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For my next everyday leadership interview, we meet the first man of the series, Kevin Durrant.
 |
Kevin is the global resale lead at Equinix, a large, multinational data company. He is also the founder of BeerGinVino, which he runs alongside his wife. BeerGinVino is a physical and online shop which sells independently produced craft beers, artisan gins and wine and has had a huge impact on the local community. |
Kevin, could you tell me a little about BeerGinVino and the inspiration behind it?
I’ve always been passionate about the drinks industry and have followed it for a number of years. I’m coeliac, so I can’t drink beer and I was always looking for a brewery that made gluten-free beer, but back when I was younger there wasn’t a great selection. So instead, I was drawn to wine – drinking it of course (!), but also learning about how it’s made.
I followed lots of breweries and vineyards and I’d note down their produce and processes. I always thought I wanted to do something like this myself, so I was interested in understanding the different approaches.
The premise of BeerGinVino was always about showcasing local producers and giving people choice. We don’t do anything that’s mainstream. We source local suppliers only and we work with 50 different local breweries, distilleries, vineyards and add wines from around the world from 150 small vineyard family producers who care about their wine quality.
And alongside all this, you also have a day job, right?
Yes, primarily I manage one global partner in the telecoms industry.
So I’m quite busy! But even though I’m going into BeerGinVino on a Saturday – it’s still my fun day because I really enjoy it and its my passion and love!
So how would you define leadership?
I think a leader is someone who can support, coach or mentor others. It’s someone who shares their insight and knowledge and builds that spirit.
This is true in both the corporate world and in small business. When we set up BeerGinVino it was all about bringing a team on the journey with us.
Of course, it’s different in the corporate world – there’s more of a clear line around leadership. When it’s your own business, you’re more involved, you’re getting your hands dirty with everyone else. But I think it should be like that both in SMEs and big corporates.
I also think leadership is all about empathy and honesty. I take people at face value and I’m honest with people – and that works well in our family business.
Do you consider yourself a leader?
I do. I guess people would either think of me as a leader or an entrepreneur. But either way, I think I’m a spirited and hard-working individual.
I have led and managed teams in the past which is very different to how I lead now at BeerGinVino. In your own business, you have to lead from the front and it’s all based around trusting your own passion and instinct – and hoping others will follow that passion too.
What’s one of the biggest leadership challenges you’ve faced and what did it teach you?
In my late 20s I was managing a team up in Derby and would go up during the week.
It was the rail/telecoms industry and around the time everything was being privatised. I came back from Derby one week to discover we’d lost almost all of our contracts. 80% of our business was in rail and we lost it all overnight. I was told I had to lose 60% of my team.
It was really hard because these were people that I’d been almost friends with for years, we were like brothers and sisters.
You have to try and put all your emotions aside for a minute and only think logically.
It was a brutal time and you could say it scarred me a little. After that I wasn’t even sure for a while if leadership was for me. But I learnt a lot from it.
That really resonates with me. Even after 20 years in HR, I still find those conversations really rough. But leadership isn’t all about the good – you’ve got to make decisions that are hard but right.
Absolutely. And I find it similarly hard now at BeerGinVino when I have to ring up someone with a wonderful product and tell them their product doesn’t work for us. And these are peers of sorts – because we’re both small businesses passionate about what we do.
It’s heartbreaking, but you have to do it because this is the market and it’s competitive.
As a family we’ve obviously shopped with you. What we appreciate is you always talk from a personal perspective – you give advice and recommendations.
Yes, I’m a firm believer in recommendations. And I always hope that a customer would be honest and say ‘actually I didn’t like that wine’ and I’d say ‘that’s fine, let’s see what we can do!’ You always hope that your knowledge, passion and energy will bring about repeat custom.
Most of us press the easy button these days and go to the big supermarkets. But the easy button cannibalises small, local businesses; it also doesn’t guarantee you quality or a sustainable product long term.
When you think about great leadership is there someone you hold in high regard? And what do you value about their leadership?
I’ve always admired the approaches of leaders in football – which is another passion of mine! I followed Ferguson and Wenger and I found it interesting to watch their two very different styles of leadership.
And my idol at school was Ian Botham. He wasn’t your typical leader, and he made all the schoolboy errors along the way, but he had that gregarious, spirited flair.
