University is when I started to enjoy life. Me and partner in crime, Andy ruled campus. Not in a dictatorship way, but culturally. At weekends we managed public relations for Scotland's top nightclub and forged a partnership with the university.
Students from all over campus wanted in our circle. At the same time, our job literally paid us to socialize in bars and student unions. We were invited to exclusive parties in huge Victorian mansions with rocks of cocaine laid out on oak coffee tables. And we hosted fundraisers with political parties, Ambassadors, Prime Ministers, and Michael Bolton once.
What would my grandmother think? She was so suspicious and paranoid of things. Every vacation to the Mediterranean she would take the family life savings of thirty thousand Pounds in a plastic bag with us with someone guarding it always. She didn’t trust banks.
I was a marketer, a salesman, a lawyer, a politician, and a playboy in those four years. I honed my presentation and storytelling skills while most others were quivering with stage fright. Every day I trained myself on PowerPoint, learning animations, transitions, and Word Art.
This was the foundation of my professional life.
At university, professors and support staff wanted a story about the future. And at work, colleagues and executives wanted a story too, and a tangible vision that they could almost touch. I realized I was different - differentiated. And that was a good thing. While everyone else was busy solving tiny problems I was explaining the big picture and connecting the dots that others didn't.
It is this ability, learned in my late teens that earns me a seat in strategy at any company.