"It was like the Wolf of Wall Street - with fish" | Paul Agnew

Paul Agnew never planned a career in fish. As a student in the '90s, he hitchhiked from Carlisle to Maryport to see a girl, got picked up by a fish wagon, and was offered a summer job packing salmon on the spot. He was, by his own admission, pretty rubbish at it. But 34 years later he's back as Managing Director of Grant's Oak Smoked, the high-end smoked salmon company where it all started.In this episode Paul takes us through one of the squiggliest career paths you'll hear. Dropping out of law (and keeping the cash), running the company's American business, which he reckons was like the Wolf of Wall Street with fish, a spell in post-communist Poland, seven years as a vicar, fifteen years building a Lithuanian multinational's UK arm, and finally a homecoming to Maryport.Along the way he shares the philosophy that's carried him. Why people come before product, process and profit. Why nobody's "just" a salesperson. Why knowing what's enough is the key to a happy life. And why he'll always make the tea for whoever walks into his office.We also get into the things that anchor a community. Backing local industry over multinationals, becoming Carlisle United's most unlikely born-again fan, and the £2.2m mission to save the Carlisle Cathedral organ.Have a listen.