From military officer to teacher to CEO of Taaleem: The story of Alan Williamson

Alan Williamson (LinkedIn) helms a company with 14 premium schools, 34 government-partnership schools, and just under 50k students under its belt, taking it through its IPO in 2022 and, today, through an aggressive expansion across the UAE.

But before that, he was a school principal, and before that, a teacher on a remote Scottish island. In another lifetime, he was a military officer. Throughout the different stages of his career, one thing drove him: his appreciation for young people and their intelligence and spontaneous nature. And what helped his success: the leadership skills he internalized in the military (and during his time as team captain of a rugby team).

Each week, My Morning Routine looks at how a member of the community starts their day — and throws in a couple of questions just for fun. This week, we sat down with Williamson to talk about what his day actually looks like as CEO of a school group and what keeps him up at night while running a company responsible for 50k children. Edited excerpts from our conversation, lightly cleaned up for clarity:

EnterpriseAM: Take us through how you ended up here — you started out wanting to be a soldier.

Alan Williamson (AW): All I ever wanted to be when I was young was a soldier. I had family members in the military, and I went straight from school into that track. It was the 1980s, during the Cold War, and I learned Russian. Pretty soon, I realized I didn't want to be in the military. So I left for university, studied Russian, history, and economics, and then went to teach at a school in the Shetland Islands.

It's a school called The Anderson, founded by Arthur Anderson of P&O Shipping. It’s off of Norway, but it belongs to Scotland. So the people speak English, but it has a really international perspective.

From there, I was a headteacher twice, then ran an academy trust — a group of schools — which is where the economics side came in: staffing, HR, administration. That's how I met Tayeb Baker, chairman of ANC Holdings and Kings’ Education, and I became founding principal of Kings’ School Al Barsha, took it to an outstanding rating, became CEO of Kings’, grew it to three schools, and then came to Taaleem seven years ago, when it had seven schools. Now it's 14 premium schools, plus the government-partnership portfolio.

E: What does a day in the life of a CEO of Taaleem actually look like — and do you miss the mornings as a teacher?

AW: Leadership is leadership. The skills I picked up as team captain of a rugby team, or as a young military officer, or as a teacher leading 25 children, or as a head teacher or CEO — a lot of it is the same. Consistency, resilience, empathy, good listening, and the strength to stick to a decision once it's made.

A day as CEO can mean a lot of time in the central office, in operational or strategic meetings. But I'm happiest around young people — I can go into a kindergarten and read a story to three-year-olds, or into an A-level physics class and talk astrophysics with 18-year-olds. The main reason I'm in schools now is governance — quality-assuring outcomes. I try to get to every one of the schools and nurseries at least once a year, plus the big events — graduations, productions, etc.

I actually worked more hours as a teacher, believe it or not. Before AI, teachers did the job during the day and planned for the next day at night. I don't miss the marking.

E: What do your evenings look like?

AW: I try to switch off. I'll leave the office around 6 or 7pm — earlier if I've been in school. I'll clear some emails if there's a board or audit committee meeting coming up, but generally I go for a walk, listen to a podcast, and have some good food.

E: You're responsible for 50k students and 4k employees. What's actually keeping you up at night?

AW: It doesn't keep me up at night, because I've got a good team — but what should keep any school leader up at night is the safeguarding and wellbeing of children. Health and wellbeing have to come first.

Beyond that, it's the responsibility of making sure we deliver the best possible outcomes and maximize every student's potential. That's a pressure, but not a worry — because we've got strong schools behind it

E: Five years from now — where do you see yourself, and where would you want Taaleem to be?

AW: The future for Taaleem is exciting. We've got 14 premium schools now; I think we could add at least 10 more in the next five years, on top of the 34 government-partnership schools where we work to deliver outcomes for Emirati students. Taking the company to IPO was an enormous professional opportunity — I'd never done that before, and it was exciting.

Now I also want to see our Harrow and DBS schools expand. Another real opportunity is looking beyond the UAE and taking some of our brands into the wider GCC, if possible.

E: Last one — what's the piece of advice you'd give someone starting out in this business?

AW: Three things. First, a sporting line: you should always leave the jersey in a better place than you found it. Whether it's a battleship, two headships, or a company — you should leave a place culturally and financially better than you found it.

Second — a headmaster told me this when I was a young teacher, and I've never stopped saying it: it's an honor and a privilege to teach other people's children. When you have kids of your own, all you want is for their teachers to look after them, love them, and nurture them. Anyone running a school group should run it on those values.

And the last one — you'll never say on your deathbed that you wish you'd spent more time at work. Looking back, I could have had a better work-life balance and still been just as productive.

Williamson's favorites

What he’s listening to: The High Performance Podcast — it's sports-oriented but has business people on too — and the Financial Times podcasts. They keep you up to date on world economics.

What he's watching: Spy thrillers — The Agency and The Night Manager, or anything with a sort of CIA, MI5 vibe to it.