INTERVIEW | Margaret Doyle
LondonCalling
Margaret Doyle, Profile Frieda Klotz
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t is Margaret Doyle’s first day back at work after maternity leave when we meet in Reuters' swish offices at Canary Wharf. Wearing a lilac suit, her dark hair cut short, she makes a distinguished figure, which is what you would expect – Doyle, 41, who holds degrees from Harvard University and Trinity College Dublin, is an investment banking columnist for Reuters. In addition to becoming a mother for the first time, she recently became a Conservative councillor for the Borough of Westminster in London. The prospect of juggling these various roles does not seem to daunt her. “I have tried to put in place the supporting infrastructure,” she explains over lunch in the Reuters cafeteria. “For example, I am starting back four days a week for just over a month. I have got very good childcare lined up. We moved house, so it is a much easier commute for me. I have done a lot of homework about what works for working mothers.” Reuters is family friendly and has good maternity policies. Contrary to many of the stereotypes about gender, she thinks that as a mother she will be better at her job than she was before. “I want to work, but motherhood has made me much clearer about what it is that is important in my career, what I think I’m good at, and what I enjoy. Because if I’m not spending time being a mother, then that time is very very precious, and I do not want to waste it.” Far from being weighed down by responsibility, Doyle is at the top of her game. In her job as a columnist, she distils esoteric financial information into comprehensible terms for her readers, a task which draws on an undergraduate degree in economics at Trinity, two separate stints at the global consulting firm McKinsey, and an MBA at Harvard. About once a month, she does a newspaper review for the BBC, and has made appearances on RTÉ – on Prime Time and Frontline – as well as working for a host of international media outlets. For two years, she edited Global Agenda, the magazine of the World Economic Forum’s meeting at Davos. She also chairs international economic conferences, including one about Ireland’s bailout, in November 2010. “I think my strengths lie in my ability to bring insight and understanding to complex financial situations,” she says, “to our readers, and, when I am on television or radio, the general public.” A normal day for Doyle begins at around half six. She walks to work, and is at the office by 7.30am. She and her colleagues meet at 8am, when they discuss the news and what they will work on that day. “One of the joys of journalism is that each day’s work can be self-contained,”
I think my strengths lie in my ability to bring insight and understanding to complex financial situations.”
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