Mohammad Taher, "The Airport Guy"

Hello everyone, welcome back to The Graduate Guide. Today we have Mohammed Tahir, the airport guy, with us. Welcome to the pod. Hi.

Hi. Thank you very much. Pleasure to be here.

How are you doing?

I'm excited.

Nice.

Good.

So let's kick it off. Obviously, now you're known as the Airport Guy, but back in university, you were just like a student studying aerospace engineering. What do you think you were going to be? What were your career aspirations like?

I genuinely had no idea. Like, I used to joke with people about like, oh, what are you going to do when you're an engineer? 'You know, you're gonna have to move out of London, you're gonna have to go somewhere far because like all the big aerospace companies are like a mile away.' And I used to laugh about how to go to Heathrow, like, you know, it's down the road, it's fine. I just liked planes, that's all I knew. That's literally all I knew was I liked planes. And then when it came to like applying for jobs, I was just looking at the job board and applying for whatever. But I kind of— my tactic was don't just apply to everything, just find the jobs that you actually think you'd enjoy and then just go for those ones.

Nice.

I had no idea though, to be honest.

And I'm a real stranger to the world of engineering. So can you explain like what exactly were you engineering or doing at Heathrow in your first role?

Okay, so when you go to the airport, right, you step into a building and that building, you know, the temperature in the building is nice, the lifts work, the escalators work, the lights are on, the screens have data on them. You know what gate you're going to, All of these bits that people just kind of expect to work are not just— they're not just magic. Like, there's a team behind the scenes that make sure the screens are on and that the temperature is good and that the lights are on. That's just in the terminal. Even like the square pipe thing that you walk down to get to the plane, like, that's called an airbridge. Like, people have to maintain that, make sure that the wheels are greased up and that the gears work and that it's not, you know, it's got all the safety features. When you're actually— the plane is now, you're on board the plane and you're cruising towards the runway, there's actual lights in the ground that guide the pilots on where to go. And those lights are controlled by people up in the control tower. And then there's like cables that run underground to feed the lights to know which ones switch on and which ones switch off. All of those systems need engineers, and I was part of that team. So I wasn't looking after the plane, I was actually looking after the airport infrastructure, like the thing that people completely just take for granted and you don't even think like, oh yeah, why would 'Oh, I don't want to do that.' That was the team that I was part of. So it was really cool because like I was looking after stuff that people just didn't even think twice about. They just expected it to work. And now I found myself realizing, damn, like this is a full-time job that's deep and no one even thinks about it. That's why I used to look after it at the airport.

That's what brought you into this space. But what you do now is, well, pretty different to how you began. And I'm curious, you know, when you were at university and you were saying you're gonna go do this career, like, you're already getting people going like, oh, how you gonna do that? And people were already sort of skeptical about the industry. And now you're actually in it, you actually help people get into it. So when was it you made the realization that, okay, yeah, this is a problem and I could actually do something about solving it?

So, two— there's two points that clicked. Number one, I realized how baffled I was. When I was like up and coming to like get into the industry. Like the industry is like a black box and you can't really see inside of it. You kind of just know it's there. You see the plane flying in the sky and no idea what sits behind that. So when you're, when you just like planes, you kind of think, oh, you know what, I'll be a pilot because what else can you be in the aviation industry? You don't realise that there's stuff beyond that. Then you realise, okay, I need 100 grand to do that. That's maybe a bit too much. You know, and then you start to maneuver. So leading up to it, I had no idea what the depths of the industry was. Then when you get in and you sort of get your foot in the door somehow and you get in and you go, whoa, this is huge. Like, this is like, it's like you've, it's like, you know, there's like those houses where it's like there's a little door.

The TARDIS.

