What’s the most exciting thing about your job?
A young(ish!), passionate team that feel positive about the direction of the company. It’s a very encouraging period of growth for us and that makes the office a great place to be. Being at the forefront of technological advancements in intralogistics is obviously pretty stimulating too!
Who has inspired you most in your career?
My wife. Alongside a friend, she created her own digital business from scratch (with no investment nor debt) which they subsequently sold 3 years later for a tidy sum. Smart as a tack, very creative but also incredibly efficient with time – a key characteristic to most successful business people in my view. More to the point, she did all of this while raising our two children. The proverbial harlequin, juggling. Amazing really…
If you were an item in a warehouse, what would you be?
Probably a data agnostic software application of some kind, like an E.A.I. (Enterprise Application Integration) that brings all of the disparate systems in the warehouse together (i.e. physical or virtual) and centralises all of them into one version of the truth. All fingers in all pies, basically.
If you had your time again, what would you do different?
I’d probably travel a little more throughout my 20s.
What’s your favourite pastime?
Sport. Any sport, any time. And on that note, watching my two children play sport trumps everything.
Do you play a sport, follow a sport or support a team?
I play “Fat Dads” touch rugby on a Thursday night, with fellow coaches and dads at Wilmslow Rugby Club. That and watching Spurs in the Champions League. Good times being a Lillywhite right now.
What’s the most embarrassing thing that’s happened in your career?
In one of my first roles post University, as a Junior Sales Exec selling sport lifestyle kit at Puma UK, we went to Portugal for a product launch. Night 1 was an old fashioned knees up, I got carried away, and subsequently turned up 2 hours late to the conference the following morning. To add insult to injury, I mindlessly decided to wear a bright yellow 2002 Jordan Formula 1 shirt – so when I walked in, it was painfully obvious. School boy.
Do you have any hidden talents?
If I do say so myself, my Karaoke version of Paul Simon’s “You Can Call Me Al” is a little bit special.
Who would be your favourite party guest?
Dynamo! Love a bit of magic.
What is the greatest luxury in your life?
Genuinely, nothing. My wife and children take all the money and fill their boots.
If you won the Lottery, what would you do?
Give half of it away to extended family, invest in Conveyor Networks and imio Software Solutions, buy my wife a black Audi A7…. and then hit Vegas with the lads.
Who or what makes you laugh?
I love stand up, I have a pile of old CDs in my garage that I’ve listened to over the years, as I drive from sales call to sales call. Top 5 are Micky Flanagan, Richard Pryor, Kevin Bridges, Sean Lock and Ricky Gervais.
What’s your dream holiday?
With my wife? Paris, spring time. With my immediate family? Wet & Wild, Florida.
What’s your favourite music album?
Dire Straits, Money for Nothing (reminds me of journeys in the car with my old man!)
What’s your favourite movie or Netflix series?
It’s hard to look beyond Game of Thrones. Last of the Mohicans is my all time favourite film though.
What would be your advice to someone thinking about coming into the industry?
Be pro-active and self succient. Be a person that “makes things happen”, rather than someone that waits to be told. Technology is moving faster than the people above you – make yourself invaluable by understanding new trends and the technical processes within those new trends.
To take part in Quote Unquote please call: 01923 272960 or email: james@warehousenews.co.uk
Comments are closed.