Kevin Davidson: Some good choices made early lead to a long and fulfilling career of variety and continued growth within BMW.

Kevin recently established Esprit de Corps Consulting having retired from BMW after 32 years, during which he held a number of interesting roles that culminated with him being the Managing Director of BMW Group Ireland.

His focus for this next phase of his career will be on non-executive directorships, consulting in the automotive sector and coaching.

In our conversation we talk about his early years in Scotland. He was born in Edinburgh and spent his first 21 years in Stirling with his family. Kevin shares how he started his career on a Graduate programme with the Bank of Scotland before joining Lloyds Bowmaker to move into automotive finance. When BMW acquired the share capital, Kevin chose to move south and join BMW Financial Services marking the beginning of a very rewarding journey with the brand.

We explore the moves he made and the experiences that he collected along the way which along with his all important network ultimately equipped him to run the business in Ireland during some particularly challenging years.

I enjoyed getting to know Kevin through his story. I'm pleased to share it with you and I look forward to hearing what resonates with you.

Connect with Kevin on LinkedIn

Website: Esprit de Corps Consulting

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Email: hello@askeconsulting.co.uk

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Episode recorded on 3 October, 2023.

Transcript

Kevin Davidson: 0:00

It was a great job because you were kind of almost like playing poker with the dealers, they couldn't see your hand. The one thing they couldn't find out was how many cars I had coming back and they would always try and find that out, they'd buy you a beer and they'd come and see you and I just realised you couldn't show them your hand. You just couldn't.

Aquilae: 0:21

Welcome to CAREER-VIEW MIRROR the automotive podcast that goes behind the scenes with key players in the industry looking back over their careers to share insights to help you with your own journey. Here's your host, Andy Follows.

Andy Follows: 0:53

Hello, listeners, Andy here. Thank you for tuning in. We appreciate that you do. We're also very grateful for our guests who generously joined me to create these episodes so that we can celebrate their careers and listen to their stories and learn from their experiences. In this episode, we're celebrating the career to date of Kevin Davidson. Kevin recently established Esprit de Corps Consulting having retired from BMW after 32 years, during which he held a number of interesting roles that culminated with him being the Managing Director of BMW Group Ireland. His focus for this next phase of his career will be on non executive directorships consulting in the automotive sector and coaching. In our conversation we talk about his early years in Scotland, he was born in Edinburgh and spent his first 21 years in sterling with his family. Kevin shares how he started his career on a graduate programme with the Bank of Scotland before joining Lloyds Bowmaker to move into automotive finance. When BMW acquired the share capital, Kevin chose to move south and join BMW Financial Services, marking the beginning of a very rewarding journey with the brand. We explore the moves he made and the experiences that he collected along the way, which along with his all important network ultimately equipped him to run the business in Ireland during some particularly challenging yours. I enjoyed getting to know Kevin through his story. I'm pleased to share it with you and I look forward to hearing what resonates with you. Hello, Kevin, and welcome. And where are you coming to us from today?

Kevin Davidson: 2:23

I Andy. I'm live from my house in Fleet in Hampshire today.

Andy Follows: 2:29

Thank you very much for joining me and I'm smiling because you're probably about five miles down the road, I think a bit of a fan of accents. And that's not a Fleet accent I can hear. So where did your journey start?

Kevin Davidson: 2:41

So I was I was born in Edinburgh capital of Scotland and lived my boss 2223 years in Scotland, in Stirling into me. That's where my mother still resides. And my brother and sister are close by. Yeah, fortunately, my accent. Despite the fact I've been away for more than half my life, the accent has stayed with me. So.

Andy Follows: 3:09

So tell me about growing up. What was the family situation? Like you mentioned some siblings there. So just talk us through what it was like.

Kevin Davidson: 3:19

So mom and dad, there was three of us. My sister younger sister, younger brother, robot, and Christine and Mom and Dad, Dad was actually 32 years older than mom. So dad had been married and had kids in a previous life as well. And my mom fell in love and did it all again with the three of us. He was fruta. So I still reflect on he died in 1998. But I still reflect that he was ahead of his time because he delivered fruit and veg and messages as they called it in Scotland not chopping messages to people's home addresses and well that's what Ocado and Tesco and all these guys do today. So I think he was he was definitely ahead of his time.

Andy Follows: 4:13

Wonderful. And I've not heard that term before messages. So that's a it means shopping. That's what it means shopping

Kevin Davidson: 4:19

in Scotland so long held tow it for vans for fruit and veg funds. So a mum helped out on the vans as as I did from the age of five. I used to work with dad on the vans on the Saturday morning. I used to get out the van when we got to my granny's house and she had my toast ready for me. But little did I know that was educating me about business at a very early age. And I'm very thankful for these times I spent with my dad working with him on these Saturday mornings. Yeah, he struggled in the And because I think a lot of the corner shops started taking over. And then they struggled when supermarkets were starting to be built. And then obviously supermarkets have started delivering to houses. So we kind of go on full songs.

Andy Follows: 5:17

Yeah, it's fascinating that the evolution of that grocery business, and I know that you got into cars pretty early on. So we've already talked about your driving around when you're five in the van, but before then you were introduced to cars and your love of cars was ignited. Tell me about that.

Kevin Davidson: 5:36

Is one Christmas. So Mum and Dad had bought me a toy many. And there's a very early picture of dads putting me into the toy, many I think it was a year and a half old. So I kind of fell in love with many from my age and little did an hour came to work for the brand. And you know, love the brand, as well as the BMW brand. It's it's a fantastic brand, as many. Yeah, that was the start of it. And then my

Andy Follows: 6:05

I'm going to ask you sorry, Kevin, I'm going to ask you a bit about that in a second. First of all, though, if you don't mind, what was it like having a dad who was that much older?

