For Regent’s final Visiting Professorship event of 2026, Gavin Haig, former Chief Commercial Officer at Tiffany & Co., invited students to join him on a ‘career road trip’ - blending personal career milestones with practical tips and inspiring insights to encourage them to think about where their own professional adventures might take them.
Inspired by a recent American road trip which covered thousands of miles, featured a fantastic cast of characters and prompted reflection on his own working life and the lessons learned along the way, Gavin noted that ‘a career should be colourful, full of experiences and full of adventure’.
Gavin highlighted three key ‘phases’ for those at the start of their career journey - discover, develop and differentiate – essential for helping find focus and direction. He also touched on idea of following your passion in your career, suggesting that better advice might be to get into your career and see what you discover about your passion and where it could take you.
At the heart of Gavin’s talk were ten key insights and reference points, aimed at inspiring students to think about how they could build rich and fulfilling careers outside of Regent's.
Navigating your career journey: Gavin’s key insights
Be curious - developing your curiosity is crucial. It brings breadth and variety and can help you explore exciting new challenges or roles when they are offered to you. Noting that ‘curiosity leads to opportunities’, Gavin gave the example of talking to new people, asking questions and trying to find out from others around you what’s going on whenever you find yourself in a new environment.
Careers zig-zag - ‘there are no single defined paths when it comes to success or a single career’. Gavin highlighted his personal experience of shifting from a regional to a global role early in his career in a sideways move, actively exploring and pursuing new opportunities rather than waiting for these to come to him.
This zig-zag approach allowed him to gain experience, learn valuable lessons, and build resilience, adaptability and flexibility from a diverse range of challenging roles – key in early-stage careers.
Go where the energy is - whether that’s an industry, an economy or an organisation, going where there is growth and movement can lead to increased opportunities.
Gavin also emphasised the importance of energising yourself through finding ways to grow your skill set and then using these skills to create new opportunities or open new doors. This could be anything from taking part in professional development programmes to getting involved with a challenging new project.
Build your career – Gavin advocated for exploring your unique strengths to help shape your passion and discover what sets you apart from the crowd.
Noting ‘find what you’re good at and double down on it’, he reflected on how developing a passion for architecture and then becoming an expert in this specific area as his career evolved led to some brilliant opportunities with luxury brands, including Tiffany & Co.
Hone your craft – developing expertise and attention to detail throughout your career experiences is crucial. Focussing on something that both really excites you and speaks to your skills and talents can help with this - ‘don’t wait to learn on the job, find the opportunities to develop yourself’.
Stay close to the frontline - ‘successful businesses are built on the frontline’ so starting on the ‘shop floor’ is key.
Being on the frontline, whether this is the shop floor or the salesroom, can help you truly understand your customer and brand through being closer to them. It is helpful for discovering directly what is and isn’t working at ‘ground level’ and it can reframe rejection and challenges as useful learning experiences, all of which builds resilience and confidence.
People build careers - ‘people make your career; it’s not just you’. This mindset is essential – not just in your first job but before you have even taken your first steps. Gavin emphasised the importance of building strong relationships and connections with friends and classmates to establish a network of future collaborators and trusted potential colleagues.
Think about your own desirability - build your own personal brand and your CV to reflect your desirability as a colleague so that people want to have you on their team. Gavin highlighted how things such as always being the first to volunteer for opportunities, improving your communication skills and building positive working relationships can help with this.
Success = talent x hard work x mindset - Gavin reflected that, in his experience, although raw talent is important, it will only get you so far. Hard work and having the right mindset are also essential in helping you pursue a rich and fulfilling career.
Be generous - if you give, you will receive – or, what you put in is what you get out. It’s crucial to be generous with friends and colleagues, whether that’s putting your hand up to take on more responsibility or thinking about how you can help others succeed and grow as you get further into your career.
Noting how useful a mentor in your chosen business or sector can be, Gavin hinted at an exciting new mentoring programme which is being created in collaboration with Regent’s, looking specifically through an industry lens and aimed at high performing students - watch this space!
Wrapping up the session with a Q&A, our students shared thoughtful questions inspired by Gavin’s insights - from how big brands can maintain a strong sense of community and energy for staff, to which industries he would be excited about getting into if he was in their shoes today.
In short, a fantastic end to our 2025-26 season of Visiting Professorship and Distinguished Speaker Series events!