INSPIRING ALUMNI
Treading a SUCCESSFUL PATH Alumna Lesley Dalziel talks about her belief in hard work and the value of a University qualification. Words Olga Wojtas | Photography Tim Morozzo
L
esley Dalziel, Group Finance Director at Axle Group Holdings Ltd, in Glasgow, makes a startling admission about her workplace: “They call me Mrs Thatcher.” It is difficult to imagine anyone less like the former Prime Minister. But she continues: “I make the rules, and they’re the rules, and that’s it. The reason we’re successful is because of our strict controls and procedures.” Axle Group of companies incorporates National Tyres and Autocare centres. With 250 outlets across the UK, 1,500 staff and a £200 million turnover, Axle is undoubtedly successful. And that is due in no small part to Lesley, who has worked there since 2004, in charge of
the Group’s finances. She is personally responsible for sixty staff and reports directly to Axle’s owners. Lesley greatly believes in mutual respect in the workplace, and has earned respect throughout the company for her hard work. “My role is very diverse. I deal with company strategy, but at 10 o’clock every working day, I have a meeting with the Cash and Banking Team to check the bank balance. That’s why retailers fail, because they’re not on top of cash flow.” Axle takes in around £500,000 a day, and Lesley remembers the first ‘Million Pound Monday’, now a regular occurrence. Hard work was bred into Lesley. She has lived in Elderslie in Renfrewshire for the past eleven years, but until then lived in Paisley. She was born into a working-
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class family: her father was a Civil Engineer in the local firm Eadie Brothers, and her mother was a School Meals Auxiliary. “When I was born, my dad won the Pools, sufficient to buy the family a bungalow in quite a salubrious area. “My parents had a very hard-working ethic. They struggled, despite where we lived. We were brought up with a work ethic, and respect for people in positions of authority. We totally appreciated the value of things, and you never bought anything until you had enough money to pay for it. When we got our pocket money, half went into savings stamps, and the other half we could spend.” At school, she claims she “didn’t raise her head above the parapet,” but she excelled at French and German, usually