The Hughes Leadership Scholarship is a joint initiative between founders of the modern Aotea, Murray and Jen Hughes, and the Aotea Group of Companies, with the aim of identifying and growing our next generation of leaders for the Group’s future. The Scholarship is in its third year, with scholarship recipients benefiting from investment of time, energy, wisdom and customised training and mentoring throughout their yearlong training and development programme.
The scholarship runs over a full one year period, starting with personal psychometric 360 testing with resulting training tailored to enhance the individual’s existing leadership skills and is specific to their needs, balancing individual strengths and weaknesses. A 5-day Professional Leadership Outward Bound programme sets the foundation for personal discovery, reflection and growth which is then built on throughout the year with one on one mentoring from successful Aotea leaders across the country and with Murray personally. Subject matter experts provide direct training and support across the full suite of services and specialisations so that every leader understands every aspect of the Group’s business activities. Attendance at the managers’ conference, and Aotea Group Board meeting, and ultimately the Aotea Group AGM in May, are all part of the total package.
Aotea Security is pleased to announce that our Auckland Regional Manager James Mckim will be this year’s Scholarship recipient.
James is 39 Years old and has been in the security industry since completing school at 17 years old giving him 22 years continuous industry experience. James is a trusted and capable leader within our organisation who excels within the team environment and who thrives on exceeding targets, which will continue with the right challenges and support and mentoring. James has quickly become a key person within Aotea Security and is a core part of our future and now as a shareholder within our business, James has a genuinely vested interest in the company’s success and future which will no doubt motivate him even further as he grows himself and our business in parallel.
2018 Hughes Leadership Scholarship recipient Ben Richardson has stated his highlight as: “The praise is obviously lovely, meeting people I don’t know and them congratulating me at the AGM was an amazing feeling. For me the highlight was the board of directors meeting in Auckland and the dinner that followed it, It was at that point I realised that these guys came from similar beginnings to myself, and given an opportunity they have done great things and represent a combined 26 companies and growing. It gave me greater clarity of where I can take myself as a leader.”
What advice would you give to James who is this year's recipient? “Embrace every moment, ask every question, none of them are stupid and most of all at the dinners or beers or lunch that you spend with someone from within the group leadership might be the moment you learn the most and maybe not about business but about that person or yourself.”
