About me

I do insurance – well someone has to.

And I love Bill Bryson so I hope you’ll forgive me shamelessly stealing a theme from his books.  I have a lot of business experience and I like to write in a slightly chatty irreverent style. At least I think I do.

I have worked in the insurance industry for over 30 years in all types of roles and in many different locations. I have worked on insurance for individuals through to global insurance arrangements for the biggest multinationals. The industry has done great things for society and individuals but has almost the worst reputation possible. Largely of its own making and while I won’t do much to dispel that I will try.

But this blog is about more than just insurance (if you’re still with me now is the time to breathe out) and I hope that you’ll both enjoy and contribute to my musings on a variety of different topics. In addition to insurance (I really can’t leave it alone, sorry) I will comment on whatever catches my eye.

Insurance in general is a topic that I will return too regularly. There is a lot going on in the industry and in particular the coming together of customers (as an industry its fair to say we haven’t really paid them much attention before now), technology and new and different risks make this a good time to be in the industry.  I’ve tried to understand some of the differences and many of the similarities that people and business share around the world as I have gone along and ‘ll hopefully give you some of the perspective.

Technology is something I can’t help but get excited about. I am probably pretty close to being an early adopter for most technology but for me the real fascination is what will be the impacts on people and business. I live in a world now where any child born in the past couple of years will probably never learn to drive; autonomous and connected cars are real and just one example of what is happening today.

I have met and worked with great people, and some not so good and have come to understand the differences between the two are almost always based on how they treat other people. I try to do the right thing, and not the next thing, and know full well that I don’t get it right all the time. I’ve led, been led, and seen the best and in some cases the worst of leadership. Whether I can express it well will be something that you will be the judge of but I have experience.

I’ve lived and worked in London, Zürich, New York, Hong Kong and now back to London. I doubt that I have finished travelling. I love getting on airplanes and meeting new people and seeing new places. I’ve travelled a lot and have acquired a wide range of experiences in various airports and with various airlines that you will probably see mentioned on a few occasions.

I have an eye for the absurd but sometimes cannot translate that into the written language so forgive me if things don’t always come across to you as clearly as they come across to me. I will endeavor to improve over time.

I enjoy baking and cooking generally as I hope you can see from this photo. It’s amazing how relaxing cooking can be, turning a mass of ingredients into something that looks and tastes good.

I also worry about a lot of things – having a safe place for my family, having enough money to ‘live’ by which of course I mean having enough to buy things, being a success in whatever I do.

And being the best father I can be. This is really important

I worry and yet things still seem to work out OK in the end. I am sure there is a lesson in there if only I could stop worrying and find it.

Here’s my linkedin profile which gives my experience and some of my background.