"Every economy relies on entrepreneurs because they have the ability and initiative to foresee needs and bring innovative products to market."
David Reid Tweet
Meet David Reid, Sales Director at VEM Group, one of the fastest-growing mold manufacturers in the world. They currently operate in over 5 countries with an aim to grow across borders. They have served multiple businesses including giants from Automobile, Steel, and other production houses.
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Thank you so much for giving us your time! Before we begin, could you introduce yourself to our readers and take us through what exactly your company does and what your vision is for its future?
David Reid: VEM tools, a German-based company, has been functioning tremendously well in plastic injection molding and tooling for more than 30 years and remains one of the market’s prominent industries. We have initiated the company in 5 different nations within 15 years of launching. Until now, we have successfully designed and tested more than 8000 plastic molds. The manufacturing process is coupled with 35 injection machines that have the potential to run massive productions. VEM tools assure the production of high-quality, customizable plastic injection molding on a very affordable budget.
NO child ever says I want to be a CEO/entrepreneur when I grow up. What did you want to be and how did you get where you are today?
David Reid: Yes, I’m on board with this. Nobody can predict the future with any certainty. To be a artist was always my dream when I was growing up. For me, painting was everything. I love to play with my colors on canvas. Eventually, I recognized that it no longer held my interest. Neither did I seek the position of CEO. As I worked hard to rise through the ranks, I ended up as sales director VEM.
Tell us something about yourself that others in your organization might be surprised to know.
David Reid: Although this is quite a tricky question as it wants me to reveal myself yes there are some facts that I think people will be surprised to know. Despite remaining quite focused on work & always behaving professionally to everyone at the workplace, I do have a fun-loving kind of nature on the other side of my personality. I used to utilize my leave on enjoying nature with friends & families quite often.
Many readers may wonder how to become an entrepreneur but what is an entrepreneur? How would you define it?
David Reid: For me, Creating a new firm and taking up the majority of the risk is the definition of an entrepreneur. Every economy relies on entrepreneurs because they have the ability and initiative to foresee needs and bring innovative products to market.
What is the importance of having a supportive and inclusive culture?
David Reid: We have a supportive & inclusive culture at our workplace where everyone from top to bottom of our organization has their moral responsibility to support the team till they can.
All employees are valued, appreciated, and welcomed in our inclusive workplace culture, regardless of their backgrounds, different qualities, or any other criteria. Thus our employees feel valued for their unique perspectives and abilities. This encourages all staff to adhere to the same standards.
How can a leader be disruptive in the post covid world?
David Reid: A leader can be disruptive by adopting certain characters. In the post-pandemic workplace, “leaders lead and doers do” is obsolete. Leadership link is a must. To innovate and sell, leaders must work with teams. This involvement is required so that you, as a leader, can accelerate and shape the transformation journey. Further they need to prioritize communication, remain purposeful, adopt innovation & positive changes.
If a 5-year-old asked you to describe your job, what would you tell them?
David Reid: I would like to tell him I used to help in producing material which is being used in their toys.
Share with us one of the most difficult decisions you had to make for your company that benefited your employees or customers. What made this decision so difficult and what were the positive impacts?
David Reid: During the pandemic we have very limited or no access to our workplace & since we are a manufacturing unit so our work needs physical intervention to a great extent. Our employees have to sit at their home but we decided to keep them intact & pay their wages in full. This decision was quite difficult as our source of income was seized up & we were all on our own. But we always kept our employees consoling that things will change back. It created a bond of trust & now it started paying us back when things are getting back on track. I had heard of many cases where our employees have options to switch jobs but they didn’t. This is helping us to cruise through the present labor shortage situation.
Leaders are usually asked about their most useful qualities but let’s change things up a bit. What is your most useless talent?
David Reid: I don’t think I do have such talents as every skill or talent gets used somewhere in life.
Thank you so much for your time but before we finish things off, we do have one more question. If you wrote a book about your life until today, what would the title be?
David Reid: It will be “ Life lessons”.
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank David Reid for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
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