Name: Michael (Mike) Klodzinski
Job Title: National Account Manager – Wolseley UK
Tell us a bit about yourself
Originally from South Wales, my Polish surname comes from my Polish dad, who married my Welsh mum. I now live in Rugby Warwickshire and have been for the last 25 years, which means I have lived longer outside Wales than in Wales! I still have my Welsh accent. I have lived in Switzerland, France, Austria and Greece, where I worked as a Holiday Rep/Ski Guide/Ski Instructor. I live with my partner Julie and we have three boys between us, we lead a quiet life now our boys don’t live at home. We enjoy cooking, socialising, gardening and the odd holiday. I have a passion for a number of sports, and remain very competitive so my partner tells me! And I try to remain active with playing golf, ski when I can and go to the gym.
Describe your job to a five-year-old
Wow, that’s tough.
I give bathroom products to shops for pennies, for shops to sell to other people for more pennies!
What do you like most about your job?
Achieving a set task for our business and customers alike, and both achieving what we set out to complete/achieve
How did you get here?
I did a little travelling when I was younger and learnt that people were very interesting. Sales is very people orientated. I’ve been in the Trade/Retail industry for a number of years with some large brands like Ideal Standard. I’ve met some great people along the way and learnt as I moved along. Made some very good decisions and some not so good, along the way! I could have said, I saw the advertisement and after a number of interviews and here I am!
What motivates you?
Our customers and the people within our business
If you could swap jobs with anyone, who would it be?
It would have to be a sports person, there are too many to mention. There would be rugby, football, skiing and golf people on my list
Your favourite song lyric or line from a film
Film “Either get busy living, or get busy dying” Shawshank Redemption. Songs too many – I just wish I could sing….
Your favourite app?
It’s best not to talk about tech, it’s not a strong point…. Ask the team
Biggest facepalm moment at work?
I haven’t had one as of yet at IS. The one that sticks out was when I was ski guiding a group and we started doing jumps, I was leading the group, saw what I thought was a little jump! It wasn’t… I totally lost control and ended up face planting in the snow. The group could not stop laughing! I’m glad that mobile phones didn’t have cameras at the time…