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TONY CORRIGAN SPENDS a lot of his time working. The CEO of Orbidal also spends a lot of time training for marathons – which gives him some more time to think about work.
Orbidal - which was previously known as Tenderscout - helps businesses find and procure government contracts. It’s already working in the US, UK and Europe and is planning to launch a major product upgrade by the end of May.
The company employs 10 people and three subcontractors. It’s turnover last year was just under €1 million.
As part of our weekly question-and-answer series, we talked to Corrigan about solar powered Kindles and the importance of honesty in the business world.
Here’s what he had to say:
How would you describe your work/management style?
I’m firm but fair. I like to give people autonomy and I like people to learn from their mistakes.
What’s the toughest work-related decision you’ve ever had to make?
Some of the toughest decisions I’ve had to make, especially in building up this company, have been trying to decide what to spend very little money on. A lot of the time it’s choosing between something like paying someone a salary that they really deserve or doing something that it more impactful or longer term for the company.
A lot of the time people don’t have all of the information to understand the decisions that you make. It can be quite hard to balance the long term future of the business with the short term needs of the people working in it.
What would you like to own that you don’t currently possess?
I spend a lot of my time working, and I’m the kind of person that if I really want something I’ll just get it and figure out how to pay for it. I guess my attitude is you only live once and opportunities only come around once, so you kind of have to take them when you get them.
There’s nothing I particularly want – except maybe tickets to the next Kate Bush concert.
If you were stranded on a desert island with just one thing, what would you want it to be?
A magic lamp might be useful, or a solar-powered Kindle. The Kindle is my favourite thing in the world, I reckon if I had a solar powered one I’d be happy forever.
What’s the best piece of advice you ever received, and who did it come from?
It wasn’t in words, it was more of an attitude, and it was from my mother. She was in an accident that left her paralysed when she was 19, she never lets it get in the way of anything she wants to do.
That taught me that there’s no real adversity that can’t be overcome with resilience, determination and a positive outlook.
When you’re considering partnering with another person or business, what factors are deal-breakers for you?
Somebody who is not willing to be a partner and only sees the relationship as a win-lose relationship. More than that, I’ve met plenty of people in business who are not quite honest and don’t really mind who they upset to get what they want out of life.
What have you found is the best way to motivate staff?
The best way to motivate staff is to make sure that they are included in the big picture, so they feel that they have an input into the important decisions that are being made in the company.
What bad work (or business) habit have you had to kick?
I don’t think I’ve kicked any of the bad ones. I tend to work continuously and if I’m not working continuously I’m thinking about work.
I get up in the morning and spend about an hour fighting with the children to try and get them to wear clothes – it’s important to me they do that when they leave the house. From 8.30am I’m working and I don’t switch off until 11pm.
When I’m not working I’m probably doing long runs. I run marathons, which means you have to do lots of three-hour runs. I think less about work when I’m working, I’ve kicked that habit to think about work when I’m running.
If you could invest in any Irish company (other than your own), which one would it be and why?
I have admired Workhuman for a long time. I know the founder so I’ve had an opportunity to see the evolution of that company and the challenges that have been overcome.
What do you see as being the biggest challenge for your business?
Getting to a point where you have momentum. We’re doing an awful lot of the right things but you have to do them for a lot longer than you think before the business starts to get a momentum of its own.
We’re starting to see that momentum. Maybe in another six or nine months time I hope that momentum will turn into something that really builds a long-term sustainable business.
What’s your favourite job interview question to ask and why?
I have a few and they’re all pretty mean. One of the questions that I like to ask is, ‘if you were to get this job, what’s the first thing that you would change about this business?’
Most people spend a lot of time presenting their best face in an interview. Sometimes you wonder, do they even know what they’re interviewing for? I think asking them a question that’s less about them and more about the job they’re going to do, helps to understand whether they actually understand the company.
