Business Leaders interview: Hazel Geary

Tell us a little about yourself and your business.

I'm Hazel Geary, CEO of The Wave, the UK's first inland surfing lake in Bristol which attracts over 80,000 wave-riders annually. Born from the passion of founder Nick Hounsfield, The Wave is a “slice of the ocean inland”, a world-first, wellness-focused surfing destination right here in the heart of the UK.

My background in mechanical engineering equipped me with a solid foundation of transferable skills. However, after a brief stint at Nissan I realised that a career in a boiler suit wasn't a great fit! Instead, I embarked on a two-decade career in business consulting and problem-solving in the leisure industry before joining The Wave in 2023 as Chief Executive Officer.

What motivates you in your work and what do you find most fulfilling about being a business leader?

I love working in a customer facing business like The Wave, being able to make people smile because of the work I do. Combining this passion with the opportunity to work in such an amazing venue, and even learn to surf myself, is truly motivating.

In terms of being a business leader, knowing my staff love their jobs and that they’re having fun at work is extremely important. I can tangibly see and feel the impact of my work, improving the experience for customers, staff and our partners, which is incredibly rewarding. 

Innovating is crucial in our very diverse industry. How do you stay ahead of trends and incorporate them into your global strategy?

Looking to adjacent industries and businesses is crucial for innovating, as well as talking to other business leaders. Networking is great for sharing ideas so you can discover what is and isn’t working for others as well as making connections that may be really useful in the years to come. 

I try and experience everything from theme parks to membership clubs, allowing me to take inspiration from the best but also spot what doesn’t work, much to the irritation of my family! I’m constantly stopping to take photos or soak up the environment and see what I feel we could improve upon at The Wave. 

Finally, being able to surf, eat and personally experience the atmosphere at The Wave is key, going through the customer journey and spotting opportunities for development whilst also highlighting our strengths. 

How do you approach identifying areas for improvement within a company's operations?

Customer feedback is a great way to identify areas for improvement because they’re on the receiving end of all decisions we make. We have numerous ways of gathering customer feedback, and then our operations team use this to improve our experience. 

Input from the team across the business is something we do a lot of, with so many amazing ideas being shared, from our surf operations team through to the food and beverage team.  We often run competitions to gather ideas and reward those who help us innovate and deliver more for our customers.

I also find spending time out in the business to be helpful, allowing me to experience firsthand how our operation works. If I can’t do a task easily after some basic training, how can I expect my team to do it! 

Where do you think the most promising investments should be focusing on and/or made on?

We are prioritising finding ways to understand and use our data effectively to help us make better decisions.  We are still investing in this area to ensure we are a data driven business to help us develop and improve our customer experience here at The Wave. 

What is or are your biggest career achievement(s)?

I would have to say that leading the design and construction of a 9-storey health club in India would be my biggest career achievement to date.  It was a project that needed a lot of resilience, and tested my ability to continuously find new solutions to every problem that was thrown at me.  Really hard but I was so proud of what was delivered.

What’s the most important leadership lesson you’ve learned?

The most important lesson I have learned in leadership is just how different the people in your team can be. People have different motivations, are driven by completely unique things, and so understanding these unique motivations enables me to lead effectively. 

How do you prioritise tasks when everything feels like a priority?

I’ll categorise this into when I am motivated vs when I am tired or a little less motivated. When I am not at my peak, I tend to tackle the easiest and more enjoyable tasks first, getting things checked off my list helps to perk me up to tackle higher priority or more difficult tasks.  It is the opposite to when I am motivated where I'll complete the bigger, harder tasks and then reward myself with a smaller more straightforward problem. 

What was the hardest decision you have taken as a leader?

Decisions involving people are always the hardest as you are impacting people’s lives. Ultimately, making the right decision for the business, remaining objective, and treating everyone with respect is key. 

How have you incorporated DE&I into your organisation's culture?

As a business, we’re actively trying to achieve increased diversity in both our customer base but also our team. We’re doing a lot of work in our impact program to encourage people of different backgrounds and abilities to be able to surf, such as increasing our adaptive surfing sessions, working to develop a sea suit for those who don’t feel comfortable wearing a wetsuit , partnering with organisations who use surfing as therapy for mental health challenges, and  providing free or discounted surf sessions to groups who would otherwise not be able to come. 

Surfing has typically been seen as a while male dominated industry and it is very easy for our team of Wavemakers to reflect this if we aren’t proactive in attracting and retaining more diverse talent.  We have continued to work on improving our recruitment practices and employment benefits, but our next challenge is to attract more diverse talent into our application process which is something we’re working hard to achieve.