Kevin Davidson: 6:14

It was interesting, because a lot of the kids you know how kids can be at school, they used to say to me, Why does your granddad drop you off at the school gates. So actually, I remember, I remember one day actually asking my mom if my dad was back. But basically, I think I realised he was my dad. And I was very proud of them because of the money was very gentle man. Much quieter. I think I'm a bit more like my mom, than my dad. But it was a man of few words, that when he spoke, it meant a lot. And there's not a day goes by that. I don't think a dad and you know what he achieved in his life and never worked for anybody else. He always worked for himself and built a lovely little business and brought us up in the right way.

Andy Follows: 7:07

Excellent. Good to hear. And can we talk about school as well? And so how was your experience of school? Well, how would the teachers have described you

Kevin Davidson: 7:19

talkative, one step ahead, maybe or thought I was one step ahead. There was a couple of times I remember having my desk out in front of the door of the classroom, because obviously, I was not behaving. I do recall that fortunately, it was only a couple of times. And it didn't, it didn't stop me achieving what I needed to school to lower myself to go to university. But yeah, I mean, I think it was a mixture of fun and and learning. We were always playing football. At school, I seem to remember playing football every day, against the school walls. And it was a fun time I enjoyed, I enjoyed school, I enjoyed learning, learning has always been a core value for me, and cutting through my career. And I think it started really at primary school, all the way through high school and into university.

Andy Follows: 8:15

Okay, so when did you start to decide what direction you want to go into terms of subjects and what you're going to study?

Kevin Davidson: 8:21

I was I was generally very interested in accounting and economics. So that's what I did at Sterling University. Dad wasn't too well. And I applied for a number of universities, but I decided to go to my home university at the time what one reason was, I had a very, very good ba programme, joint honours, economics, Accountancy. And secondly, my dad wasn't, wasn't keeping that well. So I didn't really want to leave home. So I spent the first year living from home, which I think in hindsight, it was good because obviously, of the home situation, but I think I missed out a little bit because you don't really start living in university until you're part of it until you're on campus. So actually, for the for the remaining years, I decided to move out. Even though I was in sterling. I was in my own town, mom and dad used to bring my shopping up to me. So they were all is close by and making sure I was well looked after. Right, but it was it was a fun time. I'm still in touch. No. With many, many friends from university. There's 12 of us go golfing every year. Two of them were over at my house at the weekend watching the Ryder Cup so met a lot of lifelong friends at university.

Andy Follows: 9:48

And when he came to leave university, what were your thoughts on what you wanted to do? How clear were you about what you wanted to do where you might go?

Kevin Davidson: 9:59

Not Know massively clear. The milk round was a big thing then

Andy Follows: 10:05

say a little bit about what that is for our international listeners.

Kevin Davidson: 10:09

So companies came along to universities to almost caught undergraduates. And they wanted to get their pick of the best undergraduates. So they run something. I don't know who gave it the name the milk round

Andy Follows: 10:25

where I don't, I don't know why I got that name. Yeah, I

Kevin Davidson: 10:29

had that name. And I think I applied for five jobs and got three of them and I chose to go to work on the Graduate Programme. Many of them had graduate programmes, very strong graduate programmes, and I chose to go to work at the Bank of Scotland on their graduate programme. And I stayed there for one year, it was a good year, but the bank wanted me to stay in a branch for my second year. And a lot of my friends and colleagues were moving into different departments. And I just felt that that wasn't the right move for me. And I was very fortunate at the time that a company called Lloyds Boardmaker we're recruiting they were an automotive finance company, they in fact, they owned BMW finance 50 I think it was 51% of the share capital they owned at the time, as well as Toyota, finance V. Volkswagen Audi, finance and SAP finance. So I applied for a job about 11 months in with Lloyds bookmaker and managed to get that role as an account Exec. And that was me in the in the automotive sector one year after I graduated, but the time in the bank was, it was a good, good base. It was it was I'd still have done it again after it's on the clock back.

Andy Follows: 11:52

Yeah, so you've found yourself really almost straight out the gate barring that year as a graduate in the bank, almost straight out of the gate in automotive in automotive finance with Lloyds Bo Baker. And we know that you've stayed in the industry. What did you learn in those early days?

Kevin Davidson: 12:07

It Listen, that was a massive learning occurrence. Because as an account executive, you not only did the new business, but you also did the collections. I think these days, a lot of the finance houses, perhaps outsource the collections. So maybe the individuals working for the finance companies don't have the direct experience, but I actually used to do the collections. And I used to do the repossessions as well. So I think some of my friends felt that I had a nice car most weekends, but I wasn't repossessing cars every weekend. I mean, normally, the goal was to make sure that the customers paid. But it was a massive learning process on that side. And then on the new business side, actually, one of my first ever meetings was with John Clark of John Clark group. And he asked me a question that stayed with me my whole career. And I actually reminded of him of this only two weeks ago at the BMW dealer golf society. And so Andrews and I said, you realise you asked me at that very first meeting. So what am I gonna add value to this meeting today? And I say that I learned that you were a tough guy straight out of the gate. But it just showed you is a massively, been a massively successful guy built an amazing business that him and his son Chris, have grown farther. I do recall that meeting. That was my last meeting.

Andy Follows: 13:36

That's amazing, because that would have been some time ago. And to still remember that. Can you remember what you what your response was?

Kevin Davidson: 13:44

I can't really I think I was a bit. I was a bit kind of dumbstruck. I mean, I was obviously in awe of this guy. You know, at the time, you know, God, he's, you know, he's a BMW de la Ruina? Did I see anything? You know, I might be speaking out of Tom. But, but obviously, I wish I could have quipped or create some humour out

Andy Follows: 14:08

there. But the point is the lesson that he you know, what a valuable lesson for him to give you is, you know, begin with the end in mind, what value are you going to add to this meeting,

Kevin Davidson: 14:20

and it was massive, because later in my career with BMW, and we'll talk about this a little bit later. But when I was general manager for after sales development, I had the field team reporting to me. And I used to always say to the guys look, when you go to a dealership, think about the value that you're going to add, because if you just turn up and monitor them, you're just a policeman. What What value does that add? So that comment was clearly ringing in my ears all through my career. I can only thank him for introducing me to the phrase he used at such an early stage in my life. BMW Career-view That does

Andy Follows: 15:01

sound like really good learnings from that meeting that stayed with you. What are the events stand out for you from that time?

