Full Name: Russell B Shor

Position: Senior industry analyst, Gemological Institute of America (GIA)

Main Activity of the Institute: The GIA serves the public trust by providing impartial, third-party grading and identification services for diamonds and gemstones. It maintains a world-recognised gemological and trade educational programme and is the leading research facility for gemology, including testing for newly developed synthetics and treatments

Date and Place of Birth: Philadelphia, US, 1945

Education: Temple University, Philadelphia; University of Pennsylvania

First Job: Other than serving as a solider in Vietnam, correspondent for a Philadelphia news radio station

Size of First Pay Packet: Miniscule, even before taxes

Number of People under Your Leadership: I am now more of a consultant/writer than a manager. In my previous job (an ecommerce startup), I had a staff of eight

Management Style: Allow people to realise their own potential

Personal Best Achievement: Most achievements are fleeting (awards, and so on), so, it is difficult to single one out. Most recently, I, along with a small team, helped build GIA’s international presence by doing the groundwork for our gemological labs in India, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Botswana, Israel and elsewhere

Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Life: Atticus Finch. He does not exist outside To Kill A Mockingbird, but, when I read that book in high school, it brought home the importance of integrity and principles

Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Career: Harry Oppenheimer, who, like Finch (only in real life), understood the historical tides and made certain he was on the right side of them

Person You Would Most Like to Meet: Barack Obama

Businesspeople Who Have Impressed You Most: Warren Buffett and Michael Kowalski

Philosophy of Life: Never stop learning. The future is coming whether you want it or not, so learn to adapt or move out of the way

Biggest Ever Opportunity: Living in Japan on my own

Biggest Ever Disappointment: Not becoming fluent in a foreign language

Hope for the Future: That the world comes to its senses – soon!

Favourite Reading: Character-driven novels, biographies, some wonky things on resource management

Favourite TV Programme: I do not spend a lot of time in front of the TV

Favourite Food/Drink: Pasta in every way possible, except for that black squid ink stuff

Favourite Music: Classic jazz and blues

Favourite Sport: Baseball

Hobbies: I have an archive of 1920s/1930s classical jazz and blues recordings (and a bit of world music as well). Recently, I provided numerous source recordings for the joint BBC/PBS film/TV series American Epic

Car: Mini Cooper

Miscellaneous Dislikes: Negative people who start discussions with the reasons why something cannot be done, inflated egos

Children: Lauren, 38; Joshua, 33

Clubs: None