18-19_NEW_GF.qxp_Grid 08/03/2023 10:59 Page 2
OVER THE
COUNTER
BY DAVID ROBERTSON OF JP POZZI, ELGIN AND BUCKIE.
Resignations and retirements have been a huge part of the news in the last few weeks - both within the trade and outside. Great leaders are hard to find and UK Greetings loses a true company man in James Conn as he decides to retire as ceo, someone who started at the bottom and has gone on to reach the very top. James was perhaps not the most famous leader to announce that he was stepping down - a certain, Nicola Sturgeon definitely had that honour. It got me thinking that how people lead is vitally important, not only at the top of business or government but within businesses like ours.
White Belt
Mentality UKG’s ceo James Conn is a great and honest guy. When we started our business, 35 years ago this June, James was our area manager. In all the ensuing years through Rustcraft, Carlton Cards, Gibson Greetings and many other parts of UKG, James has always been very supportive of our small family business. It is oft said that how you maintain the smallest cog in the wheel results in the smoothest journey and I always felt valued by James and his team. Mum and I wish him a long and happy retirement.
In the very same week as UKG issued the announcement that James was to retire, and Ceri Stirland is to step up into the role, the news hit about Scotland’s First Minister’s decision to retire from the post. I am not going to go into politics, but Nicola Sturgeon has to be admired in her work ethic, strength and sheer determination. Whether you agreed with Scotland’s separation from the UK or many of the policies she championed no one could deny that she has made strong decisions and in true great leader form was loved and loathed in equal measure. Running any political party in the last few years has been a pretty eventful place to be. Covid of course was a once in a lifetime event and Ms Sturgeon gained many admiring glances from the rest of the UK for what she did in Scotland during that time. Sometimes leaders are there simply for too long (I am not inferring this in Left: UKG’s ceo James Conn with PG’s editor Jakki Brown at PG Live. Above right: “Boom Boom!” Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon with Basil Brush.
18 PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE
James Conn’s case though!). In football parlance, you become tired of the same voice. If the manager doesn’t keep changing things up, introducing new players and tweaking the approach to team talks things can lose their impact and become a bit samey. Perhaps that is one of the reasons that Nicola felt she had to step away. She perhaps sensed that her message needed a new voice to deliver it. Many of you will be both a leader and a janitor, but even if you just have one or two members of staff, how you work with them and structure their jobs will have a huge impact on the success of your business. I suppose the first thing to really look at is if leadership and management are the same thing. If you really think about it, leading is the high level thinking part. You are tasked