Personal reflections on travel, overseas work, friendship, business life and a career spanning more than six decades.
One of the unexpected rewards of a career in international trade was not the countries visited, the contracts signed, or even the business successes achieved along the way. Those were important, of course, but they were often temporary. Markets changed, companies merged, products became obsolete, and opportunities came and went. Friendships, however, endured. In the … Read more
Britain’s industrial export strength in the 1960s–1980s, was in heavy engineering, infrastructure, manufacturing, at that time UK companies supplied products and expertise to major projects globally, but over time there was a gradual shift toward finance and services, what was gained was at a high price and what was lost can never be recovered. British … Read more
Theme: How international business travel used to work. Idea outline: For most of my working life, international business was conducted face to face. A typical trip might last a month and cover several countries. Flights were fewer, visas were more complicated, and communications back to the office were limited. Preparation was therefore critical. Every meeting … Read more
Having spent the last sixty years in global sales and marketing, I became accustomed to communicating with people at every level — from the shoe-shine boy outside a hotel to government ministers. My work took me across more than sixty countries, selling and promoting everything from plastic plumbing fittings to aero engines. During that time … Read more