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Nick Lovegrove
U.S. Managing Partner at Brunswick Group and Author of The Mosaic Principle
Brunswick Group Harvard University Kennedy School of Government
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Nick is an organizational and leadership consultant, researcher and writer. He is currently the U.S. Managing Partner of the Brunswick Group, a global advisory firm specializing in critical issues and corporate relations. He previously spent more than three decades at McKinsey & Company, the managing consulting firm, in London and Washington, D.C.; and he has also served as a senior director of the Albright Stonebridge Group, a strategic adviser to the U.K. prime minister, a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and a visiting lecturer at Oxford University's Blavatnik School of Government.

In November, 2016, Perseus Books (Public Affairs) will publish Nick's first book entitled "The Mosaic Principle - The Six Dimensions of a Remarkable Life and Career". The book explores how each of us can build our lives as mosaics, full of purpose, meaning, happiness and success. It addresses the increasing pressures of modern society towards deeper specialization and the risk of isolation from those who are different from us. It seeks to convey both a compelling vision and a pragmatic path out of this contemporary trap.

Pre-Order The Mosaic Principle on Amazon: https://goo.gl/mheJbu
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Nick’s Articles
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Why do the experts keep getting it wrong on elections?
Nick Lovegrove on LinkedIn
Publish dateNovember 23, 2016
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Publication Day for The Mosaic Principle
Nick Lovegrove on LinkedIn
Publish dateNovember 1, 2016
Experience
Brunswick Group
U.S. Managing Partner
Company NameBrunswick Group
Dates EmployedMay 2014 – Present Employment Duration3 yrs
LocationGreater New York City Area
Albright Stonebridge Group
Senior Director
Company NameAlbright Stonebridge Group
Dates EmployedSep 2012 – Apr 2014 Employment Duration1 yr 8 mos
LocationWashington, DC
Harvard Kennedy School of Government
Senior Fellow, Center for Business & Government
Company NameHarvard Kennedy School of Government
Dates EmployedSep 2011 – Sep 2013 Employment Duration2 yrs 1 mo
LocationCambridge, Massachusetts
McKinsey & Company
Director (Senior Partner), Managing Partner, Washington, D.C.
Company NameMcKinsey & Company
Dates EmployedDec 2006 – Sep 2012 Employment Duration5 yrs 10 mos
LocationWashington D.C. Metro Area
The Brookings Institution
Non-Resident Senior Fellow
Company NameThe Brookings Institution
Dates EmployedSep 2010 – Aug 2012 Employment Duration2 yrs
LocationWashington D.C. Metro Area
McKinsey & Company
Director (Senior Partner)
Company NameMcKinsey & Company
Dates EmployedJul 1982 – Dec 2006 Employment Duration24 yrs 6 mos
LocationLondon, United Kingdom
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Education
Harvard University Kennedy School of Government
Harvard University Kennedy School of Government
Degree Name Master in Public Policy (MPP)
Dates attended or expected graduation 1980 – 1982
University of Oxford
University of Oxford
Degree Name Master of Arts (M.A.) Field Of Study Modern History
Dates attended or expected graduation 1977 – 1980
INSEAD
INSEAD
Degree Name Master of Business Administration (MBA)
Dates attended or expected graduation 1984 – 1984
Volunteer Experience
Royal Shakespeare Company
Member of the Board of Trustees
Company NameRoyal Shakespeare Company
Dates volunteeredJun 2000 – Jun 2006 Volunteer duration6 yrs 1 mo
Cause Arts and Culture
TeachFirst
Member of the Board of Directors
Company NameTeachFirst
Dates volunteeredJun 2001 – Dec 2006 Volunteer duration5 yrs 7 mos
Cause Education
Featured Skills & Endorsements
International Relations See 9 endorsements for International Relations 9

Endorsed by 6 of Nick’s colleagues at Brunswick Group
Public Policy See 8 endorsements for Public Policy 8

Endorsed by Dr James Dray, who is highly skilled at this

Endorsed by 6 of Nick’s colleagues at Brunswick Group
Economic Development See 7 endorsements for Economic Development 7

Endorsed by Janamitra Devan, who is highly skilled at this

Endorsed by 4 of Nick’s colleagues at Brunswick Group
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Accomplishments
Nick has 3 publications3
Publications
See publication The Mosaic Principle: The Six Dimensions of a Remarkable Life and Career
publication titleThe Mosaic Principle: The Six Dimensions of a Remarkable Life and Career
publication descriptionPre-Order Here: https://goo.gl/mheJbu

The pressures of modern society have pushed us toward deeper specialization in our lives and careers. Our narrow expertise means we are increasingly isolated from those different from us, which fosters tension and conflict—think of business people and government officials who distrust each other, or police officers who struggle to operate in minority communities. We’ve been pushed into self-defining cocoons from which it is difficult to break out, and we lack the coping skills for succeeding in an ever-changing, more complex, and diverse world.

