# #402: Stop Feeling Guilty. It Is a Wasted Emotion. | Dame Heather McGregor on Reinvention, Breaking Barriers and Why It Is Never Too Late

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/made-in-dubai-with-spencer-lodge-1158354/402-stop-feeling-guilty-it-is-a-wasted-emotion-dame-heather-mcgregor-on-reinvention-breaking-barriers-and-why-it-is-never-too-late
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/made-in-dubai-with-spencer-lodge-1158354/402-stop-feeling-guilty-it-is-a-wasted-emotion-dame-heather-mcgregor-on-reinvention-breaking-barriers-and-why-it-is-never-too-late.md
Podcast: [Made in Dubai with Spencer Lodge](https://stenobird.com/podcast/made-in-dubai-with-spencer-lodge-1158354)
Published: 2026-06-15T17:25:00+00:00
Episode link: https://spencerlodge.libsyn.com/402-stop-feeling-guilty-it-is-a-wasted-emotion-dame-heather-mcgregor-on-reinvention-breaking-barriers-and-why-it-is-never-too-late
Audio file: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/spencerlodge/Updated_-_Full_Audio_-_Dame_Heather_McGregor_-_Made_In_Dubai_1.mp3?dest-id=974060
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Duration seconds: 4342

## Resource

Known to millions as Mrs. Moneypenny from her 16 year Financial Times column, Heather has been an investment banker, executive search entrepreneur, Edinburgh Fringe performer, off Broadway actress, PhD holder, chartered accountant and now Provost of Heriot-Watt University Dubai, overseeing 5,500 students and 600 staff. She qualified as a chartered accountant three weeks before her 60th birthday. She borrowed £1.8 million personally to buy a business, then gifted it to her staff. She co-founded the 30% Club when women held just 12% of FTSE board seats. It is now 45%. This conversation covers all of it. Why she rejects guilt and regret as wasted emotions. What structural barriers actually stop women from getting ahead and how to dismantle them. Why Dubai's greatest advantage is not the skyline but the connectivity and free movement of capital and labour that Europe has quietly forgotten. And what she really thinks about the value of a university degree. Heather also shares the story behind the Taylor Bennett Foundation, built to help Black and minority ethnic graduates break into professional services, funded from her own dividends, and the moment she knew it was working. Timestamps: 0:00 Four failed engagements, a baby to feel anchored, and the unvarnished truth about having children 5:30 The queen of reinvention: why preparation meets opportunity and how Heather built her career in layers 7:11 Her one regret: not qualifying as an accountant sooner and why she finally did it at 59 11:19 Dubai versus Singapore versus Hong Kong: what makes this city different from every other global hub 15:46 Living through the missile attacks, what inflation and food security really look like from the inside, and who has barely noticed 21:18 Structural barriers, the 30% Club, and why thr…

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