What do you think? From emerging trends to the latest business principles, Furniture News is setting out to gauge the trade’s feelings on a variety of industry-specific topics. Today, we’re asking our panel: Are you still learning?
Steve Reid (Simba Sleep): Absolutely – that’s what life is all about, right?
Deirdre Mc Gettrick (ufurnish.com): Every day is a school day. I find learning is split between soft skills and hard skills. In particular, for bigger-picture learning I find attending conference likes London Tech Week and Cog X to be highly valuable, with helping you take a step back from the day to day and learn about the wider trends in the industry
George Sinclair (Nimbus Beds): I am learning every day. I learn so much from my team. What’s the point in being the smartest person in the room? You won’t learn much!
Jade Farthing (Haskins Furniture): Of course! Every day I learn something new
Keiran Hewkin (Swyft Home): Always learning. My co-founder likes to remind me that every day is an interview!
Mark Gannon (Sofa Source): Yes, continuous improvement is very important when developing leadership skills and strategic thinking
Neil Barker (Barkers Furniture): Still learning about life, furniture and coding
Rob King (Julian Bowen): You must look for continual improvement every day, otherwise your competition can walk past you
Martin Seeley (MattressNextDay): Most definitely. Where our industry has become more tech-driven, we’ve had to step up (but underneath that, we’re still a mattress company first and foremost – product, product, product!)
Shaun Peel (MattressTek): We never stop learning!
Tom Bayliss (Kettle Interiors): Always. Times change, businesses and the industry change, and it’s important to constantly learn, adapt and stay open minded to new ways of doing things
Shane Harding (Highgrove Beds): I still learn something new most days
David Kohn (The Multichannel Expert): Not so much formal training, but in ecommerce there’s a constant stream of new technologies and marketing channels that need to be got to grips with. A lot of it comes to naught, but you have to remain open to the thing that might change your fortunes
John Northwood (agent): No direct training, but always learning and developing on the job. Sales is constantly evolving, and you need to stay up to date. YouTube is a good source of information, and to pick up new ideas and techniques
Wendy Martin Green (Peter Green Furnishers): Yes, of course! The day you stop learning or wanting to learn, you stand still, both personally and in business. These days there is so much information at our fingertips that it is hard to avoid discovering something new every day
Huw Williams (Toons Furnishers): You are always learning new things. I think you only stop learning on the day you die
This article featured in the February 2023 edition of Furniture News magazine.
