The audience of alumni, students, Eric’s friends, his LinkedIn contacts and his favourite London tour guide braved the tube strike challenges to hear his stories and learn from his experiences. Efforts were rewarded with a highly entertaining and insightful presentation.

Eric’s humble beginnings have not been forgotten; we heard from the avid learner and LUMS alumnus (MSc Finance, 1997) about his cost-conscious, family-oriented lifestyle, his failures and successes and how he managed them in order to become Managing Director.

The key areas that Eric covered were:

- Making work interesting

- Developing a growth mindset

- Doubling productivity

- Building a personal brand

- Dealing with office politics

- Maintaining good health

He encouraged the audience to bring their interests to work and find ways to weave these into their professional activities. For example, Eric is a keen photographer and has volunteered to photograph a number of events. This has enabled him to enjoy himself at work and led to unintended beneficial outcomes.

He shared the image of a fixed vs growth mindset based on the work of Dr Carole Dweck, and stated the case strongly that the growth mindset is critical to gaining lasting career progression.

‌Eric closed his presentation by urging everyone to embrace the butterfly effect, where small interactions have a bigger impact later. The group stayed on asking questions and networking with one another. The feedback from the audience was extremely positive, and people left energised, inspired and looking forward to the next alumni event.

Photos for this event can be found on our Flickr page