Thursday 22 October 2026 5:21 am  |  Updated:  Thursday 22 October 2026 11:08 am

Harriet Green: What led me to the City? An infomercial headed ‘Sisters are Doin’ It for Themselves’

By: Anna Moloney

Deputy Comment and Features Editor

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Each week, we dig into the memory bank of the City’s great and good. Today, Harriet Green OBE, former CEO of Thomas Cook and IBM Asia, takes us through her career in Square Mile and Me

What was your first job?

Delivering the Gloucestershire Echo, come rain or shine, around my local village of Shipton Oliffe, aged 11. No throwing the newspaper over the gate, I chatted to everyone and loved my job.

What was your first role in the City?

After endless interviews, I got my first proper job at one of the recently started technology magazines, Office 2000 – a spinoff from the Dutch publishing group VNU. I sold advertising space and reviewed many of the latest gadgets at the time, between 1983–84, like word processors. I embraced change and developed an insatiable curiosity about technology, which has stayed with me. There was a synergy as well – I communicated my enthusiasm to potential advertisers and was soon beating my sales targets.

When did you know you........

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