I have had people at the end of an interview ask what is the interview for? They are just on a treadmill of companies that they’re interviewing for.
Written by Zuzia Whelan and posted on Fora.ie
Tell this to all the obese ladies out there, it’s gone shocking lately..
Great idea Rory.
The thing is, when all those girls have slimmed down to what you deem acceptable, you unfortunately will still be single on account of the fact that you’re an odious excuse for a man.
Unfortunately Rory is right, it’s a disgrace the amount of obesity in this country and its largely down to laziness, it’s so simple for them to get up of their behinds and go for a walk
Paddy, his comment was aimed specifically at “ladies”. He’s more concerned with aesthetics than the health of the general population.
Maria, I’m afraid there is something slightly wrong with your comment, I have a bodyfat % of 8.5 and a girlfriend who works part time in Abercrombie whilst in college, obesity is down to laziness, you don’t wake up one
morning and realise your massive it occurs through lack of excessive and excessive consumption of unhealthy foods.
Thank you Dr Rory for your professional assessment of the causes of obesity. And as nice as it must be for you to have a girlfriend who works in a clothes shop, I still don’t really see what that has to do with you attacking obese “ladies” specifically.
I don’t know why you aimed your comment at women Rory. Have you not seen all the men with beer bellies protruding over their belts? Obesity doesn’t affect women alone.
Can’t we all just get along <3
We’ll get along when you stop being a misogynist.
I checked with every other man in Ireland and we all agreed to vote Rory out.
Oh I must get off my lazy ass when im finished picking up after my children…. and my fella! Are men exempt from obesity???
It seems so, according to Dr. Rory up there. He has a PhD is misogyny, don’t you know.
Yes, as a man you don’t need to worry about weight, you just need to have a massive cock… ney accent… The girls go mad for it, something about the pronunciation I hear….
Rest assured Rory I have plenty of self respect!!!! Yes I am overweight and yes I do have a gym membership which I use!!! Not everyone is obviously as motivated as you Rory!! Maybe getting up at 5.30am each morning,driving into Dublin City Centre to work in one of the busiest hospitals for hours then to drive home and care for a young family has adequate time to do what you obviously do???? Don’t tarnish obese people with the same brush!!!! Don’t be so narrow minded!!!!! One should wait until they have their own family and see how life changes!
If you work as hard as you say you do then the problem is your diet, if you have self respect you’d make a lifestyle change in what your consuming and maybe you’ll avoid spending most your time in hospital when your older, and I’m not talking about you working in it.
Agree with you Rory, Irish people in general do not look after themselves! We eat and eat, pure crap and do nothing on a daily routine to keep ourselves in shape. It is so different when you go abroad and everyone is normal weight! Too many take aways and too many hot chicken rolls every day for lunch probably do not help! Btw, being over weight is unhealthy and just because you have kids cannot make u overweight :) Kids do not force you to eat crap!!!
To be honest I started off earlier trolling for a few red thumbs off women, but on obesity in Ireland It’s a disgrace, takes 20 minutes of cardio a day to keep active. You need to have a calorie surplus of 3500 to gain one pound and that’s a lot of food. It’s beginning in the children in recent times and the excuse is they want to eat bad food. Stop feeding your kids shite and they won’t be puddings and be bullied for it.
Thanks for the advise. One shall take note of your wonderful expertise!! As it seems you have an answer for everything!!!! As I sign off I’ll pass on some advise of my own. In my 10 years of nursing I can recall hundreds of healthy, fit & active people who have been hospitalised or many that have subsequently died despite their fitness or diet. Maybe we don’t have full control of what the future holds for us!?! I do however understand that it is important to keep fit and be healthy that was never my argument. It was simply that maybe you should refrain from such offensive comments. It’s very easy to pass comment or judgement but be prepared for it in return!
@rory and @Paul, I do agree we are getting more and more obese, however, rory, I’m sure you know its not just ” ladies ” men are obese too.
