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A Week in My Life: Myles Leach, Managing Director of NFON UK

Myles Leach

Myles Leach, Managing Director of cloud telephony company NFON UK, takes us through a week in his working life. To suggest another senior media or creative figure for A Week In My Life, please email david@prolificnorth.co.uk.

Monday

My day started with a 6am alarm, which is a novel lie-in for the start of my week. Normally at this time I am two hours into a four-hour commute to my UK HQ in London, but since we opened our Manchester office in September, I can now start my week much closer to my home in Sale.

I’m in the office by 8.00am and immediately get my caffeine fix, before starting an all-hands company meeting. We already have a number of people working from our Manchester office and they are doing brilliantly; they are working closely with the team in London but having this Northern base has meant that we can service our Northern partners much more efficiently. We run through the weekly priorities and it’s all hands-on deck by 9am.

My day is spent running face-to-face and virtual meetings with departmental heads, reviewing reviews and plans for next year, as I prepare to fly out to Munich tomorrow to meet with NFON management.

I manage to finish at a decent time, which is a pleasant surprise for my wife, so we head out to nearby restaurant, Chez Nous, for my favourite lamb dinner of and glass of red. I am back in time to catch the news, whilst packing my suitcase and triple checking I haven’t forgot my travel documents and passport!

Tuesday

It makes sense to go straight to the airport today, so I check-in early and head to the lounge to check emails. I normally fly Lufthansa, which I find a great airline as they nearly never have delays. As it’s short haul I go standard class – I feel quite strongly that if the flight is less than three hours it’s unnecessary to charge the company for a more expensive ticket, which you barely get time to enjoy!

I grab a pastry and coffee and log-in. My schedule is already looking busy, so I double confirm meetings and ensure that there are clear agendas.  Once I land I get a taxi straight to our Munich office. I am straight into a partner meeting.

By 7pm I have checked into my hotel and ordered a light dinner via room service. An early night is definitely on the cards so that I am fresh and ready for a full day of meetings with NFON’s C-suite tomorrow.

Wednesday

The day starts very early and by 9am we are deep into budget planning. This isn’t just UK focused, my country counterparts are also there so we are all very conscious that we each get a good piece of the pie next year. The UK is in a good position with another year of strong growth almost behind us. The UK market is doing really well – businesses want and need to move voice to the cloud – they have been doing it with data for years and they recognise the cost saving and enhanced functionality they will get by switching.

I spend the morning outlining the key focuses for the UK – growth opportunities and what tools and budget I need to help my team go from strength to strength. It all goes well and I am feeling very positive when we break for lunch at midday.

In the afternoon I am pleased to greet some of my UK team who have flown out for  various meetings on next year’s  strategy. Marketing is a key area and we want to up the anti by going bigger and better next year, so we map out the key trade shows and content requirements. Our Chief Sales Officer joins the meeting and he seems very pleased with our ambitions.

Thursday

The day starts early as I have booked an early flight back, so that I don’t waste too much of the day in the air. The coffee is much appreciated on my flight home as I get informed just before we take off that an important partner meeting is taking place in London tomorrow, so I make the  decision to drive straight to our London office in Uxbridge so I can join it.

To try and maximise the ‘dead time’ driving the four hours down the M6 and M40 I make a number of calls to key team members that weren’t in Germany.

I eventually arrive at the London office early afternoon and join prep meetings for tomorrow’s catch up. By early evening we leave to have a casual dinner at a nearby Prezzo and I’m in bed at the local Premier Inn by 11pm.

Friday

The partner meeting goes well and I feel pleased that I joined – it’s clear that there are lots of joint opportunities so it was good to discuss how best we can maximise these in the coming months. Being in the London office also means that I am in the right place to join some second stage interviews with some prospective candidates for our sales team.

Come mid afternoon I am back on the road for the long drive up to Manchester. I have a busy weekend planned – my daughter, son in law and my two grandsons are due to come up for the weekend from their house in Cambridge. I still find it hard to believe that I am a grandparent, but to be fair nothing quite makes you feel your age than energetic toddlers that need to be entertained!

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