Tom Conran

I’ve been obsessed with the art of storytelling for quite some time, an affection which begun when I was 4 years old. I was always a fan (so to speak) of Greek mythology, especially the tale of Theseus and the Minotaur, it had everything a young lad could want from a good story; a valiant hero, a terrifying beast and a beautiful damsel in distress. But it also covered some pretty gritty topics (which I won’t go into here!) that made me consider things I’d previously never considered when trying to understand that most complex of creatures, humans.

On a less “deep” level, Theseus and the Minotaur (more commonly known as The Labyrinth) also taught me a great trick for not getting lost in a dark, dingy dungeon; tie a ball of string around your waist so you can always trace your steps - I’m sure Hansel and Gretel copied this with crumbs!

Flash forward twenty odd years and my interest in understanding people has come along nicely, to the point where I get do it every day. Being a Researcher at Reward Gateway requires me to be patient, considerate and focussed when identifying people that we could potentially collaborate with. As someone who always enjoys interaction, this is great for me; I’d much rather spend time getting to know someone then rush around aimlessly trying to tick numbers off a list; how would you build a quality conversation with that approach?

A belief in putting the person before the company is what makes Reward Gateway such a fantastic place to work and this ethos runs through the veins of our culture. One of our key values is to ‘Be Human’ - sounds simple I know but not enough employers embrace this notion, in my opinion. A culture of appreciation is the strongest way to stimulate personal development, which in-turn creates the perfect environment for innovation to flourish - which it continuously does at RG.

An innovative environment is a great place to be, I like to learn something new as often as I can, no matter how insignificant it may seem at that the time - it’s bound to come in handy at some point. That’s why a VERY LOW BUDGET cartoon about a topless bloke creeping up on a mindless Bull-Man I watched as a child still comes in handy to this day, for when you enter the digital Labyrinth that is researching, always tie yourself in-string so you can trace your steps, the string in this scenario being my LIVE RESEARCH FILE!