Nick Lovegrove conveys both a compelling vision and a pragmatic path out of this contemporary trap. Through vivid portraits of those who get it right, such as Paul Farmer, the physician whose broad-minded approach brings health and hope to the world’s poorest people, and those who get it deeply wrong, such as Jeffrey Skilling, whose narrow focus brought down Enron, he provides a simple blueprint of six skills—a developed moral compass, a prepared mind, an intellectual thread, an integrated network, contextual intelligence, and transferable skills—that will enable personal and professional success.

Taken together, these dimensions enable us to build our lives as mosaics, full of purpose, meaning, happiness, and success.
publication descriptionPublic Affairs (Perseus Books)
publication dateAug 1, 2016
Authors
Nick Lovegrove
See publication "Training Tri-Sector Athletes"
publication title"Training Tri-Sector Athletes"
publication descriptionSociety needs leaders confident in the nonprofit, government and business worlds.
publication descriptionBrunswick Review
publication dateMar 2016
Authors
Nick Lovegrove
See publication "Triple-Strength Leadership"
publication title"Triple-Strength Leadership"
publication descriptionTo solve our most vexing problems, we need executives who can move easily among the business, government, and social spheres. Those who successfully cross the three sectors have brilliant careers
publication descriptionHarvard Business Review
publication dateSep 1, 2013
Authors
Nick LovegroveMatthew Thomas

Nick Lovegrove
Partner, New York
Nick Lovegrove
Nick manages the firm’s operations in the US and advises our teams and clients on corporate reputation, crisis communications and public affairs issues.

Nick joined Brunswick as U.S. Managing Partner in May 2014. In this role, he draws upon more than 30 years of professional experience with McKinsey & Company, initially in London and more recently in Washington, DC. From 2006 to 2012 he served as Managing Partner of McKinsey’s Washington, DC Office – working with clients in the public, private and non-profit sectors. Before that he led several UK and European practices – notably in Media & Information Services, and in the firm’s Government & Public Sector work.

In 2001, Nick was appointed as a senior advisor to the UK Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit in 10 Downing Street. He also served as a Board Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company and of TeachFirst, which he helped to found. He has continued his involvement in the public and non-profit sectors since he moved to the US with Venture Philanthropy Partners, Guidestar and the Shakespeare Theatre Company.

In the two years before joining Brunswick, Nick served as a Senior Director of the Albright Stonebridge Group, a geopolitical consultancy. He was also appointed as a Senior Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University; as a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington; and as a Visiting Lecturer at Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government.

ABOUT NICK
u_16206_110069_8x10 FOR PUBLICITY
Nick Lovegrove is a veteran consultant, executive coach, and writer. He is currently the US managing partner of the Brunswick Group, a global corporate advisory firm. He previously spent more than thirty years of his career at McKinsey & Company, where he became a senior partner in the London Office, and then the managing partner of the Washington, DC Office. He took time out of his McKinsey career to serve as a strategic advisor to British prime minister Tony Blair; and he has worked with multiple organizations in the business, government and non-profit sectors. Nick has been a senior fellow at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government; a senior fellow in the Global Economy program of the Brookings Institution; and a visiting lecturer at Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government. He is a graduate of Oxford and Harvard universities, and has an MBA from INSEAD in France.

Nick is the author of The Mosaic Principle: The Six Dimensions of a Remarkable Life and Career, which will be published by Public Affairs in the US on November 1, 2016 and by Profile Books in the UK on January 26, 2017.

Nick lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife Alyssa and their four children.

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Review — ‘The Mosaic Principle’

Nick Lovegrove stresses the value of breadth in a world obsessed with specialisms

An obsession with specialism means we all to easily become one-trick ponies, writes Nick Lovegrove © Alamy
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FEBRUARY 13, 2017 by: Emma De Vita
Ditch the corporate ladder and approach your career as Odysseus might, with brilliance, guile and versatility. This is the plea from author Nick Lovegrove in The Mosaic Principle: The Six Dimensions of a Successful Life & Career. In this part-philosophical, part-practical career guide, Lovegrove rails against businesses’ demands for greater specialisms, which tend to bind people into working lives of narrow experience.

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Not only does this leave us unfulfilled, he says, but companies lack sufficient staff with the perspective to solve complex problems.

“The world is increasingly obsessed with the power of narrow, specialist expertise,” argues Lovegrove, “but if we always shape our lives that way then we all too easily become one-trick ponies.”

He says such individuals not only lose something of what makes them special but they also lack the transferable skills to succeed in a complex and diverse world.

Lovegrove’s remedy is for people to allow themselves the freedom to explore their intellectual interests throughout a wide-ranging career.

As working lives lengthen, so does the opportunity to meander across sectors and industries, leading to a deeper knowledge. This mosaic of skills and experience can then be pieced together: in this way, an interest in environmental law could take someone from private practice representing companies dealing with government regulation, to a government department while also working with environmental charities.

