Doug Richardson

Profile

Prior to setting up Dando-Richardson with Mark in 2000 (morphing into Coloured Square in 2008), Doug had 20 years of UK & international experience in sales & general management. Started sales career with Procter & Gamble, before moving to Beecham Products Overseas, spending nearly 3 years based in the Caribbean, before returning to the UK and working as Area Manager for Europe. From there, he held a number of UK based positions in Field Sales and National Account Management, moving through to Sales Director & General Management.

Employment History (most recent first):

Ideal Toys (UK): UK Country Manager for 2 years.

Mattel Toys: 2 years as Sales Director for Mattel Toys and 1 year as Sales Director of Corgi

Caradon-Mira: 1 year as General Sales Manager.

Kenner Parker Tonka: 5 years as National Account Manager, Field Sales Manager, Sales Development Manager & National Account Controller.

Beecham Products Overseas: 3 years based in the Caribbean as Sales Trainer and Area Supervisor roles, then moved back to become Area Manager for Europe.

Procter & Gamble: 6 years as a Sales Representative and Sales Trainer.

Qualified NLP Master Practitioner; married with two adult children and lives in Nottingham. Apart from being active in several sports, Doug sings and plays guitar in two bands, one of which accompanies community choirs.

He has collaborated with Mark on three books that focus on the mindsets that both limit and drive high performance. The first – Squeeze Your Time, was published in 2013 and is about effective time management behaviours. Kill The Robot, published in 2017, is about helping people break out of the corporate straight-jacket and to think more independently about making effective presentations and running meetings. In 2020, we published Coach-Sell-Teach-Tell,  a book about developing people in your team to have the essential skills that really make a difference to their ability to perform. As well as Mark’s 2017 book, Don’t Strain LittleBrain about wellbeing and coping with the stresses of modern life, all are available on Amazon.

As well as programmatic training, much of Doug’s work is 1:1 development coaching & mentoring.

What clients say about Doug

Ability to establish very strong rapport with just about anyone and to generate high levels of trust. Common sense approach and a highly motivational leader who is able to get the best out of people at all levels of the organisation. Widely experienced with a broad commercial perspective and very high levels of commitment, enthusiasm and desire to achieve results.

Mark Dando

Profile

Prior to founding Coloured Square, Mark had 9 years experience in various HR and
management development roles with Somerfield Stores – this included training design, management development, generalist HR and change management. In his last year with the organisation he became the ‘feedback coach’ to the then CEO. He lives
in Bristol with his wife and their four children, and loves music, sport, games, comics
and cooking.

Alongside Doug, Mark has written four books (see above), most recently, ‘Don’t Strain LittleBrain’, a practical insight into how to cope with the stresses of modern life.

Mark has also published two children’s books, The Boy Who Yawned and The Boy Who Kidnapped Father Christmas. Both were beautifully illustrated by Jessica Thomas and like the books described above, are available via Amazon.

In recent years Mark has become a prolific poet, and regularly performs his poems to live audiences in the Bristol & Bath area.

Qualifications

• BA Hons (1st) English
• M.A. English
• Dip. Personnel Management
• NLP Master Practitioner

What clients say about Mark

Forthright and always willing to tackle difficult issues head-on. Ability to make people think differently and provide them with a high degree of personal challenge. Clients admire his both his thinking ability and the way he can turn complex ideas into simple, practical reality. Very high integrity.

Andrew Manuel

Profile

Andrew’s background is in retail – 20 years predominantly with Marks and Spencer, in store management and training and development roles. He is commercially astute and still loves the buzz of driving up sales in stores whether he’s coaching in the field or getting delegates to phone their stores from the training room! He quickly builds rapport and trust across all levels of an organisation. He loves skiing, playing the drums and when he’s not tearing round Plymouth Sound on his jet-ski, he can be found watching his son play football…

Andrew has worked with Coloured Square for well over 10 years.

Qualifications

• NLP Master Practitioner
• NLP Coach
• Myers Briggs Type Indicator Certified
• Good Boss Questionnaire Certified

Alison Rogers

Profile

Alison spent about 15 years in the field of strategic brand development and continues to be  regarded as one the UK’s authorities on visual brand projection. She is an experienced personal development and communications professional. She is adept at driving change and has a track record for helping clients achieve exceptional business results. Her creative thinking makes her an innovative training designer, and she combines warmth, integrity and enthusiasm in order to inspire, energise and drive those around her. Living in rural Leicestershire, Alison is an accomplished horse rider and ‘Eventer’.

Alison has worked with Coloured Square for well over 10 years.

Qualifications

• NLP Master Practitioner
• 101 Transactional Analysis

Luke Thomas

Profile

Luke’s coaching style is versatile, practical and bold – built on working with a wealth of top brands in very different organisational cultures and a fascination for seeing what makes people tick.  Before founding two of his own businesses he had roles in Sales, Ops, Management and HR.  Luke has carved a niche in achieving a return on investment within L&D, driven by a voracious appetite for learning and rubbing shoulders with people who stretch his thinking & outlook.  Married with two children, living in the countryside, he gets involved in a range of community projects focusing on educational, environmental & social change.  He loves swimming, cycling, scuba diving & motorsport.

Luke has also worked with Coloured Square for well over 10 years.

Qualifications

• Postgrad in Human Resource Management (CIPD)
• Postgrad in Advanced Marketing (CIM)
• NLP Master Practitioner
• Good Boss Questionnaire Certified
• Member of Benchmark for Business Visionaries