5 minutes with

Gareth Farrell

What’s your life philosophy?

Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.

What makes you happy?

Travelling to new places with my family – I love a good family adventure. We’ve tackled Costa Rica and Vietnam. Sri Lanka lies ahead this year.

What’s your most prized possession?

I built a bar in the garden just before the pandemic. For me, it’s the perfect spot to have friends and family round and to kick back at the end of a week.

Best way to spend the weekend?

Early walk with the dog on a Saturday morning and some spinning followed by taking my lad to play football for his team. Then a trip to see the mighty Woking FC – my son and I are long-time sufferers! Friends round in the evening. Sunday is often a chill-out day – reading, catching up on sport and maybe Sunday family lunch in the pub.

Early bird or night owl?

A bit of both. The early hours are for dog walks, exercise and listening to a podcast. My best work is done late.

Favourite time of the year?

Autumn – the season of leaves, dog walks and roast dinners.

What is humankind’s greatest invention? Air travel, though not very eco. It’s enabled us to make the world a smaller place to explore.

What’s on your bucket list?

To do all three British Lions Rugby tours – I have ticked Australia off the list, but New Zealand and South Africa remain to be conquered at some point.

Gareth Farrell, 3M EMEA

CAREER Q&A

Describe your current job.

My current role is Director of Key Accounts for the Consumer Business Group at 3M in EMEA. I work with a great team spread right across EMEA to support and develop our relationships and our mutual business with our transnational customers. My role spans the different channels of office/business solutions, home improvement, retail and e-pureplay.

Who is your biggest inspiration?

My mum and dad. For what they achieved and for the sacrifices they made for me to have a great start in life.

Favourite book?

The Beekeeper of Allepo is up there.

What industry figure do you most admire?

I love listening to Brother’s Phil Jones MBE. What I admire most about Phil is his selfless approach to sharing his experience, insights and coaching with others and the fact he is so committed to learning more every day. To me, this is great thought leadership for so many people to benefit from.

Your guilty pleasure?

A mint Aero or Caramac – usually on a Friday afternoon.

What song puts you in a good mood?

Banana Boat Song by Harry Belafonte. Another Friday one – great to sing along to on the way home before the start of the weekend.

What skill would you like to master?

I have Celtic roots and would love to learn to play the uilleann (Irish) pipes.

Your favourite film?

The Godfather trilogy. The second one is my all-time favourite – legendary.

Your best piece of advice to people in this industry?

Look out rather than in for inspiration. I think our sector is having to do more of this naturally with the macro environment and pandemic experience. But learning from our customers’ needs and from practices in other industries, and testing concepts in the business solutions space should help us all expand the segment. It’s not office products, it’s business solutions.

What is the best way to stay motivated and complete goals?

It’s the simple stuff for me. To complete goals: have clear objectives, break them down and prioritise on a weekly basis, ticking them off as I go.

Motivation is an interesting one. What has helped me recently is journaling. I use The Five Minute Journal which lets me reflect on a day or a week. I never thought I would be the journaling type, but I believe it’s a great source of motivation and also helps me to digest the little things I have learned and progressed with.

Favourite office product?

Conscious bias, but it’s genuinely true for me – the Post-it Note, especially the super sticky variant!