The 2017 edition of PRWeek UK Power Book is out now. Read more at the PR Week website → http://www.prweek.com/article/1426695/whos-list-prweek-uk-power-book-2017
Favourite campaign of the past year (not your own)?
Sadiq Khan’s campaign for Mayor of London. Did you know his dad drove a bus?
The industry’s biggest challenge for 2017 is…
Uncertainty. Global economic uncertainty. Austerity. Donald Trump. Brexit. Rising interest rates. Decreased access to capital.
The industry’s biggest opportunity for 2017 is…
The biggest opportunity is actually one of the biggest challenges: Brexit. I think we have to make it work.
Five years from now, the biggest difference from today’s PR industry will be…
A greater number of all-rounders. The days of the specialists – be they financial PR, lobbying or PR – are numbered.
Which organisation or individual has managed reputation most poorly in the past 12 months?
Sir Philip Green. What a total and utter mess.
Which organisation or individual has managed reputation most adeptly and proactively in the past 12 months?
It has to be the newly elected Mayor of London. He is master of all he surveys and riding the reputational wave with record popularity ratings.
What single measure should the PR industry adopt to improve the well-being of employees?
The industry needs to ask people how they are more often and more meaningfully. I think in my business we do it right, but as an industry we need to do more.
How do you switch off from work?
With loads of exercise and sport. Two wonderful girls aged eight and 11. And through my work in Lambeth as an elected councillor.
I regret…
That my mum died aged 69 in 2012. Her next ten years would have been very special.
You’re holding a dinner party. Which four guests – real or fictional – would you invite?
Boudicca, Lady Margaret Thatcher, Clement Attlee and Sir Winston Churchill.
My single ‘desert island disc’ would be…
‘Vivre mes rêves’ by French rapper Jul: my unofficial theme song from following England in Euro 2016.