I take inspiration from those kinds of people – the ones who don’t necessarily have the title of ‘leader’ but who are obviously leading. You don’t have to have a title or a badge, you just have to be that passionate individual who creates drive and togetherness.
Business-wise, I loved Steve Jobs. He encouraged individuals to share their ideas and views. And his belief was that every idea was a good idea- clearly not always; but every successful entrepreneur has had challenge or failure before success.
If you had a piece of advice about everyday leadership, what would you share?
I always come back to the analogy of the head and the heart. The way you respond and act is important.
It’s nice to get caught up in the emotion and feel excitement, but as a leader (especially when it’s your own business), you need to give yourself the chance to pause and think about the trajectory of something. Think: is this the right direction? Can I do anything different?
Giving yourself time to pause to think logically is important. It’s something I’ve really learned over the past 6 months.
Do you have a favourite mantra that you live by?
To travel is to live! I’m all about going and embracing the world. Wherever you go you can take inspiration from other people doing different things in different countries. There’s so much more to see in life than we realise; those experiences help shape our decisions and indeed our business ambitions in my opinion. You never stop learning from others!
Before we go, is there anything else you want to share?
Yes – that I wouldn’t have achieved or accomplished any of these things if it wasn’t for my good wife. Teamwork is so important, and we’ve created a great partnership and belief in each other. It’s been a bumpy first two years, but she has always supported me.
And as well as helping to run our business, she also home schools. It’s admirable.
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For my next everyday leadership interview, we meet the first man of the series, Kevin Durrant.
|
Kevin is the global resale lead at Equinix, a large, multinational data company. He is also the founder of BeerGinVino, which he runs alongside his wife. BeerGinVino is a physical and online shop which sells independently produced craft beers, artisan gins and wine and has had a huge impact on the local community.
Kevin, could you tell me a little about BeerGinVino and the inspiration behind it?
I’ve always been passionate about the drinks industry and have followed it for a number of years. I’m coeliac, so I can’t drink beer and I was always looking for a brewery that made gluten-free beer, but back when I was younger there wasn’t a great selection. So instead, I was drawn to wine – drinking it of course (!), but also learning about how it’s made.
I followed lots of breweries and vineyards and I’d note down their produce and processes. I always thought I wanted to do something like this myself, so I was interested in understanding the different approaches.
The premise of BeerGinVino was always about showcasing local producers and giving people choice. We don’t do anything that’s mainstream. We source local suppliers only and we work with 50 different local breweries, distilleries, vineyards and add wines from around the world from 150 small vineyard family producers who care about their wine quality.
And alongside all this, you also have a day job, right?
Yes, primarily I manage one global partner in the telecoms industry.
So I’m quite busy! But even though I’m going into BeerGinVino on a Saturday – it’s still my fun day because I really enjoy it and its my passion and love!
So how would you define leadership?
I think a leader is someone who can support, coach or mentor others. It’s someone who shares their insight and knowledge and builds that spirit.
This is true in both the corporate world and in small business. When we set up BeerGinVino it was all about bringing a team on the journey with us.
Of course, it’s different in the corporate world – there’s more of a clear line around leadership. When it’s your own business, you’re more involved, you’re getting your hands dirty with everyone else. But I think it should be like that both in SMEs and big corporates.
I also think leadership is all about empathy and honesty. I take people at face value and I’m honest with people – and that works well in our family business.
Do you consider yourself a leader?
I do. I guess people would either think of me as a leader or an entrepreneur. But either way, I think I’m a spirited and hard-working individual.
I have led and managed teams in the past which is very different to how I lead now at BeerGinVino. In your own business, you have to lead from the front and it’s all based around trusting your own passion and instinct – and hoping others will follow that passion too.
What’s one of the biggest leadership challenges you’ve faced and what did it teach you?
In my late 20s I was managing a team up in Derby and would go up during the week.
It was the rail/telecoms industry and around the time everything was being privatised. I came back from Derby one week to discover we’d lost almost all of our contracts. 80% of our business was in rail and we lost it all overnight. I was told I had to lose 60% of my team.
It was really hard because these were people that I’d been almost friends with for years, we were like brothers and sisters.
