In the latest episode of the unLTD Business Podcast, host James Marriott sat down with Alicia Hewitt, the dynamic 25-year-old managing director of Secure Power. If you’d like to listen to the podcast click here, below is a transcript of the interview.
Alicia’s career trajectory is relatively unconventional, starting out as an apprentice after leaving school and rising to the top of a company that provides essential uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) to a diverse range of clients.
First of all, could you introduce yourself?
I’m Alicia Hewitt, 25 years old, and the managing director here at Secure Power. My role is to oversee the operation of the business: the day-to-day running, sales, finance, service, engineering – the whole area.
That’s a lot of responsibility! What does the business do?
We provide uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) to any business and any individual. That could range from a server cabinet in a commercial property, hospitals for lighting or power for schools. Anything, really, that needs backup power.
I was a bit late getting here for the interview because I had issues with a parking app that wouldn’t work. I couldn’t pay for my eggs in Morrisons this morning, as there just happens to be a worldwide IT outage. A slightly different issue, but a reminder that we’re all a bit vulnerable to this.
Yes, I think every business has a standard continuity plan, but within that plan often sits backup power. The method of working from home is now very prevalent too, so this also means you need backup power, even down to the Under Desk PDU (Power Distribution Unit), which has backup power within that.
What kind of businesses do Secure Power work with?
Normally it’s B2B (Business-to-business). So, IT resellers, large end-users, a whole range. Nobody can be without power now, so we have a whole range of customer bases.
Do these places use the stuff that you put in? As in, does it sit there never to be needed or have they had situations where the work you’ve done for them has come into its own?
UPS is very good at its job, and especially the monitoring side of things. So, you might get an email at three in the morning that you’ve had a power outage, but the UPS has done its job and sorted it, so there’s not really any cause for concern.
We have a huge service arm of the business, where our engineers go out to the site, they maintain the UPSs, they do battery impedance testing, black start testing if they need to with the customer. The support is there if the customer needs it. What we offer is so broad, but we know it’s also very crucial, so the emphasis on support has to be there.
I’d like to dig a little into your story, and your journey – it’s not the typical route. Would you care to tell us what led you to this position?
I’ll start right at the beginning, always the best place! I left school knowing I didn’t want to stay in education. It wasn’t really me; I wasn’t academic. Numbers, words? I was average, not great. I knew the apprentice route was for me, so I left school, and the next working week I started a job.
I was doing admin, helping out with accounts, all the day-to-day things that needed assisting. I was there for about a year, and then I decided I was ready for a new challenge and a new career. I wanted some progression, as I’ve always been very ambitious. Always looking for the next thing – whether that’s good or bad, I’m not too sure! I started here at Secure Power just under nine years ago as an apprentice, and I did my Level Three in Business Admin.
Then I think I just saw green lights – I took every opportunity that came up. Maintenance, project managing, sales, order processing, finance, quoting – all of it, really. Inevitably this got me into the role I have now as managing director. The journey has been quite crazy in the past nine years or so!
It’s inspiring hearing people talk of a journey that is not the norm. It’s probably not unusual to hear people in the position you’re in say they didn’t get on that much with school. I had a conversation this morning with someone about the school system being a bit weird.
The way job interviews work is weird too, like how you’ve got this one moment in time to prove whether you’re good at something. It feels like some bits of the system are further behind, and some people could be good at a job but never get the opportunity to do it because they don’t tick that box at that moment in time.
How have you seen the business change in your time here?
When I started there were only about eight people in situ at the time. Everything else was subcontracting in terms of engineering, and then over time, we’re now a team of 24. We decided to change the way the service division worked, getting more involved in hiring our own engineers – that was a big step for us. The right step, at the right time.
A lot of how the business is run now focuses on processes, which makes us a lot more efficient than we were before. That then means we’re in a position where we can hire more effectively.
As you mentioned earlier, when you interview, it is often that the right thing is said at the right time. And I think that’s really tricky, because everyone says things when they think it’s right and it comes down to how the other person interprets that. One area in which we introduced a process was interviewing.
Each individual that came in for an interview got the opportunity to understand the business rather than focus on selling themselves. They needed to understand whether the business was for them, as well as the other way around.
