Mentors drive success, says Driven by Us CEO

The CEO of Driven by Us spoke to Electronics Weekly’s Caroline Hayes about his own experiences, where his mother encouraged him to succeed academically but it was his sister’s husband who found practical ways to direct his flair for engineering.

As a child he was interested in Lego and Meccano but didn’t know how to channel this interest. His brother-in-law found car shows that were free to attend and took him to these events.

“When you’re working in the industry, it’s key to have a a mentor. So someone mentoring you, guiding you, supporting you in terms of targets to meet in a period of time, you can go and achieve them. . .[They act as] a coach as well, a life coach . . . to make sure you’re going in the right direction in terms of what you want to achieve in in life and in work professionally.

“And also an advocate in the workplace; someone to champion you when you’re not in a room . . to speak positively about you. If you’re going for that promotion or you want your work recognised, it’s always good to have someone advocating for you inside the interview,” he said.

Driven by Us is a community organisation which aims to make motorsport more accessible to under-represented talent. It works across the entire motorsport ecosystem, with partners such as Aston Martin,  Formula One, Oracle, Red Bull Racing and Williams Racing, to develop and deliver STEM programmes for young people from under-represented communities. Working with motorsport teams, brands, schools and educational partners it co-designs programmes including hands- on and interative workshops, and activities trackside.

Driven by Us has branches in the UK and the US and is to introduce Driven by Us Europe this year. It will be based in Italy, not far from Imola and companies can register their interest to be part of making Europe’s motorsport industry more diverse on- and off-track here:

Dornor tells Electronics Weekly’s Editor, Caroline Hayes more about his own experiences in motor engineering and what prompted him to create Driven by Us in the latest CHIIPs podcast episode, available to listen to at:

www.electronicsweekly.com/podcast