CAREER-VIEW MIRROR - biographies of colleagues in the automotive and mobility industries.

Andy Follows
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CAREER-VIEW MIRROR offers career lessons from the experiences of senior leaders and rising stars in the exciting global automotive industry. Aquilae's Managing Director, Andy Follows, hosts candid conversations, reflecting on their career journeys to help you with yours.

  1. DEC 8

    Side Mirror: Celebrating 250 Episodes and Sharing Some Changes

    This is episode 250 of CAREER-VIEW MIRROR. I searched how many podcasts make it to 250 episodes and am advised it's less than 2%. We published our first episode on 1 March 2021 and have published weekly on Mondays at midnight in the UK ever since. Our initial aim was to celebrate the lives and career stories of senior leaders and rising stars in the global automotive industry. Along the way we evolved and added Side Mirror episodes to cover specific topics. Sometimes we invite along a guest expert and other times like this episode I fly solo. I'm going to take the opportunity of this being a landmark episode to share a little about what I hope to achieve from all these conversations and let you know about some exciting changes as we continue to evolve.  I am happy to guess that a large proportion of our weekly audience is made up of transient listeners who join to listen to a specific guest, perhaps a friend or colleague or senior leader from their organisation. I'll say more about the value of this later. It's difficult to be sure but I have a sense from the data that we are privileged to also have a loyal core of regular listeners.  I don't believe you're a huge group but what you lack in numbers you make up for in taste and intelligence and I imagine looks and I am incredibly grateful for you showing up each week. The changes I'm going to talk about later will mostly affect you, I hope to your benefit, so please do keep listening to find out more. About Andy I’m a business leader, coach, and the creator of the Fulfilling Performance framework—a simple, practical way to help leaders cut through silos, get people pulling in the same direction, and build ownership and accountability, so organisations perform better and their people thrive. Over the past 25+ years, I’ve led and developed businesses including Alphabet UK, BMW Financial Services in the UK, Singapore, and New Zealand, and Tesla Financial Services UK. Alongside this, I’ve coached individuals and delivered leadership programmes in 17 countries across Asia, Europe, and North America. In 2016, I founded Aquilae (The Fulfilling Performance Company) to support CEOs and senior leaders in the mobility sector and beyond. Through workshops, peer mentoring, and coaching, we help reduce the unseen friction that drags on performance — and create teams where people deliver, grow, and work constructively together. I’m also the host of CAREER-VIEW MIRROR, where I share the life and career journeys of key players in the automotive and mobility world to surface insights leaders can apply in their own context. Learn more about Fulfilling Performance Check out Release the Handbrake! The Fulfilling Performance Hub Connect with Andy LinkedIn: Andy Follows Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk Join a peer mentoring team: Aquilae Academy Thank you to our sponsors: ASKE Consulting Email: hello@askeconsulting.co.uk Aquilae Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk Episode Directory on Instagram @careerviewmirror If you enjoy hearing our guests’ career stories, please follow CAREER-VIEW MIRROR in your podcast app. Episode recorded on 4 December, 2025.

    20 min

  2. DEC 1

    Side Mirror: Billionaires with Six Packs

    In this Side Mirror, I want to talk about something we all experience — the knowing–doing gap. We live in a world where more knowledge is available to us than to any humans who lived before us. And yet… if knowledge alone were enough, we’d all be billionaires with six-packs by now. Clearly, there’s more to performance than just information. Today, I want to explore why that gap exists — and invite you to cross it by actually using the Fulfilling Performance framework, rather than simply understanding it intellectually. About Andy I’m a business leader, coach, and the creator of the Fulfilling Performance framework—a simple, practical way to help leaders cut through silos, get people pulling in the same direction, and build ownership and accountability, so organisations perform better and their people thrive. Over the past 25+ years, I’ve led and developed businesses including Alphabet UK, BMW Financial Services in the UK, Singapore, and New Zealand, and Tesla Financial Services UK. Alongside this, I’ve coached individuals and delivered leadership programmes in 17 countries across Asia, Europe, and North America. In 2016, I founded Aquilae (The Fulfilling Performance Company) to support CEOs and senior leaders in the mobility sector and beyond. Through workshops, peer mentoring, and coaching, we help reduce the unseen friction that drags on performance — and create teams where people deliver, grow, and work constructively together. I’m also the host of CAREER-VIEW MIRROR, where I share the life and career journeys of key players in the automotive and mobility world to surface insights leaders can apply in their own context. Learn more about Fulfilling Performance Check out Release the Handbrake! The Fulfilling Performance Hub Connect with Andy LinkedIn: Andy Follows Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk Join a peer mentoring team: Aquilae Academy Thank you to our sponsors: ASKE Consulting Email: hello@askeconsulting.co.uk Aquilae Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk Episode Directory on Instagram @careerviewmirror EIf you enjoy hearing our guests’ career stories, please follow CAREER-VIEW MIRROR in your podcast app. Episode recorded on 26 November, 2025.

