How does your work in the seed industry benefit from what you learned in your earlier professional life?

I have learned, and continue to learn, many things about myself and business, but the greatest learning I brought forward to the seed industry came from my time in the electronics sector where fast-paced product development is vital to long-term profitability. In particular the project management tools they used, specifically concurrent manufacturing techniques, have helped me fast-track many investment and change programmes. Although these techniques were originally developed to reduce the time it took to get new products to market, they have relevance in driving through all types of improvement programmes; decision making does not need to be sequential, there is always a way to improve.

One of the quotes I remember from that time was that “a conclusion is simply a place where people could not be bothered to think any harder”

Conversely, do you believe that other industries could benefit from some things you have learned as a seed industry executive?

People outside the seed industry talk about globalisation and the importance of customer understanding, but in the seed industry people do not just talk about it, they live it. Understanding customers is not something left to the sales and marketing teams, it is truly seen as the responsibility of everyone in the industry. It is this leadership from all levels that translates into action and value for customers. Managers in other industries could learn a lot by observing how the seed industry travels the globe, gains insight to customers and then translates this into its breeding programmes.