Associate Director
Halcrow

Julian J

00:00:02 My name is Julian J. I work with Halcrow, I’m an Associate Director in the Maritime Business Group. My job involves project work and business development in the container sector. So traditionally in a normal day for me, I’m talking to international shipping firms and operators around the world, either identifying new sites or developing existing sites for port development. So every ship that’s on the high seas is either coming from somewhere or going somewhere, and what we do is help those – either countries or operators, developers, and quite often investment banks looking to invest billions of dollars, or pounds, in economies looking for a return on the investment – on the best location for those, or the optimisation to make them most efficient.

00:01:30 Well actually going back historically it wasn’t a career I thought about, and I almost studied it as a backup career – I wanted to fly, I wanted to be a pilot. That’s all I ever wanted to do. When I was in the Air Cadets I had my glider pilot’s licence when I was 16, and I had my private pilot’s licence before I had my driving licence. So my Dad had to drive me to the airport, and then I passed my flying test, came back down, he had to drive me home because I couldn’t drive a car myself. That’s all I ever really wanted to do. But unfortunately I was studying – probably they suggested with bad light, whether or not that’s true or not – but my eyesight wasn’t up to scratch, and at the time there were so many people wanting to go for it as being pilots, they could pick and chose only the people who fitted every single thing, the highest tick in the box. So even though I had my pilot’s licence, I still didn’t get selected. And it was devastating, I really turned my back on it for quite a while but now, you know, I still can’t help running out and seeing what’s flying overhead. Would I have had any more interesting career? I’m not sure if I would have done. I work with amazing people, I met an amazing girl at work, and I married her and we have a wonderful family. So my life – I’ve had a pretty, not charmed life, but I’ve been very fortunate in my life. So I don’t have any regrets not doing it, but I can’t help say that, you know, when something goes overhead, I still have to run out and have a look.

00:03:02 I was the Head Boy at our local school, and I’ve always enjoyed leadership opportunities. And I suppose that’s one of the sort of characteristics of being where I am in Business Development, and sort of being the front man of many of the projects that we do in Halcrow. I always liked to be the leader, not in an arrogant manner, in that nobody else can do it, but I really enjoy developing high-performing teams, and seeing that team develop. And I get a great buzz out of the leadership of that. So I was pretty studious, but I think I probably had a fairly healthy balance as well of out of school activities, as well as academic. And that probably translated through to my University as well. I wasn’t the highest achiever, and I don’t think that in my career path the highest achieving academic qualifications – are necessary. It’s a lot more about logistics, it’s about having a vision of what’s achievable, and it’s inspiring people to – to be able to develop something which is going to have an impact on the world really, on the world economy. If everyone of those ships that we see sailing around the world has got nowhere to go, and nowhere to come from, international trade would just stop. And everything from the watch you wear on your wrist to the TV you watch – that’s all come from somewhere and is going somewhere, and we help facilitate that.

00:03:33 Where I would like to be in ten years, is probably to see that there’s someone like me sat here talking to you, as we are this morning, having had the same enjoyment and passion for the industry that I’ve had. But I’d like to see myself perhaps in a more senior role, so that I can facilitate that, and encourage people like me to come on the career path I’ve got. So perhaps in a more senior management position.

ENDS