WHILE many fear that the Brexit vote has ushered in what may be a long period of uncertainty for businesses in Scotland, people development entrepreneur Andy Lothian remains resolutely upbeat.

“I think whatever the ultimate outcome will be great for us,” says Mr Lothian, who runs the fast-growing Insights people development business.

“I get curious about how the response to an external stimulus like that is to wait and see. The options you have are to wait and see, batten down the hatches, or to crack on and do what you can with what you have; that’s what we’re doing.”

Mr Lothian approached the slowdown triggered by the banking crisis of 2008 with similar chutzpah.

Insights invested £4m building a new headquarters in its home city of Dundee while many firms were putting such projects on hold.

“The best way to handle any recession is not to participate in it,” insists Mr Lothian.

“I said if we don’t continue with this project then the main contractor and the sub-contractors and their families are going to suffer and we need to do this because than we will be part of the solution not the problem.”

This kind of talk may be expected from a man who runs a company that will suffer if firms stop spending in areas such as training in response to the Brexit vote.

But Insights has become a substantial business after showing it can operate successfully throughout the economic cycle.

Founded by Mr Lothian in 1987 with his father Andi, the Dundee-based group has built a blue chip customer base by offering support in areas such as change management, leadership and sales force development and on building cultures that employees buy in to.

Group revenues increased by 16 per cent in the year to March, to £33 million. Sales in the first half of the current period were up 30 per cent year on year.

The group now has around 400 employees including 240 in offices in North America, Europe and Asia.

Mr Lothian junior was judged Scotland’s Entrepreneur of the Year in June in the awards sponsored by EY.

But he only decided to risk starting a firm after finding that work in the City of London failed to deliver the satisfaction he had expected.

“I went to London with Rothschilds, worked with them for a while and realised that whilst it was very intellectually stimulating and really exciting it was a bit like candy floss; what kind of purpose in life was it, trying to beat the returns that our clients could get on cash by half or three quarter of a per cent?

“After a bit of soul searching I made a decision. I didn’t want to be in banking and become a master of the universe, I wanted to do something different.”

Once his mind was made up the economics and computing graduate made a characteristically bold move.

“I phoned my old man told him I was coming back to Scotland to marry my sweetheart and what about we think about building this little business together.”

The inspiration for the focus on personal development came from tapes made by a US business guru that Mr Lothian listened to in his youth with his dad.

But Carl Jung was the key influence on the development of Insights. The company says it aims to inspire and transform individuals and organisations through a simple and practical, results-driven approach to people development that is informed by the Swiss psychologist’s thinking.

“When we began to work with these ideas of personal and organisational development there was a very North American approach, 21 keys to success and achievement in life. We realised quite early on that people are different. As Jung said: ‘The shoe that fits one person pinches another.’

“We began to realise that people learn differently, they respond differently to the environment they’re in, they communicate differently, interact differently so we began to research and explore that idea and out of that my father in particular found Jung and his work.”

Mr Lothian reckons Jung’s basic framework is as valid today as ever.

“You can change structures all day long, if you don’t change behaviour, engage the hearts and minds and spirits of your people you are wasting your time.”

Insights has developed tests it says can be used to identify people’s strengths and weaknesses, communication style and their value to the team.. The approach has gone down well at home and overseas.

A father of four, Mr Lothian believes Insights has huge growth potential, especially in markets such as the US and Asia.

But he intends to stay in Scotland and enthuses about Dundee, where the famed Victoria & Albert museum is building an outpost.

A fellow of the Institute of Directors, Mr Lothian sits on the strategic advisory board for the city.

“I think too many good people leave places like Dundee and Scotland and go and search for diamonds in other parts of the world. The diamonds we seek are under our own feet. In Scotland we have all the resources, all the skills and gifts that we need, we can be global from Scotland.”