What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received in your career so far?
Change is good.
And change is one of the defining characteristics of our business – whether we work in policy, public affairs or coms. Increasingly we need to work with rapid change and innovation. We need to be ready for that.
What is your favourite part about your role?
Motivating the team. Teams win; not individuals. And diverse teams win even more! Of course in general everyone looks out for themselves but my principle role is to encourage collective effort and team-work: when that works clients really benefit and we demonstrate that we are the best.
What has been your favourite experience at Portland so far?
From what I have seen so far, Portland is undoubtedly about our people. And the ones I have worked with so far in both London and Brussels are truly amazing. Everyone works hard, everyone connects with each other, and boundaries between countries and nationalities and offices around the world don’t count. We work as a team.
What advice would you give your 20-year-old self-starting out in comms, or to someone entering this field of work?
- Tell people where to get off – occasionally.
- Get out of the echo chamber: we must think outside the box, and especially outside whichever media feeds we are signed up for.
- Believe in something.
What do you do to switch off from work?
The true answer to this is: sleep! Because my hobby is my work and vice versa. But outside work I ski and swim – the latter most days.