Most of us at some point in our careers will think of throwing in the towel and moving on to pastures new - and for three old school friends from Neath, the new pastures of the Brecon Beacons were one of their most successful business moves.
Mark Soanes, Kevin Gould and Geraint Lewis were all in high-level management positions in London when they decided to launch Call of the Wild – an innovative management and leadership training company, which uses the spectacular backdrop of the Brecon Beacons as a learning tool.
Now the business is one of the UK’s leading outdoor management training facilities and boasts a portfolio of regular big brand name clients including BT, Vodafone, Orange, Innogy, South West Trains and Barclays Bank.
Mark Soanes, director at Call of the Wild, left his job as an associate partner at Knight Frank in London to co-found the company. He said:
“We initially noticed a gap in the management training market about ten years ago. Management and leadership training had been reduced to hours of lecturing in classrooms, with very little practical work involved and, as a result, people were shying away from it.
“The three of us had always been keen on outdoor activities and, after years of experience in management, we recognised that outdoor tasks could be used as an effective development tool for management training courses.
“Kevin had spent ten years in pharmaceutical sales and Geraint was European commercial manager at a large electronics company, but none of us felt we had really found our niche yet.
“The idea of providing bespoke management and leadership training outdoors was one that struck a chord with the three of us. It was a huge risk for us to take as we all had well-paying jobs and settled families, but the move has really paid off.”
Call of the Wild courses can last between two and five days and are developed in consultation with the client to meet the organisational needs and to create measurable outcomes in the work place.
It also offers a personalised feedback programme for all businesses and offers an ‘all-inclusive’ package including accommodation, catering and transport to corporate groups.
“Our philosophy is based in experimental learning, not lecturing, which gives the training a ‘real world’ focus and provides a refreshing alternative to the more traditional management and staff training programmes,” Kevin added.
“The business has been more successful than we had ever imagined and as well as handling over 200 courses and events each year now, we also have the added bonus of being able to call the Brecon Beacons our office.”
Call of the Wild is based in the Brecon Beacons National Park. For further information, call 01639 700 388 or visit www.corporate-training-events.co.uk
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