The Final Word / Conversations with Extraordinary People

I've had a very varied career. I began my professional journey as a helicopter flight test engineer for an aerospace company, and since then, I’ve worked across several industries, including building construction, telecommunications/IT services, and now consulting.

The common thread throughout all these roles has been my focus on integrating technology into business operations—enhancing customer service, increasing productivity, and driving revenue growth.

Before joining Jabian, I spent several years with a large IT outsourcing company, managing IT infrastructure for multinational corporations. This experience gave me a broad and valuable skill set, including:

• Leading large, complex transformations
• Managing outsourcing agreements and M&A integrations
• Working with senior leaders and managing key stakeholders
• Leading large, diverse teams
• Driving customer success initiatives
• Overseeing complex, multi-geography program management—sometimes spanning close to 200 countries

For the last three years, I was primarily based out of London, leading European teams. While I thoroughly enjoyed the global nature of that work, I also found myself wondering:
Why can't I do something equally impactful closer to home?
How could I be more engaged in the Atlanta community, rather than just flying back on weekends?

That’s what drew me to Jabian.

Jabian offered the opportunity to work in a challenging environment with great clients, while also being deeply embedded in the local market—allowing me to make a real difference in the place that I now call home.

I’m originally from the UK, and over the years I’ve lived in Germany and the U.S., spending most of my career working internationally. Although I’ve now lived in the U.S. longer than anywhere else, that mix of experiences continues to shape how I think and work.

Living between cultures gives you a unique lens. You become more attuned to the differences—not just in what people do, but in why they do it that way. It naturally pushes you to question assumptions, challenge the norm, and look for better ways of doing things.

What’s interesting is that you start to see both countries from the outside. In the U.S., I sometimes view things through a UK lens, and when I’m back in the UK, I find myself comparing it to the systems and expectations I’ve grown used to in the U.S. That back-and-forth can be disorienting, but it also creates space for deeper understanding and more thoughtful decision-making.

People often assume that because the U.S. and UK share a language, the cultures must be largely the same. But the real differences are more subtle—how people communicate, make decisions, manage time, or even express humor. Recognizing and navigating those differences takes time, but it’s also where the learning happens. And that cross-cultural perspective can be a real advantage—in both business and life.

To answer that properly, I might need to go back a bit more than 20 years. It’s easier to see the changes when you look at the arc from when I first started working to today.

The most obvious shift is technology—both in how it’s evolved and how quickly we’ve learned to adopt it. I remember when introducing something like email—or, going further back, Lotus 1-2-3—was a slow and deliberate process. Today, we’re conditioned to adapt much more quickly. That doesn’t mean it’s always comfortable, but we’ve developed a subconscious understanding that what we’ll be doing five years from now could look completely different from what we’re doing today.

So the biggest difference I see is how we need to learn. In the past, knowledge compounded—once you mastered something, you built on it slowly over time. Now, that model doesn’t always apply. Success increasingly depends on your ability to unlearn outdated ways of thinking, learn what’s relevant today, and relearn as things continue to shift. Relearning is about revisiting skills or mindsets you thought you’d already mastered, and adapting them to a new context. It’s not about starting from scratch—it’s about evolving what you know.

Those who thrive today tend to have a high Learning Quotient. It’s no longer just about experience—it’s about adaptability, curiosity, and the willingness to reset. That mindset has become essential in a world where the pace of change only continues to accelerate.

AI is a perfect example of what I mentioned earlier—our ability to learn, unlearn, and relearn is going to be critical. There are already plenty of opinions about AI: it’ll increase productivity, it’ll replace jobs, and it could be dangerous. Some of those may prove true—hopefully not the last one—but I believe our focus should be on how we choose to use these tools, not just fear them.

Even with the technology we already have today, full adoption alone could unlock massive gains in productivity and create entirely new roles. The challenge isn’t just the technology—it’s the systems, infrastructure, and cost models we need to build around it. Now layer in what’s still to come—AI tools we haven’t even imagined yet—and the impact could be transformative.

It’s safe to say AI will touch every part of the world, though not all at once. That uneven rollout could create real disruption, especially on a global scale. So we need to think carefully about policy, equity, and how to avoid zero-sum outcomes where one group’s gain means another’s loss. Ideally, AI will help solve the problems that really matter—poverty, education, disease—especially in places often left behind by previous waves of innovation. While these are big, complex issues, AI could play a role in helping address them—especially in ways we haven’t had the tools or reach to do before.

Closer to home, I think the next big shift is going to be around agents. These are orchestrated AI systems that can take action on your behalf—scheduling meetings, updating CRM fields based on a conversation, or managing your inbox. In a way, it’s like the early days of websites. At first, only a few companies had them, and they weren’t particularly useful. But today, if your company doesn’t have a website, you practically don’t exist. Agents will follow that same path.

Eventually, every company will have a front-facing AI agent, and internally, many agents will support day-to-day work. Once that adoption takes hold, it’ll become the gateway to broader AI use, and it’ll help demystify the technology for both businesses and individuals. That’s when the real acceleration begins and hopefully, we will have learned how to manage it.

That’s a great question—and a tough one. I’ve been asked it before, and I always struggle with picking just one piece of advice. For me, advice has come in many forms: not just in words, but through feedback, actions, and the privilege of observing and learning from experienced leaders throughout my career.

If I had to distill it, I’d say the best advice I received came when I was considering a step into a larger, executive role. Someone told me, “As you move up, there are fewer roles and more people qualified to fill them. Skills will get you so far—but the real differentiator is whether you truly want it.” That really stuck with me.

It helped me realize that sometimes, just putting your hand up matters. Even if you’re not sure you’ll get the role, going through the process—interviewing, expressing interest, showing up—signals that you’re serious about stepping forward. That kind of tenacity is something leaders look for. It’s not always about being the most qualified; it’s about being visible, intentional, and ready for the challenge when it comes.

I’d also add something that wasn’t advice in the traditional sense but came through leadership training I did early in my career: you can’t lead others until you understand yourself. That self-awareness—understanding how you respond to pressure, how you make decisions, how you relate to others—is foundational. It helps you empathize, manage, and communicate better. The earlier in your career you start that kind of introspection, the better.

So in the end, it’s less about a single line of advice and more about a combination of insights that continue to shape how I lead and how I grow.