From medical wards to the ballroom floor to a chart-topping podcast, Gary Crotaz has built a career on reinvention. Here is what a self-described "accidental interviewer" can teach newsroom leaders about curiosity, silence, and the power of knowing your own story
"You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to," Gary Crotaz thought to himself.
Crotaz, in his 20s at the time, was in the final year of medical studies at Cambridge University, an eight-year journey to become a doctor. But in a hospital corridor, a realisation dawned on him. Though he had been exposed to various specialisms in his training, none of it felt like the next forty years of his career.
That moment – he would later define as "the unlock moment" of his life, and the future title of his podcast – would change his entire outlook on life, careers and everything in between. He realised nobody was forcing him down this road but himself.
He became a living example of career change. After hanging up his lab coat, he tried his hand at many other things, including more than two decades as a corporate consultant (retraining in the pandemic) and reviving his childhood passion to become a world-class ballroom dancer representing England seven times at World and European Championships.
