Tom Milburn: built through the business with the customer at the centre

Built through the business

Tom Milburn’s career has not been defined by a single role. It has been defined by all of them. As Chief Commercial Officer at Maersk Training, he has progressed through every position in the Sales Department, and he is quick to say that this is the experience that shapes how he shows up today.

“I’ve had the privilege of progressing through the organisation and doing every role in the Sales Department. It helps me understand the challenges our customers and our internal teams face, and it gives me an insight into how we can achieve our collective goals and the direction our industry is heading.”

That is also where his credibility comes from. He has been in the same conversations, handled the same pressures, and worked through the same trade-offs. It makes him more practical about what teams need from leadership: clear priorities, useful support, and enough trust to make the right call close to the customer.

Lessons that have stayed

Ask Tom what has shaped how he leads today, and the answer is a short list of habits he keeps returning to.

“The most important skill is active listening. I’ve gone into meetings thinking we had the answer, only to realise the real problem was something else. It is a skill you have to keep working on and an important leadership habit.”

Alongside listening, a few practical lessons keep coming back. Be clear with people, even when the conversation is difficult. Do not overcomplicate priorities and when teams spend enough time understanding the operational challenge, the right commercial decision often becomes easier.

One example was a customer preparing for a well campaign with new technology, a new crew setup, and a tight timeline. Rather than move straight to a solution, the key was to listen first: understand the specific challenge, the operational risk, and what evidence mattered before the campaign started. It reinforced a simple point: co-creating the solution leads to better decisions and reduces commercial and operational risk.

Translating strategy into focus

As CCO, Tom’s remit is to break the company’s strategy down into a clear go-to-market approach, and to make sure customers’ needs sit at the centre of how the commercial organisation operates. He works closely with clients and with his Heads of Commercial and Key Account Managers, moving between tenders, proposals, market developments, and the conversations that connect them.

He is honest about the rhythm of the role.

“A lot of the role is making decisions with incomplete information. Which opportunities do we pursue? Where do we need to invest? What are the new markets we should focus on? And equally as critical, where do we need to deselect? There is no shortage of good ideas, but what will have the biggest impact has to be focus.”

Keeping a global team aligned across regions and time zones comes down to one thing: clarity of purpose. As he puts it, “Clarity of purpose creates clarity in focus for everyone.” Keep things as simple as possible, and people understand what is expected and what matters right now.

How decisions are made

When priorities compete, his answer is straightforward.

“Simple. What is most important for the customer, and who is closest to understanding the real problem?”

That is why decisions are not made from one unit alone. They depend on the people closest to the customer, the operation, and the real problem being solved.

He watches where customers are investing: production growth, new marine fuels, offshore wind auctions, M&A activity, and the regulations moving alongside them. Those signals show where the industry is putting money and where Maersk Training should focus its time and resources.

That focus helps keep things practical - creating better and faster decisions based on closer customer understanding, and therefore, clearer priorities for the team.

Where the opportunities are

That same customer-led lens shapes how he thinks about future growth.

He sees two areas where the market is moving: continued digitalisation of learning and the evolution of training towards a more continuous demonstration of competence. Both, in his view, point to a future where training is less a specific event and more an ongoing capability that customers can prove, repeat, and build on.

What progress looks like

His measure of progress, meanwhile, has shifted over the years. It is no longer about output for its own sake, or about hitting one specific number on one specific day.

“I would probably have answered differently a few years ago. Now, success is about making the most of the situation you are in and giving the best you can that day. The circumstances may change, but the commitment should not.”

Outside work, most of Tom’s time is currently taken up by fatherhood.

“I’ve just become a father, so that’s taking up the majority of my time right now and is my number 1 job! All going well so far.”

Before that, golf, the gym, and squash were his main ways to switch off. He also leans on long-form interviews and podcasts to reset, stay curious, and hear how other people think. What inspires him most are family and friends - what they have achieved, and how they show up for him and for others.

Passing it on

For those at the start of their careers, Tom has three tips to share, and they sit close together.

Take the stretch assignments. Early in his own career, he benefited enormously from moving around different departments and proactively asking if he could support on projects. It gave him a wider view of the challenges teams faced across the business, and that breadth has stayed useful at every step since.

Actively search for mentors. Remote working is useful for individual tasks, but early in a career there is real value in being physically present with colleagues. That is where you find mentors, hear different perspectives and pick up what is not written down in any process.

And listen. You do not need to have the answer in every room. Understand the problem properly first.

That is the thread running through Tom’s story: built through the business, close to the customer, and focused on helping teams make better decisions where they matter most.