However, the high-flying individuals used as examples by Lovegrove are no wandering hippies. Take Dr Paul Farmer. He is professor of both medicine and anthropology at Harvard, a physician at a Boston hospital, and co-founder of Partners in Health, a not-for-profit for which he spends half the year working in Haiti.

And Jeff Seabright, who started in US federal government and led President Bill Clinton’s task force for climate change before moving to Texaco, Coca-Cola and Unilever.

While Lovegrove’s book aims to convey the virtues of breadth in building a life and career, he points out that it “should not be taken as a recipe for ‘randomness’, for the professional dilettante, [or] for being a ‘jack-of-all-trades and master of none’”.

A successful working person should aim to be a hybrid with both breadth and depth, which will give would-be employers a reason to call them.

Lovegrove has come up with “six dimensions” based on interviews with 200 people who have achieved this tricky balance. The dimensions are: applying your moral compass; defining an intellectual thread; developing transferable skills; investing in contextual intelligence; building an extended network, and having a prepared mind.

Lovegrove’s approach can be viewed as a T-shape, where the vertical stroke of the T is a deep expertise in subject matter, while the horizontal stroke is the ability to work outside a core area.

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Lesser mortals can learn from the successes of Lovegrove’s overachievers. He argues that everyone should have the confidence and freedom to follow less linear and blinkered career paths, and this rings true.

The Mosaic Principle provides the bridge between the established portfolio career model that might straddle business, third sector and government, and the millennial, gig-economy, freelance model.

While senior executives have always sought to add strings to their bow by taking non-executive directorships, or becoming a consultant and building a portfolio career, Lovegrove’s book legitimises this approach for those in the middle years of a career, those who do not have the confidence of the younger, millennial generation to step off the corporate ladder and pursue their own odyssey.

The Mosaic Principle: The Six Dimensions of a Successful Life & Career by Nick Lovegrove, Profile Books, £16.99

THE MOSAIC PRINCIPLE
The Six Dimensions of a Remarkable Life and Career
by Nick Lovegrove
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KIRKUS REVIEW

Making the case for a mindful approach to career and life development.

Any guide to a successful life or career must take liberties in how success is defined. In this book on finding your own way forward, Lovegrove, the U.S. managing partner at the Brunswick Group, takes a more philosophical approach. This isn't to say that the author doesn’t consider the how, when, and where, but he makes the case that the reasons why will go a lot further toward building a satisfying career and life. Lovegrove's thinking with his mosaic principle is that the idea of a “jack of all trades, master of none" is unnecessarily constricting, that creating a wide-ranging, diverse life is not only healthier in the present, but will also open up more choices as time goes on. The author addresses the trend of specialization in many of its forms, from high school students being steered away from a liberal arts education to the medical profession, in which it’s commonplace to require different surgeons for nearly every individual part of the body. Lovegrove argues that taking a T-shaped approach—having an area of deep knowledge that serves as a base, of sorts, from which you expand outward into different subjects—prepares you for a broader range of challenges while avoiding the master-of-none scenario. The author lays out six skill areas he feels are crucial: a developed moral compass, a prepared mind, an intellectual thread, an integrated network, contextual intelligence, and transferable skill sets. Lovegrove compellingly draws on examples from his own careers to illustrate the benefits and pitfalls of each skill area, and he bolsters his narrative with anecdotes about other successful people in a variety of disciplines.

Lovegrove balances his book neatly between the nuts-and-bolts approach to being successful and the more philosophical sense of understanding yourself first before seeking to change the world for others.

Pub Date: Nov. 1st, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-61039-556-4
Page count: 352pp
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: Sept. 17th, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1st, 2016

The Mosaic Principle: The Six Dimensions of a Remarkable Life and Career

Nick Lovegrove. PublicAffairs, $27.99 (352p) ISBN 978-1-61039-556-4

Lovegrove, U.S. managing partner for the corporate consulting firm Brunswick Group, delivers a thoughtful plea for breadth of experience and learning over intense specialization. Lovegrove uses the titular mosaic as a metaphor for both society and individuals, explaining that a focus on highly specialized knowledge is damaging to both people’s inner selves and their careers. He believes that, as a society, the U.S. needs to refocus on diversifying professional development and training—the approach of a liberal arts education, rather than of a trade school. He argues that specialists can get hamstrung by a lack of broad information and experience, and provides positive stories of those who’ve succeeded at achieving breadth, including Paul Farmer, U.N. special envoy to Haiti, and David Hayes, U.S. deputy secretary of the interior. Addressing readers at every stage of their careers, Lovegrove explains that having diverse knowledge and interests can help to “overcome your external constraints and internal doubts.” All readers looking to break out of an intellectual box of their own making will find a refreshing new viewpoint on their personal and professional lives in this convincing manifesto. Agent: Richard Pine, Inkwell Management. (Nov.)