Kevin Davidson: 15:10

It was interesting because I didn't know when I joined Lloyds bookmaker that some of the manufacturers were already looking to acquire the share capital. And indeed, that's exactly what happened after two and a half years of being with Lloyds Boardmaker. Even though I was representing all the different brands, I looked after an area and I had T side, the manufacturers bought the share capital, and that meant that the Lloyds bombmaker branches all closed. And the staff basically were moved to various jobs within manufacturers and I didn't want to leave this to chance when I when I heard about it, I was already applying for a job with BMW finance in Bracknell, and I managed to get that role. And that was a role looking after Contract Hire, and effectively doing the training for BMW finance. But it was a big move for me because it was a move from the branch and when I lived in Dundee, obviously down to BMW and Brighton. And I remember that first day stood outside that iconic building in Bracknell, and the Shiva still goes up my back when you're about to go inside for your first day. And you're thinking God, I'm going to be working for BMW here. This is this is quite a thing. And the building was was iconic. Sadly, no, that no longer there, but I've still got photographs of it.

Andy Follows: 16:44

Did you come down on your own? Were you a single man at this point? And how did you find moving south for the first time,

Kevin Davidson: 16:51

the company was great, because there was a few of us at the time that company was a new company, BMW finance didn't really exist in that guys before then. So there was a there was a team of about 20 of us. And there was one or two others in the similar boat to me who had moved to work in Bracknell. And the company were great because they made sure that for the first three months I was in a hotel, I was kind of, they were very careful with how they embedded you into the company. And it was only after about three months, I then moved out the hotel and foam on flat, and things kind of went on from there. But it was a real fascinating time, because BMW was building the company, BMW finance was building the company, as I was building my career with b&w, and because there was only 20 of us, we got involved, I got involved in a massive amount of projects. The big one for me was BMW select, at the time, because very fortunate that there was a few of us they are involved in writing the product. So Paul Harris was an integral to it, and myself. And fortunately, I got the chance to launch BMW select on breakfast with BMW, it was BMWs first ever live broadcast to the dealer network. And tomorrow, but at the time, he was chairing the programme. And I was the finance representative launching the NW select to the dealer network. And I think that was pivotal for me because they got to know my face, I was launching a product that was going to make them a lot of money. And a lot of loyal customers Little did we know at the time how big and successful the product was going to be.

Andy Follows: 18:43

So for those who don't know, select is what we call PCP product. So Personal Contract Purchase in the UK, isn't it or it's like a leasing product for us listeners or in Australia and it's full circle, it's that idea of you're just going to pay for the amount of depreciation and if you want it maintenance, you're not funding the whole vehicle, or paying down the whole vehicle. So it revolutionised how people buy cars in the UK, as it has done elsewhere, or in many countries. So really great learning to be involved in that. And you mentioned that BMW was growing his business in the UK, it was growing, be able to be financial services, and at the same time you were on your career path. Did you have an this isn't a trick question, Kevin at all is just can you remember to what extent did you have sort of long term aspirations about what trajectory you want to be on or what you expected out of your career? Versus just showing up and taking the opportunities that were in front of you and doing your best work and so on? How can you remember how you what your thoughts were, if any at that time,

Kevin Davidson: 19:52

there was a job I wanted and it felt out of reach obviously when I was starting with them to be finite But that was the head of the training centre, they called it the Centre for development is now called the BMW Group Academy. That was my dream job. And I was very fortunate to get that job in the year 2000.

Andy Follows: 20:12

Why was it your dream job?

Kevin Davidson: 20:15

Because I went out for BMW finance, I did a lot of the training with the dealers. So I was training them on Bender V, select on Contract Hire, ran a lot of the training courses. So I got to know, I got to know the dealers. But more importantly, from my perspective, from a career perspective, I got to work with the Centre for development. And I really got to see the value that that department was adding to the network. And I just wanted to be in a position where I was going to be the head, head of the GM for that department one day. And it was an aspiration, I think, probably from when I joined the company back in Fosston, November 91. And eventually, I managed to get that role in the year 2000.

Andy Follows: 21:07

Thank you, I like that as an example of something that you probably wouldn't have known about until you became exposed to it. So it wasn't until you'd had your own opportunity to deliver training to help the dealers and then to be exposed to the academy and to see how the impact that it was having. That's not the sort of thing that when you sat outside, you know, he's sat at university or you're sat at school, you can really conceive of because you don't know these things exist necessarily. And you don't know that, oh, I quite like this, or I really get a buzz out of this. So yeah, great example of that. So congratulations on getting there to the role that you aspired to. Let me take a moment to tell you about our sponsor. This episode is brought to you by ASKE Consulting who are experts in executive search, resourcing solutions and talent management across all sectors of the automotive industry in the UK and Europe. I've known them for almost 20 years and I can think of no more fitting sponsor for CAREER-VIEW MIRROR. They're the business we go to at Aquilae when we're looking for talent for our clients and for projects that we're working on. ASKE was founded by Andrew McMillan, whose own automotive career includes board level positions with car brands and leasing companies. All ASKE consultants have extensive client side experience, which means they bring valuable insight and perspective for both their employer and candidate customers. My earliest experience of working with Andrew was back in 2004, when he helped me hire regional managers from my leasing Sales Team at Alphabet. More recently, when Aquilae was helping a US client to establish a car subscription business, asked consulting was alongside as helping us to develop our people strategy, and to identify and bring onboard suitable talent. Clients we've referred to ASKE have had an equally positive experience. Andrew and the team at ASKE a genuinely interested in the long term outcomes for you and the people they place with you. They even offer the reassurance of a two year performance guarantee, which means they have skin in the game when working with you. If you're keen to secure the most talented and high potential people to accelerate your business and gain competitive advantage, do get in touch with them and let them know I sent you. You can email Andrew the team at hello@askeconsulting.co.uk or check out their website for more details and more client feedback at www.askeconsulting.co.uk Ask is spelt A S K E. You'll find these contact details in the show notes for this episode. Okay, let's get back to our episode.