Yeah, yeah, the TARDIS. You open it and then it's like, there's a whole world in here. What's going on there? That's exactly the target. That's such a good example where you're now, you're in it and you're like, oh my God, I can do anything in the aviation industry. Like literally anything. I can go in finance, I can be a fashion designer, I can be a chef, I can be an engineer, I could be an investor, I can do anything. But for me, I was curious to like learn about what's going on. So what I started to do is, because I discovered this hidden world and I was super excited, I'm like, this is sick. My passion kind of just like overflowed onto the internet. So I started an Instagram page and I just started sharing stuff about what I'm doing. Like, I'm doing this today, I'm doing that today. Look, I'm underground in a tunnel. Here's where your bag goes when you don't— you check your bag in. This is what's happening behind the scenes. There's this cool little machine that does this, and did you know that this does that and that does that? I'm just learning all this stuff and I'm like, this is sick. And I just start sharing it.

Just stop you there quickly. When you say like you just started, yeah, you're making that sound very simple.

Yeah.

Um, but I know from starting something that people don't normally do that. Yeah, it isn't just— it doesn't just work like that. Like, you have to first get over your own mental blockades, and then you have to get over the societal blockades. And, and it, you know, you have to do a lot of work purely because you— yeah, from, from it internally, right? So yeah, what, what was it in the beginning that actually fueled you to begin it and keep doing it?

So what's really funny is like, I started this this Instagram page, Motivate, in June, and it was going to be purely a sort of a personal development page where I had just gone through a massive transformational journey of like personal development, whereas like within a year, like the person who I was a year ago and the person who I was now were completely different people. I was so much more self-aware, so much more confident, you know. I like, I like completely transformed my mindset, the way that I think about the world, the way that I think about failures and how failures are a good thing because you learn and you grow. So I started this page as like just a pure personal development page. I put up 3 posts in June and then nothing ever again. Like, so it just fell flat on its face. But like, that gave me the initial spark to be like, okay, I've learned something that I really, really, really feel like people could genuinely benefit from. And like, I felt selfish keeping it to myself. Like, when you realize like failure is a good thing, because if you look at it right, And if you genuinely think, what can I learn from this that can make me better so the next time I try it, I can be better? And then that genuinely clicks in your mind. You're like, oh my God, like, failure is a good thing. Why do I never get taught this stuff? I have this urge where— so I've always been taught, like, in Islam, there's a quote that says the value— sorry, the tax on knowledge is sharing it. So if you gain knowledge If you gain knowledge, the tax that you have to pay is you have to pass it on. So when I discovered this personal development stuff, I was like, okay, I need to share it, I need to pass it on. Flopped because like the page just didn't have enough momentum. Then my auntie, one day I was telling her about all the stuff I do at Heathrow and she's like, why don't you share this stuff? I was like, okay, maybe just through sharing my journey, all these nuggets, I can just like weave them into the messaging rather than making a page about personal development. It's like I'm going to work, I find all this cool stuff I'm learning, and I'll just share the stuff that I'm learning throughout that. So because I had this urge to share in the first place, I was able to get over like that init— that personal, uh, sort of resistance. And then because I was sharing the stuff that I love— and we spoke about this before, like, if you just try and make content about this thing that isn't really you, it's hard. But when you're making content that is like well and truly like part of who you are, it makes it easier. So I guess I just chose an arena that I felt relatively comfortable in, um, and I had done the groundwork initially in terms of the personal development transformation. That then meant when I got to it, I was like, yeah, I'm just going to be myself on the internet.

I love that your aunt suggested that, because I don't think you expected your family to be like, oh, you should put that on social media, right?

Well, my auntie works with Facebook and Google.

She's a person for it.

Yeah.

Um, no, but I'm I'm very curious how did your environment, especially your professional environment, react to you sharing content? Because I've never seen anyone from an airport like filming stuff. Is there any security issue associated with that? Or are people like raising eyebrows?

