By Business & Finance 
Andrew Baird
Andrew Baird, Managing Director, Logicalis Ireland takes on the Business & Finance 60-second interview challenge.
Q. What was your first job? My first ever job was aged 11. I used to handpick potatoes in a field owned by my father’s parish. Of course it wasn’t the most glamorous of roles and I was absolutely exhausted at the end of each day, but it taught me about the importance of having a hard work ethic and putting in the long hours to reap the rewards. Q. What would you regard as your greatest achievement to date? It would have to be building the talented team at Logicalis Ireland. Our aim is to simplify complex IT integrations for organisations, which means we need the highest quality solutions and the most skilled people. During the 25 years we’ve been operating in Ireland, we’ve combined a wide range of skillsets and brought together over 600 years of collective experience. That strength translates in the work we do for clients. Our people have made us a market leader and a trusted provider for a large number of Irish companies. Speaking of which, I am also immensely proud of the customer base we’ve grown and the partnerships we’ve formed over the years. Q. In three words or fewer, how do you define success? Pride in performance. Q. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given? Surround yourself with a good team of advisers, but never ignore your instinct. While it’s vital to have people that can share their wisdom and assist you in making decisions, gut instinct is one of the most accurate indicators of a great opportunity or a terrible mistake. Thankfully I haven’t had any of the latter! Q. How do you motivate yourself and your staff? It’s about giving people the ability and the opportunity. First and foremost, that means having challenging but achievable objectives for each member of staff. It’s vital to then create an environment where they can fulfil their potential and are aware of the rewards associated with reaching their targets. For me, enabling people is key. I don’t measure my own success in terms of what I do but rather on seeing those around me be successful. If I can make myself redundant so to speak – that is, I reach a place where I am able to move up or onto something else because those around me are thriving – I’ve reached the top. Q. If you could step into the shoes of one business person for the day, who would it be and why? It might seem like a surprising choice but I would say, at this moment in time, it would be Teresa May. While she’s not a businessperson, the choices she is making will have a major impact on Ireland and all our businesses. The environment in which she is working is both incredibly challenging and historically significant. Q. How do you relax? I love sport. As well as playing golf, I referee rugby games in my spare time. I was actually an active referee up until two or three years ago. Now I coach a bit and do the timekeeping for international matches. There’s no better place to clear the mind after a busy or stressful day in work than on the pitch. When refereeing, you have to forget everything else and focus on the moment, on the match. You have no other option and it’s a great feeling. Q. What’s your motto? Take every decision as if you owned the company. This approach makes you think about all the various outcomes for both the business and the staff, so you start to view your choice from a totally different, and much broader, perspective. Q. What are your aspirations for the future of your business? For Logicalis Ireland to be the go-to ICT company for employees, companies and partners that want to enable innovation in an increasingly digitised world. We recently invested in our own digital transformation, which included the creation of 25 jobs, so that we can better support our clients and lead by example. It’s vital that both we and our customers are the ones shaping change, rather than simply adapting to it.
Take every decision as if you owned the company.
