Anne-Marie McCaughan
Global Talent Acquisition Leader
1. What seemed like an inconsequential decision at the time, but in hindsight turned out to fundamentally reshape your life?
I travelled to Australia when I was 26, a four-week trip on which my boyfriend and I travelled North, East, South, and West, having the time of our life, time in the desert, and time in crystal clear waters. We had the trip of our relatively short lifetime. I cried on Sydney Harbour, overwhelmed by a fantastic trip, thinking we would never return; it seemed so impossibly far. Little was I to know I would visit so many times!! I left my job a couple of years later and spent time in Sydney working. Finally, we both moved to Australia to Melbourne in our early 30s. We started a very international life, family, and career with many trips to Sydney harbour and other memorable places.
2. At what age did you become an adult? What happened, and how did you know?
A defining adult moment for me was when I had my first child. Although I knew we were having a baby, there was still immense magic when it happened—holding my son “adulted” me. I liked it; I went on to have three children; a claim to fame was that I had three children on 3 continents in 3 years. Children planned, locations less so! My oldest was born in Melbourne, a great place to have your first child, with beaches, coffees, and unique mum groups. My second child, a daughter, was born in Norwich on a farm, and my last one was a boy born in Shanghai, at a newly opened maternity ward.
3. What habit behaviour or belief have you recently acquired? Why is it now in your life?
I should do less and let others do more of what they like. I have noticed that if I give others time to make suggestions and recommendations and let ideas percolate, they come back better. Using research tools, old and new, you can gather feedback, let people make suggestions, and generally design a dynamic workplace and culture. Everything from meetings, team events, and team projects can be redesigned to satisfy everyone.
4. When was the last time you changed your mind about something significant? What was it and what led you to change your view?
Coming back to live in the UK. There are so many ways that we can live and work nowadays. One idea I have entertained over the past year is the digital nomad vision: living near a beach, picking one beach, or picking any. I have tried a few in the past year, from Thailand to Spain to Greece, Dubai, and Italy. Everywhere I go, I can fit in, make friends, find work online and offline, and generally make a go of things. I was considering being on the road, staying mobile, and working, but an important person came out to meet me in Greece and, over dinner, gently said why not go home to the UK and try it there? Just give it a little time to see how it lands. It made perfect sense; I could hear the logic and felt there was no need to extend the hotels and best beach search. So here I am.
5. What are the three books that you would unhesitatingly recommend to others? Why?
Martyr by Kaveh Akbar – a new author, is a beautiful story about death and how life shapes us. The story is about a son who has lost his mother and wants to make meaning out of her death. I also lost my mum young, at age 18, so I wonder if this makes the subject matter more pertinent. There is a fantastic plot twist, and the writing and bold themes of cultural diaspora, family, love and separation are broad and delightfully articulated.
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, who wrote Eat, Pray, Love, in this book, Elizabeth shares how ideas are ready to be born. The book suggests that ideas are around us, waiting to be dropped into the receptive person who will implement them, who will realise them. Seeing the world like this and creation as such simple an exercise and always available is so liberating.
The 3rd Alternative by Steven Covey, the author of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, shows me in this book that there is no real “this or that” “either, or”; there is always more. We can develop new ways to create solutions and paradigms that respect all parties and go beyond the initial linear two dimensions. He gives excellent examples of synergizing to move away from a win/lose scenario. I feel it’s very applicable in the Eastern mindset.
6. If you wrote a ‘user manual’ for how people should interact with you, what would be the most important point in the manual?
I like short and sweet. Tell me, as it is not what you want it to be.
7. What’s one misconception people generally have about you?
I care too much and am overkind, which has somehow held me back in my life and career.
8. What is your untrainable superpower?
People want to talk to me and share things; I need to allow extra time to be in town. Strangers will open up and often wave. Recent examples are street-side coffee baristas who start to show me their coin collections in great detail, taking out their coins and showing me a particular item they just obtained, or the Sainsbury shopping till operator and his customer competing for my benefit, who is the oldest, 75 years versus 74 years old 11 months. When I returned to a recent employer, I was filled in on so much from general unsolicited chit-chat with staff.
9. Have you always had the same political beliefs? If so, why do you think you have held them so long? If not, what event caused you to change your view?
I’m generally left-of-centre social welfare inclined; I do not see any progress in caring for our vulnerable in society, and I see too much poverty in the streets.
10. When did you last feel like an outsider in a group? What/How did you learn?
I am an outsider, new to the UK again, and so much has moved on. I have learned that we can’t live on yesterday’s success or previous relationships.
11. What app or tech product have you most recently fallen in love with?
I love chat Grammarly as I write more, gives my writing that once over and a final polish.
12. What’s the last image on your camera roll? Care to explain?
My favorite ocean blue ceramic tea pot and tea cup that just arrived in my shipment from Shanghai yesterday. I almost cried when I saw it, more than the beautiful pictures, pretty clothes and my favorite perfumes. It reminds me of endless cups of tea in endless happy situations with friends where I was settled, relaxed, working and entertaining at “home”.
13. What is the best purchase you’ve made recently? Why?
I bought a new website domain to host my paintings and some art projects I support. I painted regularly and held a few exhibitions in Shanghai. I was embraced by the Shanghai M50 art community and given honorary membership of the Shanghai contemporary and abstract art institution. I had some success in sales and private commissions. I need to centralise my art in one place to simplify my life and maintain an accurate overview.
14. If you were to survive the zombie apocalypse, what role would you play in the new society that would follow?
I am a hunter-gatherer, so I would be out getting food and returning it to the nest. Shanghai had one of the strictest lockdowns, during which the whole food supply chain was knocked out, and the population was put on government rations. The office management regularly supplied us with community-issued rice and pork. A few weeks in, an underground word-of-mouth network of sought-after goods developed. I found myself arranging to wander across districts, meeting covert biker pizza delivery drop-offs, and running home undetected.
15. Can you give an example of a time when you had to learn the lesson the hard way?
Agreeing to some of the unreasonable terms on my divorce agreement because my ex was intractable and the lawyers in the UK were so tired of a long drawn out bitter dispute with an overseas client they advised me to settle. This left me in a terrible financial position for years.
16. What's a skill that isn’t on your resume, but your former bosses would recognize as one of the reasons you are successful?
Resourcefulness: A number of my bosses describe me as this. I can turn lemons into lemonade. I might have a different answer, but I can give you a resource, a solution, and a way forward.
17. What decision makes you say, “What was I thinking??” when you look back on your career?
Getting involved in side hustles. China is full of side hustles; everyone has a get-rich-quick scheme almost daily, whether in the tech industry, green sector, e-commerce or organic produce. These schemes come to you via friends and friends of friends. One I was lightly involved with was a megalomaniac honey producer. The pitch was Australian honey vs. New Zealand honey. I was informed of the market potential on the back of a napkin in a fancy restaurant that I paid for ( cliche, I know) potential millions, and my % was guaranteed. The plan included a random sheikh investor secured, and the arab market was next on the expansion plan. I spent endless hours researching honey and bees, the honey market leveraging my network for introductions and contacts, and buying said megalomaniac coffees as he touted his limited one pot of honey elixir around.
18. What’s the one bad quality you wouldn’t mind in a colleague? Why?
Complaining colleagues because they give you all the “goose”. I had an informal open-door policy called “come in and vent” after 4 p.m., which was beautiful for supporting team members and general intelligence sharing.
19. If you could add a question for the next person to answer, what would it be?
Who terrified you at work and what happened?
Thank you to Anne-Marie McCaughan for taking 20 Questions for The Brainfood Tribune. Make sure to follow Anne-Marie on LinkedIn