Margaret Akullo - Uganda, United Kingdom, Austria

Margaret Akullo is a Ugandan born British citizen, a Criminologist and a visionary with ethical leadership qualities. In her extensive career of three decades in international development she has led diverse teams delivering programmatic change and social impact in more than 20 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America. In 2022, at the age of 55 and after more than three decades of work in various organizations, Margaret retired early from her job in the United Nations to embark on a journey of purpose and self-discovery and to craft her soul-led future career. 

In this episode, Margaret discusses her path to becoming a criminologist and her interest in behavior from a very young age… wanting to study law at university but encouraged by her parents to pursue a business degree and continuing on to do marketing… starting a job with the Metropolitan Police in London and working there for about 15 years, first in a department dealing with finance… how her deep interest in studying behavior eventually led to a position working as a criminal intelligence analyst… pursuing a Master's Degree in criminology… working as a criminologist in various organizations and in five different roles in the United Nations, and being exposed to many diverse experiences and cultures around the world... traveling extensively and living in Thailand, Austria, and Ethiopia… the process of deciding to retire early after having an ongoing inner dialogue with herself about her unexpressed potential, and then coaching herself out of the United Nations… discussing her article, “Quitting Is Leading, Too” and her empowering leadership decision that led her to “deconstruct” the person she was and beginning a journey of transformation… asking herself who she was without her career and aligning with the core of who she truly was… taking the bold and courageous decision to quit her job at 55 years old… grieving the loss of her career but knowing this was part of her journey to reach her personal transformational goal… and this beautiful advice for us all about introspection, “I think it's important to shine the torch inwards as it leads to self-growth.” 
(Uganda, United Kingdom, Austria)