You have to try and put all your emotions aside for a minute and only think logically.
It was a brutal time and you could say it scarred me a little. After that I wasn’t even sure for a while if leadership was for me. But I learnt a lot from it.
That really resonates with me. Even after 20 years in HR, I still find those conversations really rough. But leadership isn’t all about the good – you’ve got to make decisions that are hard but right.
Absolutely. And I find it similarly hard now at BeerGinVino when I have to ring up someone with a wonderful product and tell them their product doesn’t work for us. And these are peers of sorts – because we’re both small businesses passionate about what we do.
It’s heartbreaking, but you have to do it because this is the market and it’s competitive.
As a family we’ve obviously shopped with you. What we appreciate is you always talk from a personal perspective – you give advice and recommendations.
Yes, I’m a firm believer in recommendations. And I always hope that a customer would be honest and say ‘actually I didn’t like that wine’ and I’d say ‘that’s fine, let’s see what we can do!’ You always hope that your knowledge, passion and energy will bring about repeat custom.
Most of us press the easy button these days and go to the big supermarkets. But the easy button cannibalises small, local businesses; it also doesn’t guarantee you quality or a sustainable product long term.
When you think about great leadership is there someone you hold in high regard? And what do you value about their leadership?
I’ve always admired the approaches of leaders in football – which is another passion of mine! I followed Ferguson and Wenger and I found it interesting to watch their two very different styles of leadership.
And my idol at school was Ian Botham. He wasn’t your typical leader, and he made all the schoolboy errors along the way, but he had that gregarious, spirited flair.
I take inspiration from those kinds of people – the ones who don’t necessarily have the title of ‘leader’ but who are obviously leading. You don’t have to have a title or a badge, you just have to be that passionate individual who creates drive and togetherness.
Business-wise, I loved Steve Jobs. He encouraged individuals to share their ideas and views. And his belief was that every idea was a good idea- clearly not always; but every successful entrepreneur has had challenge or failure before success.
If you had a piece of advice about everyday leadership, what would you share?
I always come back to the analogy of the head and the heart. The way you respond and act is important.
It’s nice to get caught up in the emotion and feel excitement, but as a leader (especially when it’s your own business), you need to give yourself the chance to pause and think about the trajectory of something. Think: is this the right direction? Can I do anything different?
Giving yourself time to pause to think logically is important. It’s something I’ve really learned over the past 6 months.
Do you have a favourite mantra that you live by?
To travel is to live! I’m all about going and embracing the world. Wherever you go you can take inspiration from other people doing different things in different countries. There’s so much more to see in life than we realise; those experiences help shape our decisions and indeed our business ambitions in my opinion. You never stop learning from others!
Before we go, is there anything else you want to share?
Yes – that I wouldn’t have achieved or accomplished any of these things if it wasn’t for my good wife. Teamwork is so important, and we’ve created a great partnership and belief in each other. It’s been a bumpy first two years, but she has always supported me.
And as well as helping to run our business, she also home schools. It’s admirable.
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For my next everyday leadership interview, we meet the first man of the series, Kevin Durrant.
Kevin, could you tell me a little about BeerGinVino and the inspiration behind it?
I’ve always been passionate about the drinks industry and have followed it for a number of years. I’m coeliac, so I can’t drink beer and I was always looking for a brewery that made gluten-free beer, but back when I was younger there wasn’t a great selection. So instead, I was drawn to wine – drinking it of course (!), but also learning about how it’s made.
I followed lots of breweries and vineyards and I’d note down their produce and processes. I always thought I wanted to do something like this myself, so I was interested in understanding the different approaches.
The premise of BeerGinVino was always about showcasing local producers and giving people choice. We don’t do anything that’s mainstream. We source local suppliers only and we work with 50 different local breweries, distilleries, vineyards and add wines from around the world from 150 small vineyard family producers who care about their wine quality.
And alongside all this, you also have a day job, right?
Yes, primarily I manage one global partner in the telecoms industry.
So I’m quite busy! But even though I’m going into BeerGinVino on a Saturday – it’s still my fun day because I really enjoy it and its my passion and love!
So how would you define leadership?
I think a leader is someone who can support, coach or mentor others. It’s someone who shares their insight and knowledge and builds that spirit.
