SME Magazine SPRING 2017 | Page 11

INTERVIEW
Tim Rodber, with Lawrence Dallaglio in support, goes on the attack for England against
Ireland in Dublin in 1999. England won 27-15 with Rodber scoring a try in the closing
minutes ©EMPICS s2/n25. Inset (below) Tim Rodber today
❝
YOU NEED TO BE ABLE
TO THINK OUTSIDE
THE BOX. ULTIMATELY
YOU HAVE TO MAKE
DECISIONS, BE BRAVE,
AND TAKE RISKS – MAKE
SURE YOU WIN MORE
THAN YOU LOSE
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most of the day talking to Instant’s clients
or my teams based in offices around
the world.  I travel to our offices in New
York, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Sydney
as much as is practicable but we also use
Skype a lot to stay in touch. 
“With a firm that is growing as quickly
as ours, it is important to keep driving
home the importance of our strategy, so
effective communication is a key element
of the role.  As a result of the international
profile of the business, the day can start
early with calls to our Asia-Pacific team,
and then end late with video conferences
to the teams across the US.“ 
Rodber is adamant about the most
important skills a CEO needs to
possess, “Put the hours in!” he says
unequivocally. “Harvey Thorneycroft [a
former Northampton team-mate] and I
set a business up in 1997 and hired some
people to help run it. The latter part of my
career I was juggling three things: time
in the Army, playing professional rugby
and helping to run this business. Anyone
who thinks one day you flick a switch and
you move to get on with your business
career is wrong. It’s all about sacrifice. I’d
start my day at 6:30am with emails, go
to training, head to the office after lunch
then sometimes back to training and then
spend my evenings in the office. I was
very lucky in that, having left rugby at
31, I pitched to a guy called Tim Griffiths
who was CEO of business process
outsourcing firm Williams Lea and,
within a year of leaving rugby, we won a
big contract with them. A year later they
Springboks in 1994 against a side which
would go on to win the world cup 12
months later.”
Fast forward to today and Rodber is
now chief executive of The Instant Group,
a flexible workspace specialist, providing
an alternative to the traditional methods
that firms use to procure and occupy
office space. So the first question was
pretty obvious: with 44 England caps
to your name, Tim, what skills did you
learn during your rugby career that have
proved useful in business?
“There are crossover characteristics
for business and rugby, for sure,” says
Rodber. “You need to be driven and you
need a desire within you to tackle and
solve problems. You need to want to win.
I think that is an innate characteristic that
you need. You need to have the right level
of being smart, be able to think outside the
box, be a problem solver, and recognise
other people's opinions whilst also being
a good listener. Ultimately you have to
make decisions, be brave, and take risks –
make sure you win more than you lose.”
The team at Instant comprises a mixture
of workspace consultants, data analysts,
property, procurement and outsourcing
specialists.  They use Instant’s proprietary
data to create workspace solutions
that save clients money and offer them
business agility, whether they are SMEs or
large international corporates. 
 Rodber talks me through an average
working week. “Our HQ is based in
London and while I might spend the
average week based there, I will spend
SME
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