A coffee with Will Penrice, Jayva’s Business Development Director
If you’re a fan of our ‘coffee with’ blogs, you’ll know we quiz our employees on a series of questions about their professional and personal lives. To remind yourself of our Q&As from time gone past, have a quick recap of Joe Sclafani, Chris Nelson, Viona Retkowska and Rosa Pelaez-Venuela’s blogs.
In your brand-new issue, we’re firing the usual questions at Will Penrice, Business Development Director, to learn what makes him tick inside and outside of work. Now, let’s give the floor to Will…
What’s your business/professional motto?
I actually sit in the zone somewhere between ‘if you’re going to get wet, you might as well go swimming’ and ‘every mistake is a gift’. In other words, give your best effort to everything you do – all-or-nothing style. And, learn from mistakes made along the way. None of us is perfect. Mistakes can and do happen, giving plentiful learning opportunities.
How do you make contacts which are useful for business?
I really enjoy going to networking events, for example I recently attended LegalEx. This is arguably the biggest trade show in the legal calendar which connects professionals from all vertical sectors – consultants and trainers (like Jayva), software vendors, regulators, caterers, outsourcing service providers, you name it. The networking possibilities are immense.
It’s not just networking, it’s talking to people. And, talking doesn’t only happen at conferences. It takes place on dog walks, café visits, hill walks, wherever. The world is a small place. It’s said there are six degrees of separation between people. Otherwise known as the six handshakes rule, this concept states a ‘friend of a friend’ links any two people in a maximum of six steps.
So, we all need to be open to communication, recognise the tight-knit human web we live in and choose to engage with it. That, in a nutshell, is how I build connections – by talking and being present in the world.
Which individual has inspired you the most in your business life and in what way?
At university in Newcastle, I completed a degree in Politics and East Asia Studies with Japanese. Afterwards, I lived and worked in Japan. The whole experience fundamentally altered my perception of business.
In the Western world, people often think they’re either good at business or not. Capitalist culture teaches us it’s survival of the fittest. In the East, it’s about mutual respect and consideration of others. Everyone in Japan has been a great coach and mentor in my life because they’ve taught me to consider others before serving myself. Business transactions are mutual and win-win if undertaken respectfully.
What’s your proudest achievement in business?
I’m a huge camera nerd. Being part of an organisation in Japan that built a new camera system was my dream role. I was the liaison between two teams and played my part in building the system. It felt as if everything I’d learnt was meant for this job. The entire operation was based upon mutual respect for each other.
What do you think makes Jayva different?
One of Jayva’s strengths is its ability to adapt to changing marketplace demands and evolving working habits. Our service range and delivery methods have adapted accordingly. This stems from listening – to challenges faced, working patterns, technology requirements and support needs – then flexing to cater for it. As a smaller company, Jayva’s agile and this works in our favour by giving us the tools to adapt with ease.
What truly sets Jayva apart, though, are its wonderful people. Being both self-reliant and interdependent in equal measure, we’re individuals with our own skills as well as team players to get the job done together. Our team has been organically grown by Nicola Moore-Miller, our CEO, who’s actively recruited people with similar qualities and complementary personalities.
In terms of flexibility, our business model is built around our people and our clients. We’re there to cover New Zealand and USA time zones, and be outdoors walking along the beach in quieter moments. We’re firm believers in work-life balance and Nicola is leading by example here, as she mentioned in her Christmas message. We’re not burning the candle at both ends. We’re people with a life – and people come first.
Where previous generations thought luxury was about expensive perfume, lavish holidays, designer clothes or top-specification cars, we know the true meaning of luxury is time. And, that ethos sits at the heart of Jayva.
What’s Jayva’s greatest asset?
People, people, people. We have some incredible legal specialists who are industry experts in niches which, to be honest, I barely understand. Our asset is allocating the correct experts to the correct customer at the correct time. That’s what we’re reputed for doing consistently and continually. Our depth of knowledge and vast experience delights clients. It’s why our clients return time and time again when the need for training and consultancy support arises.
How does Jayva benefit from the unique skillset you bring to the business?
