My life has always centred on words - reading them, writing them, translating them, editing them, setting them to music, and singing them.

 

For this reason, my commercial and creative activities have always been closely interlinked. A feeling for pitch, tone and timing is essential for a musician, but it is equally vital for a speech writer. Perhaps even more important is a sensitivity to the needs and expectations of an audience, an ability to create a deep and strong connection at a key moment.

 

We bring worlds into being when we speak. This applies to a CEO announcing an industry-changing merger; it applies just as well to a person writing their first poem in the pages of a private notebook.

 

I have had the great good fortune to be able to use my love of words not only to express some of my own thoughts and experiences but also to help others express theirs. What we think, write and publish matters – not just for ourselves and the immediate sphere we inhabit, but for the world we will one day leave behind us.