When a chance arose to interact with David Sleath, CEO of SEGRO, I took it with both hands. Having been made aware of the experiences of last year’s cohort,  I knew he was an inspiring person. With the masterclass being held virtually, I tempered my excitement slightly – but little did I know the information and inspiration which he imparted during the session would be more than I’d hoped for.

Initially, when I first heard about SEGRO sponsoring Patchwork I was very much curious as to how they fit into the foundation and its philosophy. Prior to the masterclass my colleagues and I had carried out some research on SEGRO, exploring who they were and what was their purpose. Upon researching, I found a direct connection to SEGRO as a consumer which piqued my curiosity further.

The masterclass started off with Mr. Sleath talking about his journey from carrying golf balls, to being a partner at one of at the time U.K.’s biggest financial firms, to starting his journey at SEGRO in 2006, and now serving as the CEO of SEGRO. Patchworkers had the chance to pose their question to Mr. Sleath, covering topics including the Covid-19 challenges and how they are evolving to meet post Brexit needs, to how young people like myself can get involved in the property sector. There was a strong focus on effective leadership skills too.

The questions asked were varied, however, the way in which Mr. Sleath always humanised his answers really touched base with me. As an aspiring leader having someone already in a leadership position showing humbleness and eagerness to know how they can help their community really resonated with me. When Mr. Sleath spoke about different aspects of SEGRO he also touched upon how to be a great leader, he spoke about having good communication skills, being good with numbers, and last but not least having humility.

After the session ended there was one word out of the whole masterclass that stayed with me and that was humility. As a young person, how can I be better at showing humility and incorporating it whilst still developing other skills mentioned above? Another aspect of the masterclass that has changed me is the way of which I will not be able to look at warehouses, nor my Amazon packages the same again.

Special thanks to SEGRO for making this interaction possible with their constant support with the programme, and Mr. Sleath for taking the time out of his day to inspire Patchworkers.

Written by Lipa Nessa, Patchwork Masterclass Participant 2020