares how instead of pausing his business to go sailing, the trip has been a catalyst to help him scale it. Perhaps less surprising were the numerous leadership lessons that emerge from the concentrated team environment of an ocean racing yacht.

I’m excited to invite you to join Colin and me as he takes us behind the scenes of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, the only event of its type in the world where anyone, even if they’ve never stepped on a boat before, can join the adventure.

Contact Colin:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colintomlinson/
Clipper Round the World

About Andy

I'm an experienced business leader and a passionate developer of people in the automotive finance industry, internationally.

During over twenty years, I have played a key role in developing businesses including Alphabet UK, BMW Corporate Finance UK, BMW Financial Services Singapore, BMW Financial Services New Zealand and Tesla Financial Services UK.

At the same time, I have coached individuals and delivered leadership development programmes in 17 countries across Asia, Europe and North America.

I started Aquilae in 2016 to enable “Fulfilling Performance” in the mobility industry, internationally.

Learn more about Fulfilling Performance

Check out Release the handbrake! The Fulfilling Performance Hub.

Connect with Andy

LinkedIn: Andy Follows
Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk

Join a guided peer mentoring team: Aquilae Academy

Thank you to our sponsors:

ASKE Consulting
Email: hello@askeconsulting.co.uk

Aquilae
Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk

Episode Directory on Instagram @careerviewmirror

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

Episode recorded on 11 September, 2024.

In this episode we are celebrating the career to date of Kwan Segal.

Kwan is an experienced human-capital consultant and a career coach for International Students and immigrants in the US. With over 15 years of experience at global companies such as Deloitte, Accenture, and BMW, she has aided Fortune 500 firms in creating their talent strategies worldwide. Kwan is now the founder of ICAway /i-see-a-way/, where her goal is to empower international students for global employability and provide trusted advising services for international educators and career centers. Kwan was raised in Bangkok, Thailand, and currently resides in Chicago.

In our conversation we talk about her childhood in Thailand where in her early teens she appeared in music videos and released a pop album. Kwan shares how she was highly motivated to create a career for herself. She found a mentor who supported her appetite to stretch herself. She kept pushing herself out of her comfort zone taking on challenges that would allow her to grow.

Eventually she found herself in the United States where the nuance of cultural difference made communication much harder that we might first imagine. Again she networked and sought out teachers who could help her achieve her goals.

I loved reconnecting with Kwan and learning more about her fascinating life and career story. I look forward to hearing what resonates with you.

Connect with Kwan:

ICAway Website
My LinkedIn Profile
ICAway LinkedIn Page
ICAway Instagram
ICAway Facebook
ICAway Youtube Channel
X (Twitter) handle
TikTok

Other links referenced in our conversation:

Music video (~1993)
Pop album (~1995)
More about Kwang & Kwan


About Andy

I'm an experienced business leader and a passionate developer of people in the automotive finance industry, internationally.

During over twenty five years, I have played a key role in developing businesses including Alphabet UK, BMW Corporate Finance UK, BMW Financial Services Singapore, BMW Financial Services New Zealand and Tesla Financial Services UK.

At the same time, I have coached individuals and delivered leadership development programmes in 17 countries across Asia, Europe and North America.

I started Aquilae in 2016 to enable “Fulfilling Performance” in the mobility industry, internationally.

Learn more about Fulfilling Performance

Check out Release the handbrake! The Fulfilling Performance Hub.

Connect with Andy

LinkedIn: Andy Follows
Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk

Join a guided peer mentoring team: Aquilae Academy

Thank you to our sponsors:

ASKE Consulting
Email: hello@askeconsulting.co.uk

Aquilae
Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk

Episode Directory on Instagram @careerviewmirror

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

Episode recorded on 29 August, 2024.

In this episode we are celebrating the career to date of Lavanya Wadgaonkar PhD.

Lavanya is Chief Communications Officer & Corporate Vice President, Nissan Motor Corporation.