Gillian, that’s an odd comment from a nurse! Obese people, like smokers, have a much worse health outlook. That’s not to say non smoking normal weight people won’t get ill, it’s just far less likely.
If he says we are obese girls then we obviously are! The mirrors have been lying to us all these years!
‘Ive a girlfriend who works in Abercrombie’. You clown. I think she needs to go to specsavers. Whilst shes there see if she can find you a pair of mens shades. Some people are ‘addicted’ to food, much like alcohol or cigarettes. They get a bit fat, feel down and go back to their addiction for comfort. It’s a wholesale change in education and attitude that will bring about change. 20 min cardio might work for some but it sure wont for others, there’s no quick fix for it.
@Rory For the record Abercrombie have yet to open their store in Ireland, just saying… is you’re girlfriend one of the burly builders…?
‘A calorie surplus of 3500 to gain a pound’ am laughing away to myself. I smell a ‘gym doctor’ here. You know them, all the answers and technobabble you need to get on the front cover of men’s health haha ‘if you pull this bar sideways it’ll actually make your guts spectre an enzyme that puts you off rashers which is why I look awesome’ haha
What a lovely comment Rory!!! I take it you’re single with a comment like that!?!?!? And rightly so too!!! We may not all be as slim as catwalk models but here’s the thing maybe we’re happy in our own skin!!!! People like you make me sick, that you actually think ya have the right to pass comment on others!!! One could search the world looking for perfection but would return empty handed as it does not exist! Maybe think before you speak next time Rory rather than be perceived as a shallow human being!!!! Or is that what you want, attention!?! Get a life!!!!
No I’ve a wonderful girlfriend who has something many women in Ireland lack these days…….self respect. Get off your backsides and do a bit of exercise.
As the oul fella said…. I’m glad I’m perfect!
Yes Rory, of course, weight loss is that simple – what about those people who are unable to exercise to their full capacity due to a long-term injury, what about people undergoing certain treatments in which they have to take massive amounts of steroids which causes massive weight gain, what about young women who’ve fought with bulimia for 20 years and as a result it has messed up their metabolism and their relationship towards food so much they wish it was as simple as a bit of exercise!
The world isn’t black and white Rory and there’s more to life than image. I know skinny size 8 women with high cholesterol and who smoke 40 a day and drink regularly and never exercise yet society and people like you would view such women as healthier than a curvy size 14 women who exercises regularly and eats a balanced diet. Health over image is the key Rory and to tar anyone who’s overweight as lazy is just pure ignorant!
Strange observation Rory, I wanted to say something quite opposite.
I see so many people around me walking, running, exercise etc. I feel bit ashamed I never do it regularly as I used to. I honestly don”t see that many obese people these days, maybe just bit overweight sometimes. But your rant about body fat level, eating, etc. does not work for everyone, as people have different metabolism levels and different gene pools. I know some people who have fried / fast food EVERY lunch and dinner, no exaggeration, and they’re skinny as rake. I need to watch what I eat all the time for a change as I get bigger right away, while I love many foods and can’t really help it :-) Only serious workout can balance this out for me.
I bet you are the type who can eat pretty much anything and stays the same weight so it’s easy to slag people :)
Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels
Sorry typo… should have read as ‘skinny fries,’
obese wimmins coming here, stealing all our food. It’s not right Joe
10. Reward Yourself
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Hmmm off to Burger King? :)
why do I have felling Rory spend more time getting ready for night out than I do. ya PEOPLE are putting on pound but its the life style and ready maid foods Rory just been douch about it. good tips buy way its not easy at start two get in two.
It’s a battle once u give up the cigs tho, so hard to keep the fab at bay
‘Secrete’. I hate auto-correct.
I’m still in shock after reading there’s 600 calories in a portion of prawn crackers :((
Our country is fecked. Cut child benefit, cut social welfare. Put a charge on water that you cannot drink. A charge on a home we’re never gonna be able to pay for.
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