I went back to university this week. Ostensibly to give a talk to the MSc in Sporting Directorship students at Salford University on the role social media plays within recruitment. But true to that environment, and much of my job, I ended up learning as much – or more – than I imparted.  We all spend so much of our time trying to master our profession and position ourselves as experts but one of the great privileges of what I do is the constant opportunity to go into new environments and learn.

On Wednesday we did dive into social media strategy and I was able to help future candidates understand how and why they could and should position themselves. But we talked much more about the bigger picture and how to get the skills required to be a strategic leader in sport. And while I have been a professional sportsman, and now run my own business, I believe I learned far more from their perspectives as they did from mine. It reminded me of the importance of all experience, different world views, teams, cultures and perspectives.

Diversity is a competitive advantage and when you combine top down and bottom up approaches and really listen to each other, everyone can gain. So thank you Salford, I have a lot to think about and hope you do too.