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