Alumnus Steve Dukes (1992-1997) was back in school this week giving an assembly about what he’s been doing since leaving school. Steve is now the CEO of Confused.com – a digital site that helps save on household bills. He enjoys running and growing a big digital business but at school, he wasn’t interested in learning and preferred the thought of getting out into the real world. He told pupils that he realised to do this he must understand as much as he possibly could and worked on ‘learning fast and acting on it’.
He strived to feature in Forbes, in the ’30 under 30’ list of successful businesspeople and wanted ‘big, glossy roles’. He showed our Exonian values by aspiring to reach a certain level at a certain age. Steve then learnt to stop focusing on what he wasn’t being invited to and to stop worrying about the point in his career he hadn’t yet reached and focused on the positives instead.
He now sees incredible opportunities being realised – speaking on Sky News about his role, to a film director about Confused.com’s next advert and recently attending the Super Bowl.
When you’re at school, being called names like ‘odd, weird and awkward’ can often mean something completely different in adult life. These words become ‘creative, unusual and innovative’. Steve gave pupils great advice to use put downs as motivation and keep them with you in your locker or wallet and use them to fuel your success instead.
Steve’s top advice is to become like a sponge, find what learning method works for you, learn fast and act on it. Get great at asking questions, whether they be ‘stupid, difficult or new’.
We are so thankful that Steve could take the time to come and speak to our pupils on something that can teach everyone how to be a bit more positive.
