It's A Wonderful Life What You Make of It Is Up to You

As a very young boy attending a village school in the Highlands of Scotland, I started to realise the value of words at a very young age. Always telling stories of monsters, giants, or cowboys and Indians, I was encouraged to build on this natural talent, and even advised to pursue a career as a writer. Like most kids, I duly ignored that advice, becoming a soldier straight from school at the ripe old age of sixteen. I put that down to sheer luck, or the good Lord's intervention to allow me to do something I was born to do.

During a long military career my love of words was a great help, allowing me to demonstrate some genuine academic ability, but also in in generating a love of poetry, after all it's just storytelling in rhyme. I didn't realise then just how important the ability to write poetry would become, but it became my coping mechanism for loss, whether that of family, friends or fallen comrades. I have no doubt that at one stage of my career, PTSD might have been sitting on my shoulder, but for the protection writing afforded me.

My use of words continued as I built a successful career in industry, employing the team building approach that comes from an absolute belief that "there is no I in team". I am now in the incredibly privileged position to be able to give something back to society, whether by letting people know about what did and what didn't work for me, mentoring and advising young folk to help them in their careers, or just by being kind to those less fortunate than me.