President of Diageo Western Europe: Careers Profile

How John Kennedy got from economics student at Duke University to regional president of the company behind some of the most recognizable alcoholic drinks brands in the world.

If you go to a certain corner of northwest London, you’ll come across 7HQ, a huge gleaming glass tower in which multinational alcoholic drinks company, Diageo, has its European headquarters. Though the name of the company itself may not be one you’ll know, you don’t need to have been anywhere near a bar in your life to know some of its brands: Guinness, Captain Morgan, Gordon’s and Smirnoff are just a handful of the names it has in its roster.

John Kennedy has been president of the company’s Western European arm since November 2012, having previously been Chief Operating Officer.  Now, the ambitious among you may be wondering, how do I get up there? Well never fear, we spoke to John to find out how he managed it – and more importantly, how you follow can in his footsteps...

Round yourself out

We can start with ambition and vision: “I always knew I wanted a career in business,” he reflects, “my father ran a gas station in New York, so I grew up in a business environment. I always wanted a chance to run my own.”

With that goal in mind, he chose to study economics at Duke University in North Carolina, which ranks 20th in the 2012/13 QS World University Rankings. How does he feel that his time at university prepared him for the career he wanted?

He replies that it wasn’t just the training in a FAME (that’s finance, accounting, management and economics) discipline – generally considered pretty useful in the world of business – at an elite university, but the whole ‘Duke experience’ which made him who he is today. “Most of my preparation for business actually came outside of the classroom,” he explains.

While at university, he was heavily involved with his fraternity (student membership organizations, most commonly found at North American universities – read our piece explaining them if you want to know more). Fundraising, the organization of the social calendar and working with other frats in the interfraternal government were all part of his prominent role. He describes it as a “personal growth experience”.

He adds that this is something that the most prestigious employers looked for when they came to campus: “There are a lot of smart people with high GPAs (grade point averages), so you need something to differentiate yourself. If you can show you can make an impact and effect change by working with people, you’ll make yourself a lot more attractive to the best employers.” This, he adds, is what his own company looks for in its graduate hires.

His belief in the importance of rounding yourself out as a person also applies to academics, at least at undergraduate level: “You shouldn’t try to specialize too early. Perhaps consider pursuing a liberal arts education, and then specialize at graduate level."

This will prepare you for the professional world, in which it similarly doesn’t pay to be too much of a specialist too soon, he believes: “You shouldn’t just look for a promotion, but try to look at wide variety of different functions and work in different places. Diverse experience leads to the best practices.”

Think global

Diverse experience is certainly something he could tell you about. One of the most notable things about John’s résumé is how international it is. As well as London, he has worked in New York, Dublin, Toronto and Sydney (he half hoped, he jokes, that he’d never get the promotion that took him away from his house near the beach there). The “global mindset” of Duke played a vital role in equipping him with the skills he needed to do this.

“My professors always encouraged you to think about things from a global perspective, which really opened my mind,” he recalls. “They encouraged you to be curious about the whole human race.” Getting some global experience and skills – language skills in particular – he thinks, can really open doors for you.

So, think international and be flexible! Does John have any final pieces of advice for aspiring presidents of multinational companies? He does indeed; it’s one you might know, but one that bears repeating: “This is a very competitive world. You should always focus on exceeding expectations. Do your job and then do more – if you just do your job and are satisfied with that, you won’t be able to grow.”