Maria Jones, head of HR of HireHub App, explains why David Elliott should win the Leader of the Year category of the Guardian Small Business Showcase competition:
At 29 years old, David has taken HireHub from a two man idea with zero customers to a team of 15 new hires and a business that serves over 5,000 tradespeople and thousands of new customers since the app launch last July.
Every day he continues to inspire us with his work ethic, creativity and has pushed our limits to more than most of us thought we were ever capable of. His vision of what we are doing and how we all play a part motivates everyone and the freedom and trust given to everyone is nothing like I, nor anybody in the organisation has ever witnessed – what CEO takes you to South America to ‘ride out the winter’ and work poolside?
David is a first time CEO, but I am astounded at how willing he is to dismiss the title and spend half a day working with an intern explaining the basics. He says that his job is to get 5% more out of every team member on every level, although if you ask the team they will say it’s more like 20%!
What I respect most is the attention to detail and the intricate understanding that he has of our company road map. This affects our strategy, marketing, product, tech, hiring and everything in between. He also encourages us to use HireHub as a stepping stone to make a career, name and life for ourselves.
All entries which meet the competition criteria are published and our judging panel select a shortlist of the top three for each category. Winners are announced at an awards ceremony in summer 2016.
