The Hindu Business Line : Never promise unless you can deliver

Mr William Bickerdike is Regional Manager (South Asia) of Cambridge International Examinations. Cambridge is at the forefront of India's growing interest in international education. Mr Bickerdike started his overseas educational career as a Teacher of English as a Foreign Language at Manarat al Riyadh School in Saudi Arabia, before joining King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals as a Lecturer in English.

He then worked with the British Council for 15 years in various posts and countries. Here's his take on four questions from Business Line:

Two things that my education/training taught me:

Always be an active participant, because you learn so much more.

Learn to read strategically, because we never have time to read as much as we would like.

Two things that I learnt from my work/real life:

Never promise unless you can deliver.

The way you see yourself is not the way other people see you.

One quality I look for in a new recruit:

Self-awareness.

A book that I read recently:

Watching the English, by the anthropologist Kate Fox.

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