Meet the team: Dylan Rees

Dylan Rees, Principal Consultant at the Change Partners, shares some interesting insights on his career and the industries he serves.

Early Influences: Could you share some insights into your upbringing and the kind of family environment you were raised in? How do you believe these early experiences have contributed to your current professional journey?

Fortunately, I was born into a close-knit and loving family, who have always pushed me to better at what I do everyday and also ‘treat people how you would like to be treated’ with strong family values. As a result of this, I believe that this has driven me throughout my career to learn from my mistakes and grow personally; Pushing how I can better enable others throughout my day-to-day life and being respectful, has helped shape my professional journey in supporting others reach their goals.

Shaping Experiences: In what ways have the lessons and values you learned during your formative years shaped your approach to your work and the decisions you make in your career today?

Understanding people, their motivations, goals and values has taught me that these are the key drivers in everyone’s lives. Being able to connect with like-minded people is a passion, their energy flows and ideas lead to success which in my opinion, is a key role for a headhunter.

Guiding Lights: Were there any individuals who played a significant role in guiding you during your early career stages? Could you tell us about your early mentors and how their advice has impacted your professional growth?

Seeking advice from seniors within a business has enabled me to make well-rounded decisions and ensure that I view situations from a wide lens to make sure the best outcome for everyone is achieved. I look at everyone around me within the business as a mentor and an opportunity to learn from. I find taking the best traits from people and applying them to my life has helped me grow, both professionally and personally.

Influential Reading: Can you share some titles that have a place on your bookshelf? How have these books influenced your perspective and the way you approach challenges in your professional life?

Can’t hurt me (David Goggins), 5 Second rule (Mel Robbins), How to win friends and influence people (Dale Carnegie) are a couple of books that have helped my approach to challenges in professional life. These books are great because they have helped shape my understanding of how people think, how to maintain positive habits to drive success and how to remain resilient in tough times. All of these traits are applicable to all and understanding the key drivers enables me to better my work and others around me.

Path to Change Partners: Could you share the story of how you became a part of the team at Change Partners? What drew you to this particular role and organisation?

The Change Partners are a close-knit team that uphold strong values on being knowledgeable within your space, building relationships, doing a good job, being supportive and enabling people to have stronger careers. For me these are of the key reasons I joined, this mirrors my family in terms of strong values and doing what you say you are going to do, but most importantly valuing people and relationships.

Defining Success: At what juncture in your career do you envision feeling that you’ve truly achieved success? What benchmarks or achievements would signify that moment for you?

I often take the period over Christmas to reflect and to start the new year with my set goals. I set myself milestones daily, monthly and yearly. For me, being able to look back at the end of each year and hit each of my goals and looking back and being able to say I gave 110% at every stage of my life is what I strive to achieve.

Invaluable Advice: What’s the most impactful piece of advice you’ve ever received from someone? Did you follow that advice, and how did it shape your decisions moving forward?

“Don’t care what other people think” – Hearing this was key, ultimately people will judge or think you should follow the ‘norm’. For me I believe it is key to think outside the box to provide solutions and as long as what I do helps everyone involved, that is the goal.

Digital Transformation: In your perspective, which sectors do you believe are undergoing the fastest and most impactful digitisation? How do you see these changes shaping the future of those industries?

Data/Insights, CRM/Loyalty and Online Transformation are the fastest-growing areas. With data becoming more key as we continue to build online connections, being able to utilise this information in the most effective way, enables the best businesses to continue to succeed.

Companies that get CRM and loyalty right, being able to ensure their customers are best looked after within their business enables strong future growth, with online becoming further regulated and expensive to buy third party data, it is key that companies get the most from their own data. Behind all of this, the Digital ecosystem is ever-evolving, and having strong transformation teams enables the latest tools and technology to be implemented and helps brands to connect with customers in the best way possible as the data landscape grows.

Thriving in Industry: What excites you the most about the industries you’re involved in and the changes they’re undergoing? What innovations or developments hold the greatest potential for growth and progress?

One innovative brand we are working with that stands out is a startup with high growth. They’re taking a unique approach to a concentrated market, ensuring products are of strong quality, with great features and sustainably made and delivered. This upholds strong values for the current consumer and helps tackle the typical large giants that own the market share. Being a smaller company means that costs are lower and they can shape their teams in a unique way that delivers success at a lower cost to ensure the consumer is getting a good product and a good price. They are also a data-first business, using the latest tech and tools which enables them to drive further success. Also targeting the Gen-z market, which helps future-proof the brand.

Navigating the Unknown: Looking ahead, what aspects of the future concern you the most? Are there any specific challenges or uncertainties that you find worrisome within the industries you operate?

AI is becoming a fantastic tool for most businesses, across pretty much most areas within their business, whether that is content, customer service or anything else. This tool is great, however, it does lessen the need for manual, people-performed tasks and therefore it is key for people in more ‘manual’ roles to upskill so that when automation grows further, they are set up and future-proofing their careers.