John McDougall
Volunteer Aftercare Adviser, Opportunity & Enterprise, The Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust
Two years ago when I retired from Honeywell Sensing and Control where I was Vice President of Global Operations, I decided that I wanted to have the opportunity to pass on some of my experiences in business to the upcoming generation of budding young entrepreneurs. PSYBT provides the ideal vehicle for this so I became a volunteer aftercare adviser. It's great to meet the young business people in their places of work - a pleasant change from board rooms!
Whether running a major global organisation or a small local start up, many of the business challenges that people face are very similar: continually delighting customers with the right products or services; having the appropriate business vision and strategies; marketing your business; keeping an eye on competitors; watching costs, etc.
Factors like these apply to all businesses. Frequently the role of an aftercare advisor is to listen to the young business person in a sympathetic and informed way and to encourage and reinforce existing ideas, and sometimes it’s useful to advise and "nudge" the young business in other directions.
I have been fortunate to have worked in many countries and to have seen how they operate and I'd say that a major deficit that we have in Scotland is self belief. It is not ability or education that we lack - quite the opposite! Self-confidence is the major missing factor. I find myself continually trying to encourage businesses (and others!!) to be more self-confident, have more belief, and to be more assured.
However, mentoring for PSYBT is very much a two-way process. It allows me to be involved in a wide range of business sectors like sports, manufacturing, retail, media, service, and so on and it permits me to operate in a youthful environment in a meaningful way. Plus it helps to keep me young!! Sharing business experience’s and seeing the young businesses grow is really enjoyable.
I’m also now on the University Court at the University of the West of Scotland (UWS) and recently I‘ve been involved in striking up a partnership between PSYBT and the Business School of UWS. Among other things, this project sees students compete to take up work placements with PSYBT businesses, and members of the PSYBT team leading "Dragons' Den” type sessions for business students.
For relaxation, I’m quite an outdoor sort of person. I‘m very keen on hill walking and cycling and during the summer months sailing is my main sporting activity.
