I never thought I was good at maths. So when it came to choosing my subjects for my higher school certificate, maths wasn't one of them. I'd much rather history, geography and business studies than maths. Anything but maths.

Just before putting in my subject selection, my dad sat me down and told me I had to do maths. And it wasn't just "it's ok, you can just do general maths"... it was no - "you have to do maths and you have to do 2 unit maths". I was horrified. Not only don't I like it, I thought I was no good at it. I believed I was going to put my final mark in jeopardy just because my dad told me I had to do something I thought I wasn't good at. To top it off, my maths teacher was not my favourite teacher. She was totally fierce. But do you know what? I had a maths tutor who was fabulous. She (yes she!!) made me see the importance of maths and how logical it really is.

I toughed out year 11 and 12 maths and got a reasonable mark in the end. But even though I got a good mark, I still thought I wasn't good at it. So when I saw that the compulsory subjects in my business degree at uni was econometrics and accounting, I nearly died. I had to grin and bear it. Again, in the end I did ok. This theme also repeated itself when I did my Masters in Finance and MBA.

Maths is at the heart of all investment and business decisions. Indeed, why go into business, launch a product or make an investment decision at all unless the maths is right?

Am I good at maths? Over time, I've learnt the answer to this is: yes. In my heart, do I believe it? Probably not, but do you know what? I use maths all day, every day; building businesses, selling products and, in understanding and conveying my investment teams decisions to my clients.

Was my dad right to make me do 2 unit maths for my final year subjects - too right! You should too! (or three or four units :) )

C xx