Every month Katy Gordon speaksto Courier Country business people to learn what makes them tick. This month she met Liz Jackson, Managing Director at Fairways.

Liz Jackson is a person who knows what she wants and what she doesn’t and it’s done her well in business as well as life. I’ve done work for Liz for a while now but this is the first time we’ve been able to sit down and have a proper chat and it gave me a real insight to what makes her tick and how it affects her work at Fairways.

“I do rely on my gut,” she told me when I asked about her decision making, “because sometimes you can be too analytical and never make a decision.

“When I worked in the manufacturing sector in Forfar, I was mentored and developed by the two owners who taught me about business and I took a bit of each of them with me when I got my own business.

“One was very astute and made decisions without deliberating too long; he just knew what the business needed. He also had great presence and was someone you wanted to work with.”

“The other took more time to make decisions but he was very detailed and analytical. Both had a huge impact on me and made me who I am today.”

Since she took over Fairways seven years ago, Liz has grown the business and her team with both eyes looking forward.

“I’ll never accept the status quo – what worked well last week may not be good enough this week and we do have to keep looking at how we can innovate and how we can best service the needs of our clients.

“Sometimes that, coupled with my decision making, means I may move at too fast a pace – gained from my manufacturing days – but more often than not the decision made is the right one.”