CEO's Blog 1 - My first week at Harvey Nash Group
My week began Sunday evening as I left my home on the Isle of Wight, hugged my golden retriever Gregor and my cocker spaniel Finnlay, not for the first time envying their relaxed lives.
The ferry was on time and the rest of the journey to Godalming passed without incident.
Monday morning was an early start like most days, out of bed at 5:15am and now beginning to think about the shape of the day and the week ahead. As I arrive outside our London office I look up at the imposing Heron tower and feel the excitement of working for a brand I have admired all my working life.
The enormous aquarium in the lobby is mesmerising, full of all the inhabitants of oceans of the world. Suddenly the lift opens and I am in.
The warmth of welcomes are tangible.Thanks to everyone who have reached out via email to say hello, share ideas and the many people I have spoken to both in London, and via Microsoft Teams in Vietnam, Switzerland, Poland, Netherlands, Australia, US, Belgium. We do some really great things across the world.
Being a good citizen in the communities we work in is important to me and I expect to many of you too. What I mean by this is helping people where we work to live better lives. In the past for me that has included helping those who can’t help themselves prepare for and find jobs; collecting for food banks and helping to distribute this to those needing most help; working in schools to help young people understand the world of work and inspire them; creating gardens and indoor spaces where people can go to relax and socialise.
I am listening carefully to everything, asking many questions to understand and will act quickly to help make our great business even better. I am spending time with our HR teams around the world listening about our HR systems, our learning and development plans, career management and how we work in the communities we are part of. Our culture is what will make us grow faster and create more opportunities for people to develop careers with us. The best business strategy is useless without the right underlying culture. What we do has to match what we say and what we believe.
The middle of the week is about reviewing the budgets for our new year. I am speaking and meeting with all of our business leaders to understand what will help us and what will challenge us in smashing these budgets in every market we operate in.
We are looking at a new CRM for the Harvey Nash division and have a preferred supplier. The next steps are to gain Board approval and then move at pace to plan and implement. Expect to hear more soon.
Next week I am on the road with colleagues being part of the Kick Offs for the new year. I can’t wait to meet everyone. Please do let me know how I can help us make this great business even better.