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Q: What key moments or choices have most shaped your professional journey?

Throughout my teenage years, I had only one career in mind – to study and practice architecture. Unfortunately, in the 1970s, there were limited university places in the United Kingdom, and my high school grades fell short of the requirements. The career advice in the school was to go into teaching and I commenced a college course. But I quickly realised this is not what I wanted, so I left college and started a career in construction with a firm of chartered surveyors, studying evenings and at weekends for the professional examinations of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. I have never regretted that change in career path and construction management proved to be a good basis for my later career with the United Nations.

            My second important choice was my decision in my thirties to give up my career in private practice, constructing prestigious buildings throughout the Middle East, and to join the United Nations where I would be building simple shelters, schools, medical centres and hospitals for refugees. Again, I have never regretted that change and my UN career proved very interesting and satisfying, if not always enjoyable.

Q: Did mentoring play a role in those moments, if so how?

I cannot remember ever having had formal individual mentoring, but throughout my career I worked alongside experienced professionals who were willing to guide me through difficult times. Many led by example and working with them was an education and, in many ways, a mentoring experience. But there were some who were not willing to help their junior colleagues; perhaps this reflects on their own insecurities, lack of expertise or experience?

Q: Can you share an experience when you had to make difficult choices in your professional life and how you handled it?

Most of my career with the United Nations was in conflict zones, which brings very different risks and challenges to a normal career. As a director of operations in such locations, one must be prepared to make decisions that place your team at risk, as well as the beneficiaries that you serve. In these circumstances, it is important to be clear on the objectives and to balance those with the risks involved. When lives are already at risk, then quick decisions are necessary, and one must rely on experience, common sense and the counsel of your team. When the issue is not urgent then there is no shame in delaying the decision until you feel that you are well-enough informed, particularly of the risks involved, and clear on the way ahead.

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Q: What’s the most surprising or transformative lesson you've learned from mentoring someone, or being mentored yourself?

As I commented above, I feel that my whole career has been founded on mentoring from other team members. This has not always come from more senior colleagues, but a wide range of professionals with experience, knowledge and training that I have benefitted from.

Regarding my own role as a mentor, I have found that we can all learn from the process and improve - mentors and mentees.

Q: How do you tailor your mentorship approach to support individuals from other cultures, or underrepresented genders and backgrounds?

I have had the benefit of living and working in several countries with very different cultures in Europe, the Middle East, the Americas and Asia, and alongside people from many cultures and geographic areas, themselves adjusting to a new culture. My first mentee under the GTF programme came from a region and a country that I had spent a large part of my career in. I was, therefore, already familiar to the culture and society. However, my second mentee came from a country that I have never visited and, therefore, involved a steep learning curve to understand the context of his life, his education and his career to date. I found research on the country to be essential, but most importantly to listen carefully to his story.

Q: Looking back, what mindset or habit most contributed to your long-term success and resilience?

Being receptive to change is essential if you are dissatisfied with your current career or when an opportunity presents itself to improve. I have made decisions that seemed daunting at the time but eventually proved very satisfying. I’ve already mentioned my career change in my early twenties when I knew that teaching was not for me, and again in my thirties when I joined the United Nations, giving up a successful career in private practice. This latter change was also triggered when I realised that it was an important change for my family. One third change was sandwiched between these two events, when I left public service in the United Kingdom to join private practice in the Middle East, a move that in the late 1970s was considered professional suicide. In this case, it was a joint decision with my wife who also gave up a successful career.

Q: What’s a common misconception about our societies or systems that you often find yourself challenging?

Because of innovation and development in the last twenty years, Information, analysis and opinion are available instantly, and one is expected to digest it, acknowledge it and act without delay. I have been taken to task by business associates, friends, family and strangers for not responding quickly enough. Their reaction often amounts to harassment. But what is important and a priority to them is not necessarily a priority for me. Many young people feel stressed by this expectation. We must not feel guilty for not meeting their expectations but ask ourselves - is this truly important? If it is, deal with it, if not, challenge it.

Q: What new trends or shifts are you seeing in workplace culture or leadership?

I am now retired and, although I still follow the new trends evolving in my former organisations, I’m no longer involved in the everyday functioning of those offices. However, since COVID, working remotely from home is no longer the exception, but becoming the rule in some organisations. This has required substantial readjustment for both employers and employees. Some are still struggling with the change several years after the event that triggered it. Obviously, some organisations, such as the United Nations, must continue to work in the field but others are learning to function remotely, almost exclusively. I have experienced both and I must say I regret the change from physical presence where you know and interact with your work colleagues to isolation at the end of an internet connection.

Q: In the age of hybrid work and AI, what is one piece of career advice you would give younger professionals or professionals who are looking to pivot?

To remain vigilant for, and receptive to, innovation. Young people are now exposed at an early age to the latest technology and many have not known a world without internet and social media, but today’s innovation is tomorrow’s outdated technology. Remain willing to take up and learn new ways of doing the job.  

Q: Tell us about your society/country, what social shifts do you observe? Are tech and innovation being harnessed for good?

I’m not sure which is my society/country today. I now live in Cyprus, but I’m still learning about its society and culture. I left my own country, England, forty-seven years ago, with the intention of being away just one year. My prolonged absence is not a reflection of how I feel about the United Kingdom, but of how my career has developed. Consequently, I haven’t witnessed personally the social shifts, except through the media and family gossip. Since 1978, when James Callaghan was in power, there have been eleven prime ministers, but one thing has not changed – Liverpool are the English football champions!

Sadly, conflict is still in the daily news and the world continues to find new and better weapons to wage war. There have been major civil and cross-border conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Rwanda, Ukraine, Israel, Syria, Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Iran, India and Pakistan, as well as less widespread but equally deadly conflicts elsewhere. Social media has changed much of society’s view of these conflicts, and immediate news and film of events is available. Sadly, decision-makers continue to trigger new quarrels which lead to innocent lives being lost.

Q: How can we support entrepreneurial thinking among young people and women?

By encouraging young people to be patient but prepared for opportunities and making sure that those opportunities are available on an equal basis for all.

Q: A motto you live by? 

Be receptive to change!