Special Reports
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The Lighter Side

If you look after people on the way through your career, they will look after you, says Alastair Blair, country managing director, Accenture Ireland

What businessperson do you most admire?

It’s hard to pick just one. Throughout my career, I have had the privilege of working with so many excellent leaders. I admire leaders that have real courage in the good times and the bad, and those that bring a team along with them, not just drive them forward. For me, the most important trait in a business leader is integrity and trust; I think of it as the currency that makes things work properly.

What is your guilty pleasure?

Can I have two? Going anywhere, and I mean anywhere, to see U2 play live ... and having a drink in Kenny’s pub in Lahinch, Co Clare. That isn’t too guilty, is it?

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How do you unwind?

Watching sport (though I do get a bit noisy watching rugby according to my family). I enjoy playing golf, albeit poorly, and listening to music, but with an ever-narrowing catalogue!

How much money is in your wallet?

As the banks have continued to embrace the benefits of technology, I really like that I just have to carry a small metal card holder, which has made life so much easier.

What is the best business advice you’ve ever been given?

Look after people on the way through your career, they will look after you. Also, doing the little things well matters as much as the big things.

How do you manage your work-life balance?

I certainly don’t have it figured out, but I do know when to “leave the office” (and that includes the home office) when the day is done.

What is your favourite possession?

That would probably be an old MGB that my father owned and I have tried to keep running. It has many happy miles on it!

What’s your most memorable holiday ever?

My honeymoon in Australia I would say. But isn’t the best holiday also always the next one, especially these days!

If money were no object, what would your fantasy purchase be?

I’ve always wanted a Jaguar E-Type and particularly now that there are Irish companies that convert them into electric vehicles.

What is the first website you look at every morning?

A very Irish response but probably met.ie for the weather! Or else Twitter.

Are you an early bird or a night owl?

Night owl most definitely, morning is not my favourite time of day.

What person do you most admire?

Has to be my family. Definitely Leslie, my wife, who will probably have something to say when she sees this, she is truly the best. My mother and father were massive influences on me growing up.

What’s your favourite place in Dublin and why?

How long have you got ...? The French Paradox/Mae’s for food and fun. Or else a rugby match at the Aviva, preferably Ireland vs England with my friends over for the weekend.

Anything you would like to plug?

I get very passionate about the skills agenda. Our economy has benefitted so greatly from the education system we have in this country for decades. We now need to see rapid and profound change to ensure that the system can develop the necessary skills to support our economy and our communities into the future, which will be characterised by rapid innovation, collaboration within and across industries, deep digital skills and adoption of the very latest technologies.

That means everything from reskilling the existing workforce, providing greater skills development by broadening out the curricula from primary through secondary and beyond, and addressing the emerging digital divide post-pandemic, ie the gap between the haves and have-nots in this increasingly technology-driven society.