How to win friends and influence people

James Morgon, 37, attended William Alvey Primary Schol and Carre’s Grammar School before leaving for university in London in 1997. His parents and sister still live locally.

From knowing no-one in the City, in the May issue of GQ magazine he is up there with the likes of David Beckham, Calvin Harris and David Cameron.

After a 15 year career in the financial markets in London, New York, Sao Paulo and running the private investments of a Russian oligarch, he joined the ‘Milken Institute’ as European Managing Director last year.

The Milken Institute is a non-profit, non-political financial ‘think tank’ founded by American billionaire philanthropist Michael Milken to improve global issues, such as curing diseases. Last year the Milken Institute convened around 252 events, including a global conference in Beverly Hills for 5,000 guests and 700 top speakers. People like Tom Hanks, Tony Blair, Sean Penn, Erich Schmidt from Google and many other names from business and politics attended.

He said: “My day job revolves around attending high level meetings with organisations like the Bank of England, London Stock Exchange, 10 Downing Street and others looking for collaborative solutions to some of the continent’s and the world’s most pressing challenges. I am also part of the team that delivers our ‘London Summit’ – around 1,000 of Europe’s most notable thought leaders attend the event.”

James enjoys meeting amazing people who have moved beyond success to changing the world. “Knowing the work we do at the Milken Institute advances global prosperity is a very rewarding feeling,” he said.

He has grown to be unphased by meeting prime ministers and celebrities and was more nervous about his job interview. James said: “He (Michael Milken) is one of the most ferociously intelligent people on the planet and as a younger man was a hero.”

He admits he is not into social media, preferring to get people together face to face: “I think you must work hard and be kind to people. People remember when you do things for them without asking for something in return.”

Married to wife Irina, they have two daughters, Milania and Yesenia, James added: “As I sat having lunch at Rupert Murdoch’s house in LA last week, I thought to myself, ‘from Sleaford to Beverly Hills is a long shot... but it’s possible!’”