Helicopter pilots, Isle of Man TT racers and even being a comedian are all careers dreamed of by business leaders in the region, we discovered this year as another cast of founders, managers and directors faced our regular ‘10 questions’ feature.
But adrenaline-seeking activities aren’t always top of the dream jobs list, as Jonathan Waters, managing partner of law firm Hay & Kilner reminded us. Mr Waters, who is a mergers and acquisitions specialist by day, revealed his green fingers have led him to wonder about being a full-time garden designer and to create a display for the Chelsea Flower Show.
Some, such as founder ADHD Impact, Becca Brighty, acknowledged a yearning for the stage: “At one point, I dreamed of being a backing dancer for Beyoncé! Now, my dream job would be a motivational speaker, sharing my journey with ADHD and entrepreneurship.” And how about liberating chickens from battery farms? To be fair, she’s not sure it’s a job as such, but structural engineer Caroline Morton, who owns Mountfair Consultancy, would give it a go.
READ MORE: {}
Perhaps the most aspirational of this year’s answers, however, came from marketing agency owner Chrissie Plunkett, who runs Newcastle-based Twist. She fancies being an adventurer and travel writer, inspired by podcaster and traveller ‘wander woman’ Phoebe Smith.
Back in the real world, first jobs were also on the agenda. It’s really hard to beat that of David Duke, co-founder of healthy convenience food firm Relo. Mr Duke was a professional footballer in the mid-1990s. “£250/week felt like a lot back then while still living at home,” he said.
Less glamorous, perhaps, was leadership consultant Matthew Curtis’ first gig - one so smelly he had to leave his clothes at the back door when he got home. The owner of Hexham-based MC4 Ltd worked on a farm among 13,000 pigs. He said “I learned to drive lorries, tractors, forklifts and other heavy machinery and also I think it sparked my interest in business as I can remember being fascinated to learn that using dairy by-products in the feed saved the owner a penny per pig per day.”
A bit further along the food chain was a young Chris Kelly, founder of vaping products supply business Pheonix 2 Retail, whose first job was arranging rotisserie chickens in a butcher’s shop. And while policeman to restauranteur might not seem like an obvious career progression, Chawalit Prapunwong - director of Newcastle’s Mantra Thai - has proven it’s entirely possible.
We also like to hear about those sage pieces of advice and nuggets of wisdom that our region’s businesspeople have carried with them. “Never give up, believe in yourself and aim for the stars. Also to pay it forward and support the younger generation in their career journeys,” that was the message from the British Business Bank’s Vicky Mears. And the very pragmatic Kim Davis, managing director of Newcastle-based Explain Market Research, told us not to be too afraid to hire people more confident than you.
Most Read
Andrew Scott, sales director at North East manufacturer MAC International reminded us of the importance of good personal relationships in business. And Naylors Gavin Black managing partner Katy Clark’s best piece of advice was simple, but powerful: “To be yourself, and you don’t always have to be the loudest voice in the room to be heard. Be patient, keep your head down and you can quietly make yourself indispensable to a business.”
Meanwhile Sean Bean, Tom Holland and Marlon Brando were among the varied choices of actors to play our business leaders in films about their lives. Fair play to Gary Breach, boss of Cramlington-based commercial cleaning firm NECS, who selected Robert De Niro. And recruiter James Carss who opted for a “shorter, more ugly, Jason Statham”. He said: “He could do the martial arts, but could he convincingly pull off executive search?”