Kito de Boer is getting used to two new homes: one in London’s affluent Kensington, which his wife Jane, an architectural designer, has been renovating into a new global base following his appointment to the Quartet job. They have also recently found a home in the Quartet’s headquarter city, Jerusalem, which will house some of the art collection they built up during their 15-year stay in Dubai, when they earned a reputation as connoisseurs of regional art.
It was not an easy decision to leave McKinsey after a career of nearly 30 years, but Mr de Boer is philosophical about it.
“The path to retirement in McKinsey is a comfortable one, but retirement lacks meaning. I did not want to retire, I knew I had to rewire. At a strategic level I was open to the idea of reinvention, although this was at a metaphysical level. I had done nothing to translate this realisation into action,” he says.
John Kerry, the US secretary of state, identified him as the man to lead the Quartet forward.
“John Kerry is a fine man. I have often said that the world lacks good leaders. In my view he is a good man and a good leader. He was persuasive,” says Mr de Boer.
“A major issue for me was whether I was qualified. I figured out that [the job] was a good cause for a good person. But was I the right person? The list of reasons why I was not qualified is compelling.
“I came to realise that no one is really qualified – and those who are, know not to get involved,” he jokes.
He hopes to bring a sense of objective commitment to the job. “Although I have no direct skin in the game – I am neither Arab nor Jewish – I do have a sympathy for the cause. “I do feel that the Jews need a secure homeland based on the unequivocal evidence of history predating the Holocaust.
“I also have a strong belief that the Palestinians have been wronged. I have numerous Palestinian friends and they can attest that I have argued their case strongly in a number of forums,” he says.
He leaves behind at McKinsey what he calls his three “legacy items”. First, he was one of the team called the “landing party” that founded the India office in Delhi in 1992. Later he was the founder and lead partner of the Middle East office, based in Dubai. Then he headed up the firm’s government practice, which has advised rulers in the UAE and across the GCC.
“There are two McKinsey skills that serve me well: Be professional – listen, learn, focus on the facts and try to be helpful rather than opinionated. And then, be creative.”
fkane@thenational.ae
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