1979: Joined ADP Network Services selling decision support systems.
1985: Joined Istel as sales accountmanager, responsible for thedevelopment of business in finance, travel and retail.
1988: Appointed marketing manager for Istel Travel Services and helped to launch its hard-wiring initiatives.
1990: Appointed sales director for AT&T Istel’s Travel Division.
1994: Joined Galileo UK as head ofmarketing responsible for product management, business strategy and marketing communications.
1997: Appointed general manager of Galileo UK, responsible formanaging the Galileo UK business as part of Travel AutomationServices, a British Airwayssubsidiary.
1997: Became a Fellow of the newly formed Institute of Professional Sales.
1999: Joined X-Tant as managing director.
l If you look at a problem as a mountain, itmay at first seem unassailable. If you assume you’ve climbed it and look back at how you did, it’s easier.
l At 6.30 when my daughter asks for a ‘team hug’, I remember no matter how busy work can be, make time for yourself, your family and your friends.
BORN in Cambridgeshire in the year Everest was first scaled, I am the product of an officer in the Royal Air Force and a primary school teacher.
I have been asked to look back on a career and pick some moments that stick in my mind and may have shaped my future.
I should begin by saying that, like many careers, I am here rather more by luck than by judgement.
As a new graduate without a long-term job, filling in as a life guard in the college swimming pool, the future looked bleak. Anyway here it goes.
I was playing in the London University Colleges’ Rugby Cup Final for Imperial College against the London School of Economics and we were 16-6 down.
This was the pinnacle of the season and the potential reward for hard work and hard play was within reach.
The captain’s speech was simple, as we all looked up at the cup, shining in the stands, flanked by the winners’ tankards and the runners up mugs.
To this day I remember him saying “Do you want a pint pot, or a p*** pot?” (a good Lancashire phrase).
I wanted a pint pot and for the next 39mins, I played my heart out.
At 19-16 up in the last minute of the game, I gave away a penalty.
That last minute proved to be the worst of my then 20 years.At the time, I felt all the hard work had been wasted and I couldn’t look at my team-mates.
Fortunately for me the penalty was missed and we won.
I now have two pint pots and when times are tough and it is difficult to see the way ahead, I set myself a very focused target.
I visualise the goal, achieve it, and then set the next one. I also remember that a game ends when the final whistle blows, so I try and keep focused until then.
Decisions in life, while they may not be momentous at the time, certainly shape a person’s future.
Rugby has been my passion and for a period, in the mid-1970s I played for Northampton, currently a premiership club.
While playing mostly in the second team, two months after moving to Wales, I received a call
asking me to return to the club with the prospect of a clear run in the first team.
I weighed up the pros and cons, the 200 miles travelling to and from training mid-week and the impact this would have on my job and lifestyle.
Rugby was not a profession at the time and I consequently decided to focus on my job and forego my passion.
Several years later, I wish I’d experienced the passion.
So if you have a desire, go for it – often, you only pass this way once in your life.
But then, how does a career in premiership rugby compare to managing a business? Actually, there are several comparisons.
My various analogies about succeeding in team sports are very much like succeeding in business.
Going back to an earlier period of my life I, like many children before me, learned first hand that children can be vicious.
When I was at boarding school in the New Forest, children used to constantly call me names and I used to react.
At the end of one fight (boys will be boys), I was really fed up.
I asked my best friend: “Why do they do it?” His answer was: “Because they enjoy seeing you react.”
I stopped reacting, it was no longer a sport, and the name calling ended.
From then on my life at school changed and I look back on that period as a time of fun and enjoyment.
I learned two lessons from this experience; to ensure that I understand why people are motivated to do what they do; and secondly by changing how I respond to a situation can have both a positive and negative effect.