A New LifePadraig Mallon left the media rat-race to lead Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind, writes Brian O'Connell
After almost seven years at the top level of media management, Galway native Padraig Mallon needed a change. His young family were growing up in his absence and his body was calling time on a gruelling schedule.
Having started out as a door-to-door advertising salesman, he rose through the ranks to become the first non-family chief executive of the Irish Examiner in its 160-year history. Yet the effort had taken its toll.
In the first instance, Mallon's career had arisen more out of the necessity of finding stable employment than a single-minded career plan. He traces its development: "My ambition when I left school was basically to get a job. I went to the Galway Institute of Technology, where I studied marketing and business. In terms of career aims, I don't think the general thinking back then was as developed as it is now," he recalls.
"Having grown up in rural Co Galway, one of my main things was to get to the US and find out what life was like. So I spent a few summers working there."
On his return to Ireland, Mallon's interest in media developed with the regional newspaper industry in Galway, which was changing rapidly at the time. "I began working with the Galway Advertiser in 1986," he says. "At that time, the company had been on the go about 20 years, and competition had come along in the shape of the Galway Observer."
The Galway Advertiser was in need of modernisation: "They were still operating a system where people came in and queued to advertise in the paper," he says.
"My first job therefore was to go to the customers directly and sell advertising."
He went on to develop further expertise in various media positions: "From there I went to work in the Golden Pages and after that I headed for Australia. I lived there for five years, and worked mainly in media. It was a different grounding."
With this experience behind him, he was lured back home in 1996: "Out of it the opportunity came to come back to Ireland to work in the Examiner, which had recently changed from the Cork Examiner. They needed a particular job done in building up the capacity of classified advertising, an area I had gained much experience in."
Initially working in the advertising and marketing department of the Examiner, Mallon quickly rose to the position of chief executive. He found the role challenging and fulfilling, yet his personal life took a back-seat.
"The work was pretty involved. There was lots of management and planning and facilitating individual senior managers," he recalls. "We were the third-largest broadsheet in Ireland and were trying to gain profile and market share all the time.
"There was always a heavy workload, but as well as that there was a strong social side to the role. The Examiner is at the centre of activity in Cork and is very involved as sponsors of events, so there were a lot of night-time events to attend," he says.
But this hectic lifestyle began to take its toll: "When I found myself at the Ford Sailing week in Crosshaven three times in one week, having never sailed before, I think I realised I was doing too much!"
He knew the time had come for a change."When I took over the company, I was the first person to do so from outside the family in 160 years, which brought its own share of pressure. Eventually I made the decision that I had done enough."
Mallon decided not to rush into a new career, however. Instead, he took six months off to spend time with his family and to recharge the batteries."I got to know the two boys again and got some daily exercise. The first day off I went for a walk and could only do about two miles. Now I can do 12."
He relished the opportunity to become more involved in his children's lives. "It's a small thing," he says, "but being able to bring the kids to that first school day was super."
Not one to rest on his laurels, Mallon began to expand upon a life-long interest in the not-for-profit sector. He started taking courses in overseas development and travelled to some of Europe's worst afflicted areas. "Really, I got the chance to re-focus," he says.
It was while on assignment in Albania for the UN in 2003 that his wife sent him a newspaper clipping of a job advertisement that would eventually lead to his current position as chief executive of Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind.
When he applied for the position, he was invited to meet the board of the association. "I was very impressed with them and their enthusiasm," he says.
He also recognised what skills he could bring to the job: "I saw that it was an organisation that had grown organically and now needed a business approach. My working life now is a lot harder, ironically!"
He says that, even though the organisation is quite small, "we have had to set up a lot of the systems and processes [ that are] in a larger organisation. I have to do more of everything, basically, because we're smaller and starting out."
Mallon says he has no regrets about changing career, and he gets great satisfaction from working in the charitable industry.
"We are able to do great things now, maybe not as noticeable as in the media world, but I am very happy."
Mallon says that, as chief executive, his work is very varied: "For instance, over the past few weeks two colleagues and I have been writing a four-year development plan, which outlines how we will expand between now and 2010. It will also enable us to develop strategic approaches to fundraising work, and it's my role to liaise with managers and outside specialists to help bring that about."
Coupled with this, he likes to maintain a hands-on approach to the day-to-day running of the charity. "Today, for instance, I've been in contact with The Ireland Funds, providing them with material on aspects of our work and acknowledging their support."
His role involves both short and long-term tasks: "The work can be . . . looking three to five years down the line, such as structural projects, or it can be spending time at the front office and acknowledging the support of people who come in to give us money."
With his board's support, the mainstay of Mallon's role is providing an overall perspective for the various departments within the organisation. "There are lots of different people either managing or involved in activities, and my role is to have an input and provide direction, feedback and encouragement. Working with the board and the chairman is a big part of what I do."
But while his position has many dimensions, he has never regretted leaving the media world. "The role is a big challenge, but I find it thoroughly enjoyable now," he says.
"The satisfaction dealing with people whom you can give opportunity to is huge. We also have instant feedback here on what we do." But perhaps the most rewarding aspect of his job is that "there's a real sense of making a difference in people's lives".