The Things I Know - Cristina Howick, Partner, Roger Tym & Partners

Planning, 5 June 2009

The London School of Economics. An MSc in urban and regional planning studies taught me how to apply an economics degree to planning issues.

- What skills did you have when you graduated?

Some academic knowledge and analytical skills but no idea how to put them to practical use.

- What attracted you to planning?

I thought that I would help make people's lives better. Looking back, this seems a bit rose-tinted but the general idea was right.

- What did you learn in your first job?

How to look reasonably alert while being bored out of my wits. This skill is now redundant because my present job is much more exciting.

- What skills have you had to learn over your career?

The most challenging were geography and tact.

- What or who have been the biggest influences on your career?

My long-ago boss Tony Harrison, who showed me how to do useful things with economics. Former Roger Tym managing partner Bill Brisbane, who demonstrated how to be a brilliant consultant unassumingly.

- What is your career highlight?

Being asked to advise the DCLG on PPS4 on planning for prosperous economies and other guidance earlier this year. It was nice to use my experience of helping authorities and regions formulate policies to support economic growth to contribute to better national policy.

- What have you learnt outside work that has influenced you?

How to write, from reading George Orwell and The Guardian, and that there's more to life, from my children.

- What further skills do you aim to obtain or develop?

More geography and more tact.

- How important is it to keep abreast of developments in allied professions?

It's important, but be selective. With email and the web, about five per cent of information is gold dust and the rest irrelevant. The trick is to tell which is which.