In conversation with John Purdy
Former CEO of Ergo, John Purdy, was awarded the lifetime achievement award at this year’s Tech Excellence Awards. TechCentral.ie spoke to John to find out what the award means to him and what’s been his approach to building a successful business.
The term ‘lifetime achievement’ can come with an understanding that someone’s career is coming to an end. Given your involvement with Johnson Hana and Endeavour that would not seem to be the case. What’s keeping you going?
Motivation. I’ve no intention of stopping. I enjoy working with start-ups and scale-ups, I’ve been doing it for 32 years. And now I have an opportunity to pay forward all the support I received over the years by offering my experience to those coming after me. You see, entrepreneurship is like a drug, if you come off it too quickly you could be in trouble. For now, I’ll continue working with great founders, like those at Johnson Hana, Endeavour and Beyond BMI.
In 2016 you told IMI that all Ergo’s milestones were presented on a chart in the canteen at Ergo. How important was that sense of history to you in growing the company?
Hugely important. We update that chart every year so that new people joining us see it and understand where we come from. We didn’t start in a freshly-painted office in East Point, we started in a shed in Phibsboro with no running water and no bathroom until the landlord arrived to open it up. But this lean model gave us a springboard to get to where we are now, and we can’t forget that.
You’ve spoken about having to be comfortable with change and being in a state where you are constantly pivoting to suit new technology or customer expectations. What sources have informed these decisions?
The way I look at it, if you’re standing still as a business, then you’re regressing. You need to be pushing forward all the time. For us, the biggest source of inspiration are our customers and their needs. We talk to them all the time and dovetail our skill sets to serve them. My advice is to find ways of having coffee with your customers and ask them “what’s going on in your life”? You learn a huge amount from these conversations – so gather that information, document it and see it as a source of innovation. Today, there’s a lot of talk about AI and people are nervous about it, which is understandable, but I believe that those valuable one-to-one conversations with people won’t change, even as AI becomes more prevalent.
When it comes to acquiring talent we hear a lot about a shortage of skills in the marketplace. We also hear a lot about workplace cultures. Which is more important: finding the candidate with the skills to hit the ground running or the person with the right temperament who is willing to learn?
We’re always looking for the right talent but with the right people. They need to be valuable to themselves and to us. We have developed strong relationships with universities like DCU, TUD and NCI and we work on nurturing those relationships through guest lecturing during the year. Each year we take on 15 interns across different disciplines, which gives us a consistent supply of fresh talent. Our job is to make Ergo the best possible place to work and to stay. We have people working with us who have been here for 10, 15, 20 years and that’s incredibly gratifying. We invest in our people: in their training, their wellbeing, their work-life balance. I want people to go to their child’s soccer match; it’s important to give employees that flexibility.
At a class in DCU you shared with students your three ‘Bs’: Be bold, brave and believe. Do you find young people are comfortable taking these entrepreneurial ideals on board?
Anytime I speak with students about entrepreneurship I speak about the qualities you need to have when you’re working at start-up. We’ve all seen start-ups that have had what I call ‘hockey stick’ growth, but that type of growth is not sustainable. I think they understand that taking your time, holding the course, being steady is better. I always say that Ergo is a 32-year-old start-up, and we continue to have those characteristics of being an underdog, being hungry, agile and scrappy. It’s important to remember that it’s not an instant road to wealth, it’s a long slog with highs and lows but it can be rewarding. My advice is to surround yourself with people who will be honest with you and will feel comfortable telling you that something doesn’t sound good.
Ergo is a regular nominee and winner at the Tech Excellence Awards. What have awards like this meant to you and the company over the years?
They mean a lot from a number of perspectives. For an employer brand they’re an important recruitment tool. We can point to ourselves and say this is a successful brand that has been recognised by its peers, and employees want to be part of that success, to be part of a winning team. And from a customer perspective these awards are a testament to the good work we’re doing and the award-winning solutions and services we offer. These awards aren’t given away lightly so we take them seriously, and we’re selective about the awards we go after. For us, the ones we’ve won have all been worthwhile and we celebrate each of the wins.
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