Currently...

I am the Chief Executive Officer of Building Markets. I spend a great deal of time travelling between our two HQ offices in New York and Ottawa, visiting our staff in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean, and meeting with donors around the world. A typical day will have me reviewing our security procedures in Afghanistan, setting job creation targets for our Haiti team, planning a budget for our Sudan project, calling a donor in Palo Alto, brainstorming new communications strategy with Building Markets' New York staff, and debating aid reform issues on our http://buildingmarkets.org/blogs/blog/author/sgilmore/" rel="nofollow">blog.

Before I escaped...

After attending graduate school at the London School of Economics, I joined the Foreign Service. My postings included Indonesia and East Timor, and eventually I was responsible for overseeing Embassy operations in South Asia including Afghanistan. A typical day included an endless stream of meetings and memos. My colleagues were great, and the subject matter was often interesting, but the impact of my work was so incremental it was almost imperceptible.

My moment of truth...

I was in Germany, talking to Peter Eigen, the founder of http://www.transparency.org/" rel="nofollow">Transparency International. It occurred to me that all of their great work, making the world more open and democratic, began with the decision of one person to quit his job and do more.

I decided life was too short to do otherwise. Eight months later, on the day my first daughter was born, I left the diplomatic service.

Planning for it...

The first thing I did was to talk with others who had launched their own charity or social enterprise. From them I got the sense that this would be hard, but it was possible.

Then my wife and I planned our budget and decided we could afford for me to give it 6 months. If it was not making progress then, I would return to government.

Finally, I spoke with my father, a successful entrepreneur, and obtained his guidance and advice about how to start and grow a business. In many ways, all of these conversations have continued to this day.

The worst and best bits...

The day-to-day stress of the job is unlike anything I experienced as a diplomat, even when I was operating in war zones. Now, in addition to the occasional difficult circumstances, I am faced with the need to ensure 150 people get paid every two weeks. This can be very daunting at times. 

The best parts are those rare moments when I get out to the field and meet the people we’ve helped.  That's when I understand the size of our impact: over 77,000 jobs and $1.1b in new investment in the world's poorest economies. That's why I quit my comfortable job 7 years ago.

Best advice...

The best advice I’ve received is surround yourself with people who are smarter than you. It has been our secret to success.

Useful resources and information...

The most useful book I’ve read is an old copy of http://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-People/dp/0671723650" rel="nofollow">“How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie. In there is all the guidance you need to understand that the most powerful tool any entrepreneur can have is a strong network.