How time flies…this time last year we recruited our first employee, our Operations Manager, Arran Marshall
Last week, Arran again took time out of his busy schedule to answer a few more (brand themed) questions:
Arran, I am hoping you’re feeling ‘generous’. Can you tell us about what you do on a typical day?
Well, every day is different and that brings its own challenges and its own rewards. I will talk you through what I’ve done today – this morning I reviewed every outstanding internal task and every client project we are engaged in, as I knew I would come across every project lead today and if any quiet moments arose I could ask very specific questions. I then responded to a few emails, some of which created actions and some of which clarified next steps. The most exciting part of the day was when I had a meeting with the PG Collective partners and a highly talented friend of PG Collective where we discussed constructing a series of sessions our entire network can all eventually benefit from. Before doing this interview, I had another short meeting, lunch and then I put together several proposals to take into meetings next week and wrote a lengthy operational update to be shared internally. Once we finish here, I will respond to several unopened emails in my inbox and then call it a day.
What was your best moment in the year gone by?
I think I can sum that up quite quickly, it was a rainy Tuesday in central London and a partner said out loud “I am here wanting to be here”. And, I thought to myself I am also here, happy and excited wanting to be around the rest of the team. I say that to say, the best moments are often created by like minded people collaborating in harmony.
Can you give us an example of you making a ‘no nonsense’ decision?
Yeah, sure. We had strong passwords and strong IT backups in place, but I pushed for extra measures to ensure we are something beyond strong in this area. I am sure you’ll forgive me for not disclosing any further details on security.
Last year you did actually say: ‘the most important room in the world is the room for improvement’, so your approach to passwords and backups isn’t surprising – superb effort. Do you have any more quotes for us, preferably one including one of PG Collective’s values?
We have five values now, we’ve added ‘Abundant’ to No Nonsense, Curious, Tenacious and Generous…give me a sec, and I will think of a quote with the new value in it….erm…I can’t be certain where I heard this and I may be misquoting it, but the quote that aligns with me is: the key to abundance is meeting limited circumstances with unlimited thoughts and solutions.
Which one of the PG Collective partners is the most ‘tenacious’?
That’s a tough question, as I think they may all visibly embody some of the other values a little bit more than they display tenacity. I have to say it’s a joint three-way tie as it takes a tremendous amount of tenacity to get to this point and tenacity doesn’t always manifest itself in an overbearing way.
What’s been your biggest achievement outside of PG Collective in the past year?
I’ve managed to get myself fit and healthy.
How much of a role did ‘curiosity’ play in getting fit and healthy?
It didn’t play much of a role in recent times, but by being curious in my younger years I acquired a lot of knowledge that I could implement into my efforts to help me achieve my recent fitness goals.
I will end the interview in a similar fashion as last year, by asking: Which one of the PG Collective’s values have not been referenced in today’s questions?
I’ve mentioned all of them in at least one of the answers to my questions, but you didn’t specifically mention the new one: Abundant.
We wish Arran every continued success!