I get to be active in a lot of different things, whether it’s finance, operations, sales or innovation, but the part that I love the most is the people development side of things. Getting the best out of people and watching them progress and move between roles is really satisfying.

I have recently started as executive sponsor of the Peak Programme, which is so inspirational, and gives me the opportunity to see what’s happening in other parts of the business, not just Light + Air. I’m passionate about how we innovate using the skills and talent of people to drive us forward. It’s a global initiative, which brings its own challenges, so I might find myself in a call at 1.30am with a team in a different country. When it’s something you love and feel passionate about you make the time, even if it’s in a different time zone. The real challenge is doing it with a three year old!

Kingspan is very specific and articulate about what it stands for and a big part of that is building a net zero emissions future, not just for the business but also helping customers to reach that goal. What makes me proud about what we do is that I feel that there is real meaning to it, we are making a difference. I love what we do, and I get to do it with some great people.

It doesn’t matter who you are or where you are in the business, there is a shared purpose. Even when we make acquisitions and bring different businesses on board, the same culture is always there, we don’t have to force it, you just know that these are Kingspan people in their approach.

The good thing is that it also brings us fresh perspectives, a diversity and different way of doing things, but we don’t sacrifice our core values because they are essentially the same. We ‘believe blue’ – not just blue sky thinking, but making it a reality.

Having a lot of energy helps!

A willingness to actively listen and practice to involve, because our growth is all down to our people, and if we don’t get them on board we won’t succeed.

I have an amazing team, and my role is to help develop people and bring their talent to the fore. For example, when I first started in Light + Air, I knew very little about daylighting, and quickly realised that I might not be the smartest person in the room on this subject, but I know who is. It’s not about assuming that people in senior roles always know best, it’s recognising the value others bring to the table. What makes the difference is people who are willing to put others first.

I’ve had many roles over the course of my career and I’ve found that the advice shifts as you progress. The one piece of advice I wish I’d been brave enough to embrace at an earlier age is to be ok with failure, to understand that nobody’s batting average is perfect and embrace every opportunity. I don’t like to fail at anything but I have learnt to find a way to be ok with it, because at Kingspan you are allowed the freedom and the autonomy to make big decisions, and that’s how you get the big successes in the end. There’s a lot of trust involved.

There are so many ways to get involved. The Yours to Shape programme is a great way for people to join straight out of college or university. But it doesn’t have to be by that route – at Light + Air there are many different types of role, from the service and installation side as well as the traditional engineering, sales or technical jobs you’d expect. Some people pass through multiple roles, or we can cross train them with different skills. You don’t need a specific kind of background, or even to go for a specific job. If we find the right people, we will find them the right role.

The future is bright - you can break out the sunglasses! Just in our Division there has been so much growth, both organic and through acquisition. What we do, we do well and we build on that success all the time. It’s a bit like driving a car – we keep an eye on what is going on in the market through the wing mirrors, we get a sense of our history, of where we’ve come from in the rear view mirror, but our main focus is always firmly fixed on the road ahead. We have a map, and we know where we’re going.

We will see a lot more around the sustainability piece – the work that has already been done is almost a ticket to the next phase, which I think will see a growing focus on people. If you look at the economy and levels of employment, we have to be the employer of choice. We do this by nurturing people, figuring out how to help them grow and rewarding them.

The Planet Passionate targets are good – they give us a focus, and we are ‘walking the walk’ by achieving those concrete steps. The next step is how we take that progress to our customers, how we create something that is marketable but also makes a positive impact, that helps them, as well as the planet. And we will get there, we will meet these challenging targets, there is no doubt.