Elliott Hodgeon

Sales director, VIP UK

What has been your business highlight of 2022?

It may be recency bias, but I would have to say our VIP Connect event that took place in Cheshire in September. To have so many key faces from our industry, all in one place, sharing ideas, opportunities and laughter together, really was something special.

If you were ruler of your own country, what law would you introduce first?

It's difficult to say what specific law I would introduce. There are plenty of fundamentals that no doubt most people would want to carry over to any society. I do know however that I wouldn't want homelessness to even be a possibility in any country I was responsible for, so any laws or rules that helped support that would no doubt be high up my list. Having shelter should be a basic human right.

Which channel or tech leader (outside of your own company) has impressed you most in 2022?

Although not specific, I think any technology which has supported the fast tracking of hybrid working has been huge. I find it amazing how quickly the world has adapted to ‘the new normal' and the work those linked to the technology and software have done to meet this demand, has been incredible. Even just the other day I found myself marvelling, in a meeting where some were present and others remote, that I was able to take a picture of a whiteboard we were working on, on my phone, the phone automatically sensed the whiteboard, cropped it and from there I could share with the wider group, as well as sync it up to my working document on my laptop, all within the space of one minute. This seamless blending of ‘in-person' and ‘technology' is light years away from where we were just five years ago!

If you had a warning label, what would it say?

"Warning: talks too much!"

What was your first job?

Technically, like many I was a paperboy in my teens but my first vocation was teaching. As unlikely as it sounds, I was a primary school teacher before entering the world of sales and the computing industry.

What was the last book you read, and was it any good?

I'm currently reading Michael Connelly's Two Kinds of Truth but I've been attempting to slow down with his books recently, as I'm coming to the end of his bibliography (the above is his 31st novel!). As a result, I digressed briefly with my last book, reading Richard Osman's The Man who Died Twice. As you can see I'm a bit of a ‘crime-genre' addict… and yes, it was a great read.

What's the most important lesson you've learned from another business leader or mentor?

Not to get defensive when receiving criticism, whether you believe it to be accurate or not. Whether right or wrong, it's ultimately their opinion and one that needs fixing. Use it as an opportunity to improve and demonstrate your value. This was a lesson I received fairly early on in my career and one which I still pass on to my team to this day.

Who would play you in a movie of your life?

I'll say Jake Gyllenhaal, simply because there's a particular still image of him in a film called Source Code that someone tagged me in some years ago and I genuinely was tricked into thinking it was of me. I will note here, that he's lying down, with his eyes closed and tubes coming out of him. I'm certainly not saying I look like a Hollywood star!