Kevin Davidson: 23:45

There was one thing that happened that was really significant, which was when I actually moved to work as a project manager in the Centre for development. I got a call one day from my boss at the time John Barna vich who said that Tom Purvis, the CEO and Manfred fenzi, the CFO wanted to talk to me. And the training centre was located in a different BMW building. So I had to go around to the iconic BMW building and up to the top floor for a meeting with the CEO and CFO and I didn't really know what this was about. So I got ushered into the boardroom. And I was quite worried because I didn't know whether I've done something wrong or not. And when I got in there, Tom and Manfred briefed me on their desire to introduce assessment centres into the BMW dealer network for all staff joining the BMW brand. And there was some business reasons for that, that lay behind it, but they wanted me to basically leave that and the had decided with John Brnovich to send me down to Wiltshire to learn from the army? Who were the leaders in creating competency models and assessment centres at the time. So I got sent off to the army is kind of bizarre working for BMW got sent off to the army to learn about assessment centres. But I did that and we came back and we built the assessment centre programmes.

Andy Follows: 25:22

That's fascinating. Were you with other sort of corporate people in a programme with the army? Or was it just you down there talking to some people who said, how did that actually work?

Kevin Davidson: 25:33

It was alive assessment centre, they were running for managers in the army. So I was actually participating in it, they actually had me scoring. So they introduced me to their competency model, told me about the theory tool told me what they were looking for, which was basically behaviour. They were assessing behaviour. So that I immediately knew at that time, I had to come back and build a competency model, not a skills based model that was a behaviour based model. That's, that's what it taught me at the time.

Andy Follows: 26:05

And that was they were looking for civilians, were they for management roles?

Kevin Davidson: 26:09

They were they were at the time. Yeah. I think it was a very successful recruitment tool for them, that they've been using for years. And I think they were renowned. And I think my boss at the time knew that. So we use it to our advantage. And we didn't have the knowledge that they did. So we tapped into that and created the BMW assessment centre programmes. And we launched them for every role, customer facing role. We had sales executives, parts, advisors, service advisors. In the end, we have had a business deal or principal assessment centres running in the end as well.

Andy Follows: 26:46

Right? Interesting. And then when you came to be head of the Centre for development, and you'd reached that goal, if you like, did you then automatically know what you want to do next, or did something come along, and we pulled in a direction after that?

Kevin Davidson: 27:03

So somebody once said to me, I can't even remember who it was. But somebody said, you'll get opportunities and BMW, but you may need to move every three or four years. And I was very fortunate throughout my 32 year career with BMW that I think only had seven or eight jobs. So I was able to do them all for enough time to make a difference in each role. But also, there was some of them that I did for a little bit longer. They were perhaps later in my career, but the opportunities just kind of came along. And they seem to just ironically, almost come along, when I was ready for them, you know, in that kind of third or fourth year when you're in a job, and you're kind of seeking out the new opportunity. And I think I'd already had desires to generalise but you can be a specialist or you can be a generalist, and I had always thought that I taken the generalist route. So getting enough experience of different divisions was something I was, I was interested in doing. I didn't really want to leave the academy in 2003. I reported to a guy at the after sales director at the time called Steve Nash. And Steve gave me about two months in making the decision because he wanted me to move to take over the business function, the after sales development function. And I hadn't walked in after sales operationally at that point. So that was a huge one for me, but I wasn't sure about it, because I loved being head of training head of the Centre for development. That was my dream job. It was the job I always wanted. And I was doing it. And I was loving it. But I moved and I went to become general manager for after sales development and add a field team at a body shop team, the marketing team, and an environmental team. The pricing team was managing a whole business function. And that really took my knowledge to a different level, I think is I was comfortable. I was comfortable at the Centre for development. And I was very uncomfortable within after sales development start with

Andy Follows: 29:14

Yeah, I can imagine that being a stretch then. And you were doing what you love. But clearly you thought no, this is the right thing to do. Would they persuaded you?

Kevin Davidson: 29:24

I took a long time to think about it. But it was absolutely the right thing to do. And it just gave me the skill. I mean, I wouldn't have got the opportunity to become after sales director in Canada if I hadn't taken the after sales. General Manager role so little did I know the move to Canada as after sales director, which came after that roll, it wouldn't have happened. So I think these things happen for a reason. And looking back now you can see why it maybe happened. But it allowed me to build My skills built my after sales, operational knowledge across the complete business function and after sales, as you know, it's such a massive function in terms of what it touches, you know from accessories, lifestyle, trade parts Body Shop, then you've got the whole environmental area, the marketing, the pricing of parts. I mean, it is a, it's a real diverse function. And unless you actually did a role like that, you wouldn't get the opportunity to be the after sales director.

