As the fifth in our series of clients’ stories, we asked another of our long standing clients, Carl Fitzsimons, to share his journey and experiences with Evolution – which started 16 years ago!
I first met Evolution and Martin in 2000 when I was running Nicholls Foods Vimto Academy – we were helping other Food and Drink Companies to improve their performance in all areas and Martin ran a Business Practitioner course for us and some of our clients.
I had a background in not-for profit and business support sectors and this was my first time in a large Corporate environment. Whilst having previously been a young and brash MD in my last small business, I quickly realised I had a lot to learn in terms of how to best influence in this new environment and the NLP course I undertook with Martin then was the most important development I ever undertook.
Whilst I have always had a positive intent and been mindful of my impact, the course increased my self-awareness dramatically. It helped me to contain my ego and stop fighting every battle but focus on the war.
The tools and techniques I learned then have stayed with me in my future roles and I have used them in many ways consciously and unconsciously.
I moved from Nicholls to PZ Cussons where I was an HR Executive and Group lead for Learning and Development. I soon realised that what I had learned worked across all cultures and environments.
The same applied in my role with PepsiCo and when I became Head of Learning and Development at BAE Systems with a huge budget to manage L&D across a wide range of activities, helped me to have an impact and we won several awards.
In my current role as Group HR Director for Thai Union Europe (a $1 billion company that owns a wide range of food related businesses including John West in the UK) I continue to draw on the skills and knowledge from the initial course, and subsequent interactions with Martin and still find them invaluable.
I have connected with Evolution many times over the last 16 years and they have trained a number of people who have worked for me. I look forward to working with them in the future as my career continues to develop and I continue to help the people around me develop.
