A monthly interview with people who've crossed organisational and sectoral boundaries to join a new working world.
When Stephen Lovegrove noticed he was spending more time poring over the mainstream news section of the Financial Times than the Companies and Markets section, he realised it might be time to leave his job in financial services. “I was no longer finding banking very stimulating. More and more issues of public policy were fascinating me – particularly how decisions were made,” he says.
His banking role gave him access to high-level officials, and a chance meeting with the then-cabinet secretary Robert Turnbull turned into an invitation for a chat to discuss a role at the newly formed Shareholder Executive. A successful interview led to a one-year contract as deputy director. “Nobody knew if the executive was going to work, or if I was going to work,” he recalls.
Partly because of his investment banking past, he says that one or two officials were initially suspicious of his appointment: “I have no doubts that a couple of people thought: ‘Oh God, look at him!’ I had to try to dispel those fears.”
Lovegrove says that he first took care to assess the lie of the land: “I didn’t try to shove myself forward too much – in some areas I played a central role, but in others I was happy to be a peripheral figure. Trying to work against the grain in the civil service is going to get you nowhere and drive you mad.” However, he discovered that he was able to bring his commercial experience to bear in government negotiations around the renewal of the BBC license fee, on the lottery and during early work on the 2012 Olympic Games.
The tactic paid dividends, and in 2007 he was made chief executive of the Shareholder Executive. He argues that “the idea that the skills are not transferable is a slight defence mechanism on both sides,” but notes that “people transferring do need to respect the culture.”
While Lovegrove – nowadays the permanent secretary at the Department for Energy and Climate Change – says that he’s “very much enjoying” life in the public sector, he’s keen to stress the importance of a breadth of experience which crosses the divide. “I think having a wide set of professional experiences from different jobs does give you a degree of confidence,” he concludes.
“Whatever you go on to do afterwards, you feel that you won’t be completely fazed because you know you’ll be able to learn how to do it.”