ALUMNI PROFILE: TOM SCOTT
Tom Scott was the guest speaker at Richmond School’s final Aiming High Assembly at the end of last academic year. We choose our speakers carefully to provide interesting and inspirational stories for our current students to think about and hopefully apply some of what they hear to their own lives at school and beyond.
When we recently had a chance to catch up with Tom to discover some details about what he’s doing now and his fascinating and somewhat atypical journey to that point, he started by saying:
“When I was at Richmond, I was probably one of the more ‘challenging’ students.” A bit later he says: “I didn’t like discipline as such. I wasn’t very good with that.”
Much later on in the conversation, he says:
“Our main clients were BP and Toyota – people like this. What that has given me is the ability to talk to CEOs of big companies – it’s a different way of communicating and doing business.”
From these quotes, I’m sure you’ll agree, it’s clear that Tom has been on quite a journey! Read on to find out more.
We started by asking Tom about his time at school – how he did academically, any particular people he remembered, what he feels he took away from these times…
“I joined at the end of Year 7, in May 2007 and went to Lower School. My dad was in the Army and so was my stepdad, so that’s why we moved to Richmond. Years 7, 8 and 9 – I did OK.
In Years 10 and 11 I just remember I had the potential to get As. But to be honest I had so much going on in my life at the time, I didn’t revise and study probably as much as I should. But I got solid grades – C’s average.
I actually had a bit of a traumatic childhood – my parents had split up and there were other things going on. I didn’t like discipline as such. I wasn’t very good with that.
And then in Years 10 and 11 – Miss Macey. I always credit her, actually, even in client presentations I make these days. She was instrumental in keeping me sane – she basically had to sit with me some days to make sure I was on track. She’s wonderful – an absolute credit to the school. And she’s still doing great work! I went back last November to see her and I could recognise myself in the students she was working with. I feel like they’ve probably got, you know, broken homes or parents that are maybe not together and they don’t have that discipline at home. She’s almost like a second mom. She was to me. Really.
Looking back, I have a lot of gratitude for school, actually, in terms of teachers who really supported me through difficult times. And I think when you’re a student, you sometimes don’t really get that. But when you look back, you realise the importance of what school can teach you away from just the topics – about life.”
We moved on and asked Tom what happened after he left school…
“My stepdad got a posting to Colchester, Essex and we moved away from Richmond. I joined a college and I really struggled for two years. It was hard going from Richmond, a lovely market town where everyone knows everyone, to a city college. I had failed my medical for the Army (looking back now, a blessing!) so I really didn’t want to be at college. I was just not interested.
And then when I was 18, I did a personal training qualification and ended up working on one of the largest cruise ships in the world as only one of two personal trainers! I visited 64 countries in two years, working as a personal trainer and selling gym equipment to clients in a high pressure, cutthroat sales environment. I was 18!
That gave me the appetite for travelling and exploring different cultures. I think that’s helped me a lot when I turned my attention to the business world, to really understand different cultures and people and how to engage with them.”
So, two years on a cruise ship, travelling the world and learning the art of sales – what next?
“At that point in my life I didn’t know what to do next – not many people really know what they want to do at 19! So from the age of 19 to 22, I was always in a bit of limbo. I’d move from job to job, but I eventually ended up in Australia. I didn’t go to Sydney or Melbourne, I went to a very small town in South Australia called Port Lincoln, the fishing capital of Australia. I ended up working as a tuna and prawn fisherman. I remember thinking to myself one day, “What am I doing here? This is crazy!” That time was wild – not many 19 year olds in the UK really get that experience and see what proper Australia is like. It was a horrible environment to work in but again, it was just building the experience and resilience for what was to come.
I returned to London and basically needed a job. So I got into sales and recruitment. I did okay and worked for a few firms, but always moved on. Eventually I stuck with one for about two years and did well, getting the opportunity to move to New York.
I was making very good money for my age and I thought, well, the next place to do it even bigger is New York City. It’ll be great. Make lots of money, lots of happiness. And it was just a nightmare. It was just super isolated and lonely. It was horrible, actually.”
Ok – how did you deal with that?
“Travelling again. To ‘find myself’! I went to places like Bali and back to Australia.
Then, back to London, where I met my business partner. She wasn’t enjoying her job. We said to ourselves we’ve got two options. We can keep doing what we’re doing, or let’s reimagine what these companies do and do it ourselves. And so we did. In August 2019, we started a company called ‘Fearless’. Our main clients were BP and Toyota – people like this. What that has given me is the ability to talk to CEOs of big companies – it’s a different way of communicating and doing business. I exited that business in February this year and we ended up making just under eight figures in revenue with four permanent employees and three offices globally. I felt like all the experiences, all the resilience I had gained to that point really helped build that business.”
Bringing things up to date, we asked Tom what had happened since he left his first business in February…
“I’ve started my second business – ‘Verified’. An executive search recruitment firm placing very senior people into roles, dealing with people with very tight schedules. You often only have 10 minutes for your thing, and you’ve got to be on point, rigorous. If you haven’t done your research, they’ll call you out and you won’t get the business. My experience has taught me to be very disciplined in my approach to work!
I’m in a fortunate position where I don’t really need to work money wise, so I’m just taking it steady and building foundations – hiring the right people and… we go again!
I also now have the opportunity to do other things away from the business. I work with young men to help them with their mission, their purpose, their lives. Suicide is the highest cause of death in the UK for men under 35 and I believe that certain connected problems start from childhood – how people view friends, family, the opposite sex, for example. We help them face their emotions – not therapy, but therapeutic.”
We asked Tom two more questions, firstly about what the future holds…
“So, I’ve just turned 28. When I used to talk to groups of people, I was always the youngest. Now I’m starting to not be the youngest!
Anyway. Development of ‘Verified’ in the next 3 to 5 years to become more of an umbrella business with other businesses underneath. The mission will be to drive people to change and look at their purpose through different angles like careers coaching and men’s work.
Also more community based work. A big part of what I want to do with ‘Verified’ is to donate a proportion of profits to causes that I care about. I have this thing about conscious capitalism, where if you just make money for money’s sake, you feel disconnected from it. I’m working with a company at the moment called Design for Good, where we take designers and help connect them with local charities in places like Africa and India and help with water and sanitation projects.
I also have a significant interest around education in the UK and what I think is the chronic underfunding of schools.”
At this point we commented that there are a number of people here who would agree!
“School is like a second home for many. I think young people need to have that sort of stability and that place to go to feel safe. If they’re under funded, schools can’t do the things that they actually need to help.”
… and finally we asked Tom what advice he would give to current students at Richmond School, given where he started compared to where he is now. His first answer was to refer back to his Aiming High Assembly where he summarised his advice in these six points:
- School is the best time of your life.
- Teachers are there to guide you.
- School is your life foundation.
- School teaches you core values.
- You have SO much time.
- Your values guide your life in the workplace.
Tom also added these points:
When current Year 7 students come into the workplace it’ll be a radically different place to what it is now. Advanced technologies, AI, etc. Try to be prepared!
Like what you want to and not what you think you should. If you don’t know, that’s absolutely fine. A lot of people don’t know.”
So, quite a journey! Thank you very much to Tom for taking the time to answer our questions and provide a fascinating insight into his current situation and the complex route he took to get there.