In Conversation with Derek Hayden

1. What is your idea of perfect happiness?

Spending quality time with my kids.

2. What’s your favourite holiday memory?

A trip around Italy with my wife on our honeymoon. We visited Rome (got married there) then on to Pisa, Florence, Venice, Verona, Lake Garda, and Milan, what an amazing country.

3. What are you reading? Would you recommend it?

The last book I read was Shoe Dog, the story of Nike, I would recommend it.

4. Which talent would you most like to have?

To predict the future 😉

5. What do you consider to be your greatest professional achievement to date?

Managing a brilliant Data Centre engineering team in Ethos, working on fantastic projects with high profile clients.

6. What practice area do you specialise in and why does it matter?

Mechanical Engineering. Servers in data centres need to be kept cool at all times. Delivering resilient cooling designs in a sustainable and energy-efficient manner is critical to the operation of a Data Centre.

7. What is the quality you most admire in a leader?

Being Respectful to everyone.

8. What’s the best piece of professional advice you’ve ever been given?

‘Learn to delegate, you need to work smarter not harder’.

9. Name your favourite building (international only + why?)

I haven’t got a specific favourite but visiting New York is always inspiring when looking at the sheer scale of the buildings and engineering feats achieved there.

10. Tell us something not many people know about you.

I hate spiders!