May-June2020 Issue

Talking Heads through law school and, after I graduated, I would serve in the [Judge Advocate General] Corps for seven years. Since I was going to be away for a long time, I wanted to visit my mother for three weeks. I did that, but then I never left Scotland. I fell in love with the place. RM: Did that end your legal career? TA: No, I eventually entered the University of Stirling, where I began studying business law. After my first year, my professor encouraged me to consider moving my course of study to criminal law. He said, “If ever there was someone who belonged in a court room arguing a case it is you!” Ha! Very true. I do love a good debate! With his recommendation, I applied to study for my degree at the University of Glasgow to become an appellant barrister (the ones with white wigs and black capes). As with many of us, personal circumstances took me away from my studies for a bit, and it was at this point where my entrance to the world of training and leadership development began. RM: How did you become an expert in sales and leadership training? TA: At that time in the UK, the government was trying to reduce the unemployment rate by offering companies subsidies to construct call centers and hire and train call-center agents. A Scottish businessman named Tom Farmer, who was your classic rags-to-riches story, founded a successful chain of garages called Kwik Fit and later he got into car insurance and built a 400-person call center. There was a massive recruiting campaign. I ended up being hired as one of the first management teammembers. There were 16 of us hired. The company that hired us came back four months later and said, “We’re getting ready to hire the call center agents, but we need people to volunteer to become trainers.” I applied to go through a special training program and was one of three people selected. That’s where my training experience started. It was like I had been doing it forever. Selling and training are a lot like presenting a case in court. You’re trying to make a point and sway the jury or your audience one way or the other. Talking Heads continued on page 16 WANT YOUR APPRAISALS DONE RIGHT THE FIRST TIME? RELY ON LRES! REVERSE MORTGAGE / MAY-JUNE 2020 15