01732 759725
40
Q&A
Shaun Wilkinson,
Managing
Director,
UTAX (UK)
PrintIT Reseller (PITR)
:
Congratulations! What were you
doing when you heard the news and
how did it make you feel?
Phil Jones (PJ):
It was really bizarre. I was
working from home and about to leave to
head off to London when I saw an email
from my PA with a subject header that
said: ‘This is the proudest email I’m ever
going to send you’. Intrigued, I opened
it and my first thought was ‘wow that’s
unexpected’. Packing my stuff up to leave,
I put a post-it note on the letter and left
it next to the kettle for my wife Caroline
saying ‘call me’, and went to get the train.
On the train I got a text from her saying:
‘Is this for real?’ (as I often play practical
jokes at home) and it all started from there.
PITR:
Presumably you wanted to
shout about it from the rooftops?
PJ:
Well although I received the letter from
the Cabinet Office on May 23rd, they ask
you to keep it confidential until it’s officially
announced on June 10th. So I didn’t tell
anyone apart from close family. But once
it went live, my phone was buzzing with
texts, emails and tweets, around 600 or
more in the space of a few days.
That first week was very humbling.
I’ve never before or since, had so many
inbound communications particularly
focused on me as a person. I replied to
them all, and by the end of the week I was
emotionally exhausted!
It was a great life lesson, I did think
how hard life must be if you’re in the
public eye or if you’ve got a million Twitter
followers and you have to handle so much
communication, it’s not something I could
Following the news that Phil Jones, Managing Director of Brother UK had been
awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list in recognition of his
services to business,
PrintIT Reseller
spoke to the industry stalwart about his
passion for uncovering the potential of people and business
A passion
for potential
do on a permanent basis.
Although I have an industry and public
profile, I’m most keen that this is always
to assist the business, our customers and
those looking to grow, not really for ego or
validation, so it felt quite strange to have
a spotlight so firmly fixed in my direction.
The news is now firmly out there now, so
things have died down and it’s back to
business as usual.
PITR:
Talking about life outside of
Brother, you’re a keen cyclist aren’t
you, and what else do you do to
unwind?
PJ:
I believe that when you’re leading a
large company it’s key that you’re fit for
work and it’s really important to be able
to de-frag mentally. For me, cycling gives
me that outlet. I follow a programme that
a professional coach puts together for
me and I cycle for around twelve hours
a week (200+ miles). I spend about six
hours on the roads at the weekends and
every evening I work out for an hour on a
high-performance exercise bike at home.
I use that time to think more extensively
about things outside of a normal busy day
at work.
If you want to be a peak performer
in business, then you need to be in good
shape physically and mentally, cycling is
the way I do that. In addition, cycling also
satisfies the data techie in me, I totally
understand how my body works, my
metabolism etc. I also get to explore lots
of new places and meet new people, so it’s
perfect on many levels.
My wife and I are also huge Northern
On the train
I got a text
from her
saying: ‘Is this
for real?’