Andy Follows: 30:33

No. So by now you've got financial services background, you've got the people development background, you've got after sales. Did the role in Canada come immediately after the general manager after sales? Or was? Yeah, tell me about that. Then how it was that something you were looking for an international move? And we still on your own at this point, or did you have a partner what's the

Kevin Davidson: 30:57

so I got married in 1998. And we had Emily, my daughter in 2003. December. You know, when you have your appraisal at BMW, they asked you whether you would like to work internationally. So obviously text Yes, without really thinking about it in that much depth. And then I think I got a phone call one day I was told I was about to get a phone call from a gentleman called Lindsey Duffield who was the president and CEO of BMW Group Canada. And it turned out that Hans blesser, the after sales director, he was moving to Spain with the previous CEO of BMW Canada, and recon Kuhn. I'm so it created an opening for an after sales director. And they were asking me whether I was interested. And I think it was off the back of some of the results. I mean, we launched many TLC, then my, my function in after sales development. And it was sold on 100% as a service inclusive package. We call it TLC. It was on every many from 2001. And we had 100% retention. Therefore we needed no marketing budget, because why would you need a marketing budget if 100% of the customers in a new brand new mini bought the product? So I think because of that strategy, BMW UK got renowned and people that Lindsey Duffield in Canada were interested in talking to me because of what we built in the UK. Yeah,

Andy Follows: 32:31

makes a lot of sense. And congratulations on what a great product and great penetration if you take that international box without really thinking much about it. So what was your reaction when some did someone approach you then? Well, they did. They said, can you speak to Lindsay? And how were you feeling about it then?

Kevin Davidson: 32:49

very apprehensive because, you know, it's a huge step. I think, if it hadn't been Canada, I don't know where that I would have gone at that point. Having a kid that was a year and a half. The reason when was the job seemed really exciting. The market the country was such a fantastic country with great people. My mom's brother had lived in Canada for his whole life. They emigrated there. And on my dad's side, my dad's dad, he was a man of the cloth. And he opened a Presbyterian Church in 1898, which I will come back to later on, because there's a story behind me visiting that church. But basically, I had an affinity with Canada. So I think because Emily was only a year and a half and may not have taken that step that I did. We went on a look sea trip at the time. And the the Canadian HR team, the you know, the staff that then would be Canada were was so fantastic. They made it they made it easy for me to move there.

Andy Follows: 33:54

And how long did you spend there?

Kevin Davidson: 33:56

I stayed tuned a bit years, I didn't complete my full contract. My wife sadly, at the time needed to come home through ill health. So she returned after 14 months. So I stayed for the remaining time, myself. So that was a very difficult time for me being on mobile. And I just threw myself into the job as you do when you're when you're when you're there on your own. But it was a it was a it was a tricky time for me. I didn't want to be apart from the family. Now I can understand that. You know, that was the reason I came. I came back at sounds challenging. What were there some highlights though, that

Andy Follows: 34:35

sounds a very challenging time. Were there some highlights from that period, though?

Kevin Davidson: 34:40

Yeah, I mean, interestingly enough, when I when I went the parts warehouse was being outsourced to Schenker. But the unions were involved. So it was a hugely challenging time. But because I was from outside the company, I think I didn't have the emotional attachment that perhaps maybe somebody from within BMW Canada may have had, so I think it may be helped. We also were permitted at the time to keep some of the head counts. So we didn't have body shops. So we created Crash Repair in Canada at the time. We eventually got to number one on JD Power, which was the national survey that was used in Canada, we launched a mobility programme. And we launched the CIC, a customer interaction centre with our friends and BMW Financial Services. When I got there, we didn't, we were uncovering all the time zones. So if you were ringing Toronto from Vancouver, out of hours, you wouldn't have got any support. So we expanded the team to cover all at the time basis, which I think was really important at the time that we upped the service levels to the customers.

Andy Follows: 35:52

I can imagine you having quite a strong draw, though once your wife had come home and Emily had come home that right needs to get the job done, and then get home as soon as possible. Did you manage to get yourself a good position coming back or were you happy just to get back home,

Kevin Davidson: 36:11

I was going to set it out until I found the right role because you don't build a career just to take any role. But I was really fortunate that Tim Harbert was looking for a general manager for us cars and internal sales and remarketing. At the time, it was an area of the business I hadn't hadn't worked in. It wasn't a directors role. So I went from being on the board in a small market to back as one of the senior management team, which had been before when I was in after sales development in the UK. But it was it was leading a really important function. And one thing that I didn't know at the time was that the remarketing a realised pretty quickly, the remarketing returns went from 14,000 units to 42,000. So we needed a use car strategy in place pretty quickly. Otherwise, we'd have seen used car values plummet. And it felt like that job, it was a great job because you were kind of almost like playing poker with the dealers, they couldn't see your hand. The one thing they couldn't find out was how many cars I had coming back. And they would always try and find that out, they'd buy a beer and they'd come and see. And I just realised you couldn't show them your hand you just couldn't because you would almost be saving them from themselves because the absolute principle behind us cars and BMW at that time was ensuring that our residual values stay as high as possible. But the one thing that was impacting them was 1000s 1000s of cars. We just we didn't have the market for it. So we had to create the market. So we created a sourcing programme and we got we went from kind of 20 dealers buying cars from us to every single dealer participated in our BMW remarketing programme at the time. And that helped keep the residual values as high as possible. They were obviously going to come under pressure, given the the increase in volume. But if we hadn't taken the steps to change the programme, I think we could have been in a lot of trouble at the time. So it was a great job to come back to from Canada and really get my teeth on something, you know, that was critical, critically impacting the profitability of BMW UK.

Andy Follows: 38:42

Yeah. And so what came after that? Oh, have we have we had the stories from that period? Or is there anything else you wanted to share about that?

Kevin Davidson: 38:50

Sure. We touched on the fact that my my dad's dad was a man of the cloth and opened Presbyterian Church and at 90 It was actually in Winnipeg, which is one of the places in Canada that has the warmest but coldest temperatures, I think there's about an 80 degree span, from the warmest of the summer to the coldest of the winter. So I avoided these times. But I did go and paid a visit. I did a dealer visit in the morning to Steve Chapman at boxwood. He runs a dealer group, very successful dealer group as well as the ice hockey team, the Winnipeg Jets. And I went to a dealer visit in the morning and I went to the church in the afternoon I had a I had a tour around the church that my grandfather had created in 1898. So I'm gonna apologise to all of the UK Ireland dealers. But that was the best deal of us. I have a dad the accursed, effectively allowed me to tap into my family's heritage past history. But it was Oh,

Andy Follows: 40:00

yeah, yeah, it's wonderful. Were they pleased to see you? Were you welcomed by the congregation.

