What inspired you to pursue a career in finance, and how has your journey shaped your leadership style?
To be brutally honest I fell into finance. I completed my work experience at a stockbroker in Bournemouth and left Sixth Form adamant I didn’t want to go to university (because I didn’t like the debt it would leave me with).
I am not a mathematician, but I do like working with numbers so whilst I was waiting for my A-Level results I wrote to various stockbrokers and firms of accountants enquiring as to whether they had any training roles available.
The Salisbury office of Smith & Williamson replied, I went for an interview and after completing their aptitude tests I was offered a trainee accountant role. During my 7 years at S&W I worked across several departments which gave me a brilliant understanding of all areas of finance.
Can you share a significant challenge you faced in your career and how you overcame it?
Making the decision to leave practice and start my career in industry was a challenging time for me. I always knew I wanted to work for a manufacturer but unfortunately made the mistake of accepting the first role I was offered.
This was a big error as I quickly discovered the role wasn’t right for me. I hadn’t completed sufficient due diligence or asked enough questions at the interview stage. I was incredibly naïve and didn’t back myself enough to say no and continue the job hunt.
After completing a happy 7 years at S&W I was now unhappy at work which was a feeling I hadn’t experienced before. It was a difficult few months but thankfully I learnt from my previous mistakes, remained patient and a more suitable role came up.
What role does innovation play in your financial strategy, and how do you foster a culture of innovation within your team?
I think it’s incredibly important to innovate to boost efficiency.
Fostering a culture of innovation is key and understanding that some experiments might fail is part of the learning. Finance departments are evolving, and cross department collaboration can support with innovation as well as company culture.
I always try to encourage my teams to seek ways of completing tasks quicker and where possible lead by example by doing the same myself.
Financial Management and Insights
What are the key financial metrics you focus on to ensure the company’s financial health?
Cash is king.
How do you approach risk management, and what strategies do you use to mitigate financial risks?
Firstly, you need to understand the key financial risks within the business you are working in. Secondly you need to assess the likelihood and impact of each risk before prioritising them.
Finally, you need to come up with a systematic way of monitoring those risks which enables you to quickly identify whether a risk is increasing and will have a material impact on the running of the business.
How do you stay updated with the latest financial trends and regulations, and how do they influence your decision-making?
Generally, the first thing I do when I get to the office is spend 5 – 10 minutes looking at the latest business news in order to keep up to date with current affairs.
I am not a great reader so will attend as many webinars and listen to as many podcasts as I can to keep up to date. We also have a great range of accountants and tax advisors across the South Coast who put on some great Business Breakfasts which I try to attend when my time allows.
Team and Culture
What qualities do you look for when hiring for your finance team?
Generally, recruiters will make sure the candidate they are putting forward for interview is competent enough to complete the role you are recruiting for, so I tend to focus on culture fit.
I want to get to know the candidate I am interviewing to understand their personal values and what motivates them. A good work ethic and someone who takes pride in their work is important to me.
Can you share an example of how you have successfully led your team through a period of change or uncertainty?
During 2022 annual inflation reached the low teens and Double H was loss making because it couldn’t increase prices quickly enough to keep up with the increased costs.
Our bankers were putting us under pressure to provide more detailed financial information and meet more regularly to discuss how, as a management team, we were going to turn things around.
This was the first time I’d worked under such financial pressure, and it was a really challenging few months. It was a huge learning curve and one I will never forget because there were so many very long days and tough decisions to make.
During this period, I faced up to the challenge, supported my team and turned things around.
Future Outlook
What do you see as the biggest challenges and opportunities for the finance industry in the next five years?
A cliché answer but AI is going to be both an opportunity and a challenge.
In the last few months, I’ve seen it used brilliantly to speed up mundane repetitive tasks, but I’ve also seen it used poorly.
Sophisticated financial crime is also going to challenge businesses. Earlier this year Double H were impacted when one of our largest customers suffered a ransomware attack which had quite a serious knock-on effect to our trading.
How is technology transforming the finance function, and how are you using it in your organisation?
Hugely – Double H implemented Qlik Sense a few years ago and a large proportion of our day-to-day reporting is now presented using this tool. Much of the data is automatically updated on refresh schedules meaning there is no human interaction and there is one source of the truth across the business.
Finance function must embrace technology, if they don’t, they will get left behind.
What advice would you give to aspiring finance professionals looking to advance their careers?
Don’t go to university, find yourself an apprenticeship and learn as much as you can on the job.
Crisis Management
What lessons have you learnt from managing finances during a crisis?
You must understand your key stakeholders and communicate with them openly and on a regular basis – whether that be the bank, other lenders, shareholders or internal team members.
How do you prepare for potential future economic downturns?
It’s very difficult but having the necessary management information in place to be able to foresee such a downturn as quickly as possible is key – budgets and cash flow forecasts can obviously help with this.
Acting early is also important, whether that be making changes to spending or investments or building the necessary cash reserves to ride the wave.
Personal Insights
What are the most important leadership lessons you’ve learned throughout your career?
Being a leader is hard work and is not something you can do part time.
Over the years I’ve learnt how important it is to communicate clearly, be empathetic and empower your teams. You also must learn to be a resilient leader as there will be knock backs along the way.
How do you maintain a work-life balance in such a demanding role?
Almost without exception I leave my desk for a walk at lunch time, just for 20 minutes. I listen to a podcast and switch off from work.
My wife is a teacher, and I have two children at school so I only have 13 weeks a year I can take holiday, so I make sure at the beginning of the calendar year I book all my holiday! That way I know I am going to get a break.
Who has been your biggest mentor or influence in your career, and why?
I wouldn’t say there is one single person, but I’ve had managers and colleagues I’ve looked up to and learnt from at each company I’ve worked for.
Work ethic is incredibly important to me and that is something that was instilled into me early on by my parents as I was growing up.