What was— Yeah. 100%. So, okay, when I joined the graduate scheme, they told us something. They said, listen, this is a big, big company, very corporate. That people will put red tape even when there really isn't a need to put red tape. So don't ask for permission, ask for forgiveness. If you have an idea and it's like not diabolical, like it's a good idea, do it. If somebody says, "Oh, you can't do that," then say, "All right, sorry, fine." But don't say, "Hey, can I do it?" Because they'll just say no. So don't ask for permission, ask for forgiveness. So I was like, "All right." I went to one of my managers, I was like, listen, the question I asked him wasn't, can I create content? I was like, what information from around the airport is stuff that I'm not allowed to talk about? I'm not allowed to share? And he was like, cool, don't talk about security processes, don't talk about this, don't talk about that, don't talk about XYZ. And he gave me like a little list of things not to talk about, and I just made that like my sort of go-to guide on things not to talk about. And that list kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger. And like sometimes I step over the boundary and I realize I'm not necessarily talking about something that I shouldn't because it's not a risk, but this department doesn't like me talking about their stuff. So fine, I just won't talk about it. And then I just, I created my own framework of like, here's the things not to talk about. And I just started making content. And the thing is, is that when you're this little page, no one cares. Like you're just a kid who's just sharing their insights. It was only when the page started to get bigger and bigger and bigger and the day they overtook the Heathrow Airport, official channels, that's when the eyebrows really started to get raised because it's like, who's this kid? Why is he putting videos up on the internet? And then like an official process was created, which was literally like Muhammad's social media process to like, all right, here's the stuff don't talk about. Once you've got a video, send it to this person, let them give you a thumbs up and then upload it. So they actually created a process for me and that was the first of its kind. No one had ever done that before. But the only reason that they did that is because I'd done the data of how much this is benefiting the airport. Like, I'm like, look at all of these young people who've joined our teams because of this content. To the extent where before I left Heathrow, I sat in a room full of all of our apprentices, all of our graduates and apprentices, and I was like, quick question. Out of all of you for the past 5 years, you're everyone we've hired. 'Who here decided to join this company, this exact team, because of the content that you saw of mine online?' 53% of the room put their hand up. Oh shit. 53%. Head of airport operations was stood over my shoulder. She leaned over, she's like, 'Mo, that's more than half the room.' I was like, 'Wow.' Like, TikTok and Instagram videos literally inspired more than half of the room to decide this is what I want to do. And that's when I was like, yeah, there's something here. There is something here. Hence why, like, I proved that data. Hence why they're a little bit more easygoing about, all right, we'll create a framework for you because we don't want necessarily— we don't want you to stop necessarily.

So like, looking back, what do you think made your channel engaging, like, more than like Heathrow Airport's channel, especially towards young people, which was your audience?

Yeah, because it was value-driven content. Like the content wasn't like, hey, we've released this new perfume in duty-free. It was, let me teach you how this thing works. And I think that's foundational. Like any organisation that wants to do well, just make your content value-driven. Like genuinely put something valuable in your content. Use it as an opportunity to teach about your business and you'll realise you'll attract the right people. The analogy that I use is You have an ocean full of fish. Every time they want to open a graduate scheme, they'll go out there searching for the talent and they'll try and fish them, right? Why not just feed the fish? Like, feed the fish with the interesting stuff that they would want and they'll come to you. I was just feeding the fish. I was like, we have this, all this cool stuff, and like, like the TARDIS, no one realizes how cool it is until you're in. Now that I'm in, why don't we share it? Started sharing it, feed the fish. Community grow around.

I don't really know how to describe this, but I think potentially you'll, you'll relate to it. But I think there's a point where when you start off doing something and you're young and you don't really know what you're doing, that everyone's like, okay, like, I can't take this guy seriously, or, you know, what right does he have to be doing this? And, you know, why is he not— what, maybe why is he not listening to me? Or whatever it is. And You know, I had my own journey with that, like, oh, what right do you have to be messaging these people, whatever. But there's a point where that same thing that made all that inexperience and everything means that you've got your finger on the pulse of the generation that actually needs the help.

Yeah.

Um, so it like flips, right? And then suddenly you become a valuable asset and they're coming to you, as you kind of alluded to earlier.

Yeah.

Talk me through how you actually like digested what happened there for you? Because I think there is a point almost for anyone that that happens, right? It's like overcoming imposter syndrome essentially.