Kevin Davidson: 40:06

While there was no congregation, the minister was there, but there was a congregation on the day I visited, but my mom was in tears when I told her so she, you know, obviously, as my dad died in 1998, this had happened in 2006. So it was kind of eight years after my dad's passing. And I don't think actually my dad's had ever been in the church because my dad was born in the UK. His older brother was born in Canada when my grandfather obviously opened, open some of the churches. Yeah, my dad never actually went to the church, but I did. So it was quite an interesting experience.

Andy Follows: 40:50

Yeah, lovely story. And so you're back in the UK now in the remarketing used car, General Manager role with 40 plus 1000 cars to remarket. And that necessitated lots of new avenues and new structures and new ways of doing things. But these things always run a term. So what came after that? Well, the one the one thing

Kevin Davidson: 41:17

that I did in that in that use car rule that I think was pivotal was I went and got a dealer to work with me because I realised I didn't have the skill set to actually do it. So there's a guy called Tony Dean, who was who was came from Jardine group and Tony came and joined me at BMW. And it was absolutely fantastic having one of the dealers on the inside with me, because it made that poker game a lot more interesting, and he was brilliant. Holding out the value. Tony taught me at the time that having different types of people in the team was really, really important. And he brought a completely different skill set to the remarketing team at the time.

Andy Follows: 42:03

So a great example, Kevin, of recognising that the teams within the dealerships have different skill set different experience, the manufacturer is very much a wholesaler. The dealers are retailers and entrepreneurs and speaking face to face, they have that direct relationship with the customers and know what's going on. And they're great, as you say, a great example of the value of diversity and the team and bringing someone in who knew that world. Yeah, like it. Yeah.

Kevin Davidson: 42:32

But sorry to answer your question. What came after that was being GM for used cars, internal sales, and remarketing got me quite close to the subject of cost of retail, the profitability of the NSC itself. And it got me quite close to the profitability of dealers from used cars. And after sales. It was kind of a natural progression, that there was an opening for a general manager for dealer development at the time. And I moved across into that role. I did that role for about two years. And then there was a new function created across the world by BMW where the retailer development as they called it, they call it the h function. The the basically put that on the first line. So I became director of BMW UK at the end of 2012. And I think that was phenomenal for me to be a director to achieve that, in my career was a massive tick in the box. I did that job then all the way through to 20 at the end of 2019. So it was the job I did for the longest in my career because I tended to move every three or four years in the other roles. But this rule if you consider I started it in April 2010 all the way through to December 2019. It was the longest period of time that I'd spent in any role

Andy Follows: 44:07

as you say great achievement to get that director level position within BMW UK. I'm thinking though how wonderfully well equipped you for it, you know, to help dealers perform better, essentially to help them be more profitable and more successful businesses and you'd started all the way back with the accounting and economics at university and then through the various profit centres of the dealership. So financial services after sales used cars. You'd got all that plus the training the academy you know, Development Centre experience, you really did have a broad set of skills and experiences that you could bring to help dealers develop, although I'm guessing that it was very much a role about developing others in your team to go out and help the dealers but it will be important that you knew What was going to move the needle for them and you knew how to develop the people in your team so that they could develop the dealers to be able to achieve the results. So, yeah, lovely example of you being really well equipped for that role.

Kevin Davidson: 45:13

I think the other thing that helped was BMW invested in me back in 2000, by paying for me to do an MBA. And I did that part time at university of Saudi, and I'm really grateful to BMW, UK and my manager at the time, Adrian Roderick, for pushing that and allowing me to do that, I'd say my life away at the time, if I left the company, I would pay the money back. But, you know, at the end of the day, I think that also helped grow my knowledge base from a kind of theoretical perspective, which just gives you the the balance. But you're absolutely right, Andy, this is what I've what I've managed to do. I surrounded myself with some really brilliant people throughout my career, and I've been blessed to work with some outstanding people. And some people, some of these people have actually come with me in different roles. And I think that, you know, they they've really added value, they understand me, the way I work, my ethics, my values, I think we understand each other. For me, it's about developing that common purpose, what are we trying to do? Where are we going? And how are we going to get there. And if you don't have that shared vision, you won't get there. And it's about getting the right blend of people in our team together. Not everybody needs to think exactly the same. In fact, you're better if people don't, and we've analysed people's tapes, DISC profile, hpdi MBTI, we've kind of looked at all of these profiles, in terms of building teams, that's something I've tried to do in every role is surround myself with people who share my desires, share my philosophy, in terms of, you know, having a vision for each role, and then breaking up breaking that down into objectives, annual objectives, but always having that kind of medium to longer term version.

Andy Follows: 47:09

And you managed to stay in in that role for, as you say, significant period. And were there other key stories from that period? Kevin?

Kevin Davidson: 47:20

Yeah, there was, I mean, BMW was going through a huge change in these years through, you know, 2010 through to 2019. We saw the birth of modern retailing. So BMW launched the strategy called Modern retailing, we actually had one of my five departments was the modern retailing team and you're gonna anger Hoffer and Franz Verma are the two GMs that came in the UK became known a bit like more pilots than Lufthansa. Because we got to close. Because we were close to Germany, and we had a kind of can do philosophy. They always wanted us to run the pilots in the UK. And we were happy to do it, because it allowed us to shape what it looked like, rather than being presented something that maybe been piloted elsewhere that didn't quite fit fire. If you ran at the get go, you can help shape it. And that was true of the genius programme, which was kind of born in the UK was part of the modern retailing strategy. And the same with online sales. So the genius programme came out now that was kind of 2013, the online sales kind of came 20 2016. But we were heavily involved with Munich in these projects. And the same with the retail Review Board, which was that kind of baby of Dr. Nicholas Peter. And it started in the UK. And that's when Munich and the market used to have a set of KPIs that we looked up for every dealer and the level of detail we went to. And the field team got heavily involved in that and presenting back to Munich on each dealer. And it really meant at the time that every dealer had to have a plan. We had one the plan, Otherwise, they wouldn't be with us because we were really pushing out a retail earthquake slot at that time, for the right reasons, because the market was very competitive. And in some of these years supply was outstripping demand. So it was becoming quite challenging from a profitability perspective. But we did a lot we achieved a lot in that period of time through some of these programmes that we would launch with Munich.

