| High cigarette pricing and lower losses from next-generation products (eg. vapes) means cash flow is expected to stay high for tobacco giant Imperial Brands when it reports full-year results on Tuesday. In order to maintain or improve this, however, it needs to grow its share in key markets, says Bloomberg Intelligence. Michael Mainelli handed over the reins this month as Lord Mayor of London, an annually elected head of the City's governing body and ambassador for the Square Mile. We met to reflect on his tenure, in the Mansion House office.  Photographer: Louise Moon/Bloomberg What made you pick your job? I became a partner at 29 — quite young — at BDO Group. I got very involved with the Corporation at the business level and I lit upon the fact that truthfully what we really are is a workers' and residents' cooperative. It's entrancing to think of a body like that still doing relevant work. So that started it. I became an Alderman in 2013, Sheriff in 2019 — and if you do it well, you know you'll try and run for Lord Mayor. You basically get the keys to the tool shed and you can use the tools to do things. It's been a fun year. How do you save time? The biggest way to save time is to get away from your computer. Where do you go for a working lunch? It depends on the other person, but I knock around The George and Vulture. Sweetings would be my go-to, traditional place. What book do you always recommend? I read voraciously so it makes it hard. My favourite book is probably The Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov. Or just about anything by Iain M. Banks. Top podcast recommendation? The Rest Is History — I absolutely love it. You can't be Lord Mayor if you don't like history. Who's your dream dinner party guest? Erasmus. Erasmus was a Humanist but the origins of Humanism were the New Learning, and the New Learning was a scientific method of the late 1400s. I'm just curious as to how religious or rational he was about that. What do you most want to achieve in your career? My career has always been bouncing between science and technology. So, the biggest thing I would really like to achieve is a richer use of systems theory in solving global problems. My doctorate was in systems theory and I think it's one of the most important ways of looking at the world. I would like to see a lot more interdisciplinary work, trying to bring those connections together. At the start of my career, I wish someone had told me… Don't seek certainty, seek doubt. If you don't have doubt, you won't listen to anybody. | 
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