As Chief Communications Officer, Lavanya is responsible for strategic communications & campaigns, knowledge dissemination and outreach to the key audiences that Nissan seeks to influence with an aim to build reputation, earn trust and ensure consistent authentic experiences. She is also the global champion for DEI responsible for actively promoting a diverse, supportive, and inclusive workplace.

Lavanya joined Nissan in 2012 and since then held various leadership roles in India, Asia, Oceania and Japan. Earlier, she held a number of leadership roles in multinational organizations like Eaton, Reliance Industries and Lexmark.

Lavanya holds a PhD and MPhil from Osmania University, India, with specific focus on the language of cinema in India and its effectiveness in representing socio-economic issues.

In our conversation we talk about her childhood growing up in a highly creative environment that featured regular storytelling around the dinner table.

Lavanya explains that she was a quiet introverted girl who liked to learn. Her appetite for learning has seen her return to formal education whenever she wanted to close gaps in her knowledge.

She shares her experience of going from a very diverse upbringing in India to a homogenous society in Japan via South East Asia and recognising that each country has its own culture and way of doing things.

I loved getting to know Lavanya better through this conversation and look forward to hearing what resonates with you.

Connect with Lavanya

LinkedIn: Lavanya Wadgaonkar PhD
Instagram:write_ur_way

About Andy

I'm an experienced business leader and a passionate developer of people in the automotive finance industry, internationally.

During over twenty five years, I have played a key role in developing businesses including Alphabet UK, BMW Corporate Finance UK, BMW Financial Services Singapore, BMW Financial Services New Zealand and Tesla Financial Services UK.

At the same time, I have coached individuals and delivered leadership development programmes in 17 countries across Asia, Europe and North America.

I started Aquilae in 2016 to enable “Fulfilling Performance” in the mobility industry, internationally.

Learn more about Fulfilling Performance

Check out Release the handbrake! The Fulfilling Performance Hub.

Connect with Andy

LinkedIn: Andy Follows
Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk

Join a guided peer mentoring team: Aquilae Academy

Thank you to our sponsors:

ASKE Consulting
Email: hello@askeconsulting.co.uk

Aquilae
Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk

Episode Directory on Instagram @careerviewmirror

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

Episode recorded on 20 August, 2024.

In this episode we are celebrating the career to date of Chris Kirby.

Chris has been speaking about how technology will change the automotive landscape since he published a white paper on the subject in 2017. Since then, he co-founded Tomorrow's Journey, an Enterprise SaaS platform that enables automotive brands to launch and scale fully digital solutions, working globally with the likes of Hyundai, Jaguar and Leaseplan.

Chris Kirby has a diverse career spanning multiple roles in the automotive industry including as a Strategic Advisor at Autofutura Limited, as the Automotive Director at WeCreateClarity and as the Head of Business Development at FGA Capital UK Ltd.

As well as speaking at events across the globe, Chris also hosts the Autocar Change Makers Podcast, where he regularly meets and engages with automotive industry leaders on the future of the industry.

In our conversation we talk about how he left school at 16 and how he had an early opportunity to demonstrate his leadership skills on the rugby field.

Chris shares how he somewhat fell into a career in the automotive industry. He found himself with a good manager in his first role in a Ford dealership, he worked hard and made good progress.

His father had been an entrepreneur and so he'd seen the reality of how hard that can be. Nevertheless he felt the need to step out of his corporate environment to be able to work on the significant change initiatives that he believed the industry needed.

Even though he went in with his eyes wide open to the likely challenges, external factors like Covid and difficult conditions for fund raising proved strong headwinds.

Chris explains his approach to navigating the ups and downs of start up life and is clear about what constitutes the right reason to become an entrepreneur.

I enjoyed and appreciated getting to know Chris better through this conversation and look forward to hearing what resonates with you.

Connect with Chris

LinkedIn: Chris Kirby
Website: Tomorrow's Journey

About Andy

I'm an experienced business leader and a passionate developer of people in the automotive finance industry, internationally.

During over twenty five years, I have played a key role in developing businesses including Alphabet UK, BMW Corporate Finance UK, BMW Financial Services Singapore, BMW Financial Services New Zealand and Tesla Financial Services UK.