Andy Follows: 49:42

And that took you up until 2019.

Kevin Davidson: 49:45

Yep. So So 2019, there was an opportunity to become Managing Director of my own NSC national sales company, the end of the island. So I came home spoke to my My partner, donna, donna and I got together in 2011. We actually only got married this year in 2023, foster June. So we had a long engagement. But I came home and spoke to Don about going to Ireland. And she agreed it was a, it was a good idea, good chance for me to go and practice everything that I've learned in my whole career in a BMW market of its own. But it was a small team, a really small team. So I really had to use all the people I knew at the end of the UK, it was a kind of a real hub and spoke type relationship. But fortunately, I had a lot of the relationships in place that I could get the support needed to make sure that we could do some of these projects and programmes in Ireland tap into and grow the profitability of BMW Ireland.

Andy Follows: 50:52

How important do you think it is the quality of the network that you would have had after this period of time and spent so when you did go to Ireland, and you had to make that small team work, leveraging what was back home, how important was the quality of your network to you being able to do your job,

Kevin Davidson: 51:10

massive, absolutely massive, I couldn't have done the job in Ireland, without the network that I'd had over many years. At the end of the day, they've all got big jobs in the UK without Ireland, and I was asking them to give some of their time and resources to help me. And I was asking a lot of them. And I spent a lot of time over over in the UK making sure that they were unsaved with what we were doing. And we were unsafe at what they were doing and aligning our objectives. But it was critical, it was absolutely critical. Because we had 12 people in Ireland plus four students 16 people in Ireland couldn't do it on their own. Because there is so many things that you need to tick the box on from governance, to compliance to customer service, to the whole business of production planning, you know, parts, logistics, you name it, we had to kind of do all of these things. And we only had 16 people. So how do you how do you do it yourself? You just can't you need you need the support of the of the other functions, and we got it, we got that support. And that made the business and made doing business in Ireland a lot easier than it would have been otherwise.

Andy Follows: 52:26

Yeah. And thanks for answering what must have seemed like a pretty obvious question. I just want to underline though, you know, if you're in a business, you need a network, you want to be able to get on and make stuff happen in the future in bigger roles, then work on building your network, even if you're planning on staying in the same company, build your network.

Kevin Davidson: 52:45

And it's so and it was so important that network because what has in 2000 So I was over in Ireland in the office, and then suddenly we had to close the office, all the dealers were closed, we went through went through COVID. So that network became even more important in that period, particularly in the period of opening back up. Because BMW UK we're focused on BMW, UK, we're focused on getting the UK up and running. And Munich, you know, at the end of the day, they have to have their big markets, you know, ticking the boxes. So BMW, UK, their focus was on the UK. And there was me sticking my hand up for Ireland in each of the meetings. And I'm sure that our became quite repetitive and sometimes maybe a little bit of a pain. But I had to because otherwise Ireland had no chance. But thank goodness for that network. Because that was the key fact.

Andy Follows: 53:44

Yeah, thank you for sharing that. And you told me a visitor to Ireland having that opportunity because of COVID You've probably had fewer trips to the pub than might otherwise have been expected.

Kevin Davidson: 53:58

Yeah, I had a lovely flat array in Malahide on the on the seafront and had some sensational views. And as you know, Ireland's got, I think 7000 pubs. And I visited three in the first 15 months because I think I've made up for it in the in the two years after that. But But yeah, it was ironic really wasn't it the you go and live in a country like Ireland and the pumps are closed?

Andy Follows: 54:35

Yeah, that is so unfortunate. So then you came back and you had been an MD now you've been an MD in your own market and had all that autonomy for as much as you can get when you're closely controlled by headquarters, but you had relative autonomy. So what was it like coming back?

Kevin Davidson: 54:56

Um, I decided with Chris Brownridge That I would leave the organisation at the end of end of March 2023. I think because I had been away for over three years away from Donna, I hadn't seen much of our family. So Donna and our two children, and my daughter, Emily, I hadn't seen really much of them. I did 75 flights last year in 2022. It was it was a lot. And we'd done what I went to do in Ireland, which was basically make the NSC more profitable, was to ensure that BMW achieved their objectives in Ireland. And I felt that I couldn't take it on further because I'd achieved these things with the team. So I decided to leave the organisation at the end of March. And that was an enormous decision for me, because BMW was my life, it was in my blood, I love the place. I love the people. I love the company, I am just so lucky to have had, you know, an unbelievable career with amazing opportunities. And it's not just Canada and Ireland and the UK, but it's all of the launch events, all of the incentive programmes, I've seen the world with BMW. So it's a massive wrench, deciding to leave. But I always said to myself that I would leave when the results I achieved, were at the maximum and the results at the end of last financial year were exceptional. So I think I felt at that time, it was the right time to make that decision.

Andy Follows: 56:44

Yeah, congratulations, and well done. And how have you found and if you don't mind, this is quite a serious topic. Because 32 years, in be able to be having a an amazing experience. You mentioned the people that people are fabulous, wonderful human beings in that business, internationally. How are you feeling now after you've, you know, six months, seven months down the road from leaving? What's the reality like?