    14 min

  3. NOV 24

    Hacia Atherton: Culture That Pays - Empowering Women in Trades

    Hacia Atherton is the author of The Billion Dollar Blind$pot, global speaker, and the first female CEO of a major plumbing company in Australia. After surviving a near-fatal horse-riding accident, Hacia turned personal adversity into a global mission—founding Empowered Women in Trades and championing a new era of leadership grounded in psychological safety, inclusive strategy, and bold cultural reform across male-dominated industries. In our conversation, we talk about Hacia’s family background as the fifth generation of a successful Australian business, and how the complementary strengths of her parents—her father’s business discipline and her mother’s creativity—have influenced and inspired her. We then follow an exploratory journey as Hacia heads toward commercial law, refines her choices, and consistently tests opportunities adjusting the mix of business and creativity until she’s truly forging her own path and bringing everything she’s learned to each new role. There’s a wonderful moment on the shop floor, learning to weld, when a simple piece of feedback reframes her thinking about gender in trades—a spark that ultimately contributes to founding Empowered Women in Trades. Her story is brutally interrupted by a serious accident in 2017. We talk about the incident, her long recovery, and how she applied positive psychology to keep moving forward—demonstrating servant leadership even in rehab. Finally, we discuss her book, The Billion Dollar Blind$pot, which explores the link between workplace culture and financial performance. I loved getting to know Hacia through this conversation and I’m excited to share it with you. I look forward to hearing what resonates.  We don’t talk explicitly about Fulfilling Performance in this episode, but Hacia’s story is a live example. As you listen, I encourage you to notice the four Guiding Principles at work — Know Why, Be Clear, Equip Yourself, Support Others. Connect with Hacia LinkedIn Billion Dollar Blind$pot book Website Empowered Women in Trades About Andy I’m a business leader, coach, and the creator of the Fulfilling Performance framework. Over the past 25+ years, I’ve led and developed businesses including Alphabet UK, BMW Financial Services in the UK, Singapore, and New Zealand, and Tesla Financial Services UK. Alongside this, I’ve coached individuals and facilitated leadership development programmes in 17 countries across Asia, Europe, and North America. In 2016, I founded Aquilae to support leaders and teams in the mobility sector and beyond. Through workshops, coaching, and peer mentoring, we enable high performance that’s also fulfilling—for individuals, teams, and organisations. Learn more about Fulfilling Performance Check out Release the Handbrake! The Fulfilling Performance Hub Connect with Andy LinkedIn: Andy Follows Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk Join a peer mentoring team: Aquilae Academy Thank you to our sponsors: ASKE Consulting Email: hello@askeconsulting.co.uk Aquilae Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk Episode Directory on Instagram @careerviewmirror Episode recorded on 17 November, 2025.

    1h 44m

  4. NOV 17

    Side Mirror: The Curse of Knowledge

    In this Side Mirror, I explore a blind spot that affects all of us. It’s something that slowly creeps in as we gain experience, and it quietly widens the gap between what we think our people understand and what they actually do. I’ll share a couple of recent examples — one from a global organisation trying to gather insight, and another from a leader who chose a more hands-on approach — plus a slightly embarrassing personal story from  early in my automotive career. All of them highlight the same human tendency… one that reduces Clarity, Capability, Culture and Purpose without us even noticing. About Andy I’m a business leader, coach, and the creator of the Fulfilling Performance framework—a simple, practical way to help leaders cut through silos, get people pulling in the same direction, and build ownership and accountability, so organisations perform better and their people thrive. Over the past 25+ years, I’ve led and developed businesses including Alphabet UK, BMW Financial Services in the UK, Singapore, and New Zealand, and Tesla Financial Services UK. Alongside this, I’ve coached individuals and delivered leadership programmes in 17 countries across Asia, Europe, and North America. In 2016, I founded Aquilae (The Fulfilling Performance Company) to support CEOs and senior leaders in the mobility sector and beyond. Through workshops, peer mentoring, and coaching, we help reduce the unseen friction that drags on performance — and create teams where people deliver, grow, and work constructively together. I’m also the host of CAREER-VIEW MIRROR, where I share the life and career journeys of key players in the automotive and mobility world to surface insights leaders can apply in their own context. Learn more about Fulfilling Performance Check out Release the Handbrake! The Fulfilling Performance Hub Connect with Andy LinkedIn: Andy Follows Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk Join a peer mentoring team: Aquilae Academy Thank you to our sponsors: ASKE Consulting Email: hello@askeconsulting.co.uk Aquilae Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk Episode Directory on Instagram @careerviewmirror If you enjoy hearing our guests’ career stories, please follow CAREER-VIEW MIRROR in your podcast app. Episode recorded on 15 November, 2025.