So you got to realize there's a quote from Ali Abdaal where he's like, don't be the guru, be the guide. A guru is like the wealth of all knowledge. He knows everything. Or she knows everything about a topic. A guide is like 3 steps ahead. Sometimes when you want to learn something, going to the subject matter expert is actually not very useful because they understand it at such a good level, they've forgotten what it feels like to be just starting out. But if you go to the person who's just starting out, they will still remember what it feels like to be just there. So for example, I'd be walking around the airport and I'd see something that everyone's just walking past, like it's not a thing, it doesn't actually matter, right? But to me, because I'm just learning this now, it's interesting.

So the thing is about what you do now is that it's not something that I feel you can just start, um, with unless you've kind of been in the problem. But there is a point once you have started doing it that you find your, your novelty is almost attractive to other people, like the fact that no one else is doing it. And I bet you have loads of people almost trying to copy what you do now, and you know, maybe not doing as good a job. But the, the beauty of what you're doing now is that, uh, it is novel and people have bought into it. But the hard problem that comes with that is there is no well-known path to follow, you know. You've got to make a decision based off just how you feel it, really, like a gut feeling, how it feels inside. And, um, I think you alluded to earlier there was a point where, you know, you were doing your graduate scheme and you found out that, that the government, you know, wanted you to work with you. And how did that, that feel? Because was there a sense of it's like, okay, everyone loved what I was doing for me and, and what I was doing independently, and you maybe just the fear of bringing anyone else could disturb, like, the authenticity of it?

I think what's the— there's a few parts of the question. The reason why the government approached me is because there's a genuine problem. Like, there is a huge skill shortage in the aviation industry that's, like, predicted over the next 10, 15 years. And what I mean by that is, to give you the data, about 40% of all the professionals in the industry are between the age of 45 and 55. So in 10 to 15 years, what's about to happen? You're gonna have half the workforce walk out. When you look at like specific types of engineering, up to 70% are gonna, are gonna retire in the next 10 years. How? 70% of your engineering workforce that looks after the aircraft are going to retire in the UK. Who's maintaining these planes? And if the planes aren't flying, the economy starts to die because of that. Because when you start looking at the average, like GDP that each person in aviation brings, they're higher than the average. So if they start to go, what starts happening? So it's like a massive issue. It's not a small issue. Now the thing is, is that organically I was kind of solving that problem just because I loved it. So when the reason why the government saw me, they were like, that's the guy, is because I was just, just organically, because I love it, solving a problem that they can see on a much larger horizon, and they're like, okay, well, we need to empower this person to be able to do more, because if we don't and we lose, like, people and we lose that ability to do more, then the problem's only going to propagate and be bigger. When we look at my side, from my end, I was just doing it because I loved it, because I knew the problem, similar to what you're doing, by the way. So you knew that, like, careers are a really big challenge, like, and people don't know what they're doing. So actually, I'm going to create something that solves the problem. You're doing it just because you were part of it and actually now you've created this thing. I would not be surprised if you're feeding into a much larger skills crisis and actually somebody who's in a very high position, decision maker, is going to look down and be like, they're doing from a grassroots perspective exactly what we need. And if you just keep doing it and it keeps growing and growing and growing organically, At one point they're going to be like, bingo, like you're doing everything we wish we could do, but we don't know how to. Why? Because we don't resonate with the audience. We don't understand the audience. We don't know how to chop up these TikTok clips and make them all snappy. We don't know how to do that, but you're doing it perfectly. All right, just scale up. How can we help you scale up? How can we businessify as you're doing? So that's kind of the landscape that I found myself in, is that I was just doing something because I loved it. Turns out that's a much bigger issue that I can start solving.

Why do you think young people aren't going into aerospace industry? Like, do you think there's certain stereotypes associated with it, like young people being a bit more critical, climate change? Like, do you have some topics identified that kind of make people not want to go work at airports or something like that?

So let's talk about the one that you mentioned straight away, for example, sustainability. There's a quote that goes around that says, you know, the aviation industry is kind of like the tobacco industry, where they have that same perception of always like a, it's like a, you know, something you don't want to get involved with.

A bit dirty, yeah.

