UK 
United States
During my call with Vishal Thanki, it is difficult to ignore the shelves behind him. They are filled with B&Q merchandise, creating a wall of orange that would look at home in one of the retailer’s stores.
The backdrop feels appropriate. Vishal, or Vish as his colleagues more frequently call him, B&Q’s Director of Talent and Culture, visibly lives and breathes the brand. He speaks enthusiastically about its values and its people, rarely losing his smile as our conversation ranges from cultural intelligence and customer service to apprenticeships and the first tentative steps a young person takes into working life.
Vishal Thanki
Director of Talent and Culture, B&Q
He is a retailer by background, having previously worked for businesses including M&S and Tesco, and he has spent time on the shop floor himself. There is, however, one gap in his retail CV that still rankles, or at least provides him with an excellent story.
“I’ve got a huge chip on my shoulder because I never made it to store manager! I made it to deputy manager but my sister pipped me to the post when it came to a store manager role!” he tells me.
I suggest that this sibling competitiveness has a hint of the Miliband brothers rivalry of 2010. “I’m still bitter about the whole thing, and it was twenty years ago!” he jokes. That warmth runs through our conversation, but Vish’s remit is a serious one. The two halves of his title reflect two questions facing the business: whether B&Q has the skills it needs to deliver its strategy, and whether it has created the culture in which people can use them.
The first question is changing as technology reshapes how customers approach home improvement. A customer who might once have entered a store knowing only that there was a crack in their wall may now arrive armed with advice generated by AI. B&Q’s colleagues need the knowledge and confidence to meet them at that new starting point.
