In the High Flyers spotlight this week is Patrick Minne, director of Engage Executive Talent
What was your first job?
Working a big mincing machine in a dog food factory. The workers who kept greyhounds for racing would keep the ox hearts for themselves. Those dogs had better diets than most of the people in the factory.
What qualifications do you have?
The most useful have are the MBA and an Advanced Diploma in Social Investment. I was assistant manager of a bar while I studied for a language degree in Scotland a long time ago. I learned more about how to deal with people in one weekend of shifts at that bar than I ever did at the university.
What do you attribute your success to?
I think it’s down to being open to learning from experiences and choosing only to work on things I value. I value the work that gets done in the third sector, so no matter how demanding it is to grow that work, I still find it easy to get up for in the morning.
How would you describe yourself to someone who’d never met you?
Friendly, reliable and dedicated.
Who do you look up to in business?
Muhammad Yunnus who started the micro-credit revolution in Bangladesh and who adapted techniques from banking, the world’s least trusted industry, to fund small businesses and lift people out of poverty in some of the poorest areas in the world.
How do you get the best out of people who work for you?
Trust them to want to get it right, support them as their confidence is building and make sure they get all the credit they’re due.
If you could change one thing about doing business in Northern Ireland, what would it be?
I couldn’t swing a golf club to save my life, so I wish fewer of the networking opportunities were to do with golfing, and more were to do with wine tasting or sampling baked goods.
What website or app could you not do without?
Don’t take WhatsApp away from me. I connect daily with so many lifelong friends and colleagues on it.
What was the last book you read?
Out of the Wreckage: A new politics for an age of crisis, by George Monbiot. I got so fed up reading about how everything is economically or politically broken, I wanted to read about someone, anyone, who thought they had a solution to fix it.
What car do you drive?
My wife has the car. I ride a 2014 BMW G650GS motorcycle.
Tell us something interesting about yourself?
Due to a clerical error at my confirmation, I have Patrick twice in my name.
What’s your greatest passion outside work and family?
Listening to and creating music. And the outdoors. Preferably together.
