ROBIN REFLECTS ON 30 YEARS AT STIHL GB
From fag-packet calculations to record sales
Robin Lennie, managing director of STIHL GB, who retires at the end of December, has given an entertaining and frank account of his 30-year career to the
Inside Agri-Turf podcast.
Speaking with host Chris Biddle he recalls working initially with the unconventional md Peter Baker who was not adverse to taking risks. As a newly appointed financial director he says that he soon came to understand Peter’s way of working. “He did not like long, drawn out financial analysis,” he says, “so he would say ‘Robin do me a ‘fag-packet’ (quick calculation).
“Despite our different approaches and backgrounds, there was real mutual respect between us.”
Robin is known as a ‘people person’ and has developed many close friendships with dealers up and down the country – albeit within a commercial relationship. He reflects on those occasions when policy changes, often brought about by legislation in other markets, could have upset long-standing dealers and friends. “The key is communication,” he says, “keep talking, keep explaining.”
He also recalls the time in 2016 when STIHL GB reached the £100m turnover mark for the year. “It was the very last day of the year, and very few people were about, but even those who rarely smiled had big grins on their faces!”
STIHL dealer and press trips to the company's plants in Europe were often talked about long after they took place. Robin says that STIHL is traditionally a very modest company, but the trips were described by STIHL management as a 'look behind the curtain'. An opportunity to see the company's philosophy and work ethic at first hand.
Asked what he regarded as his most important decision or achievement, he says that his close involvement in recruiting the right people for the company and building a team was the most satisfying.
Robin’s long arranged plans to visit all the regions in the country during 2020 and to host events to say goodbye and thank you to staff and dealers have been scuppered by the COVID restrictions.
“It was not the way I wanted to bow out,” he says, “but the disappointment is slightly tempered by the fact that we have reached over £120 million turnover for the year and had an incredible season despite worrying predictions in the Spring.”
Chris Biddle says that the conversation with Robin Lennie had one of the biggest downloads within 24 hours of going live last Monday - over 100 downloaded in the UK and overseas. The final Inside Agri-Turf podcast, Echoes from the Year, will go live on Monday 21 December.
How to resolve AdBlock issue? 
Comments (2)
Mr Duncan Murray-Clarke
reply
Ian Small
Wishing you a long and enjoyable retirement.
reply