I have often felt like a fish out of water at various points throughout my career. But I’ve definitely come to the realisation that my diversity, and the difference that I bring, is a real strength.

My first tip is: dare to be different. It can weigh heavily on your shoulders and it can be quite frightening, I think, to take a risk and to do something different and to break new ground. Sometimes, people will question you and question whether you’re making the right decisions. And sometimes you’ll question yourself, but that’s okay. My family come from East Africa and India, and so they are the children of Britain’s colonial past. When I said to some members of my extended family that I was going to work for the Foreign Office, there was an immediate sense of, you know, “How could you do this?” “Do you not remember what they did to our people?” But I think you need to recognise that if you break new ground, there will be people who question you; but if you believe it’s the right thing to do, you need to persevere.

So, my next tip is: accept fear. So, I know that when I’m in new, uncomfortable situations, I get a strong sense of fear, and my flight mechanism kicks in. And for me, that starts with butterflies in my tummy, and it goes on to trying to think through, “How can I get out of this situation?” So, when I joined GCHQ, I definitely felt in those early days that sense of fear and flight. And I’m surrounded by some incredibly intelligent people and they’re gonna find me out pretty quickly. I’ve learnt, over the years, that actually that feeling only stays with me for a relatively short period of time, … … and if I ride it out and if I accept fear, that actually it will be fine, and the rational side will kick in soon enough.

Ask questions. That’s my next top tip. Because it’s only through asking and really listening to what people say that you can build relationships of trust and confidence. And in my job, I often meet people from international backgrounds, and the one thing that I always do is to look at what’s on the front page of their local newspaper that day. Because that gives me something topical to talk to them about. What you’re trying to do is to make people feel that you’re really interested in them and what they have to say to you.

My final tip is: find a champion. I think it’s really, really important when you’re breaking new ground to find somebody who will encourage you to be yourself, and will advocate for you. For me, I was lucky that I was able to find a champion fairly early on in my career, and she’s somebody that I will turn to and ask for advice and guidance. But also, don’t forget that you are a champion yourself. I learnt something which was ‘lift as you climb’, so making sure that you’re helping somebody else to succeed. Part of what drives me is proving people wrong – the people who said that I couldn’t possibly work for the Foreign Office, because it wasn’t for people from my background.

So, success for me isn’t about the glory of being at the top of an organisation, it’s about having the maximum impact that I can, but also about being an inspiration. So, if I can change the conversations, and encourage people to dare to be different and to take a risk, then I feel like I will have succeeded.
(End)

• A fish out of water (idiom): a person who feels awkward or uncomfortable because they are different, or they are in an unfamiliar situation.
• To come to the realisation (idiom): to become aware of or understand something.
• Diversity (noun): a range of different things or people.
• To dare (verb): to be brave or courageous enough to do something difficult or dangerous.
• To weigh heavily on someone’s shoulders (idiom): a difficult responsibility that makes someone very worried, anxious, or unhappy.
• Frightening (adjective): making someone afraid, feel fear.
• To break new ground (idiom): to discover or do something new.
• Colonial (adjective): relating to colonialism, one country controlling another.
• Extended family (noun): a family unit which includes grandparents, aunts and uncles, etc. in addition to parents and children.
• The Foreign Office (noun): the UK government department that deals with relationships with other countries.
• To persevere (verb): to continue making an effort to do something, even if it’s difficult.
• Fear (noun): an unpleasant emotion you have when you are scared or worried.
• Fight-or-flight (adjective): the physiological reaction people have to a dangerous or stressful situation, making them either stay and fight or run away (flight).
• To kick in (phrasal verb): to begin to have an effect or start to happen.
• To have butterflies in your stomach/ tummy (idiom): a feeling of being very nervous about something.
• GCHQ (noun, abbreviation): short for Government Communications Headquarters, a UK intelligence and security organisation.
• To ride (something) out (phrasal verb): to continue to exist until a difficult situation ends.
• Rational (adjective): based on clear thought and reason.
• A background (noun): your family, education, experiences, etc. which make who you are.
• The front page (noun): the most important news story.
• Topical (adjective): of interest at that time, relating to things happening at present.
• To encourage someone (verb): to support and make someone more likely to do something.
• To advocate for someone (verb): to speak for, support, and represent someone who may need extra help.
• To turn to someone (phrasal verb): to ask a person or organisation for help or support.
• To prove someone wrong (phrase): to show that what someone says is wrong or incorrect.
• Glory (noun): great praise and admiration that you get by doing something very successfully.
• Impact (noun): a powerful effect that something has on a situation or person.
• An inspiration (noun): someone or something that gives you ideas or motivation.

In this text, there are various examples of mitigators. Mitigators are the opposite of intensifiers (used to make something stronger): we use mitigators to make an adjective and adverbs less strong.

Fairly, rather, quite, and pretty (in informal English) are common mitigators:

‘We had a fairly good day.’   ‘He drives pretty quickly.’   ‘It’s rather boring, to be honest.’

Quite (and pretty), however, has two very different meanings:

Quite + ‘normal’ or gradable adjective makes an adjective less strong:

‘It was quite interesting’ (interesting but not very interesting); ‘It smells quite bad’ (bad but not very bad).

Quite + ‘strong’ or ungradable adjective means absolutely or completely:

‘It was quite fantastic!’ (absolutely fantastic); ‘It’s quite awful’ (absolutely awful).

We can also use mitigators with comparative forms. These words and phrases can be used with comparatives: a bit, just a bit, a little, a little bit, rather, slightly

‘I’m a bit older than her.’   ‘We’re slightly later than last time.’   ‘This is a rather more expensive option.’

Examples in the text:

• … it can be quite frightening: ‘quite’ + frightening (adjective). Quite is used here to make the adjective ‘frightening’ less strong.
• … they’re gonna find me out pretty quickly: ‘pretty’ + quickly (adverb). Pretty is used here to make the adverb ‘quickly’ less strong.
• … that feeling only stays with me for a relatively short period of time: ‘relatively’ + short period of time (noun phrase). Relatively is a more formal mitigator and is used here to make the adjective ‘short’ and the following noun phrase less strong.
• I was lucky that I was able to find a champion fairly early on in my career: ‘fairly’ + early (adjective). Fairly is used here to make the adjective ‘early’ less strong.

https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar/english-grammar-reference/mitigators

https://www.englishpodcastscollected.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/BBC-Ideas-How-to-be-successful-at-work.pdf

https://www.englishpodcastscollected.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/BBC-Ideas-How-to-be-successful-at-work.docx