Tom Davenport runs Alvius, a B2B SaaS company in the staffing recruitment space.
We spoke about the untapped potential of working mothers, the surprising reason why AI won’t take Tom’s job and the book to put all your existential crises into perspective once and for all.
Cecily Motley: Can you start by giving us a sense of your career thus far?
Tom Davenport: I run Alvius, a B2B SaaS company in the staffing recruitment space. At the beginning of my career I had a lot more clarity on what I was doing and why. But it was impossible that I could have predicted what I would be doing now, ten years later. So I think circumstance and chance have played increasingly large parts in my career. What I’m trying to do now is understand what the cards are that I’ve been dealt and play them as best I can.
CM: And can you tell us a good startup story?
TD: At the last company I ran we did an April Fools. It was a job ad for the “normal” friend of a celebrity. The job description said you had to be as comfortable enjoying a five-star meal in LA as you are in the first class lounge at Heathrow - so, you know, we put it out on April 1st and it was so obviously a joke. But we received loads of sincere applications. When we told them it wasn’t real, some of them were really, really unhappy.
CM: Hah! What do you think has been your greatest management success?
TD: In my last company, we built up a client services/sales team that was nearly all mothers working part-time. While the company wasn't successful in the end, that team was a huge success in terms of output, ROI, team spirit… These mothers were working totally flexibly - whatever moments of the day suited them, two days, three days a week - and it just worked.
If you asked a 21 year old to juggle two or three jobs, they might take advantage of the flexibility. But in this situation they just weren’t interested in that, they wanted to do the job really well. Having said that, I don’t currently have a team of this configuration. So it is role specific; you can’t always just introduce epic flexibility. But sales is a good place for it.
CM: That is amazing. The loss of women from the labour market when they become mothers is one of the biggest failings of our political system. Ok, and what is your biggest management challenge?
TD: The biggest management challenge that most people face is honestly getting used to terminating people. You cannot be an effective leader if you do not have that in your arsenal. Now, no one should relish it, but it should be done rationally and clear-mindedly. And the first few times you do it, it won’t be, because you’ll be scared, but it’s a hurdle that you just need to get over. Once you’ve done it a few times and you see those people go on to do roles that are right for them, that makes it easier.
CM: What is your slam dunk interview question and why?
TD: “How do we make money?” This question tells you several things.
- Have they done any research? It doesn’t have to be loads, but if they haven’t done any research, it’s a non-starter.
- It demonstrates whether the individual has a degree of commercial awareness or not. It doesn’t matter if they get it wrong, what matters is that they are seeing your organisation as a commercial enterprise and not just as a product.
- People do generally get it wrong but that then allows you to nudge and see how they think. If they say, “I imagine you charge per user,” but actually we charge by subscription, you can say “ok, we don’t, but why might we not do that?” It allows you to discover whether that person is good at critical thinking, at reacting to information, which is basically what you’re looking for.
CM: What's the bane of your professional life?
TD: Someone saying they’ll do something and then not doing it.
CM: What should we be reading right now and why?
TD: Stalingrad by Antony Beevor, because things aren’t likely to get that bad in any situation.
CM: What would you pay good money to know about your peers and competitors?
TD: Egotistically, I’d be fascinated to know what they think of us. But perhaps the more business-useful way of thinking about that is when a prospective client mentions Alvius to one of our competitors - and we’re competing for that client - how do they put the client off us? What’s the weakness they pull out? I’d like to know what that is.
CM: Interesting. Ok, and do you think AI is going to take your job?
TD: No, for two reasons. I think constitutionally we have to assume that it won’t.
Secondly - and I’m defining my job here as being running and trying to grow an organisation… well, I think AI probably will get to the point of being capable of that. But the bottom line is we don’t want it to do that.
Take social media. We have not taken social media to its ultimate conclusion because we don’t like the ultimate conclusion, which is something like your value being defined completely by your digital footprint. It isn’t just that the government regulates social media. It’s that we as individuals just don’t want that. Humans have a pretty distinguished history of self preservation and at the point that we realise that our entire identity and purpose is at risk, we will respond. I don't know yet how we will respond, but in the same way that I feel pretty confident that we will respond to climate change, I’m confident we will respond to this.
CM: What is your life hack?
TD: I have recently allowed the humble pen and notebook to take over my existence. I’ve totally embraced it and it’s been wonderful.
CM: What is your slam dunk interview question and why?
TD: “How do we make money?” This question tells you several things.
- Have they done any research? It doesn’t have to be loads, but if they haven’t done any research, it’s a non-starter.
- It demonstrates whether the individual has a degree of commercial awareness or not. It doesn’t matter if they get it wrong, what matters is that they are seeing your organisation as a commercial enterprise and not just as a product.
- People do generally get it wrong but that then allows you to nudge and see how they think. If they say, “I imagine you charge per user,” but actually we charge by subscription, you can say “ok, we don’t, but why might we not do that?” It allows you to discover whether that person is good at critical thinking, at reacting to information, which is basically what you’re looking for.
CM: What's the bane of your professional life?
TD: Someone saying they’ll do something and then not doing it.
CM: What should we be reading right now and why?
TD: Stalingrad by Antony Beevor, because things aren’t likely to get that bad in any situation.
CM: What would you pay good money to know about your peers and competitors?
TD: Egotistically, I’d be fascinated to know what they think of us. But perhaps the more business-useful way of thinking about that is when a prospective client mentions Alvius to one of our competitors - and we’re competing for that client - how do they put the client off us? What’s the weakness they pull out? I’d like to know what that is.
CM: Interesting. Ok, and do you think AI is going to take your job?
TD: No, for two reasons. I think constitutionally we have to assume that it won’t.
Secondly - and I’m defining my job here as being running and trying to grow an organisation… well, I think AI probably will get to the point of being capable of that. But the bottom line is we don’t want it to do that.
Take social media. We have not taken social media to its ultimate conclusion because we don’t like the ultimate conclusion, which is something like your value being defined completely by your digital footprint. It isn’t just that the government regulates social media. It’s that we as individuals just don’t want that. Humans have a pretty distinguished history of self preservation and at the point that we realise that our entire identity and purpose is at risk, we will respond. I don't know yet how we will respond, but in the same way that I feel pretty confident that we will respond to climate change, I’m confident we will respond to this.
CM: What is your life hack?
TD: I have recently allowed the humble pen and notebook to take over my existence. I’ve totally embraced it and it’s been wonderful.