From Newcastle to Nairobi, DIAGEO exec discovers there’s no place like home

myGwork sat down to talk to John L Williams, global head of Scotch at DIAGEO, about his journey through life and the lessons it has imparted to him.

John’s story begins as a teenager in Newcastle, Northeast England, in the early 1980s. “Growing up as a teenager [who knew he was different] in Newcastle, at the height of the AIDS pandemic, wasn’t particularly joyful,” he recalls, as he recounts difficulties for young LGBTQ+ people that seem to permeate across the ages: bullying, hiding, the feeling of rejection. This continued at home and at school, as his parents struggled – in some cases outright rejected – having a son who was “different”, but John describes this as a blessing and a curse. “I count myself lucky that it was what drove me: I knew I didn’t belong, and nothing motivated me to get out of Dodge quicker.”

John’s mantra became three core maxims: to look after himself, to take care of himself, and to have a plan – not necessarily a detailed one – to get away and to achieve what he felt he was capable of achieving. It was a simple plan and one that in many respects John has stuck to throughout his years; to keep moving forward, to take the opportunities that he sees, and to be flexible about where he’s going.

Planned spontaneity

Over the course of our conversation, what strikes me most about John is this planned spontaneity: he constantly affirms that he had no firm or constant idea or goal in his mind, other than simply achieving what he felt he was capable of, and collecting enough stories down the years that he hopes one day to be able to tell anyone who will listen. I ask him whether he ever imagined as a 14-year-old sitting in a bedroom in Newcastle, that he would be sitiing being interviewed like this to reflect on his life and a successful 20-year career at DIAGEO, now leading the global Scotch department of the business. He did not.

Creating independence

John left school early as a result of the difficulties he faced and enrolled in a youth training Scheme. “I got paid £25 a week to train as an office junior – learning to file and type, because I wanted to start creating my own independence.”  He did A Levels at night school whilst he worked, and graduated both into an insurance firm where he worked for four years before deciding it was time to go to university. “There was a difficulty with universities, where they wanted you to have gone to a certain school, and have predicted grades from teachers – none of which I had.” However, after several rejections, an opportunity presented itself: a business school in Germany, keen to teach more English students, made John an offer.

“It was another way to get as far away from home as possible,” John laughs, describing the ordeal as a baptism of fire. Facing a feeling of imposter syndrome, John took away from the experience the core of his worldview today: “that anyone, from anywhere, can achieve anything they want to do if they’re prepared to work to achieve it.” Arriving in Germany, John resolved that he was going to be authentically himself, to not let back about who he was or how he felt, and to live openly. He had tried this in Newcastle, going to a gay club called Powerhouse that had just opened as he navigated his way through the community as an adolescent.

He was photographed by Gay Times at the club and was very proud of this – especially when he found out he made it into the magazine – until his mother discovered, and an argument ensured. “I can laugh about it now but her three concerns, she told me, was that I would never get a job, I would die of AIDS, and that she was worried about what to tell the neighbours. This was just fuel to the fire to get out, get away, and live my life as who I was.”

Global career

The estrangement from his family and home subsequently spurred on this ‘nomadic’ approach to life – first Germany, where he made his chosen family, before embarking on a career that would take him to Frankfurt, London, New York, Nairobi, Dublin, and now Amsterdam. As ever, John hadn’t chosen his degree with a specific career in mind, instead seeking to optimise the opportunities that he had available to him. Three days after his graduation, he secured a job at a haircare company and began his professional career.

It is at this point John points out to me, tongue in cheek, that his being bald is not a result of their products, and he remembers fondly the opportunities and time he had which started him on a trajectory in brand marketing. Wanting to move from Frankfurt to London, he joined DIAGEO – it offered exciting opportunities to him, represented brands he was familiar with and passionate about, and give him the ability to maximise his potential.

Relationships valued

John has been at DIAGEO for over two decades now, describing it as “the longest relationship he’s ever been in.” He attributes his stay to the culture at the business, where relationships and support are valued, as well as the truly global and interesting nature of the brands and business being undertaken. John threw himself eagerly into the work as a result, saying yes to every opportunity that came his way – moving first to New York, in part of a “pinch me, I’m dreaming” moment. He then moved to Nairobi, Kenya to run the East African section of the business. “It was probably the opposite of living and working in New York, but it was amazing for my skills and experience.” Next came Dublin, and Amsterdam for the last six years, graduating to manage the global Scotch sector of the business.

No place like home

Outside of work, John enjoys traveling to experience different cultures and locations. He blames Eurovision for this, growing up with exposure to the varying languages and nations involved, and it has encouraged him to see as much of the world as possible. Living transiently, he grew further and further away from home in Newcastle as it just became another destination he has been to, until Covid-19 hit. Suddenly John was moving home to Newcastle to support his mother, and it truly felt like home: “The place I needed to be.” He could picture himself living there again, and suddenly appreciated more the place he had come from, he wasn’t running away anymore. As John now begins to consider where he wants his roots to be, the teenage boy from Newcastle has come full circle: there’s no place quite like home.

DIAGEO is a partner of myGwork, the LGBTQ+ Business Community. Check out their job opportunities here.