One of the benefits of having a drop dead genius younger sister is that sometimes you can peer over her shoulder and take a gander at what’s she’s got going on. And then you can nick bits.
Polly has entered the home run of getting an MBA from London Business School and during her time there she’s teamed up with her business partner,Cheryl Mainland and launched The Fold, a fashion brand for the professionally chic (www.thefoldlondon.com). The Fold showcased their brand new spring collection yesterday, at the 11th Annual Women in Business Conference at LBS (focusing on Leadership) and she very kindly enrolled me on the Conference so I could grab front row seats at the catwalk show that closed the day.
Maybe getting there for 9am on a Saturday isn’t everyone’s idea of weekend fun – but lie-in deprivation aside – I’m still deep in thought after a day of lectures and panel discussions from business women who were equally willing to give up their time to inspire, educate, provoke and entertain. An indication of their calibre: MD of Goldman Sachs, Global COO of Morgan Stanley, Hedge Fund managers, founder of Cupcake Mum, Prada Group Regional Director.
My personal favourites were Dame Mary Marsh (Founding Director of the Clore Social Leadership Programme and ex – CE of the NSPCC) and Sally Tennant, CEO of Kleinwort Benson. Not only was the content of their presentations provocative, honest and smart but they showed that Swagger on stage really matters.
Bear in mind, the speakers were mostly working in finance and were speaking to an audience of women mostly intending to work in finance (i.e. male dominated environments), and that MBA’s and LBS are striving to create the ‘leaders of tomorrow’…but there’s plenty for all of us in marketing and market research to think about.
-Courage and confidence. Find it. Exude it.
-‘Think Gucci’s”. Stay out of your comfort zone. Once your shoes are too comfy, it’s time to buy new Choos.
-Know yourself, be yourself, look after yourself.
-There is NO such thing as a work:life balance. It’s just Life Balance. If you love what you do (which if you want to lead, you must) then work is as valid a part of your life as your friends and your family.
-There is NO glass ceiling. There is NO such thing as failure. Sure, there are hurdles and challenges and stuff might go pear-shaped but ladies, get over it.
-We don’t have to learn to communicate like men, but if you work in a male-dominated environment (which to be fair, I definitely don’t) then you need to know how they communicate
-Don’t apologise. Or rather, apologise when it really matters but for god’s sake stop starting every sentence which ‘I’m not really sure if I’m right’ or ‘I may be wrong‘. (One panellist quipped that men don’t apologise but they do say ‘sorry, but…’ which is not quite the same thing at all.)
-Be known FOR something. It’s not good enough to just be good at your job, work really hard, be dead competent. If there’s nothing that marks you out as being special or different from your colleagues – you’ll be over-looked. And if you’re known for something, TALK about it. Don’t expect others to just notice what you’ve done.
-Be opportunistic. You never know when you’re about to make a good impression (or an impression full stop) Men are much better at seizing every opportunity just to be noticed. Like those 2 minutes with the Chief Exec in the lift. Women tend to either think ‘don’t notice me’ or spend so much time thinking about what to say, that the senior bod has left the lift and long gone before they’ve stuttered out a comment.
-Don’t ruminate, regret or feel guilt. Time spent on this is time not spent on looking forward.
-Have female role models. And if you can, make them your mentors.
-Love what you do
-Without physical and emotional resilience – you won’t cut it. Being a leader is tough, tough, tough.
-Build networks. They’ll be your most important ally as you rise the ranks. And if you can, network to make OTHER people successful because they’re the ones that will always return the favour and answer your emails in the future.
-Have opinions and be interesting. No one really wants to hear about your kids and your holidays OR what you do for a living. Be genuinely, deep down interesting.
-Have good hair.
-Wear a pinky ring.
I realise that our industry has different values to finance and we may need additional qualities to succeed. I realise that most financial institutions seem to have a thousand MD’s and VP’s and CEO’s and that our industry just doesn’t have that kind of hierarchy (or does it?). I haven’t found it hard to find female role models from within research and I was lucky enough to work for 2 when I first started as a graduate at Leapfrog (thank you, Judy and Andrea) and I’m gathering more role models every week. But more than anything, spending a day with a load of women who have great brains, great hair, great shoes, charisma and class was just a real gift. And if we can even remember one or two of those bits of advice as Razor shifts and morphs then we’ll be great leaders too.
Thanks Pol, I owe you one.
Chloe
