How Scott Spirit’s career took him from Yorkshire Dales to become Sir Martin Sorrell’s right-hand man at S4 Capital

But there was a time when he had a burning ambition to adopt the lifestyle of the world’s most famous vet and spend his working days healing the often ferocious farmyard beasts of his native North Yorkshire.

“When I was 12 I really wanted to be a vet because I was obsessed with James Herriot,” he recalled. “I got the chance to spend time with a farm vet and it became pretty clear that it wasn’t the job for me.”

So instead he followed a career path which took him to the other side of the world, and a chance to work alongside, Sir Martin Sorrell, a titan of the advertising world. Today, he is S4 Capital’s chief growth officer and is effectively second in command to Sir Martin.

He worked closely with Sir Martin at WPP, the world’s largest advertising and PR group, and today his responsibilities involve growing S4 Capital through mergers and acquisition and attracting investment. He remains deeply proud of his Yorkshire roots and values.

“I grew up in the village of Hornby in Wensleydale, my mum was from Hull and my dad comes from Durham. My mum worked as a teacher in Richmond and my dad was in the RAF.”

He added: “ Like a lot of people brought up in rural communities, I was really attracted to the bright lights of the big cities, but I have really fallen back in love with the place (Yorkshire). It is truly God’s Own Country.

“I’ve worked and travelled to so many of the world’s major cities but I’m always struck by the friendliness and kindness of Yorkshire people.”

He said Sir Martin had been a great mentor and supporter throughout his career.

“People who criticise Martin would say he’s a micro-manager; but he would take that as a compliment,’’ said Mr Spirit.

“I was Martin’s assistant and would describe him as tough but fair. He can be a little impatient at times, but that is a reflection of how hard he works.

“He lives for what he’s doing and he expects others to do the same. But he’s a super fair boss and he’s a great supporter of talent wherever in the world he finds it. He will challenge people and then give them opportunities. He likes to place people in a position where they can thrive and grow.

“That’s what he has done for me during the course of my career,” Mr Spirit recalled. “He gave me the chance to run WPP’s operation in China. I can still picture the day I touched down to take charge of WPP in China.

“I had only spent about 15 days in the country. I had a one-way ticket but was feeling incredibly excited and curious about it.”

He spent seven years in Shanghai and had the chance to witness major events such as the Beijing Olympics and Expo 2010. It was a time when China was really emerging on to the world stage.

He added: “It was really exciting to see the growth of Chinese brands as well. There are many differences between Chinese culture and the West but also similarities as well.

“They like to have long-term partnerships. If you just fly in and do a deal and fly home, you don’t have time to build that trust.

“A lot of my work in China was M&A (mergers and acquisitions).

“Chinese business people have to have a lot of trust in the buyer. That’s something you can only build over time.

“Chinese people respect the effort you put in to building relationships,” he added. “I felt I was learning something new every day. The pace of innovation and development is very rapid.”

S4 Capital has grown quickly through a series of acquisitions, including 11 takeovers in the past 12 months. It employs 5,500 staff across 31 countries and has seen a strong boost in revenues as advertising returns with pandemic restrictions easing.

From Singapore, Mr Spirit has watched the pandemic change global work patterns.

The pandemic has also altered deeply-rooted habits. All generations have embraced technology in response to changes in the outside world.

Mr Spirit said: “For example, my parents, who would normally have shopped in their local supermarket, started ordering goods online. They haven’t been back to the supermarket since.”

He said: “Singapore was one of the first places in the world where Covid emerged, so we soon switched to remote working. It meant our deals had to be completed virtually.

“I remember having a conversation with Martin about a business we were planning to acquire in France. We hadn’t actually met them face to face. I asked Martin if we should carry on with the deal and he said we should.

“We have a pipeline of acquisitions and we do hope to carry out more of those meetings face to face,” he said.

“One of our biggest clients is Google, and apart from working with Google, we can also help our other clients execute their business using Google. The same applies to Amazon.

“This dual nature of the relationship makes everything stronger.”

He prefers to describe acquisitions as mergers.

“We... think of it as an integrated approach rather than one business acquiring another. We have looked at companies outside London, including Leeds.

“Although we decided not to acquire the business in Leeds, it’s possible we could work with them in the future. Geographically, we are still a bit light in Asia Pacific.”

Many corporate names have published upbeat trading updates in recent weeks.

Mr Spirit added: “A lot of companies are saying they had their best ever Q2 (second quarter), but that was because the Q2 the previous year was their worst ever.

“We didn’t have a single month in 2020 when we didn’t grow. We are bullish about this year and have raised our guidance three times.

“My advice to anyone who wants to emulate my success is to be really curious and open minded. You’ve also got to be willing to work really hard.

“If you put in the hours, in general, people will notice it, particularly in the early stage of your career.”

A work ethic that could only have been honed in the Dales.

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