#PhonexaPhenoms: Always The Youngest Guy In The Room

This is David “Dave” Pickard — the Chief Executive Officer of Phonexa in the United Kingdom.?

As peers and team members describe him, Dave is an unconventional guy breaking barriers and challenging the conventional stereotypes of what a CEO should be.?

Dave’s leadership style is marked by his natural willingness to teach and inspire those around him.?

In his 30 years of life, he has accomplished the ultimate success — as a CEO, son, dad, leader, and friend in the workplace. But while it all may appear effortless, Dave has gone down a distinctive and rocky road marked by valuable lessons, challenges, and eventual growth.??

Born to British parents in Johannesburg, South Africa, Dave lived a happy childhood. As the youngest of three siblings, he enjoyed the admiration of his parents and his two sisters 10 and 13 years older.?

His afternoons in South Africa were filled with memories of the entire family having a barbeque by the pool, him playing around with his two dogs, or getting picked on by his sisters and their friends for always hanging around the older crowd.?

Being the youngest in the group never bothered Dave, and neither did getting picked on. As a matter of fact, this theme came to shape much of the occurrences in his life — he was always the youngest guy in the room who had to try harder to impress everyone with his wisdom.?

When Dave was 9-years-old, the Pickards made the ultimate move to the United Kingdom. While familiar to his parents and sisters as their home, the UK was a foreign land to Dave.?

In the new country, he had to go through many of the motions typical to an immigrant child.?

New classmates called him “the guy with the funny voice” because of his South African accent. So he did what he knew best and worked extra hard to overcome his new realities in a place where few things reminded him of his carefree days in South Africa.?

It didn’t take long for Dave to pick up the British accent and get acclimated to the new life in the United Kingdom.?

But at 19, he had a son, and it shifted the direct projection of his future, as he quit school to start working to provide support.?

“I never really had the time to think about what I was missing out on when all of my friends were going off to college and living their lives — and here I was a 19-year-old father,” he said. “But I never thought of it as missing out. I just needed to make the best of it.”

Despite the challenges, Dave rose to his potential.?

“I loved being a dad from the beginning. I worked crazy hours, so I missed some of the big moments, but that was just part of the territory,” he said.?

Becoming a father at a young age made Dave mature faster, but it also took him through experiences that have since molded him into an inspiring leader at Phonexa.

Before finding his calling at Phonexa, Dave studied and grew his way through jobs in various industries that covered sales, insurance consulting, designing wireless networks, and running lead generation businesses. These experiences eventually led Dave to decide that he wanted to become a marketing leader.?

That’s when he met his namesake David Gasparyan, the founder and President of Phonexa.?

“From the very beginning, we spoke the same language. We understood each other,” said Pickard.?

After working on a few projects with Gasparyan, Pickard eventually joined Phonexa in 2016 and worked to launch the company’s efforts in Bournemouth, England.?

In his new role, Dave was tasked with growing the company’s impact and reach in the UK and the rest of Europe. While an enormous task, Dave knew that he had what it took to thrive.?

“I joined the company because the ceiling of growth is limitless here. This is my forever home now; my success depends on how far I want to take it,” he said. “There’s a trust cycle, and you have to prove yourself, and that’s the baptism I’ve had to go through to get to where I am. There is nothing I can’t do because I am surrounded by the most supportive leaders.”

Since becoming CEO of Phonexa UK in 2019, Dave has applied encouraging leadership tactics to motivate his team toward greatness.?

“Since the beginning, I had the rope to go make my own mistakes and learn from them,” he said. “That’s what I know works well, and that’s how I like to be with my team. I want my team to be flexible because it drives responsibility, which brings leadership and breathes growth.”

Dave said the key to his success is to be grateful and content but never satisfied with his achievements.?

“Being unhappy with some things in life isn’t a bad thing at all,” he said. “It keeps you motivated to go and reach for the next big thing.”?

While he’s had a handful of doubtful moments en route to perseverance, Dave has continued to uphold his leadership and success standards.?

In his role as CEO, he adheres to an ideology.

“I’m selling a dream and an idea,” he said. “To get someone to buy into that, you need them to trust you and believe what you’re saying is true. For that to happen, you need to first understand their business and what they’re trying to achieve in their world.”?

In the industry, Dave is often the youngest guy in the room, and as he explains it, he’s had to work even harder to impress people to earn trust and respect.

“I play with what I have. I’m young, covered in tattoos, and there’s nothing I can do to change that,” he said. “So I help people understand that there is so much more to me than the things that stand out first. It’s only with that confidence that I’ve impressed even the smartest guys in the room.”