In every issue of our Aycliffe Today Business magazine, we take a break and sit down with a different employee or business owner to ask them 20 questions on a variety of subjects.
In our November-December issue, Greystone Legal director Paul Humble is in the chair…
1: What do you do?
A: Senior Partner at Greystone Legal.
2: Who have you worked for in the past?
A: Gordons LLP, among others, and I then ran my own practice for ten years before teaming up with Ben Healey and forming Greystone Legal.
3: Best part of your job?
A: The great people and wide range of businesses we get to work with.
4: Is there anything about your job that you really don’t like?
A: I recently read over 300 pages of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (as amended). That was not a high point.
5: Favourite thing about working on Aycliffe Business Park?
A: We can now walk to meet many of our clients! There is also a strong sense of community here which the ABP steering group have worked hard to develop.
6: Which company/individual on the park do you do the most work with?
A: Lisa Fleming with Driver Hire, NE Business Solutions and Logico. Lisa needs more fingers for her pies.
7: Who’s your tip for future success?
A: I will have to mention two. Firstly, Craig and Norman at Capital Growth Ventures who are involved with developing some incredible businesses. Secondly, the team at Certax who put the same amount of energy and enthusiasm in to running their business as they do to their nights out.
8: Four famous people you’d love to have round for dinner and why?
A: Arthur Wellsey (the Duke of Wellington), Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King and Sir David Attenborough. I am assuming we are going with dead or alive, otherwise I am left with David Attenborough which would also be fine.
9: If you could do something else in business, what would it be?
A: A business specialising in marine biological research. I have always been fascinated by the Ocean.
10: Who’s your favourite Tweeter?
A: I don’t tweet.
11: Have you ever done anything really daring?
A: I once abseiled down a sheer cliff face. I had in mind I would zip down in the style of the SAS but lost my footing and ended up hanging with my feet pointing upwards and my head pointing down four hundred feet. After that I shuffled down inch by inch.
12: What’s the best piece of business advice you’ve been given?
A: Success comes when you can move from one setback to another with no loss of enthusiasm.
13: If money was no object, what would be your ideal car?
A: Can I have a helicopter please?
14: Money no object, your dream holiday would be?
A: Galapagos Islands.
15: Do you have a favourite band or type of music?
A: Paul Weller and Elvis, among others.
16: What is your greatest achievement?
A: My greatest professional achievement is that I was appointed a Judge of the Employment Tribunals in 2010. I continue to sit for about 30 to 40 days each year.
17: How would you best describe yourself in four words?
A: Determined, self-disciplined, resilient, and modest (if that fits with the first three).
18: Where do you see yourself in five years?
A: Flying my helicopter over the Galapagos.
19: Who’s the most famous person you’ve ever met?
A: Hilary Clinton. We were in Florida a couple of weeks before the last presidential election and met her at a local rally. She was well ahead of Trump in the polls and I was sure we had met the next president of the USA.
20: Do you have any guilty pleasures?
A: Chocolate digestive biscuits, a mug of strong tea and a good book (preferably at the same time with a comfortable arm chair).
