#181 Major General Andrew McKay CBE

Andrew Mackay is a former Army officer, business leader, speaker and author. 

Andrew Mackay started his career as an Inspector in the Royal Hong Kong Police. On leaving the RHKP and vowing to never wear a uniform again he joined the British Army the following year. 

His service in the British Army saw him experience operations in Northern Ireland, Cyprus, Bosnia, Kosovo, Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan. In the latter he commanded the coalition and British forces in Helmand. During the Helmand campaign he focused on the role of influence and behavioural economics whilst engaged in a counter insurgency. His interest in achieving influence in complex environments led to a series of papers on the subject and culminated in the co-authoring of Behavioural Conflict: Why Understanding People and Their Motivations Will Prove Decisive in Future Conflict. 

Andrew’s Helmand tour has featured in a number of books, papers and publications including a BBC long form web article called ‘The Art of Influence’ and a BBC Radio Documentary; Afghanistan: The Lessons of War. 

Andrew co-founded Complexas in 2012. The purpose of Complexas is to provide insight and foresight to a range of clients seeking to progress projects in complex environments. In doing so they seek to address and find solutions to uncertainty and enable resilience. The current focus is the utility of First Party data to communicate and promote ESG more effectively and to enable clients and communities impacted by social and environmental change. 

For the last six years he has worked with the Blavatnik School of Governance on their mentoring programme for students who are studying the Masters in Public Policy programme. 

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