    15 min

  5. NOV 10

    Side Mirror: Marginal Gains and Fulfilling Performance

    My guests often share stories from their careers of stepping into a new role which they know is going to require them to grow but is also going to allow them to leverage knowledge, skills and experience that they have developed in multiple previous positions.  It's a very satisfying scenario to find ourselves in because we know that there's a good chance we will be able to bring more of what we've already got — our existing capability — to bear in this new position. It increases our opportunity to add value, perform well and experience fulfilment from doing so.  I was able to draw on my own roots and background experience recently when invited to a customer event. My past roles in fleet management, leasing, retail automotive finance and mobility consulting meant that I thoroughly enjoyed being immersed in the topics of the day alongside good people. What made it extra special was that it came with a completely unexpected and highly relevant link to the work that I do now to enable Fulfilling Performance. About Andy I’m a business leader, coach, and the creator of the Fulfilling Performance framework—a simple, practical way to help leaders cut through silos, get people pulling in the same direction, and build ownership and accountability, so organisations perform better and their people thrive. Over the past 25+ years, I’ve led and developed businesses including Alphabet UK, BMW Financial Services in the UK, Singapore, and New Zealand, and Tesla Financial Services UK. Alongside this, I’ve coached individuals and delivered leadership programmes in 17 countries across Asia, Europe, and North America. In 2016, I founded Aquilae (The Fulfilling Performance Company) to support CEOs and senior leaders in the mobility sector and beyond. Through workshops, peer mentoring, and coaching, we help reduce the unseen friction that drags on performance — and create teams where people deliver, grow, and work constructively together. I’m also the host of CAREER-VIEW MIRROR, where I share the life and career journeys of key players in the automotive and mobility world to surface insights leaders can apply in their own context. Learn more about Fulfilling Performance Check out Release the Handbrake! The Fulfilling Performance Hub Connect with Andy LinkedIn: Andy Follows Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk Join a peer mentoring team: Aquilae Academy Thank you to our sponsors: ASKE Consulting Email: hello@askeconsulting.co.uk Aquilae Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk Episode Directory on Instagram @careerviewmirror  If you enjoy hearing our guests’ career stories, please follow CAREER-VIEW MIRROR in your podcast app. Episode recorded on 9 November, 2025.

    18 min

  6. NOV 3

    Glenn Wilson: Backing Himself — Building Digital Auto Finance in NZ and Australia

    Glenn is the Co-Founder of Simplify Holdings International, a company specialising in personal and automotive finance across New Zealand and Australia. Ten years ago, Glenn and his team spotted a gap in the New Zealand market—limited consumer finance options and an almost non-existent online experience—and built Simplify to solve it. Today, over 17,000 customers have used Simplify, and the business is on track to write over $150 million in finance volume this financial year. Glenn now plays a more strategic role in the group while the day-to-day is led by the team. In our conversation we talk about Glenn’s foundations: growing up just outside Melbourne, Australia, being told by a teacher at 16 that he’d prefer it if Glenn left school, and how he turned that moment into fuel. We revisit his early career in IT, leading teams older than him, and the leadership lesson that it’s more important to be respected than liked. We explore his move to BMW Australia, starting in customer service, building relationships across the organisation, and the practical value of curiosity. We discuss the impact of losing his mum, a period of travel and reflection, and the shift from finance broking as a sole operator to deciding—after a pivotal Tony Robbins event in Los Angeles—to build a bigger business. We then trace the path to Simplify: seeing the New Zealand opportunity, starting small, persevering through perceptions of being “too Australian,” growing a distributed team across NZ and Australia, installing a CEO, and stepping into a strategic role while keeping close to the team and partners. Connect with Glenn LinkedIn Website About Andy I’m a business leader, coach, and the creator of the Fulfilling Performance framework—designed to help people bring more of themselves to what they do and experience greater fulfilment and performance as a result. Over the past 25+ years, I’ve led and developed businesses including Alphabet UK, BMW Financial Services in the UK, Singapore, and New Zealand, and Tesla Financial Services UK. Alongside this, I’ve coached individuals and facilitated leadership development programmes in 17 countries across Asia, Europe, and North America. In 2016, I founded Aquilae to support leaders and teams in the mobility sector and beyond. Through workshops, coaching, and peer mentoring, we enable high performance that’s also fulfilling—for individuals, teams, and organisations. I’m also the host of CAREER-VIEW MIRROR, where I share the life and career journeys of key players in the automotive and mobility world to surface insights leaders can apply in their own context. Learn more about Fulfilling Performance Check out Release the Handbrake! The Fulfilling Performance Hub Connect with Andy LinkedIn: Andy Follows Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk Join a peer mentoring team: Aquilae Academy Thank you to our sponsors: ASKE Consulting Email: hello@askeconsulting.co.uk Aquilae Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk Episode Directory on Instagram @careerviewmirror   If you enjoy listening to our guests career stories, please follow CAREER-VIEW MIRROR in your podcast app.  Episode recorded on 23 October, 2025.