At the same time, I have coached individuals and delivered leadership development programmes in 17 countries across Asia, Europe and North America.

I started Aquilae in 2016 to enable “Fulfilling Performance” in the mobility industry, internationally.

Learn more about Fulfilling Performance

Check out Release the handbrake! The Fulfilling Performance Hub.

Connect with Andy

LinkedIn: Andy Follows
Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk

Join a guided peer mentoring team: Aquilae Academy

Thank you to our sponsors:

ASKE Consulting
Email: hello@askeconsulting.co.uk

Aquilae
Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk

Episode Directory on Instagram @careerviewmirror

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

Episode recorded on 13 August, 2024.

In this Side Mirror, I talk about a powerful way to enhance our own capability that is open to every single one of us regardless of our circumstances.

This episode is about learning from experience and the role that reflection plays in that.

If you don't already do this, I want to encourage you to reflect on the experience you have built up during your life so far, value it and get into the habit of reflecting on the multiple experiences that you have each day so that you can extract the learning from those experiences and apply that learning for your ongoing benefit.

The more we are open to new experiences the more varied opportunities we will have from which to learn, the more value we will have to offer and the more secure and fulfilling our future can be.

I refer to the following additional resources:

Release the handbrake! The Fulfilling Performance Hub.
Our weekly newsletter where I write about how to enable Fulfilling Performance for yourself and those you lead and care about.

About Andy

I'm an experienced business leader and a passionate developer of people in the automotive finance industry, internationally.

During over twenty five years, I have played a key role in developing businesses including Alphabet UK, BMW Corporate Finance UK, BMW Financial Services Singapore, BMW Financial Services New Zealand and Tesla Financial Services UK.

At the same time, I have coached individuals and delivered leadership development programmes in 17 countries across Asia, Europe and North America.

I started Aquilae in 2016 to enable “Fulfilling Performance” in the mobility industry, internationally.

Connect with Andy

LinkedIn: Andy Follows
Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk

Join a guided peer mentoring team: Aquilae Academy

Thank you to our sponsors:

ASKE Consulting
Email: hello@askeconsulting.co.uk

Aquilae
Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk

Episode Directory on Instagram @careerviewmirror

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

Episode recorded on 15 August, 2024.

In this episode I use my first job to illustrate the contributing factors that came together to enable Fulfilling Performance for me.

If you consider your current situation through the lens of Fulfilling Performance, how does it look?

Does it provide the healthy levels of Clarity, Culture, Capability and Purpose required for you to experience Fulfilling Performance?

Which of those areas, if they were improved, would have the greatest impact on enabling you to perform at an even higher level and experience more fulfilment from doing so?

What can you do to improve that fundamental contributing factor?

What about the people you lead and care about?

Consider each of them and their current situations through this lens.

What is the biggest handbrake preventing them from bringing more of their talent, intelligence, creativity, capability and resourcefulness to their roles and lives?

How can you release the handbrake for them and enable Fulfilling Performance?

I refer to the following additional resources:

Release the handbrake! The Fulfilling Performance Hub.

Our weekly newsletter where I write about how to enable Fulfilling Performance for yourself and those you lead and care about.

About Andy

I'm an experienced business leader and a passionate developer of people in the automotive finance industry, internationally.

During over twenty five years, I have played a key role in developing businesses including Alphabet UK, BMW Corporate Finance UK, BMW Financial Services Singapore, BMW Financial Services New Zealand and Tesla Financial Services UK.

At the same time, I have coached individuals and delivered leadership development programmes in 17 countries across Asia, Europe and North America.

I started Aquilae in 2016 to enable “Fulfilling Performance” in the mobility industry, internationally.

Connect with Andy

LinkedIn: Andy Follows
Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk

Join a guided peer mentoring team: Aquilae Academy

Thank you to our sponsors:

ASKE Consulting
Email: hello@askeconsulting.co.uk

Aquilae
Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk

Episode Directory on Instagram @careerviewmirror

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

Episode recorded on 2 August, 2024.

In this episode I'm joined by Kees Jan Boorsma.

