We speak to Dan Jones, CEO of Bright Futures, a provider of specialist education and care that we backed in 2017, about his route into care and how his approach has changed during his career.
Q. What made you get into care as a career?
“I have always been driven by wanting to make a positive difference to the lives of people with a learning disability, autism and mental health issues. With this in mind I studied psychology at university with my aim at the time being to apply this knowledge to making a difference on a “one-toone” basis with people. I realised during my studies that I could make a bigger difference to more people’s lives by working in a care organisation which prompted the move into care.”
Q. Has there been any part of your career that might surprise people?
“I think the most surprising aspect of my career is that doing a psychology degree and starting a career in social care is not the most conventional route to becoming a CEO in a private equity backed business. I’ve spent a lot of time during my career learning what makes a successful business and have deliberately sought out roles in both management and leadership roles in small, medium and national care businesses to have that breadth of understanding.”
Q. How has the way you approach work changed during your career?
“As my career has progressed from management to leadership, changing approach has been crucial for success. An important aspect to this is finding ways to build resilience, as this is essential to sustain the energy needed to maintain motivation, commitment and effort.”
If you’re a business owner in the social care space, please contact investments@livingbridge.com to find out more about how we help growing businesses.
