“Work hard, be kind, have some fun and it's OK to make mistakes.”
When Stephen Blackmore looks back over a career spanning more than four decades, he doesn’t measure success by job titles or promotions. Instead, he remembers the people he helped along the way.
Now responsible for Driver Safety and Risk Management at Turners (Soham) Ltd, Stephen manages the safety and risk of around 1,600 drivers every day. Before that, he spent 23 years building a successful career with Volvo Trucks, becoming a company director at just 34 years old.
But despite reaching senior leadership, one of his proudest achievements came not in the boardroom, but through working with young people.
“One of the students contacted me a year later. That was the recognition that I’d made a difference.”
Learning to communicate
Stephen left school at 16 without a detailed career plan. His first job was in a sports shop in Cambridge, where he quickly discovered something that would shape the rest of his working life.
“I realised I loved selling things.”
The role also taught him something even more valuable.
“That was where I learned how to communicate with people from all walks of life.”
Those early customer conversations built the confidence and people skills that would open doors throughout his career. From the sports shop he moved into a sales role at Pickfords Removals before joining Marshalls Cambridge to sell trucks.
Looking back, Stephen believes every opportunity built on the last.
“Every job teaches you something if you’re prepared to learn from it.”
Discovering leadership
Working in truck sales gave Stephen the chance to develop professionally, but it also changed his ambitions. Rather than simply becoming better at sales, he realised he wanted to help shape the direction of a business.
“I wanted to become a director and make responsible decisions.”
That ambition became reality when he became a director at the East Anglian Volvo Trucks dealership at the age of just 34. Although he admits he felt young for such a senior position, the experience accelerated both his confidence and his leadership skills.
Reflecting on that time, he says leadership was never simply about delivering results.
“It’s about helping people succeed and bringing them with you.”
He remained with Volvo from 1994 until 2011, leading teams, making strategic decisions and learning lessons that would stay with him throughout his career.
The leaders who shaped him
Throughout his career, Stephen was fortunate to work with managers who showed him what good leadership looked like. One managing director at the Volvo dealership had a particularly lasting influence.
“He showed empathy, support and toughness when it was needed.”
Watching different leadership styles helped Stephen develop his own approach.
“You take something from every leader you work with, both the good and the bad.”
Looking back, he says he’d give his younger self some simple advice.
“Listen more. Show more empathy. Never lose sight of the people around you.”
For Stephen, the best leaders don’t simply tell people what to do; they support others, listen carefully and help people grow.
A different kind of success
Although Stephen enjoyed a long and successful commercial career, the experience he remembers most fondly happened outside his day-to-day role.
After working with Form the Future for around ten years, he became an Enterprise Adviser, supporting schools to help prepare young people for work.
Later, he spent 18 months working closely with a group of 10 to 12 students from Impington Village College.
“Watching their confidence grow was incredibly rewarding.”
Helping them explore careers and believe in themselves became one of the most fulfilling experiences of his career.
The impact became clear when one of the students contacted him a year later.
“That was the recognition that I’d made a difference.”
For Stephen, that meant as much as any promotion or business achievement. Supporting someone else’s journey left a lasting legacy.
Finding purpose at Turners
After leaving Volvo, Stephen joined Turners (Soham) Ltd, where he moved into an entirely different area of work.
Today, he is responsible for Driver Safety and analysing risk across a fleet of approximately 1,600 drivers every 24 hours.
“It’s a very different challenge, but all the skills I’d developed throughout my career still apply.”
The role combines leadership, data analysis, communication and problem-solving, reinforcing something Stephen has learned over time.
“Careers don’t always follow a straight line.”
The experiences gained in retail, sales, management and leadership all prepared him for responsibilities he could never have predicted when he first left school.
Balancing work and life
Now approaching retirement, Stephen has spent time reflecting on what really matters.
He believes attitudes towards work have changed significantly since he began his career. Previous generations often expected to stay with one employer for life, whereas today’s careers are more flexible and varied.
While hard work remains essential, he believes it’s equally important to protect time for family, relationships and life outside work.
“Success isn’t just about the job. It’s about the people around you and making time for the things that matter.”
Looking back, that’s one lesson he wishes he’d appreciated even earlier.
Advice for young people
Stephen’s advice is refreshingly straightforward.
“Work hard, be kind, have some fun, and it’s OK to make mistakes.”
He encourages young people to embrace new experiences, work well with others and never stop learning. Saving money is important, but so is investing in relationships, building trust and treating people with respect.
Above all, he believes humility is one of the most valuable qualities anyone can develop.
“Take people with you. You’ll achieve far more together than you ever will on your own.”
Looking back over more than forty years of work, Stephen doesn’t define his career by the companies he worked for or the titles he held. Instead, he remembers the conversations, the people he learned from and the young lives he was able to influence.
His journey is a reminder that careers are built one opportunity at a time, and that sometimes the greatest success comes from helping someone else discover theirs.