An interview with Paul Barnes, who has recently launched Inspire Global Mobility Consulting, aiming to help corporations and their suppliers smooth their business operations and get to grips with sustainability and the ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) agenda.
There was a time when sustainability was viewed as being something of a fad. At best it was a ‘nice to have’ rather than something fundamental to a business. But that’s changed.
Paul Barnes has been in the relocation industry since 1994: first with Interdean, then TEAM Relocations, with TheMIGroup and, most recently, as vice president of client relations with Weichert Workforce Mobility. But this year, Paul made a lifestyle change, setting himself up as an independent consultant with a particular focus on a subject that is close to his heart: sustainability.
“I pay particular attention to RFPs,” said Paul. “I work with global mobility to help them to engage better, reduce the number of questions and get the pricing templates to be more meaningful. That way both the corporations and their suppliers get a better outcome.”
Sustainability is something that is a particular area of interest for Paul. “I started talking to global mobility people about sustainability because I see that there is an issue between them and their providers.” Not everyone has really taken the issue seriously in the past. “Some would insist that suppliers do things in a sustainable way, claim that it was really important to them, but then, when it came to buying, it would all be back down to price. Sustainability would be just a tick box or even not on the RFP at all.”
So he started positively challenging them ...
Photo: Paul Barnes.