Kees Jan is the owner of Global Automotive, Interim Management and Consultancy. They advise customers and provide interim management focusing on wholesale and retail in the global automotive industry. Their services are geared to OEMs, Importers and Retailers in diverse multicultural environments.

They advise and execute in a competent, pragmatic and hands-on fashion.

Prior to forming Global Automotive, Kees Jan had a successful international career with PSA spanning the Netherlands, Germany, South Africa and France.

In our conversation we talk about his early experiences from a celebrated hotel school and military service and how he finally found his way into the automotive industry.

He shares how nothing was wasted as each step played a part in contributing to the next, how he continued to learn throughout his career including needing to be able to transact business in multiple languages and how his approach to relationships particularly with retail partners assisted him to achieve his goals and the targets of the organisation in a manner that was sustainable and earned valuable respect.

I very much enjoyed getting to know Kees Jan through this conversation and look forward to hearing what resonates with you.

Connect with Kees Jan

LinkedIn: Kees Jan Boorsma

About Andy

I'm an experienced business leader and a passionate developer of people in the automotive finance industry, internationally.

During over twenty five years, I have played a key role in developing businesses including Alphabet UK, BMW Corporate Finance UK, BMW Financial Services Singapore, BMW Financial Services New Zealand and Tesla Financial Services UK.

At the same time, I have coached individuals and delivered leadership development programmes in 17 countries across Asia, Europe and North America.

I started Aquilae in 2016 to enable “Fulfilling Performance” in the mobility industry, internationally.

Learn more about Fulfilling Performance

Check out Release the handbrake! The Fulfilling Performance Hub.

Connect with Andy

LinkedIn: Andy Follows
Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk

Join a guided peer mentoring team: Aquilae Academy

Thank you to our sponsors:

ASKE Consulting
Email: hello@askeconsulting.co.uk

Aquilae
Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk

Episode Directory on Instagram @careerviewmirror

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

Episode recorded on 22 July, 2024.

In this episode I'm joined by Louise Brogan.

Louise runs a boutique marketing agency working with entrepreneurs, SME’s and professionals who want to raise their profile through LinkedIn in a genuine and valuable way.

She is an international speaker, and hosts the LinkedIn with Louise Podcast and YouTube channel.

For the past three years, Louise has been a Small Business Britain Champion, in the top 100 Small Businesses in the UK and the top 100 female entrepreneurs. In 2019, Louise was invited to attend No 10 Downing Street to represent small business and was invited in 2022 to meet King Charles at Buckingham Palace at a reception honouring Small Business contributions to the UK economy.

In our conversation we talk about how to get the most out of LinkedIn, whether we are small business owners or corporate employees.

It was a wonderful opportunity for me to ask many of the questions that I had about the platform and to get such helpful, step by step guidance from Louise.

I'm delighted to be able to share Louise's insights with you along with links to all the amazing free resources Louise provides below.

Contact Louise:
LinkedIn: Louise Brogan
Website: https://louisebrogan.com/
Youtube: www.youtube.com/c/linkedinwithlouise
Instagram: www.instagram.com/louisebrogan_

About Andy

I'm an experienced business leader and a passionate developer of people in the automotive finance industry, internationally.

During over twenty years, I have played a key role in developing businesses including Alphabet UK, BMW Corporate Finance UK, BMW Financial Services Singapore, BMW Financial Services New Zealand and Tesla Financial Services UK.

At the same time, I have coached individuals and delivered leadership development programmes in 17 countries across Asia, Europe and North America.

I started Aquilae in 2016 to enable “Fulfilling Performance” in the mobility industry, internationally.

Learn more about Fulfilling Performance

Check out Release the handbrake! The Fulfilling Performance Hub.

Connect with Andy

LinkedIn: Andy Follows
Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk

Join a guided peer mentoring team: Aquilae Academy

Thank you to our sponsors:

ASKE Consulting
Email: hello@askeconsulting.co.uk

Aquilae
Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk

Episode Directory on Instagram @careerviewmirror

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

Episode recorded on 15 July, 2024.