Meet Lucy Hawthorne – Industrial Business Unit Manager

Meet Lucy Hawthorne, head of IWC Industrial. Lucy has been with IWC for over 20 years and has traversed a variety of roles during this time. Prior to joining IWC, Lucy was a student of Science for 7 years finishing up her Masters in Biochemistry.

When asked what problems our industry encounters and how she would deal with them, Lucy explained…

“Many years ago I was chatting to a wise business man who told me in business people are not only the problem; they are also the solution. From that day forward I took a different approach to customers, internally and externally, and I must tell you, I don’t always get it right. I like to think of my customers as the most valuable component in any interaction and find that the lack of customer service, is one of the biggest challenges we have these days and that by being customer focused, I gets great results.

“For the last two years I have been fully immersed in direct sales, and this means dealing with customers every day – customers are the key to my being able to execute of my job with excellence. In the back of my mind, I always try to remember that if I am not taking good care of my customers, my competitors will!! I like to make the customer feel like a king or queen – as the case may be!”

When asked what she enjoys about working at IWC, Lucy replied

“Thinking back on my first days, it was not only a different company, but it was a different world and the fact that the company is still in existence, is a testament to the resilience and ability of the IWC team to adapt to change. My job has evolved over the years and I have grown professionally and personally through the many years of service. I now find myself a capable constituent in the company, with the backing of a phenomenal team and exceptional leadership. IWC has always had a great culture of support and team spirit.”

“I’m Jo’burg, born and bred, it feels like I have worked for IWC all my life, in fact it has been close to half my life – shhhhhhh”. Laughs Lucy

“Some days it seems like a journey of a life time and sometimes it feels like it all started just yesterday. I grew up in a big family, I have four sisters – yes we are five girls and we seriously had a great childhood. I believe my love for family experience’s was born because of the great family life I have lived prior to having my own little family.”

When asked what her favourite quote was, Lucy didn’t just have once, she had 5! In true Lucy style, all were super positive and uplifting. My favourite of the 5 was from Robbie Williams “You are only given a little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it.”

This is totally in sync with Lucy’s life philosophy “To me every day is an opportunity to do better, and this drives me to be the best version of me. I like to apply this philosophy to everything I do and believe me; I don’t always get it right but then we have a new day and I get to try again. I like to remember to focus on the future and the possibilities it brings and to learn from the past and not to dwell on it.”

Her favourite podcase is from Simon Sinek, she also enjoys TED talks about leadership, personal development and growth as well as happiness and inspired life. One of her top books is, “The Magic of Thinking Big” by David Schwarts.

Time off is spent with her family – “I love spending real time with my husband, Richard and our children, David and Lisa. Whether it is going away for the weekend or on holiday or attending school functions or just supporting my children in the extra mural activities. Simply living day to day life… I always love it best when we are doing it as a family.

I also like listening to inspiring audios by the likes of Skip Ross and Zig Ziglar, keeping my mindset positive and focused on the future. Recently I have begun to spend some time on my own, centering myself with my own form of meditation. I also enjoy colouring in or card making, and would like to investigate mosaicing as a future hobby.”