Mike Harrison supports International Women's Day!

Mike Harrison supports International Women's Day and is acknowledging a wonderful woman!

To help celebrate International Women’s Day I would like to acknowledge a lady who has had a massive impact on me and my career.?It was around 2005 we first met, I was working for an ERP software company in Basingstoke and she and her team visited to discuss a brief for some brochureware we wanted to create.?We sparked up a conversation then and she must have seen something valuable in me because just 3 years later she invited me for an interview at Essential.?As with a lot of people in employment it does take many years before you realise what your true vocation is.?Up until that interview I had been a Traffic Research turned into a Technical Author then into an HTML developer and then into a Graphic Designer and then into a CRM Manager and a Technical Marketing everything sort of role – difficult to put a name on.??At that point I really didn’t know what I was – I just knew what I was good at.?

And so in 2008, I found myself chatting to her about a role at the Marketing Agency she had formed in the early noughties.??She explained that agencies benefit from having people who are multi-skilled rather than specialists as they don’t know what a client is going to throw over next.?She said I was perfect having such a diverse set of skills!?Wow!?And so as Head of Digital Marketing, we built together a multi-talented team able to take on a much more diverse workload from clients.?

In 2010 I was headhunted.?I was really happy at the agency but let’s be frank sometimes an offer is too good to pass on.??But I will also be frank in the fact that I would never have had that offer without the influence and support from the hero of this story.

I spent the next 7 years in a ‘one-man-band’ Marketing Director role which I enjoyed thoroughly, picking up a load more skills on the way too and also finding myself in the boardroom in ‘big-boys-shoes’ having strategic conversations, managing a much bigger team across two departments and all the while doing everything ‘marketing’, ‘website’ and ‘CRM’ for the organisation.

?At the start of 2017, feeling quite exhausted having gone through two company takeovers, my hero reached out to see how things were going.?It couldn’t have been more timely.?And so, not long after, I found myself back at the agency ….. home.

?I’m still here now and loving it.?

Sam Rudland , you have helped me to identify who I am in my career.?You have encouraged and pushed my development and expertise in multiple directions.?Understanding my skillset you have seen my potential and together we have developed so many things we can offer our clients it is hard to count.?You give me the time to explore new stuff, AI is the latest, and come back to the team with ideas and solutions.?You have put me on the Senior Leadership Team to have a say in the direction of the business.?You ask/listen to my opinions, feedback and views.?You value my input and my expertise.?You allow me to be honest and frank which makes having difficult conversations easy.?If we disagree or fall out, it is only for minutes not days.?You have been the biggest influence on my career.??You are generous, patient and kind and you have a rude sense of humour like me ??.?Thank you for everything you have done for me!?Mike