Being Positive

Speciality Bites with

Paul Hargreaves

Chief executive of Cotswold Fayre

• Becoming a B Corp
• Top trend predictions for Christmas 2021
• Self-sacrifice: The importance of building a leadership legacy centred on others
• Undercover Boss
• Can/should bosses really be close friends with their staff?

I learnt two lessons this week, both on the theme of being positive

It’s so easy – especially as the British summer ends – to be all ‘doom and gloom’ and not see every day as an opportunity to connect with our fellow human beings. I was guilty of this last Thursday at 5:00am when I was on the way to Gatwick Airport to catch a flight to Marseilles on a buying trip, courtesy of an organisation in the UK working on behalf of the FRIAA.

To be honest, it had been too long-winded in the planning and I didn’t really want to be there. Madness had hit our office and warehouse, both of which are currently deluged with pre-Christmas orders, and I felt I should stay behind in the office and to help out (they always seem to think if I am not in the office I am not working!).

However, my mood changed soon after arriving in the south of France. The autumn warmth helped, as did the amazing organisation that had gone into an event for just four UK buyers, myself being one of them. I was quite overwhelmed at so much effort having gone in for our behalf – after all, even I am not that important!

Anyway, when I remembered my grumpy mood in the morning, I was humbled. How often is life like this? Generally we tend to under-expect, which means that we can under-achieve, and therefore not maximize every opportunity. I think I did pull this one back in the end, with some help from the enthusiastic marketing manager at the FRIAA.

Secondly, I have experienced the opposite of someone being positive towards me and my business this week. Indeed ‘negative’ and ‘destructive’ might be more appropriate words to use! I am a great believer in maintaining positive relationships with all those you come across in business – even competitors and those that you may have fallen out with in the past. Life really is too short to hold grudges or not to maintain positive relationships and this industry is certainly too small.

Imagine then my surprise this week to hear that a former supplier has on at least three occasions been very negative about me and my company – with no good reason at all, in my humble opinion! Quite simply we gave his products a fair crack of the whip, investing money in getting them into retailers, but they simply didn’t sell. After 18 months, we looked at the sales and decided we couldn’t continue.

An email was written outlining the decision at the time. But this person has, on at least three occasions, been very negative to people I know (he didn’t know that they knew me). What does this actually achieve? You can’t live your life like that! I have written him a cordial e-mail asking him to stop. I wonder whether I will get a reply?

Have a good – and very POSITIVE – week!