    1h 22m

  7. OCT 27

    Side Mirror: Four Real Stories of Handbrakes in Action

    When I introduce leaders to the Fulfilling Performance framework with its four Diagnostic Questions, they invariably appreciate its simplicity. They find Step 1 relatively easy. This is the part where we use the four questions to identify the most likely sources of unseen friction or handbrakes as we call them.  I covered Step 1 in last week's Side Mirror episode where I explained how Fulfilling Performance is a simple tool we can use to act on engagement every single day.  Step 2 is to consider options, decide on an action and create a plan to release the handbrake.  Depending on the nature of the handbrake, Step 2 can be more complex and less straightforward. The options at your disposal and the quality of your plan will vary according to your level of leadership capability, experience and authority. When we get to Step 2 in our workshops, leaders often ask me to share handbrakes that I or previous participants have identified with examples of how they released them. So in this episode, I want to share four stories from my own career—each one showing a handbrake in action, linked to one of the Four Fundamentals: Clarity, Capability, Culture, and Purpose. They’re real examples of what happens when a Fundamental is lacking—and what could have been done to release the friction. About Andy I’m a business leader, coach, and the creator of the Fulfilling Performance framework—a simple, practical way to help leaders cut through silos, get people pulling in the same direction, and build ownership and accountability, so organisations perform better and their people thrive. Over the past 25+ years, I’ve led and developed businesses including Alphabet UK, BMW Financial Services in the UK, Singapore, and New Zealand, and Tesla Financial Services UK. Alongside this, I’ve coached individuals and delivered leadership programmes in 17 countries across Asia, Europe, and North America. In 2016, I founded Aquilae (The Fulfilling Performance Company) to support CEOs and senior leaders in the mobility sector and beyond. Through workshops, peer mentoring, and coaching, we help reduce the unseen friction that drags on performance — and create teams where people deliver, grow, and work constructively together. I’m also the host of CAREER-VIEW MIRROR, where I share the life and career journeys of key players in the automotive and mobility world to surface insights leaders can apply in their own context. Learn more about Fulfilling Performance Check out Release the Handbrake! The Fulfilling Performance Hub Connect with Andy LinkedIn: Andy Follows Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk Join a peer mentoring team: Aquilae Academy Thank you to our sponsors: ASKE Consulting Email: hello@askeconsulting.co.uk Aquilae Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk Episode Directory on Instagram @careerviewmirror   If you enjoy listening to our guests career stories, please follow CAREER-VIEW MIRROR in your podcast app.  Episode recorded on 21 October, 2025.

    16 min

  8. OCT 19

    Side Mirror: A Simple Tool to Act on Engagement Every Single Day

    I was listening to an interview with Ellyn Shook recently. Ellyn is the Chief Human Resources Officer of Accenture where she is responsible for 774,000 people. She told Michael Gervais on his Finding Mastery podcast that if companies could figure out how to give their leaders tools to act on engagement every day they would see a big difference.  The Fulfilling Performance framework is that tool and in this Side Mirror episode I share how I introduce leaders to how it works and get them up and running with it in just a few hours. About Andy I’m a business leader, coach, and the creator of the Fulfilling Performance framework—designed to help people bring more of themselves to what they do and experience greater fulfilment and performance as a result. Over the past 25+ years, I’ve led and developed businesses including Alphabet UK, BMW Financial Services in the UK, Singapore, and New Zealand, and Tesla Financial Services UK. Alongside this, I’ve coached individuals and facilitated leadership development programmes in 17 countries across Asia, Europe, and North America. In 2016, I founded Aquilae to support leaders and teams in the mobility sector and beyond. Through workshops, coaching, and peer mentoring, we enable high performance that’s also fulfilling—for individuals, teams, and organisations. I’m also the host of CAREER-VIEW MIRROR, where I share the life and career journeys of key players in the automotive and mobility world. Learn more about Fulfilling Performance Check out Release the Handbrake! The Fulfilling Performance Hub Connect with Andy LinkedIn: Andy Follows Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk Join a peer mentoring team: Aquilae Academy Thank you to our sponsors: ASKE Consulting Email: hello@askeconsulting.co.uk Aquilae Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk Episode Directory on Instagram @careerviewmirror   If you enjoy listening to our guests career stories, please follow CAREER-VIEW MIRROR in your podcast app.  Episode recorded on 15 October, 2025.

    17 min
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CAREER-VIEW MIRROR offers career lessons from the experiences of senior leaders and rising stars in the exciting global automotive industry. Aquilae's Managing Director, Andy Follows, hosts candid conversations, reflecting on their career journeys to help you with yours.

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