Cluster General Manager
David Lloyd Fitness

Ian G

00:00:03 Hi, my name’s Ian G, I’m Cluster General Manager with David Lloyd Leisure Limited. The Cluster General Manager role is basically a multi site role, where I have responsibilities and accountabilities over numerous sites, whilst I also have to run my own site at the same time. I joined David Lloyd Leisure in February of 2007, because there was the opportunity to be able to help people, you know, it’s life-changing because, you know, we’re helping people become fitter, you know, and enjoy, rehabilitate, so for me that’s quite motivational. We hear fantastic stories every day of people competing triathlons, marathons, you know, huge weight losses – so every day I’m certainly inspired by the work and the hard work that my team put in.

00:00:46 When I was at school, no I clearly didn’t have an idea of what I would be doing. I’ve never been someone thought I’m going to be a doctor, a dentist or a pilot. I went to a High School in Margate, so – I’m born and bred from Margate ultimately, so I went to a High School there – completed my GCSEs, you know, did moderately well at that. Always thought that I’d go on to do my A levels afterwards, my sister being a great lead in that certainly. I enjoyed my time thoroughly at school, I worked hard, you know, and I got good results out of that. But I was never necessarily one of the people that knew exactly what I wanted to do when I was leaving school.

00:01:18 I think from leaving University, I had one year in industry, which gave me exposure to the working environment. Unfortunately as a result of that I decided it wasn’t what I wanted to do. But what I got a feel for was a professional organisation, a large company – a corporate if you like – and the environment that that created. So that was definitely something that I thought I like this, I enjoy this, I can see myself as part of this. For me to decide to come into the Leisure Industry, I’d always been quite considered with my career choices. I actually went for the first time to a recruitment agency to help me with my selection process. And again, you know, saw quite a lot of organisations, but for me ultimately what stood out with David Lloyd Leisure was the professionalism, the environment, the organisation. I have a keen interest in health and fitness anyway so for me, perfect result.

00:02:01 I would definitely say that my sister is probably the most inspiring person in my life. Partly because of sibling rivalry, you always have to live up to the expectations I guess, she is a couple of years older than me, but she had the opportunity to go straight on to do A-Levels, and I then joined the school that she used to go to, to do my A-Levels. She went on to do University, I went on to University. So a little bit of a competitive edge I guess, but looking back, absolutely the right thing to do.

00:02:23 I think there would be a certain degree of surprise from school friends or school teachers in terms of what I’m doing now, because I think I’ve been quite successful for my age, but I also think, you know, I still keep in contact with a lot of friends from school, so they know where I’m at in terms of my career. The teachers unfortunately I haven’t seen for a long long time, so hopefully they’ll get the opportunity to be able to see this, and I guess what’s important from that is that, you know, they take some pride, because they helped me get where I am today.

00:02:47 One of my passions outside of work is I’m currently learning to fly. Something that I’ve always been interested – well fascinated I would say since I was a child, used to live near RAF Manston down in Kent, so used to see planes of all shapes and sizes daily, which really I guess sparked the interest for me. So now I’m in a position where I’ve got the free time, I’ve got a bit of disposable money, so for me I’ve put the two together and absolutely love learning to fly.

00:03:11 In five or ten years’ time I would like to add the title of Director to the role that I’d be working within. Looking back at the years at school, and certainly starting out in my career, anybody with a title of Director was quite inspirational to me. I think I’m in a good position where I sit at the moment, in terms of my career, so I don’t think that’s unachievable in five to ten years’ time.

00:03:30 I would say the one piece of advice that I would give to people starting out on their career journey would be, look at the interests that they have personally so be it sport, be it media, be it anything that ultimately they find is a passion or that they enjoy, because I think if you marry those two together in a professional environment, you’ll never actually have to work a day again in the rest of your life.

00:03:50 ENDS