Sean Robinson

Sean Robinson

MBA, 1996

About me

About my career

After I finished my MBA, I was the Divisional Director for compact excavators at a local Manchester company called FERMEC, which was later acquired by Case Corp. I was headhunted for the role to establish the division by transferring technology from Japan to Manchester and building a brownfield site, recruiting all employees, etc. Prior to this role, I was trained at BAE where I completed a four-year apprenticeship and was lucky enough to be selected for a management training scholarship, and part of that was sponsoring my undergraduate degree – as well as working in almost every aspect of the aircraft manufacturing industry.

I think the combination of solid training and hands-on practical experience (notwithstanding learning from some excellent leaders), allowed me to bring a broad set of skills to FERMEC. Over the next 20 years or so I spent the time working in senior positions in some well-known branded companies, mainly general management but always driving change and growth.  This was a very interesting time living outside Europe.

My current role is back in the EU, leading a multinational group of companies, serving 85 countries with five brands in the garden machinery business. I am tasked with enhancing the group’s performance (product, service, profitability and trading competitiveness, etc).  A lot of my time is spent on people and culture, in particular sensing the environment (internal and external) and adjusting our operating performance to make the best advantage of each situation. All this whilst keeping the business on track for our mid - long-term strategic plan. One of my challenges is keeping to the right level of detail - sometimes that is operating at 10,000m looking at say, the market dynamics and sometimes that is operating at 1m making sure the knowledge of a particular technology is really understood.

Leadership is complex and I’m sure you’ll pick up many definitions, mine is simply this: ‘being a leader means you have to have a vision of which direction you want to go, you have to have broad and keen senses of what is happening around you, you have to communicate that direction to your people, you have to persuade and build belief so people will follow you and importantly you have to be ruthless in execution – getting things done.”

My time at Manchester Met was where I began to hone my persuasive skills, whether through argumentation/ debate, proper use of facts or just listening to others, ways of thinking.

Since I completed my MBA, I have continued my professional development. I am a Chartered Engineer.  In addition, I spend a lot of time in our engineering and marketing functions and I learn a lot from the people around me all the time.

My top tip for students

Finding a job is a marathon - I guarantee it will happen but it can take time so perseverance is needed. Employers also look for that in candidates, so having more determination and resilience than the next candidate will do you no harm whatsoever. Progressing your career takes patience, skill and agility. Ultimately, you are in a competition - but to win the competition you have to demonstrate you can be an individual but also collaborate easily within a team… push; but only at the right time. Work on your situational awareness.

One piece of advice someone gave me and I believe it is true – if you want the next promotion, operate and behave like you already have it… make the choice easy for the decision makers.

Finally do not be a sheep, be yourself.

I’m inspired by

People who care about others, who look at the world and think positively, challenge the popular views and want to do things differently and better than before… look around and I am sure you find plenty of people like that. I am not inspired by people who do the opposite.

Why I love Manchester Met

The three things I loved about my time at Manchester Met are beer, curry and arguing about everything with the cohort from economics to branding to strategy.

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