Well, I started this blog with the absolute best of intentions. My aim was to write an article (I think the trendy word is blog) each and every month – I have already fallen behind…
To be fair, though, there is a good reason for this. Not only have we been extremely busy at AKP, with a huge number of precision engineering projects being worked on, not to mention growing our team and ensuring that customer success is prioritised, but I have also gone “back to school”!
In early September, I joined Cohort 15 of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses programme. This was kicked off by a residential in Oxford, which kept me extremely busy.
This was actually my second attempt at joining this programme, as places are hard fought for. Since it’s so competitive, I’m going to make the most of every minute!
I am often telling the team at AKP how important continuing personal development is, not only inside the workplace learning key skills, but also by taking some time outside of the office to learn something for your own benefit. So, I’m really pleased that I now have the chance to demonstrate that and lead by example – something that busy business leaders sometimes don’t get the time to do!
Having said that, it’s not like I’ve been holding back on learning new things. Quite apart from keeping up to date on all things precision engineering, with new ways of working, modern machining practices and materials to keep up to date on, I have always taken the position that learning is simply a vital part of life.
I’ve undertaken lots of boating and navigation training as a hobby, while my “weekend job” as a roadie has taught me many of the finer points of lighting and sound engineering. My current drum lessons are bringing out my creative side… even if the neighbours don’t quite seem to appreciate it!
But, this latest programme is the first formal education I’ve undertaken for – cough! – quite a few years. Being perfectly honest, I am finding it very hard work, and mentally challenging. So, I hope you’ll forgive me the missed blog post, and bear with me over the next few months.
With that all said, I’m inspired by the other great businesses on the program, the exceptional experience of the speakers, and the support of the Goldman Sachs team. I’m really looking forward to putting what I learn from the programme into practice for the benefit of AKP, my team and all of our customers – I just have to finish it first!
Right, I’m off to do some more reading for the programme. I’ll (hopefully) be back next month. I might even tell you a bit about what I’ve learned!
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