Gordon Coutts Thomson is a man who knows his beans. With his business partner Vincent Gonelli, he set up the California Coffee Company, which sells quality coffee from former police boxes in Edinburgh. Fondly known as tardises, after Dr Who’s time machine, there are eight in the city. The company is about to expand to Glasgow and Aberdeen, and after that hopes to spread to London and other English cities.
Mr Thomson, who will give a seminar at today’s TES ScotlandEdinburgh Conference on inspiring leadership, has also walked through fire. Well, at least across hot coals. On one of the many leadershipmanagement courses he has undertaken, both here and in the United States, he walked over burning coals for 40 yards.
“The first time I did it I kept repeating ‘Cool moss, cool moss’ and managed the 40 yards without burning my feet. It was meant as a lesson in what we are capable of,” he says.
He believes in positive thought. “If you want to be a leader you have to develop techniques to counter negative thoughts. You have to reprogramme but without losing your essential self.
“Some people react to the idea with horror. But the truth is we are all programmed anyway, by parents, by television, by education. It’s simply a matter of emphasising and developing the positive.
“Very few people are born leaders. It’s about developing the skills and the vision.”
Whatever your vision is, he says, you not only have to believe in it but you also have to inspire others to buy into it.
“A big idea has different facets. You have to get other people to understand the facets to pass the idea on.
“And you have to handle fear in a different way. The leadership mindset doesn’t have fear. It prefers adventure to security. The subconscious is filled with the desire to succeed at bringing the vision to reality.
“In education, a headteacher should write down 20 or 30 reasons why his vision is important and why it should happen. Explore the vision from the point of view of the staff, the pupils, the parents and community, from society as a whole. Develop, share and put into practice your vision.
“Share it,” he says.
Mr Thomson, a former lawyer, was inspired to become a capitalist by a history teacher at Elgin Academy who was a communist.
“He helped me to think for myself.
“Capitalism is not about class, just as leadership and success in business is not primarily about money. Success should be open to anyone,” he says.
“I believe the American dream is possible. Although I don’t like everything about the USA, I believe social mobility and success is easier there because there are fewer constrictions. It’s a healthy society which sees people from all walks of life achieving at the highest levels.”
Successful leadership in education, as in business, is about sticking with an idea, working it through and seeing others benefit from it too, he says. It is also about self-belief.
After his first fire-walk, Mr Thomson thought his second would be a dawdle. “I didn’t have the right mindset,” he says. “I thought ‘I can do this’. I switched off. As a result, I burnt my feet.”