It does more harm. But the reality is, is that people are going to fly no matter what. And actually the same people who might complain about sustainability, because like, oh, maybe, are still booking a flight to go to have, you know, to see the rest of the world. So if you want to actually solve the problem, 'Come join us to solve the problem.' And what you don't realize is, from the outside, is that there are so many people in the aviation industry whose sole job is to make the aviation industry more sustainable. Like, that's all they're focusing on all day, every day, is how can we make the aviation industry more sustainable. From different types of fuel that we can use that's made out of plants and like recycled material, to hydrogen, which would be a completely different type of sort of propelling an aircraft all the way to like how can we optimize the operation on the ground to make sure that we're not burning as much fuel. For example, most airlines now when an aeroplane is going from the parking on the stand to the runway, they don't switch on both engines, they only switch on one engine because they can save so much fuel by doing that, which is better for the environment. So Once you're on the inside, you realize, okay, a lot of work is being done. But from the outside, a young person who maybe really loves sustainability might say, I don't want to be a part of that, so I'm not going to do that. But if we can raise awareness, say, no, no, but like, you can join us on this journey, that would help. That's one side of the coin, and that's one part of the problem. I guess the other part of the problem is that so many young people look up at the sky, that, that is cool. Like, planes are cool. I really like planes. They'd say, oh, I want to get into this industry, what jobs can I have? Oh, I can be a pilot. Then they go and they search how to become a pilot. Number one, the landscape of how to become a pilot is super confusing. Like, where— how do you become a pilot?

No idea.

Yeah, so it's, it's not as simple as I want to be a doctor, go study medicine. So that pathway is very hidden. So then they're, oh, I really want to be a pilot because I like planes. I guess it's not going to happen. And then when they do find the pathway, it's like £100,000 to become a pilot because you have to fund it yourself. And they're like, okay, well, that's not happening. Fine, I'll just go do something else. But what they don't realize is like, no, like, just because you like planes, being a pilot is like a tiny tip of the iceberg. There's a whole iceberg underneath of like so many different jobs that you can do in this industry. And because of the lack of clarity on all the options, they're like, nah, I don't want it. It's equivalent to walking into an open buffet, all right? And you're in a restaurant and it's like, hey, we're open buffet. You walk up to the first food, you taste it and you go, it's not for me, and you walk out. But like, there's so much more options. You just didn't give it a chance to explore. Why? Because they were just hidden behind a curtain. My job is to open up that curtain and be like, tada! Like, there's so much more that you can do in this industry. And that's when you give young people options to realise they can be in sustainability, they can be in fashion, they can be in finance, they can be in engineering, they can be in operations, they can be in anything and everything.

You might have just sold me. I think I might be going into the aviation industry. Yeah, the advantage of what I do, I guess, is that there's no set in stone industry that I'm in. So yeah, if I'm moved by one guests particularly, I can just, uh, yeah, up and leave on the graduate level. Um, no, no, the— but you, you have been an amazing guest today, and I have one final question for you which I ask all of my guests. Um, and I'm really interested to hear your answer actually, because I think, um, yeah, you would have started off going into this space with a certain idea of what a successful career would look like in it. And, you know, what it would go on to look like. And fast forward with everything you've learned about the industry, about your role within it, like, you must have a different idea of what success means to you. So what is a successful career to you?

Impact. I think impact is the most, most important thing for me personally for a successful career. Like, if you can provide value to the world and the work that you do, um, and then you can create a life that the impact of which lasts longer than your own life does. So if you can do enough good things in this world where when you are buried 6 feet under one day, people are still reaping the rewards of the seeds that you once planted, because those seeds have now grown into a farm and people are eating from those fruits. Imagine the cascade of that when we look at a 500-year timescale. Right, so my job is just to plant seeds and hopefully they're beneficial, good ones. And then, and I know that I'm not going to be eating from the seeds of that, I'm not going to be the one reaping the rewards of that, but I know that as an individual I had a bit of an impact. And then if you can find a problem that really was one that you struggled with and then you've done everything you can to make sure that the next person hasn't got that same problem that you had, I feel like that's a life worth living.

I love it. All right, thanks so much for today, mate. Appreciate it.

Really appreciate being here. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Amazing.