Hi, my name is…

What was your very first job?

My first ‘job’ was as a paper boy at 12/13 where myself and my best friend delivered the better part of 400 newspapers every Thursday evening, to a new housing estate near us (often stuffed with 3-5 leaflets per paper).

It took us a trolley, two backpacks jammed full, a 2 mile walk each way, and a couple of hours to get it done! It was probably £20 a week each at that point, but having never earned anything besides money for housework, or helping my sister paint her fence, I felt rich!

If you could swap jobs with anyone for a day, who would it be?

Without a doubt it would be Steven Bartlett, host of the ‘Diary of a CEO’. I’ve long been a fan of his, and I try to watch (or listen) to as many of his podcasts/short form content videos as I can. The variety of guests and the conversations they embark on is truly eye-opening, inspiring, and most importantly, never boring.

If you had to give a TED Talk on something random, what would it be?

I’m a big fan of Simon Sinek and his ‘Optimism Company’; For those who don’t know, he’s a business leader, organisation consultant, and inspirational speaker. He’s written a few books, most notably one called ‘Start with Why’, which I would recommend to anyone in a management or leadership position.

On topic, and why I mentioned Simon Sinek, is his famous identification of ‘The Golden Circle’. It describes a pattern of behaviour that naturally occurs in leadership, and can be used to break down all aspects of business, and further life. Those 3 are: Why, How, and What. With WHY being the core.

To quote: “Very few people or companies can clearly articulate WHY they do what they do. When Simon asks WHY, he’s not referring to making money—that’s a result. Your WHY is your purpose, cause, or belief. WHY does your company exist? WHY do you get out of bed every morning? And WHY should anyone care about the work you do?”

What’s one thing you’re looking forward to learning here?

When entering SysGroup, I was asked by the CTO to be his right-hand man, to assist him with seeing where and what we can improve. I think after being here for 14 months now, I can safely say that firstly, I am looking forward to the outcome of all the positive changes that have been made from the top, all the way down to the bottom of the company.

There are some very intelligent, interesting, and most importantly passionate people here – who want to ‘move the needle’. I’m secondly looking forward to seeing what experience and wisdom they can share with me; as I’m always open to new ways of working, learning, and examples of “what good looks like”.

If you could invent one office perk, what would it be?

AnyCert (Patent Pending).

It would be nice if we weren’t bound by vendor, financials, and/or other guardrails on learning. I wish when I worked for a company, I was able to take any certification, in any subject of interest, without having to jump through hoops/and or vendor engagement, to be able to simply LEARN, unbound, in my own time & space. Hence my stupidly named program above, haha!

What’s the most exciting part of your role at SysGroup?

For myself: I have fingers in many pies – ironically, I am actually not a massive fan of pies! Give me a crumble any day! In all seriousness though, I am always in conversation with different elements of the business. I am regularly parachuted into problems, discussions, or otherwise; often with my consultative mindset as a key reference point.

This is what I am excited about. Collaboration. Helping people to get the best out of themselves, enabling them (and the business) to succeed. It think here at SysGroup, we all want to succeed, in not only our own endeavours, but for each other. There is strength in unity after all!