Jonny Longden
BA Philosophy with Sociology 1997
Position and company: Group Digital Director, Boohoo Group PLC
Jonny serves as the Group Digital Director for Boohoo Group PLC, overseeing the strategic direction, design, and software development of the websites and apps for their prominent brands: Boohoo, Boohoo Man, Pretty Little Thing, Karen Millen, and Nasty Gal. Leading a team of approximately 180 individuals, he focuses on delivering technology innovation grounded in data and evidence to enhance the overall digital customer experience.
When asked about his most significant accomplishment, Jonny expressed: “I can't pinpoint a single thing as my greatest achievement; however, I am very proud of how far I have come in my career. I have never really had a big vision for what I wanted to do or be; rather I evolved my career based on changing circumstances and where opportunities arose. I feel like I have generally made the right choices and done what was right for me at the right time.”
When reflecting on his most significant challenge, he said: “Company politics is an unfortunate reality of most businesses, and when I was younger I found I could become very consumed with frustration and anger at what I saw as devious machinations out of my control. Things would play on me to the point where I could not switch off from it even in my personal time. The thing that saved me from this was I started to think 'what will I think about this situation if I think back on it in 10 years' time?' – it makes you see how little any of these things actually matter to you in the grand scheme of things.”
Jonny was initially attracted to the University of Sunderland because he was looking for a very specific course and also because he wanted to go a decent distance away from home. He added: “However, whatever the course was that I applied for, I completely changed it quite soon after I started anyway. Philosophy has remained one of my central passions ever since I took the course, and I still study and read in my spare time to this day. The enormous thing that I learned from the course is the power of self-originated creativity and critical thinking. School education teaches the rote regurgitation of other people's ideas, and when I started the course I carried on in the same vein, not really knowing any different. One day I suddenly decided to throw all that away and write about what I thought and come up with my own ideas, which instantly got me far better grades. It was like an epiphany and has stuck with me through my entire career.”
When asked about his biggest influence during his time at university, Jonny stated: “Honestly, I would say it was the life that I lived while I was there and the friends I made, many of whom are still my best friends to this day. The time I spent at Sunderland was truly formative and life-changing. I obviously can't say what would have happened had I gone to another University, but I feel there was something about the specific culture of both the city itself and the students that attended that made a kind of perfect melting pot and environment in which to grow and learn, as a person first and then academically. I know for a fact that my time there has shaped my life and career in myriad positive ways, even though I am probably not consciously aware of most of them.”
Jonny’s advice to recent graduates entering the job market is:
1. Confidence and self-belief are everything. Successful people, and people in very senior and important positions, are not usually exceptionally intelligent, they are just confident. Yes, you need experience and accumulated skill, but you will never climb any ladder unless you can visualise yourself on the next rung. Lack of confidence can be deeply ingrained and hard to change, but you must try lest it always hold you back.
2. Everyone worries today about AI, but until such a time when AI is a genuinely sentient conscious being (which I think is still a long way off), then it is ultimately a tool, and tools need people. But the people who will win in this world will be the creative, critical thinkers. If you always just do what you're told to, then a machine will be able to do what you do. On the other hand, if you are thinking for yourself and germinating ideas, the machines become your workers.
3. Don't feel like you need a master plan and long-term career vision that you stick to doggedly. You are still maturing and changing. Your circumstances and context will change. Do whatever is right for you at the time whilst still thinking about how you can tell the 'story' of your career.
Jonny concluded: “As for my career plans, I have learned not to make too many future plans. I am in exactly the place I want to be right now, but you never know how things are going to change or the opportunities that might arise, so I generally just try and go with the flow. I think the most important thing though is to always be thinking about where you are and where you want to be. It's very easy to stagnate and stay in one place simply because it's easier than the upheaval of changing, but the temporary discomfort of a change is actually nothing in comparison to spending years somewhere that isn't right for you.
“Outside of work, I have a beautiful family and two young boys who are my everything, and so any thought I have of my immediate future ultimately comes down to the time I spend with them and being the best dad and husband I can be.”