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From Accelerator to President with Scott Fell
Scott Fell joined EO Accelerator to learn how to build a real business. It set him on a path to becoming EO Queensland President.
Words by Scott Fell • 14 August • 8 min read
When I first heard about EO, I was working full time as an engineer, running a tutoring business and had just bought a family lotteries business. On paper, that looked like an entrepreneurial success story. In my own head, I had not earned it.
Wanting to Earn the Journey
I had not built the lotteries business from scratch or wrestled with the staffing issues, messy processes and growing pains that come with starting a business.
I wanted to learn how to genuinely grow a business. The engineer in me was drawn to problems and systems, so I joined EO Accelerator in 2017 looking for structure, tools and accountability. I wanted to be a smaller fish in a bigger pond, learning from people who had already faced bigger problems than mine.
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Building With Intention
Accelerator gave me plenty to work with ─ sometimes more than I could take on. The key was not trying to execute everything. It was choosing the thing that would move the needle at that time, then being accountable for doing it.
That approach shaped the way I built. My tutoring business had to operate under management from the beginning because I was still an engineer. Later, when I started Ardent Consulting Engineers, our first engineer walked in on day one to a clear vision, core values and a three-year plan. We reached it in about 12 months.
ABOUT THE MEMBER
Scott Fell
EO Queensland President and founder of Ardent Consulting Engineers. Scott joined EO Accelerator in 2017 and has since served across Accelerator, Forum and chapter leadership.
“The people around me saw something in me before I did.”
From Accelerator to President
The business growth was satisfying, but it was not the biggest shift. Early on, I was very process-focused. I cared that the system worked, sometimes more than I cared about who was running it. EO has made me far more self-aware.
My EO leadership journey began when I was, in EO language, “voluntold” to coach Key Executives. Over time, I moved through coaching, the Accelerator committee and chair role, Forum leadership and Governance ─ and eventually into the Presidency. Looking back, the important thing was not the list of roles. It was the people around me who saw something in me before I did.
Begin With Intention
Only recently did I understand that those people were building belief in me. I could feel myself growing, but did not always understand why. Their confidence gave me enough confidence to keep stepping into roles that initially felt beyond me.
That reflection led directly to my theme for this EO year: Begin With Intention. Transformation is the result, not the starting point. My own growth accelerated when I became clearer about what I was trying to achieve and who I wanted to become.
EO is often described as a gym, not a spa. That feels right to me. I joined EO looking for better business tools. But I also found people who challenged my thinking, helped me become a better leader and believed in me before I fully believed in myself. From Accelerator to President, that has been the more important growth.