Bill’s first impressions…
We asked our new General Manager, Bill Richards, to share his first impressions of Global Personals with us…
I fell in love with the industry when I headed up Allegran’s operations and have been keen to escape from the corporate swamp and get back to the edgier and agile world of online dating. A chance conversation with Ross wedged that door back open and I feel fortunate to have joined a business that I have admired from afar.
I have to confess, my first impressions were slightly intimidating, not from the people but the scale and success. I knew the business has had a very impressive track record of growth and I’ve also witnessed the ever growing accolades that it wins. This is a business that works, what could I possibly bring?
As a veteran of some major retail and media household names as well as being a hard core operator of internet business for over seventeen years, it seems I underestimate what that exposure adds up to. But I don’t underestimate what a team is at work here. If anyone wanted to see what a ‘work hard, play hard’ employer looks like, then here it is. I’m also surrounded by people I love working with. You know who you are!
It’s easy to be fooled by the pool and fussball tables or the X-box in the recreational room when you first arrive, but sitting here at my desk, all I can see is quiet and focus, industry and passion for the services we provide.
What are my passions? The list is long; travel, motorsport, movies, photography, Arsenal FC, in fact you name it, I’ve probably had a go at it. But what about in business? I think that good customer service is good business practice and can be converted to profitability, that being world class is not faintly achieved, that everyone in a business from the highest to the lowest should feel that they contribute, and a much longer list.
What do I think after six weeks here? Well, I have a nightmare commute on the days when I do, and I have an Alan Partridge-style existence in a Travelodge when I don’t, but … I just love coming into work. And that’s not a phrase I have used lightly or often.
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