This is a tricky question to answer as I’m not good at blowing my own trumpet, so I posed the question to Nicola instead and this is what she had to say about my skillset:
“Will brings multi-faceted benefits to Jayva. Historically, we’ve employed legal sector specialists. There’s a snobbery in our industry about it being different and superior to other corporate sectors. Will’s new to legal which helps us to act and think as businesses do, rather than as law firms do. Having held many senior executive roles in sales, business development and marketing, and been involved in projects spanning mergers and acquisitions, demergers and restructures, he possesses vast amounts of global experience which is fundamental to our strategy now. Quite simply, Will’s skillset isn’t one which anyone else at Jayva has.
“For me, however, the most valuable things Will brings are his positive mental attitude and ability to form amazing connections with people. He’s all about people and relationships – the same values as Jayva. He cares, invests time in people and gets to know them, reads body language and between the lines. He has a knack of asking questions and pointing things out that allow me to see things from a different perspective.
“I genuinely can’t imagine running Jayva without Will. Everyone in our business appreciates his contributions, values his presence and enjoys his company. Will is loyal and I trust him implicitly. I know he has my back and Jayva’s back. I can discuss any aspect of business and work out solutions to challenges with him. He does this on a personal level too. To get to work with a brilliant businessman who’s also one of my best friends makes me very lucky indeed. We’re like the mum and dad of Jayva. The same as parents, we have fun and invest in our team, but we’re also driven and motivated to keep our business on track.”
Jayva’s Will Penrice
Give one tip for a successful business.
As intimated earlier, listen and be silent. Interestingly, these two words are anagrams of each other. They’re married and so they should be. Listening is extremely powerful in business as you learn from customers. You only get a chance to listen once. If you betray this opportunity, you’ll never get another chance. If you want customers for life, which we all do, listen to them.
Do you dress up or down for business?
Expectations around dress codes are different in the post-Covid era. Nowadays, I mostly dress down, even for conferences and client meetings. Trained sales professionals are taught to dress to match the customer anyway. When I know clients’ clothing rules, I dress appropriately.
If you hadn’t gone down your chosen career path, what would you be doing instead?
At school, I wanted to be a vet. Because maths isn’t my best subject, my teachers put me off this career so I didn’t pursue the veterinary science route. I was told I wouldn’t be good at biology either, but I still studied it to ‘A’ level regardless. In hindsight, I don’t think being a vet would have suited my personality. I love animals and couldn’t have put them to sleep. Life has a tendency to work out.
What item(s) do you always have with you?
As a photography enthusiast, my camera goes with me everywhere. It’s a device which allows me to see clearer and gives me a better awareness of what’s around me, enabling me to slow down and actually see into a scene rather than just looking at it.
At what time of day are you most creative or inspired?
On holiday, I’m great in the morning. On work days, I’m definitely not a morning person. Coffee time is somewhere from late morning until midday and that’s my most-productive period as I’m in the zone. Another productivity boost comes from 6pm to 9pm as I enjoy a second burst of energy. These two shifts are my sweet spots.
When do you take your coffee break – morning, afternoon, evening? And where do you take it?
I drink black coffee throughout the morning but have no coffee in the afternoon. Instead, I drink a 3pm cup of tea. This became a little bit of a joke when I lived in Japan because I convinced everyone that a 3pm cuppa is a long-standing British tradition. It’s a routine that’s stuck with me ever since.
Who would you most like to have a coffee with?
My two children are perfect coffee-drinking partners. My son, who’s picky about coffee, makes an awesome coffee. My daughter has good craic. A brew with both or either of my kids is always welcome.
It’d be interesting to meet someone from the history, like Leonardo da Vinci, to discover what they’re really like and see if they’re the same as what’s taught in school. So, I’d choose to have a coffee with anyone from history with a reputation.
How do you relax outside of work?
I’m into anything outdoorsy, for example, kayaking, dog walking, climbing, sailing, etc. I get immense energy from being out in all weathers. In fact, the more extreme the storm, the better. Right now, I’m working my way through the Wainwright books by tackling the 214 fells and hills in the Lake District.
What’s the most inspirational book you’ve ever read?
Jupiter’s Travels by Ted Simon is a book ahead of its time and one I’ve read repeatedly. It’s a travel book about the author travelling internationally on his Triumph motorbike – a bike gifted to him for the purpose of writing the book by his then-employer, The Times in London. Ted wasn’t bothered about the mechanical kit or its horsepower. He was inexperienced in such matters and literally taught himself as he went along, returning as an experienced man at the journey’s end.