UAE-based consultancy’s ‘team captain’ finds winning formula

This content was originally posted in 7DAYS UAE website at: UAE-based consultancy’s ‘team captain’ finds winning formula When I grow up I want to be head of a consulting firm, said no child ever. Neither did Jason Harborow. He wanted to be a professional athlete. But the teen’s dream was dealt a tough blow just as he began to show promise. And as companies and individuals across the UAE were last week told to innovate, the Brit has been doing pretty much that all of his adult life. “I got a very serious shoulder injury and it really curtailed what could have been quite a decent sports career,” he told 7DAYS. But while fate took him out of sport, it could not take his competitive spirit. He recalled: “At the time I was upset because I had to have major surgery on my shoulder and I knew that was it. But then I just thought I’ll do something different. I just wanted to be successful. I wanted to, and still want to, win at everything I do.” So Harborow did the next best thing he could: he got a job at a sports venue. He said: “My first job was at a Youth Training Scheme. I was 17. It paid £27.50 [Dhs152] a week. Everybody apart from me used to moan about it. [But] I loved it, because I got a job as a lifeguard and sports recreation assistant, it meant I could play sport all day and get paid for it. It was like being a professional athlete!” In less than a year, Harborow worked his way up to supervisor and life started looking up after his manager at the time gave him two valuable pieces of advice. He said: “I look upon him as being one of the most influential people in my career. He said, ‘Jason, read half an hour a day about your chosen subject and you’ll be 25 minutes ahead of everyone else’, and ‘really be passionate about what you want to do and if you see any opportunities go for it’.” This ‘go for it’ mantra pushed him to organise events at the centre, which led him to manage other sports facilities, and ultimately get noticed by JJB Sports founder David Whelan, who was then building a 25,000-seat stadium. “He asked me to join him as his stadium director. I was 26 and that was my big break really,” said Harborow, who went on to be operations director of the Rugby World Cup, general manager for the 2002 Commonwealth Games, and then CEO of Liverpool’s European Capital of Culture 2008. Today, Harborow, 45, heads the Middle East and North Africa arm of PA Consulting. While they can only say so much about their projects – high-profile and bound by confidentiality – the firm’s work in the region includes advising the likes of air services provider dnata and the Qatar Supreme Council of Health. Harborow says his current career is based on the same fundamentals he started out with – it’s simply about being a good team captain. He said: “I’ve always been a great team player because I’ve always played sports, and I’ve always understood the meaning of having people play different parts in your success. It’s a quote we’ve got on our office wall now: ‘Talent wins games but teamwork and intelligence wins championships’. I believe in that.” megha@7days.ae Read the original story at: UAE-based consultancy’s ‘team captain’ finds winning formula