I came across your blog today and read some of your postings. They are really interesting! It’s also great to see that GDS has expanded to its current strong status. What I like most however is the personal touch you put in your blog. Wonder if you have done the London Marathon eventually…. Even if not, I am impressed by your strength.

You mentioned that you started up GDS in Bristol ’17 years ago with £15,000′ etc. This has brought back many memories when I first joined in GDS in 1995, one room holding nearly all the staff, Justin, Chris, Neil, Adam …. Wonder where they are now… Some still with you at GDS?

Well, I and my family, moved to Cardiff (Cardiff U) in 1998 after a short stay in Hawaii, then to London in 2004 and have been working with Greenwich U since then. We live in Greenwich.

Early in the year, we went back to Bristol for a short visit. We drove around, in St Michael’ s Hill, Christmas Steps, the Downs, suspension bridge …. We were talking about GDS when passing the building and wondered if it were still there… A lot of interesting memories indeed!

Time of course flies. I can see a lot of change at GDS. Wonder if you still do things in China, if you have an office there…..?

So, it’s relly good to see you via your blog. Keep writing. It’s a good way to express and communicate with the world, including your old friends

All the very best

Minghua

I found you here browsing on the net! Good to see you’re still strong and growing with the events and publishing! GDS was the best company I’ve worked for and best time of my life
I’ve been living in the sunny Gold Coast in Australia, married with 2 kids and have been working for Red Hat (Linux) for the past 4 years now as a translator and interpreter. Also working for the government as an interpreter. Good job but getting itchy to get my hands into event management again…Any chance of coming down under again?!
Wish I could work for you again one day, who knows

Great blog! Keeping it real and living it large

Hope to hear from you one day,
Take care
Glaucia Cintra

Give my regards to everybody won’t you

Go Spence Go!!!!!!!

PB

It’s inspiring to see a UK business leader encouraging personal growth, as it’s the States and Australia that usually scream out this message. I’ve been involved with NLP trainings and spent over a decade pushing myself to grow, develop and constantly improve. I loved the questions you suggest asking to keep broadening skillsets. One question I use with my clients (and my wife) is to ask, “Out of 10, how well I am doing?” If I get anything less than a 10, I ask the follow-up, “What could I do to take it to a 10.” I’ve learned that constructive feedback really keeps you on your toes, avoids complacency and keeps you performing at peak levels. I’ve also used NLP modelling skills to spend time with people who excel and ask them questions like “How do you consistently notice opportunities when others don’t?” and “What are your success habits?” Success leaves clues and you can learn from it. High achievers are always passionate about creating results, know their cores values, act – and welcome feedback as a gift to grow and do even better next time. And we can learn them by asking the right questions and adopting their resourceful habits.

#richardhaggerty (Twitter)

A really informative article about GDS that resonated with me. As I have an interview with GDS tomorrow, it inspired me to see your vision of using bright people to think outside the box to solve problems. If you get the right balance of experience within GDS, then you will have the right set of skills to carry on the impressive 42% growth you experienced last year. As a coach with a sales background, I’ve found the right attitude is vital for getting results: someone who has the right mental focus, who gets excited about problems and starts looking at them as an opportunity for growth will be an asset to the team. It is also exciting to see a company with the vision to see that there is always opportunity where you provide outstanding customer service: combining it with capitalising on the 5% increase in IT spending in Latin American markets in 2010 by offering a CIO Latin American summit is inspired – especially compared to the lack of vision and stagnation in many UK markets. Creating a business networking tool for CEOs (MeettheBoss.com) is also one of those ideas that, like FaceBook, makes you think: why didn’t anyone else think of that? Thanks again for a great insight to GDS, its values and commitment to its staff.
#richardhaggerty (Twitter)