Willis Towers Watson's Naomi Denning prepares for a new adventure
After 23 years with Willis Towers Watson, Naomi Denning will soon step down as MD & head of the firm's Asia Pacific investment business for a new life in Canada with her family. This week, she speaks with Industry Moves about her career and time with the firm - sharing lessons, challenges, and her most memorable colleague - and reveals what she might do next.
After 23 years with Willis Towers Watson, Naomi Denning will soon step down as MD & head of the firm's Asia Pacific investment business for a new life in Canada with her family. This week, she speaks with Industry Moves about her career and time with the firm - sharing lessons, challenges, and her most memorable colleague - and reveals what she might do next.
After 23 years with Willis Towers Watson, what has been the greatest lesson that you'll take away?
Listen, respect the views of others, keep learning and always stay positive.
What has been the biggest challenge that you've experienced in your career and how did you overcome it?
The biggest challenges usually involve people, and what has helped me through these challenges is to stay calm in times of stress, assume that everyone has a good reason for saying or thinking what they do, think (or ask) about why they might hold that view and present the different perspective to help people understand it's not about right or wrong, just different views which can all be valid.
Who has been the most memorable colleague that you've worked with since starting at Willis Towers Watson in 1994?
Oh my goodness, that's just too hard because one of the greatest things about Willis Towers Watson is the incredible people with whom I have had the privilege to work. I'm going to have to say Roger Urwin, who has been my boss, my mentor, my sponsor, my inspiration and my friend. I met Roger in person in October 1994, four months after I started at Wyatt and soon after the Watson Wyatt alliance was announced. We quickly started to work together on our extended journey, often travelling to distant parts of the planet together, but mostly working 10,000 miles apart, yet Roger always knew when to pick up the phone!
What has prompted the move to Canada?
This is a long term dream which my husband and I formed together soon after we met - he's American, I'm British - where would we end up? We are regular visitors to Whistler and quickly fell in love with British Columbia and wanted to make it our home someday. Why now? No magic, it would have been easy to carry on doing what I love in Asia, but our oldest child is finishing primary school at the end of this month, so this was a sensible target for us as a family and it seems only fair to give someone else a chance to lead our business in Asia Pacific. I look forward to being a positive influence in Canada.
What advice would you offer to someone that was just about to enter the financial industry?
Stay focused on what should be the true purpose of the industry - to provide value to the clients entrusting their assets to you. Alignment of interest is key.
...and what has been the best piece of advice that you have received throughout your career?
Trust people more than they expect to be trusted - it is the greatest motivator. This came from my Kellogg professor on leadership, Keith Murnighan, and hit a chord with me because I immediately recognised this trait in several of the key leaders I respected so much and who gave me the confidence to keep moving forward. Also, nothing is as bad as you think, everything happens for a reason, so stay positive and look for the opportunity in every crisis.
What was your very first job?
I started out with Mercer Investments in London after university. A few years in, I took a year to travel in Asia and work in Australia - I got hooked on the region and had to come back!
What's next on the cards for you?
Hopefully a few months of rest to recharge and help settle my family in Canada, but I do plan to work again next year, and hopefully put to good use my investment experience, passion for diversity and inclusion and helping women progress, and generally helping progress good governance.
