In the summer of 2020, I put a hypothetical question to the company's Deputy CEO:

"If you had a colleague working fourteen-hour days, responsible for a large region of the globe and a portfolio of business without the support they deserved, and regularly pulled into complex matters beyond their role because of their expertise, wouldn't they eventually ask whether they could achieve more without the shackles of a large corporation?"

The question stayed with me. I'd never set out to be my own boss, but I kept seeing the same gap: wordings the market had stopped questioning, and risk no one had taken the time to explain to the business carrying it. I thought it could be done differently, for clients and for colleagues.

It became a strain, emotionally and professionally. The responsibility kept growing; the support didn't, and the institution had little appetite to adapt.

Then it landed:

"You can't reshape strategy from inside someone else's framework."

The framework had started to shape me, rather than the other way around. Patching leaks below the waterline, it became clear I needed to find a firm that shared my principles, or risk capsizing under the weight of compromise.

That search led me to one that, on paper, seemed to. The reality didn't match the promise. A misstep rather than a failure, and like all missteps it served its purpose. It reminded me what I stood for: that principles aren't negotiable, and that clarity, not obedience, is what moves things forward. I'd grown clear about the clients I wanted to represent, the work I was proud to deliver, and what I would no longer compromise.

So I moved on. Not to escape, but to realign. I wasn't trying to be a boss; I was trying to do the work better: work measured by its quality rather than its growth, where clients make informed risk decisions instead of following the trend, and risk is treated not as a simple transfer of exposure but as intelligent, timely strategy that serves commercial priorities.

Today I work with leadership teams across Maritime and Specialty who value perspective, long-term impact, and Independence by Design.

Because in an industry that rewards noise and speed, I chose clarity and independence for deliberate impact.