You mentioned you’d gone from eight to twenty-four colleagues in the time you’ve worked there. Are any of those eight still there now?
Yeah! I think four or five of us are still here. They’ve done remarkably well, now in managerial roles. They have set amazing examples for new people coming into the business and we drive that culture side.
We like to keep it light-hearted. We know there’s a business to run and we have targets to achieve, and we all want to do really well, but at the same time, culturally we have to understand that that’s what makes everything tick.
What is it like managing the people who you used to look up to in the business?
That’s been a really challenging point internally for me, navigating conversations that need to be had, and setting some boundaries that probably weren’t there before but very much need to be there now.
We’re very much on a journey of growth. Certain areas need to be solid, we need to follow criteria, so having those conversations in the right manner and right environments was tough, but I’m definitely glad I took control and had those conversations.
Do you feel there are elements of your leadership style influenced by your journey in how you got to where you are now?
I think it’d be hard for that not to happen. I’m a very ambitious person, so if there’s an individual in the business who wants to have a career and a journey, I’m very much on board with that. I’ll do what we can as a business to make sure it’s beneficial to both parties. I am so proud of the business and the people within it.
You’re in a really unique position to inspire not just younger generations but also the wider business community, due to your journey coming directly from school. What kind of stuff do you do within the industry and business community to help explain that story?
What’s interesting to me is that, only in the last two months or so, I think I’ve acknowledged the journey that I’ve been on. I think in the past five years or so, I’ve been laser-focused on how the business operates, making it profitable, driving the business forward, so I’ve not acknowledged what’s been happening. An area I want to focus on is younger people and inspiring that generation.
I love Sheffield. I find it so warm, the community in Sheffield is unbelievable. I’m so grateful for all the businesses that help us. A lot of what I’ve achieved in the past 12 months wouldn’t have been possible had it not been for the support of a lot of local businesses and local individuals.
We spoke briefly about schools. What would you like to see changed in the system that could help people realise their potential and their dreams?
That’s a big question. What I will say is that I’m not sure youngsters, teenagers, or young adults get their knowledge of owning a home, understanding tax, wage slips, even going to the doctors and dentist from school. I don’t think people have any experience of that. I think that should be taught.
I bought my first house when I was 18, and I had no idea; I’d never spoken to a solicitor before, I didn’t know what the land registry was, but I knew that’s what I wanted. I think that if people were educated at a younger age in these sorts of things, or had access to the information that they need, I think that would drive some internal ambition for them.
They’d be able to go, ‘No, I can do that, I just need to understand how to do it.’ One thing I often say is, ‘We’ll deal with it.’ No matter at work or at home – and it drives my husband mad – I’m always saying, ‘We’ll deal with it’.
That’s a great ethos. Your business has allowed you to thrive. What could other businesses learn from yours?
I think the understanding of what the individuals are trying to achieve themselves. We do monthly one-to-ones, hold position contracts for progression. That comes from communication. Asking the right questions at the right time, getting the right response back, and that comes from an open culture.
Giving people the opportunity to say where they’re wanting to go helps businesses massively. Especially business leaders, because it can be lonely at the top sometimes – you’ve got a lot to deal with, you’re not necessarily involved in the day-to-day which, for me, is exactly what I used to do. It was a big step to let go of that. Having a strong management team is a great factor, and being open and able to have the right conversations is key.
As managing director now, looking back over the last nine years, is there anything you’d have done differently?
Right now, I’d say no, because I’m a big believer of whatever steps you took got you to where you are right now. Do I think that my internal brain could have been more focused or less nervous? Maybe. In certain situations, 100%. But that comes with time and confidence. The last eight years have been unknown at every step.
I’ve not really got anyone to relate to at any point of my journey in life, so I’ve had to navigate that path on my own. But no, otherwise, I wouldn’t change anything. There’s a reason we’re all sat where we are now and that’s due to what’s happened previously.
You spoke of green lights before. What comes next now?
Green lights. That’s all I can see. The business is in a very good place where we have such a solid foundation that anything that comes up, we can handle. We’re full of ambition, from top to bottom. I’m excited to see what is to come in the next few years.
If you want to find out more about Secure Power, you can find them on LinkedIn, their website, or call 0800 080 3118.
