It was quite a surprise for Mark Taylor to discover that his ambitions didn't lie where he thought they did.
His career plan had been mapped out nicely. After five successful years heading Nashua Mobile, he took an executive job with Vodacom. He intended to clock up a few years there, earn a position in London with parent company Vodafone, and enjoy regular visits to its operations in a dozen or so other European countries.
As Taylor tucks into a steak at a restaurant in Johannesburg, I ask why he quit and returned to Nashua Mobile as CEO last year.
Simple, he says. He and his wife Bev realised it didn't make sense to uproot at that stage in their lives. "Had we been 15 years younger, it would have been very different," he says. "We discussed whether to sell everything here and give up the amazing lifestyle we have with our children to start a new life in a one-bedroom flat in London. You have to be a very special type of person to do that, and I don't think I am that kind of person. Spending hundreds of hours at airports wasn't going to be my future."
Taylor didn't doubt he'd be up to the job, but realised it wasn't what he wanted. "I don't question my leadership, but I do question my ability to work in a big corporation. I was very ambitious and excited about the potential of Vodafone globally and joining one of the biggest companies in the world. In hindsight, it wasn't as exciting as I'd thought. So I found out a lot about myself too."
Vodacom is heavily focused on control, stability, predictable income and managing risk, he says. He was also mainly implementing the ideas of other people, which must be stifling for a man with ideas of his own.
Moving back has rekindled his ambition, as he can see the results of his actions a lot more clearly at Nashua than he could at Vodacom.
Going back and being able to apply all the lessons he learned is an exciting opportunity, he says. "It sounds clich'ed, but it really is like going home. Vodacom was an amazing learning curve and I learned so much about myself and the industry. My aim is to take those things and pass them on to the people I work with."
Big Daddy T
Taylor rejoined Nashua four years to the day after leaving, and says many employees were delighted to have him back. That must be ego-enhancing stuff, but Taylor is open and honest, rather than coy about his talents.
"They call me Big Daddy T," he admits a little sheepishly. "It's quite embarrassing, but people say 'hello Mr Big Daddy T, what's happening?' I think a lot of the things I do influence the culture."
I'll be 50 next year and the last 15 years have gone by so fast it seems silly to plan for two to three years anymore.
Taylor tours the offices every day to greet everyone, and at first they were suspicious. Then they were curious, and by the third time people expected to see him. "After a while, people open up and tell you what's going on and what the problems are, so I get a ground-up view of what makes our business work."
As an extension of that, Taylor is encouraging managers and executives to introduce themselves to customers in the shops or put in a stint at the call centre to find out what customers think and which issues are causing problems.
"My aim is to take Nashua Mobile to a whole new level. It's not great at customer service - nor are any of the other networks or service providers - and that's where there's an opportunity. I don't want Nashua Mobile to be rated one of the best service providers; I want it to be the best."
The company is part of JSE-listed Reunert, and Taylor has committed to stay another five to 10 years, which is an oddly flexible amount of time.
"Think how long it takes to build a company," he says. "Rolling out 150 shops took us four years. We want to make Nashua Mobile a company that our children and grandchildren can say 'that's what they built'. That sounds silly, but we are not here for the next five-year contract, we are here for the next 20 or 30 years. We are building a company with longevity."
He admits that a past mistake was to plan from year-to-year instead of thinking long term. "I'll be 50 next year and the last 15 years have gone by so fast it seems silly to plan for two to three years anymore. It's much more sensible to plan for the next 15 to 20 years and leave a legacy."
Taylor has aspirations to play different roles within that group to take his career to another level, and to share his knowledge and skills to elevate the company too.
Art for art's sake
After that, he dreams of setting up a business with his wife, focusing on leadership development for young people. Bev runs a high-class hotel next to the family home, which could be used as a training centre for three months every year to teach the management and people skills you just don't learn at university.
I don't want Nashua Mobile to be rated one of the best service providers; I want it to be the best.
Another of their shared passions is art, and the 13 bedrooms in Bev's hotel are each devoted to a different local artist. "We go to hundreds of art exhibitions and auctions and we will probably do something in the art world in time, to promote young up-and-coming South African artists," Taylor says. "This country has given us career opportunities we couldn't have had anywhere else in the world, and that's one of the reasons Bev and I want to give back around the arts and leadership training."
Taylor was born in England and his parents moved to SA when he was 13. He has already achieved more than he ever imagined as a young Birmingham boy - starting as a computer operator and becoming a CEO.
"A lot of it didn't seem possible, so every step of my career has been like the next pinnacle. Whatever happens next will be the cherry on top," he says.
First published in April 2013 edition of ITWeb's Brainstorm magazine.
Share