Big mouth from Dublin.
haha, I suppose I kind of have to be a big mouth by definition for this page to even exist.
Born in 1977 and one of six children to Mam, a nurse and Dad, a driver I had what could only be described as a fairly regular working class upbringing. We definitely weren’t poor but Mam and Dad had to work hard for everything we had and like so many parents would’ve made sacrifices to make a good life for the six of us. At times Mam had two or even three jobs but she would never even let on when things were tough, I only came to realise in later life.
Despite tending to do well in exams I got bored easily, let’s be honest I hated school, it quickly became clear that getting out there and working was way cooler than french or history so thats what I did. From my mid teens I would do bits of work just about anywhere (sometimes while I was supposed to be in school) and I just loved the idea of earning my own money, even if it wasn’t that much.
As a teen I worked in McDonalds, Burger King, Dixons and Pizza Hut and every one of those jobs gave me a fantastic grounding and instilled some of the basic ethics I still hold true today. By my early 20’s I was running Pizza Hut’s, in Newcastle, Sunderland and then back in Dublin. At that age to have full responsibility for up to 72 staff, a full P&L and every day to day decision in making a business work was an amazing apprenticeship.
Then at 23 my first daughter was on the way, it was pretty clear that;
a- there’s no way I can to all these days and nights with a baby
b- I’m gunna need a lot more money
so off I went wondering what was next, turns out there was a cleaning products company looking for people from the restaurant sector to be field sales reps, selling to that sector. About a month before Leighea was born I started my sales career. Almost immediately at 23 I had a Monday to Friday gig, a swish shiny new company car (a Vectra don’t you know!) and was pretty soon earning more than most of my peers, even the ones who at this stage were a year or two out of university.
I worked for the two global players in cleaning products before making a big jump in 2007, deciding to join a small business owned by members of my family. This meant owning part of my own business and making a go of it…. We’re gunna be millionaires!!
eh no… there we’re many reason’s why it didn’t work, the 2008 crash decimated our market but I still managed enough wins to keep me going for six years. Some of my approach was wrong, some of my partners was too, but it became very clear to me that this situation was becoming irretrievable and frankly I would probably do better just going back to be a seller elsewhere. I was the toughest six years of my life not only professionally but also personally, with the breakdown of my marriage also occurring in 2009. But boy did I learn many lessons.
With a new partner, Anita, who is somehow still putting up with me to this day and a lot more perspective I made the tough decision to step back into being a seller. I found that place at ADT (Tyco) and very quickly everything clicked into place. Within a very short space of time I was widely respected and very much second in command of the sales operation in Ireland. Things were good and I developed a wide network across the business. In 2016 the business asked if I would consider running a team in the UK, the timing was right so Anita and I said why not, and took the jump.
With a good deal of success at ADT (now Johnson Controls) UK I became more and more involved with the strategic change projects in the business and leading these initiatives opened my eyes to doing more than 1st line people management.
In 2019 I took the decision to join JLA, another install & services business but with a very different product range. The Head of Sales role allowed me to grow a hell of a lot, not only managing managers but also owning the sales change agenda and being a lead sponsor on many strategic projects.
Since 2022 I have taken on the role of Commercial Director at Spy Alarms, my broadest role yet in a PE Backed change & scale strategy. Managing a buy and build process while continually looking at our internal operational excellence across the buisness. More than ever whats become vital is our people, our purpose and our culture. Not only are we building a growth story, we are building a brand and culture that is focussed, energetic and industry leading.