Kevin Davidson: 57:09

Well, that was six months, just the other day, not that I was counting the days or the day, but yeah, I mean, I think the first couple of months, I was just, I was tired. I put everything in everybody that knows me knows how I do the job. I put everything into life. So everything into the job. So I think the first two months were just about relaxing, resting, you know, working on my diet, working on exercise. And then I've been doing a bit of travelling since then. So we got married on the first of June, which was a really important day for us. Congratulations, Don. And I got married. And there was only five of us. There it was Donna, myself and the three kids. And we had a magical day down in Winchester, and then Donna and I went on our honeymoon to Corfu. We also did our walking festival in the aisle away. In fact, we're doing another one next week. So we're going back for a week of walking in the in the Isle of Wight. So yeah, I've just been really focusing on the travel and on spending time with the family. And I've also been thinking a little bit about what I want to do next, you know, do I want to do some work? And what do I want to do? So I've been reflecting in the six month period about that. But I've had, I've had a lot of fun in the last six months and done things that I just wouldn't have been able to do had I still been working full time.

Andy Follows: 58:38

Sounds good. And so where have you got to in your reflections around what you might want to do next.

Kevin Davidson: 58:44

So I decided from 2012 through 2016. I was also the non exec director of BMW, partly then on top of doing my day job, and that was through the wind NW where the car partner of the Olympic Games. So we opened up in first BMW i showed up showroom in the world at that time. And I had to go to the board with our CFO at the time and present the business case for delivery that so that was part of my non Executive Director responsibilities. So I really enjoy being the non exec director of Portland. So I've been doing some training with a company called accurate global. And thanks to them. I know Phil, I'm ready to start applying and looking for the right non exec opportunities and I'm I'm talking one or two opportunities or not, I'm not talking about five or six non exec directorships. I think one would probably serve itself best if it was in automotive. I haven't got anything as we speak because I haven't really been looking. I wanted to get things set up fast, but non exec work would definitely be one of the things that I'm looking at So I set up a company called esprit de corps consultancy. And I think there's some people obviously see this on LinkedIn. And they've asked me some questions about it. But I've written a website with a company called ion us. And that's going to go live soon. I thought that was important, because I didn't want to set myself up without having some backbone behind it. So I think a website was, was important to have that to sit behind me. So that's something that I've been doing in my spare time as well, right?

Andy Follows: 1:00:34

Well, we'll put a link to that in our show notes. And we'll put your LinkedIn in our show notes for this episode, Kevin, and I wish you all the very best with this breed of core consulting and finding some nice non exec director roles in in the future. Is there anything I haven't asked you? Where I've missed an opportunity to hear something that will be valuable from your story?

Kevin Davidson: 1:00:58

Yeah, I think the other thing that I did in BMW was, and I was, again, blessed to be able to do this, I was nominated as one of two pension Trustees for the BMW GB pension fund. And I did it for 13 years, and you have to actually become PMI qualified. So I have a pensions management qualification, as well. And I think the thread through my whole career is about learning. It's about learning something new every day, it's about trying to better yourself. I was very fortunate that BMW allowed me to be a trustee for 13 years, but also helped me build my knowledge of the markets, how to manage the assets and the liabilities of quite a lot of people. Very important to get it right. Because you're talking about people's pensions and people's livelihood. So that was something that I was very lucky to also do on top of my job.

Andy Follows: 1:02:00

So you've come away with a nice little kickback of experience and skills and a toolkit, if you like that will be very valuable for the organisations that you work with going forward. Yeah, excellent. Because you were interested to learn and because you were prepared to do stuff on top of your day job, as well, you know, let that not go unnoticed. Some of these things were in addition to what you were being paid to do, if you like,

Kevin Davidson: 1:02:26

I think in any career, there's always going to be things that you do on top. And BMW encouraged it from the MBA that I've talked about. I mean, the charitable work that BMW did, and I got involved in that. I mean, I think there was one where we, we did the band nervous challenge and made something like 35,000 for cancer research, and it just gives you moments where, but the company needed to be behind it, because otherwise it wouldn't, it wouldn't have happened. So again, BMW has been a phenomenal organisation for allowing me to participate in so many brilliant things there give you a lot of memories as well.

Andy Follows: 1:03:10

It's a wonderful story. Yours, Kevin, of, you know, knowing what you were interested in right at the beginning in terms of the economics and business and getting into the role with Lloyds bowmaker, that little bit outside of your control, but then you were knocking on the doors because you knew you wanted to be impractical. If this was all going to be thrown up in the air. I want to make sure I'm with BMW, and then absolutely giving a lot to BMW over the years and getting a lot back as well. And an example of someone you know, really leaning into an organisation and it being a super mutually beneficial relationship. So wonderful story. Thank you very much for sharing it with me. I really enjoyed getting to know you over this conversation. And I guess we only live a few miles apart. I look forward to staying connected with you going forward.

Kevin Davidson: 1:04:00

Well, thanks for the opportunity. Andy it's it's a really exciting thing to do. And you know, I did a lot of prep for today and you just kind of think God, did I do this did you know

Andy Follows: 1:04:10

it gets you reflecting doesn't it It forces my guests to take some time out and just reflect and a lot of them find it extremely therapeutic, valuable, and helps them get their thoughts ready for the next phase of what they want to do next. So I hope it does the same for you as well.

Kevin Davidson: 1:04:29

Yeah, no, thank you very much. I really appreciate it.

Andy Follows: 1:04:36

You've been listening to CAREER-VIEW MIRROR with me, Andy Follows. Kevin's story is a fabulous example of someone following their interests at university and then enjoying a successful career with one organisation whilst continuously learning and moving into new areas that allowed him to leverage a lot of the experience that he'd built up along the way. I'm pleased to be able to share his experiences and learnings with you. If you'd like to connect with Kevin will put his contact details in the show notes to this episode. If you enjoy listening to my guest stories, please could you do me a favour and share an episode with somebody you lead parents or mentor or perhaps a friend of yours who you think would also enjoy listening? Thank you to Kevin for joining me for our conversation. Thank you to our sponsors for this episode asked consulting and Aquilae and thank you to the CAREER-VIEW MIRROR team without whom we wouldn't be able to share I guess life and career stories. And above all, thank you to you for listening.