I like to get things done. I'm down-to-earth and pragmatic and my goal is to make an indelible mark during my time with Diageo. When I move on, I would like people to say: 'It was Dennis who made this happen when he was working with us.
I like to get things done. I'm down-to-earth and pragmatic and my goal is to make an indelible mark during my time with Diageo. When I move on, I would like people to say: 'It was Dennis who made this happen when he was working with us'.
Every one of the different roles I've held in HR so far – HR support, employee engagement manager, reward manager, HR manager, service delivery manager and now business partner - was new to me when I started. Every time there's been a steep learning curve for me and I've very much valued the freedom and coaching I've been given to step up and decide for myself the best way to proceed, within the boundaries of our policies and values. One of our Values in particular, ‘freedom to succeed’, really speaks to me.
People I admire have the ability to see talent and capability in other people and help bring these things out. In a secondment role I held in Uganda it was my manager who challenged me to go for the opportunity, as part of my development. At the time I wasn’t sure how it was going to work out, considering that both the market and the role were foreign to me, but he encouraged me that I could do the job and that he believed in me. I didn't know that I had it in me, but he was right! He saw my potential and encouraged me to go ahead and take a risk. It was a really valuable and enjoyable experience, and now I am willing to do something like that again.
I think that valuing everyone's unique talents and ability is the platform on which Diageo and every other company succeeds. Respecting the range of skills, experiences and perspectives that people have to offer and melding them together creatively makes a winning team. I'm proud that Diageo is viewed as a benchmark by other companies in Africa. This is a performance driven environment that gets people working at their best, and brings out everything they have the potential, and the courage, to be.