MEET THE BOSS

A WEEK IN THE LIFE

MEET THE BOSS

The new managing director at DAF Trucks, Laurence Drake, takes the helm as the brand celebrates 25 years as market leader, but also deals with the fallout from a global pandemic. Even without the coronavirus to contend with, the average working week is always a very hectic one.

Words: Ronnie Hitchens

Photographs: DAF Trucks/Laurence Drake

Laurence Drake, 45, was appointed managing director of DAF Trucks in September 2019 – he is, we think, the youngest MD among all the truck OEMs. He is also a dyed-in-thewool DAF man and has remained so since joining the company in 2000, after two years with a not-for-profit organisation studying management accountancy.

His first role was managing a small team as a financial accountant, before becoming credit manager with responsibility for dealer and customer credit lines. With bold ambition, Drake was keen to climb the career ladder and, even then, he set his sights on the company’s top job, “I cared about the business and I wanted to be involved in everything – especially the people,” he says.

A move to PACCAR Financial introduced him to a larger role, after which followed a period in sales operations where he fronted seven major fleet accounts. Around 18 months later and Drake became a member of the management team where he helped move the company’s repair and maintenance offering into DAF. This aftersales role was more customer-focused, which proved invaluable. He was then appointed business planning director responsible for marketing, systems, helpdesk, DAFaid and training. This three-year tenure exposed him to the inner workings of the business; again, a crucial part of the MD toolkit. Most recently, Drake’s role as sales director provided him with the essential opportunity to establish relationships with key customers.

We caught up with the MD and asked him to describe a typical week:

Monday: I’m up at 6.20am to feed the dog and make the lunches for the kids. Leaving the house at 7.30am gets me to the office at around 8.10am, which gives me 50 minutes before the phone starts ringing and people start knocking on the door. I use this ‘quiet’ time to catch-up on reading and answering emails. At 9.00am, I sit down with my PA, Jackie, and we both wonder how I‘m going to fit everything into one week!

Mondays generally mean my senior managers are in and, after our weekly company-wide update meeting at 10.00am, we have a senior management meeting where each week we discuss operations and HR among other things. I also have one-to-one meetings with senior managers. I leave the office by 6.30pm to take my 11-year-old son, Robert, to his freestyle martial arts class (he’s a black-belt!). Then it is home to eat and chill-out.

Tuesday: Today is DAF Dealer Day. I try and see one or two dealers in one shot, just to keep abreast of activities on the front-line. I like to analyse dealer performance and, whenever possible, get to see a customer at the same time.

Wednesday: Back in the office and a chance to look at the order book, which, I’m happy to report, is looking very healthy at present. We had a fantastic 2019 and already 2020’s order book is filling nicely. I have more one-to-ones with colleagues, but, I manage to slip away at 4.30pm to take my daughter, Emma as well as Robert, to Stagecoach; for singing, dancing and acting classes. I hasten to add that I return to the office for a few hours before picking-up the twins at 7.30pm. As any parent of a young family will testify, the work/ life balance can get very challenging sometimes. My wife, Alison, works at a busy marketing agency and we’re constantly juggling school and club runs!

Thursday: Usually a customer visit. For me, it’s just as important to see the big fleets as well as the owner-drivers – I like to mix it up. That way, I can fully evaluate that our aftersales services are consistent across our entire customer portfolio – that’s crucial to the success of the DAF brand as a whole. Thursday night is football training with my son’s local team where I help with coaching.

Friday: Back in the office again, looking at KPIs and targets and there are usually customer or dealer review meetings with senior managers, to look more in-depth into specific areas to see if things are as we’d expect. I try to keep to a three-days-in, two-daysout format. It isn’t always possible, of course and, as I mentioned earlier, I’m really trying to spend more time thinking, analysing, planning and directing.

As well as all of the above, Drake has confirmed he is going to take his truck driving test. First, it’s the Class C licence for rigid vehicles, which will be followed by a full C+E licence later. He’s already booked in for his medical examination. “It’s important for the customer facing members of the senior management team to be familiar with the products we sell,” he says. “And that includes driving them!”

The MD will be blogging his experience as a trainee truck driver and we’ll bring you details of the story in a future issue of DAF Driver.

Right: Relaxing with wife Alison and their children

Left: Saddled up: Laurence finishes the MOTUS DAF charity cycle ride