Each week we shine the spotlight on a member of Dorset’s business community and ask him, or her, for answers to our part fun/part serious questionnaire. This time…

He’d like to share a car with Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, and Suzanne Vega, chooses David Bellamy as his childhood hero because “I like a beard you can hide badgers in” and, if he was PM, he’d shift the focus to SMEs because they’re the engine of recovery.

Lex McKee, The Cheerful Leader, Bringing Joy to Work, takes the 20 Questions’ hotseat. 

To hear a podcast version of 20 Questions, with Lex interviewed by Heidi Skirrow, Managing Director, Absolute Works Dorset, click here.

Question: What is your favourite TV show?

Answer: Star Trek Discovery – it’s like Star Trek grown up a bit more. Gritty, rebellious. There are some really feisty characters.

Q: Who would you like to share a car with?

A: Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, and Suzanne Vega. All great storytellers in song.

Q: The best bit of my job is…?

A: Seeing people’s eyes light up when I open doorways to a MUCH BIGGER vision of what is potential for them and through them.

Q: And the worst…?

A: Paperwork – can’t stand shutting the door after the horse has bolted. I need accounts in real-time, not as a history lesson.

Q: Who was your childhood hero?

A: Easy! David Bellamy (Sir David Attenborough was too posh and tidy).  I like a beard you can hide badgers in.

Q: What’s your favourite smell?

A: Having associated with ScentAir for long enough, I now know the anti-Covid scent to true cleanliness – citrus (lime for me) with hints of ocean – which means a tiny amount of eucalyptus, lavender, and rosemary.  Frankly, though, ANYTHING from The Botanical Candle Company in Shaftesbury.

Q: Where’s your favourite place in Dorset?

A: Bridport – Colmer’s Hill – it has the ancient magic of a Alan Garner novel from my childhood.

Q: What advice would you give to anyone starting out on a career?

A: Find your Ikigai – the intersection of what you love, what the world sustainably needs, what people will pay for, and what you are really good at.

Q: What was your first record/CD?

A: 10cc: ‘Rubber Bullets’.

Q: What gets you angry?

A: People who act as if no one else matters or that they aren’t part of one ecosystem; needless waste of time or other resources.

Q: Do you have a favourite piece of music?

A: Master of Illusion by Gotthard. Grit and a great parable for those who haven’t reconciled themselves with what Carl Jung called, ‘The Shadow’.

Q: What are the qualities you look for in a new employee?

A: Humility and a hunger to learn. Skills can be taught, attitude has to be caught from a master of enthusiasm (I wonder where I’ll find one of those?).

Q: What’s your favourite food or dish?

A: Indian. Grandfather was born in India, and I think it’s now in the male DNA.

Q: Steamed sponge pudding and custard or a plate of melon?

A: Steamed sponge pudding and custard, of course!

Q: Name the best thing about living/working in Dorset?

A: People who make eye contact, and who, when you say, “Hi!” to them, they reply.

Q: If you were Prime Minister for the day what would be the first thing you do?

A: Shift the focus to SMEs – they are the engine of recovery.

Q: What’s your biggest frustration?

A: SME owners and team members who take far too long to response. Speed is a force for business.

Q:  Where’s your favourite holiday location?

A: St Nectan’s Falls, near Tintagel in Cornwall. A house called ‘Pengwyn’.

Q: Where do you see yourself in ten years’ time?

A: Dr Lex – PhD in Applied Neuroscience with 40 small, easy-read, and easier to apply pithy business books that provoke an evolution in British productivity and the role we demand on the world stage.

Q: What would you like to be remembered for?

A: The Man Who Changed… and who became ‘The Cheerful Leader’.