This is true in both the corporate world and in small business. When we set up BeerGinVino it was all about bringing a team on the journey with us.
Of course, it’s different in the corporate world – there’s more of a clear line around leadership. When it’s your own business, you’re more involved, you’re getting your hands dirty with everyone else. But I think it should be like that both in SMEs and big corporates.
I also think leadership is all about empathy and honesty. I take people at face value and I’m honest with people – and that works well in our family business.
Do you consider yourself a leader?
I do. I guess people would either think of me as a leader or an entrepreneur. But either way, I think I’m a spirited and hard-working individual.
I have led and managed teams in the past which is very different to how I lead now at BeerGinVino. In your own business, you have to lead from the front and it’s all based around trusting your own passion and instinct – and hoping others will follow that passion too.
What’s one of the biggest leadership challenges you’ve faced and what did it teach you?
In my late 20s I was managing a team up in Derby and would go up during the week.
It was the rail/telecoms industry and around the time everything was being privatised. I came back from Derby one week to discover we’d lost almost all of our contracts. 80% of our business was in rail and we lost it all overnight. I was told I had to lose 60% of my team.
It was really hard because these were people that I’d been almost friends with for years, we were like brothers and sisters.
You have to try and put all your emotions aside for a minute and only think logically.
It was a brutal time and you could say it scarred me a little. After that I wasn’t even sure for a while if leadership was for me. But I learnt a lot from it.
That really resonates with me. Even after 20 years in HR, I still find those conversations really rough. But leadership isn’t all about the good – you’ve got to make decisions that are hard but right.
Absolutely. And I find it similarly hard now at BeerGinVino when I have to ring up someone with a wonderful product and tell them their product doesn’t work for us. And these are peers of sorts – because we’re both small businesses passionate about what we do.
It’s heartbreaking, but you have to do it because this is the market and it’s competitive.
As a family we’ve obviously shopped with you. What we appreciate is you always talk from a personal perspective – you give advice and recommendations.
Yes, I’m a firm believer in recommendations. And I always hope that a customer would be honest and say ‘actually I didn’t like that wine’ and I’d say ‘that’s fine, let’s see what we can do!’ You always hope that your knowledge, passion and energy will bring about repeat custom.
Most of us press the easy button these days and go to the big supermarkets. But the easy button cannibalises small, local businesses; it also doesn’t guarantee you quality or a sustainable product long term.
When you think about great leadership is there someone you hold in high regard? And what do you value about their leadership?
I’ve always admired the approaches of leaders in football – which is another passion of mine! I followed Ferguson and Wenger and I found it interesting to watch their two very different styles of leadership.
And my idol at school was Ian Botham. He wasn’t your typical leader, and he made all the schoolboy errors along the way, but he had that gregarious, spirited flair.
I take inspiration from those kinds of people – the ones who don’t necessarily have the title of ‘leader’ but who are obviously leading. You don’t have to have a title or a badge, you just have to be that passionate individual who creates drive and togetherness.
Business-wise, I loved Steve Jobs. He encouraged individuals to share their ideas and views. And his belief was that every idea was a good idea- clearly not always; but every successful entrepreneur has had challenge or failure before success.
If you had a piece of advice about everyday leadership, what would you share?
I always come back to the analogy of the head and the heart. The way you respond and act is important.
It’s nice to get caught up in the emotion and feel excitement, but as a leader (especially when it’s your own business), you need to give yourself the chance to pause and think about the trajectory of something. Think: is this the right direction? Can I do anything different?
Giving yourself time to pause to think logically is important. It’s something I’ve really learned over the past 6 months.
Do you have a favourite mantra that you live by?
To travel is to live! I’m all about going and embracing the world. Wherever you go you can take inspiration from other people doing different things in different countries. There’s so much more to see in life than we realise; those experiences help shape our decisions and indeed our business ambitions in my opinion. You never stop learning from others!
Before we go, is there anything else you want to share?
Yes – that I wouldn’t have achieved or accomplished any of these things if it wasn’t for my good wife. Teamwork is so important, and we’ve created a great partnership and belief in each other. It’s been a bumpy first two years, but she has always supported me.
And as well as helping to run our business, she also home schools. It’s admirable.
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