BUSINESS TRAVELLER
Philip Verner, Regional Sales Director, CEM Systems How often do you travel, where to and why? It varies but can be two weeks in a month. As Sales Director for EMEA region I would currently travel throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa to support our business, particularly the Middle East. What are the three things you couldn’t do without when travelling on business? Passport, credit card and iPad. Have you found a good way to work while you are on the move? With the availability of BlackBerry, laptop and VPN access to the company internal networks it’s pretty easy to work when away and still be as connected as if you were in the office. What would be your top tips for anyone embarking on a job that involves a lot of travel? Understand how much travel is involved in the role. I have found that each person has a different threshold on what is too much travel for them. What’s your favourite App for passing the time? No one particular App, it varies over time and is generally downloaded by my kids! What do you enjoy most about travelling for work and what are the biggest challenges? Getting to meet and develop business relations in other countries is definitely a challenge but also enjoyable. It can also be very rewarding as there are much bigger opportunities in many overseas markets to develop our business. What location have you been most pleasantly surprised by or disappointed by? My first time in Mumbai, India was a major surprise. I had heard about the poverty in India, which there definitely is, but with its huge population, vivid colours, noise and bustle of the cities; it was definitely a culture shock. I found the country fascinating but it is also a hard place to do business. What do you look for in a good hotel when away on business? Clean hotel with WiFi and ideally an onsite bar that shows Premier League football so I don’t miss any Manchester United games whilst away! What’s your favourite airline and the best hotel you’ve stayed in? Favourite airline is Emirates, they have the newest A380 planes and great facilities. They are the major airline at Dubai Airport (one of our customers) so I use Emirates to travel regularly to Dubai and throughout the Middle East region. Best hotel I have been in (although unfortunately I have not actually stayed there) is Burj Al Arab in Dubai. Where are you off to next? Next long haul trip is to Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
100 JUNE 2013
Business Books MONEY: THE UNAUTHORISED BIOGRAPHY By Felix Martin (Random House) Money: the Unauthorised Biography unfolds a panoramic secret history and explains the truth about money: what it is, where it comes from, and how it works. Drawing on stories from throughout human history and around the globe, Money will radically rearrange your understanding of the world and shows how money can once again become the most powerful force for freedom we have ever known. SEVEN LEVELS OF COMMUNICATION By Michael Maher (Little, Brown) Michael Maher tells the inspiring story of real estate agent Rick Masters who is suffering through a down market when he meets a mortgage professional who has built a successful business without advertising or personal promotion. Step by step he learns to change the way he interacts with his clients and begins to focus on people instead of numbers. Yet with each new success comes a new challenge and Rick soon realises that if he is to fully utilise the lessons of the “(7L)”, he must be willing to change himself as well as his business. He soon learns, however, that the rewards for doing so are far greater than he had ever imagined. WHEN THE MONEY RUNS OUT By Stephen D King (Yale University Press) The Western world has experienced extraordinary economic progress throughout the last six decades, a prosperous period so extended that continuous economic growth has come to seem normal. But such an era of continuously rising living standards is an historical anomaly, economist Stephen D. King warns, and the current stagnation of Western economies threatens to reach crisis proportions in the not-so-distant future. The lessons of history offer compelling evidence that political and social upheaval are often born of economic stagnation. King addresses these lessons with a multifaceted plan that involves painful – but necessary – steps toward a stable economic future.
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