From the ski slopes to the C-suite, John Dickinson-Lilley has carved a unique path as one of the UK's few blind senior leaders. In this candid conversation with Ben, our Head of Interim, he reflects on overcoming systemic barriers, the realities of disability in the workplace, and why comms professionals need nerves of steel—and a sense of humour.

Looking back on your career, what do you consider your greatest achievement – and why does it stand out to you?

Honestly? Having a career at all. That may sound flippant and a tad arrogant but, when you look at the numbers, it's pretty remarkable. Employment rates in the UK are about 76% for the general population. For disabled people, it’s 51%. For blind or partially-sighted people? Just 27%. Sadly, that’s not a typo.

There are some eye-watering stats behind that – like 23% of employers admitting (illegally, mind you) they wouldn’t make reasonable adjustments for blind candidates. 61% say their managers don’t know how to support blind or partially-sighted staff. So, for me, forging a career wasn’t a given. Getting to the C-suite? That’s something I’m very proud of. I'm one of just a literal handful of blind leaders at that level in the UK – with most of the others being in parliament – so the odds were never in my favour, and they probably still aren't. 

From ski champion to comms leader – not your average LinkedIn headline. How did that pivot happen and are there any surprising overlaps?

Definitely not your average career path – I'm not sure anyone has ever picked this route into corporate strategy! 

The shift wasn’t exactly a fast downhill though! There are endless memes that disabled people just need a positive mindset and – voilà! – success. The cold reality is I couldn’t manifest funding or eyesight! As a para-athlete, I was living off £8k a year from UK Sport – that barely covered ski socks, let alone training, travel and 32 pairs of skis (and elite athletes can't do apres ski!). Sponsorship? Almost non-existent. Speaking gigs? Loads, as long as I’m happy to inspire for free.

So I pivoted out of necessity. Interim comms roles gave me my start – organisations are often more willing to take a chance on an interim than a permanent role and a disabled candidate is definitely viewed as a 'chance'. And from there, I worked my way up. The overlap? Well, I suppose both skiing and comms require nerves of steel, serious focus and the ability to look graceful while plummeting headlong into chaos.

Who or what has been your biggest inspiration and how has it shaped your leadership?

Oof. I have strong views on inspiration – mostly that disabled people aren’t your feel-good story arc. Watch Stella Young’s TED Talk on ‘inspiration porn’ if you haven’t. It’s a mic-drop moment, I watch it once a month. 

But I will say this: the disability community and the sector that advocates with & for disabled people really inspires me – not in a 'plucky overcomer' way but because of the hard work it takes to just show up. We’re talking about a group facing government cuts, relentless bad-back and idle scrounger media stories, £1,000 in extra costs per month just to live and a 43% rise in disability hate crime (with most unreported and a tiny fraction prosecuted)… yet still, disabled people are pushing for change. Contrary to popular belief in some quarters, disability isn't an easy-sell or like pushing on an open door for media or lobbying targets - quite the opposite, in fact. The fierce resilience from disabled people and the disability sector has shaped my leadership. It’s not just about being strong. It’s about being stubborn and strategic. And good.

If you could give one piece of advice to your younger self, what would it be?

Relax, it'll be ok. Be generous with yourself. Maybe don’t try to win gold medals and change the world before you exit your 20s. 

I’ve always set impossibly high standards – and then berated myself when I didn’t meet them. I still do it, to be honest, but now I’m better at noticing and cutting myself some slack. My brilliant coach, Emma, also keeps me in check! Life’s not a never-ending performance review.

What’s your go-to advice for the communications industry as a whole?

My sports psychologist, the utterly amazing Kelley Faye, taught me to control the controllables - it was one of those light-bulb moments. If comms was a sport, this would be our team motto. There are things you can control, things you can influence and lots you can't. If you can work out which is which – early – you’ll save yourself a whole world of pain - and your team - and probably your partner if you have one - will thank you.

What’s changed since you joined the comms world – the good, the bad and the baffling?

The good? Comms is finally being seen as a strategic function. People are realising we're more than tweets and typos.

The bad? We’re still nowhere near where we need to be on inclusion. Neurodiversity is starting to get some proper attention, which is brilliant, but other disabilities are still largely invisible. And the burden for this still falls on disabled professionals to educate, advocate and make change happen – all while doing our day jobs - plus we're expected to be inspirational. Hah!

What challenges (and opportunities) lie ahead for communicators?

All comms teams have met the colleague that thinks they’re a comms expert – because they send emails or read the paper or once got 12 likes on LinkedIn. But real comms is about juggling audiences, ethics, accountability and reputation while staying calm during a crisis. It’s less “make my tweet go viral" and more “let’s map this stakeholder matrix before we end up in a tabloid.”

We need to keep positioning comms as the strategic, nuanced profession it is – not just a nice-to-have, a power-point tidier or the fire brigade.

When you're hiring comms leaders of the future, what are you looking for?

Three things:

Flexibility – because comms is chaos with a calendar.
Creative problem-solving – not every answer is in the comms plan (but you need to deliver it!).
Leadership with heart – balancing strategic pressure and organisational need with championing your team.

If you can do all that and still laugh at the 37th request of the day to “just jazz it up a bit”, then you'll be a great leader that people will always want to work with. 

Finally, what advice would you give to someone just starting out in comms?

If you want a relaxing 9-5, then comms probably isn't for you. That's not because people need to work 24/7; I certainly don't! It's because comms doesn’t sleep – especially not when your press release lands just as a national crisis breaks. 

But if you love people, storytelling, strategy and juggling flaming swords (metaphorically), you’ll love the energy, the pace and the excitement. And please be confident in being different! The industry needs more voices from more places. We’re not going to communicate better with the world if we all look and think the same.

Looking for exceptional interim comms talent or exploring your next move? Get in touch with Ben, our Head of Interim