Innovation and Opportunities

Yesterday I delivered another of my mentoring sessions with Stephen. First thing in the morning I tasked Stephen with doing some research into Investors in People and the road safety charity, Brake. There was an important reason for this and I asked Stephen to think about this and told him that we would discuss it when we had our mentoring session. 

Later in the day I spent some time with Stephen and I asked him to imagine a football pitch without the white lines, the corner flags and goal posts and then I asked him to imagine that the grass hadn’t been cut. Would you be able to play football on it? The reason for this was to highlight that in order to do something right all of the conditions must be perfect. I related this to Stephen’s work as he was writing on a notepad and not using the folder that we had provided the previous week, Stephen had taken time to make a front cover and use dividers to organise the folder but he had left it in his bag!

When it came to mentoring I asked him about the research he had done in the morning, the reason that these particular things were so important was because when I started my business in 2004, and we were just a distribution company, working to obtain IIP status and with the road safety charity, Brake on social responsibility were the things that made me stand out and be unique to all other distribution companies. These things gave me instant credibility within my sector and they show that I was always striving to be unique.

The other point was that even in 2004 I was coming up with innovative ideas and if I had solely focussed on distribution we wouldn’t have a company now. Because I was always searching for new business opportunities KDS Group and Stevie Kidd People now exists with 5 divisions and even more opportunities arising.

The valuable lesson here for Stephen was that you must always open your mind to innovation or opportunities will be missed.

1 Comment

Posted by Sandra Webster on 14 December 2010

Glad to read Stephen is doing so well. The football analogy is a good example of the struggles some people living with autism experience in their daily lives.Some peole would not be able to play football without the external structure of the football pitch which gives structure and a glimpse into how the game should be played. We as NTs have neuronal plasticity we can enjoy a game of footie on a piece of grass, others can play as well but need a bit more support. We need to try and look at life as others see it and reach out. Both of my boys live with ASD and I have learned so much. I used to work with chilren with profound learning difficulties but that experience couldn''t prepare me for my family''s journey and the impact that ASD has on allof us. However, my boys are beautiful. wonderfully made, they see the world in a different way, face challenges which they will overcome with support and I hope will become active valued citizens. The challenge is to equip them for their journey ahead and encourage wider society to accept them for who they are, not place them into boxes. We all have our part tp play by challenging predijuce and encouraging those we meet to look a little closer. Atephen will do so well because of his loving, supportive family and because your company sees who he is and all he has to offer. Thank you, Sandra.

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