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Soul aficionados. We both really enjoy
going to events, it’s our shared passion and
so far removed from work. I also love the
fact that at a Northern Soul do I can be
anonymous, I’m just Phil in the Fred Perry
shirt, as opposed to the MD of a large
multi-national and industry figure. It’s a
very nice piece of micro-escapism.
PITR:
In addition to heading up
Brother, you are also President of
Forever Manchester, a member of
the Manchester Growth Company’s
strategic advisory board, a fellow
of the Institute of Directors and
a Companion of the Chartered
Management Institute. How do you
fit everything in?
PJ:
You have to be well organised, a great
delegator and highly prioritised as a starter
for ten. I have a superb executive assistant
and a highly capable management team
around me too, which is absolutely key.
I’ve been a great believer for many
years that you’ve got to give something
back in one way or another. I’m
passionate about business as a force for
good in people’s lives and in our local
communities, that’s why I commit my time
to share knowledge and encourage other
entrepreneurs and businesspeople. As one
person, the only way to reach many, is
to do things that create scale, so as one
example I blog on a regular basis and my
articles have had over one million readers.
I strive to change outcomes for other
people and consider things that will help
me to achieve that goal on a larger scale.
As for fitting everything in, giving one per
cent of your time, your income and your
profits is a pretty good place to start and
that works for me.
My involvement with the Forever
Manchester charity which funds and
supports community projects across
Greater Manchester is nowhere near as
time-intensive as people may think, initially
it was a little heavier but now it all runs
very smoothly.
I also sit on the Manchester
Growth Company’s strategic advisory
board, a major vehicle for supporting
entrepreneurial start-ups and business
growth services in Greater Manchester.
We meet once a quarter and my role is to
bring the private sector perspective to the
discussions around resource deployment.
It’s a small investment of my time, but
it helps some 80,000 businesses in the
region. That’s what I mean by doing things
on scale, and it demonstrates how you can
reach millions by scalable touchpoints. It’s
the use of vehicles such as this that makes
the most efficient use of your time if you’re
in business.
PITR:
Tell me a little bit more about
your involvement with the charity
Forever Manchester?
PJ
: I’m passionate about communities,
and in developing and investing within our
community not just in Brother but also in
the wider community it is a part of. I met
the Chief Exec of Forever Manchester a
few years back at a fireside chat and we
realised we had so much in common.
They were looking for someone to
assume the role of President with a view to
getting businesses engaged and investing
in Greater Manchester’s local communities
and it was a great fit for me.
Brother UK created an initiative
designed to support our borough Tameside,
in three areas: Enterprise, Education and
Elderly, and we donate a sum of money
every year which is held in a ring-fenced
fund which employees at Brother UK
oversee and distribute. Residents in the
borough can apply for a grant to support
them in starting up something new - it
could be anything from an unemployed
person wanting to start a new enterprise,
to a group of elderly friends looking for
funding to buy materials for a knitting club.
Forever Manchester does that in all ten
boroughs and I am the public face of the
charity to business. It’s not all about giving
money. I’ve also helped by reshaping it to
be a better business, it’s much stronger
organisationally and in its communication
alignment.
PITR:
You have been with Brother
UK for over 20 years and worked
your way up the ranks. Under your
stewardship the company has
transformed and celebrated some
significant achievements, what are
you most proud of?
PJ:
It has been a fascinating journey
and back in 1994 when I joined as a fax
salesman, I never imagined that I would
one day be leading the company.
In 2014, Brother UK was named by
The Sunday Times as one of the 100 Best
Places to Work, the business was described
as ‘outstanding’ and the personal
leadership rating one of the highest placed.
That was an incredible achievement for
everyone in the company.
Brother was also the second company
in the UK, the first large business and
the first technology business to receive
the most prestigious accolade in people
management - Investors in People (IIP)
Platinum status.
Investors in People estimates that only
0.05 per cent of businesses could achieve
platinum status, so we’re all incredibly
proud of the award which represents a
culmination of many years of hard work
re-purposing our business.
There are only eight companies in the
UK that have earned Platinum status and
just a few weeks ago at a national awards
ceremony we won ‘Best of Platinum’, I am
really very proud of that accreditation.
For me what is most pertinent about
these accolades is that it demonstrates
the efficacy of how we have successfully
transformed our business to move forward.
We’ve been around since 1968 and we
have all been on a journey that included
changing our culture to make us relevant
in the modern digital world. Learning
and development, collaboration and
innovation are key drivers for our long-
term competitiveness and to ensure we
remain at the forefront of developments
in the technology industry and also as an
employer, and all our hard work has paid
off.
Now we’ve done it, we can say to other
businesses, we did it - it’s a lot of hard
work and you have to change, but we did
it in just three years. On the back of this,
we’ve also had a number of blue-chip
business connect with us with a view to
helping them do what we have done. This
places Brother in a lovely advisory role
that helps us bring to life our ‘At your side’
mantra.
Q&A
I’m passionate
about
communities,
and in
developing
and investing
within our
community
not just
in Brother
but also in
the wider
community it
is a part of.
