Gneiss Managing Director Jon Fitzpatrick, a three-time graduate of the University of Dundee is a strong advocate of nurturing future talent.
By combining his deep affiliation with Dundee with his entrepreneurial approach to business, Jon take a keen interest in sharing the benefits of his wisdom with students from all disciplines.
Testament to that interest is his involvement with the university's Leadership Plus programme.
The Leadership Plus Mentoring programme helps students to develop the skills that employers are looking for, get recognition for those skills and how to communicate their achievements for the best outcomes.
Jon’s involvement with Leadership Plus started last year when he supported Martha Umeh Ude-Eze through her Masters in Social Work. Martha emerged as the overall winner of the Global plus award in 2020/21 and has since become President of the School of Education and Social Work at the University of Dundee.
For the academic year 2021/22, Jon provided mentorship to Alyx McGregor. Alyx is a third-year medical student at the University of Dundee, having cemented her place there through the university’s Gateway to Medicine programme.
As with Martha before, Jon provided Alyx with regular contact throughout the academic year, providing real challenge and encouragement whilst helping her to develop her communication, academic and interpersonal skills.
Alyx said, “Jon’s mentorship really helped me with my self-confidence, learning and honing new skills and enabling me to find my voice where before I might have stayed quiet. I am now entering the new academic year with more confidence, a renewed drive to get involved with leadership roles and I am excited to experience situations which I once found daunting.”
Whilst Alyx’ medical degree is not directly related to what we do at Gneiss, this is proof positive that a set of well ‘oiled’ leadership skills is transferable across all sectors. We are delighted that Alyx successfully navigated the Leadership Plus programme and we look forward to hearing how her career in medicine progresses.
The Leadership Plus programme was introduced in 2016 to help students develop their leadership skills. The programme is part of the Dundee Plus programme which encourages students to participate in extra-curricular activities through which they can develop transferrable skills. Since it’s introduction, the Leadership Plus programme has gone from strength to strength with almost fifty students participating in 2021/22.
A key part of the Leadership Plus programme is the mentoring element and we are indebted to our mentors, many of whom are University of Dundee alumni, who give up their time to support our current students. Without their help, the programme would not exist.
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