{"id":10461,"date":"2020-02-04T14:24:10","date_gmt":"2020-02-04T14:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.s1jobs.com\/blog\/?p=10461"},"modified":"2022-03-24T10:30:16","modified_gmt":"2022-03-24T10:30:16","slug":"meet-executive-donald-simpson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.s1jobs.com\/blog\/meet-executive-donald-simpson\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Executive: Donald Simpson"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MeetDonald Simpson is proof positive there\u2019s more than one way to get to the very top of your profession.<\/p>\n

He may have founded and become head of a successful property management company but rather than taking the traditional route \u2013 via a career in property surveying \u2013 he started his working life as a software developer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s certainly not the usual way to get into this sector,\u201d he admits. \u201cI was working with a property owner and wrote the software for an online investment management and reporting system. This gave me the inspiration to leave and start Cowiesburn<\/a> commercial property managers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat became the basis for our financial system here \u2013 one that gives our clients and their advisers complete control over their investments and also access to all lease information.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even at a senior executive level, property management can be a challenging role, with both the owners and clients needing to be pleased on several fronts.<\/p>\n

Donald says: \u201cInvestment and finance is a very important element \u2013 there\u2019s the rent to be collected from tenants and service charges in buildings that have several tenants.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen there\u2019s the on-the-ground management, making sure the building\u2019s kept safe and clean, and that means placing regular contracts for cleaners to be there when they should be.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe third element is handling larger contracts, for example in a big commercial building. We have to make sure these contracts are competitive and monitored.\u201d<\/p>\n

Donald doesn\u2019t think he\u2019s been hindered by his unconventional path into the property sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s probably given us an advantage,\u201d he says. \u201cSoftware development is about looking at new ways of doing things, whereas a lot of practices in the property industry are there because things are still done in the way they\u2019ve always been done.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a software developer you\u2019re building something from scratch, and you can go down the wrong avenue \u2013 but it\u2019s all about identifying this and fixing it and that\u2019s what I\u2019ve done at Cowiesburn.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact we\u2019re doing things differently from others in the industry is quite attractive to a lot of people and we\u2019ve grown as a company because clients realise that we\u2019re doing things differently in a good way.\u201d<\/p>\n

When it comes to overseeing a growing company, there\u2019s always a balance to find between being hands-on and delegating responsibility. Donald admits that, while he tends to be the former, he\u2019s become a lot better at letting go.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re too big for the main guy to be running everything now and I have a strong team of directors in our offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Manchester. This allows me to concentrate on running the business and formulating our future strategy. I also have a non-executive director to help with this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Being able to identify the right talent and trust your people is also key to success and Donald says, \u201cCowiesburn has gone down the route of looking for people whose attitude will complement the company rather than those with specific qualifications. I tend toward people who will fit in well with the team and the culture of job \u2013 that\u2019s 80% of the skill set itself,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

If you, too, would like to find the best people to complement and boost your team, you can find out more about the power of quality recruitment for your company with s1jobs.<\/a><\/p>\n

You can also discover a wide range of Executive & Management<\/a> career opportunities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Donald Simpson is proof positive there\u2019s more than one way to get to the very top of your profession. He may have founded and become head of a successful property management company but rather than taking the traditional route \u2013 via a career in property surveying \u2013 he started his working life as a software […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":10462,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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