The year so far

2013 was a great year for TLC – Sandhurst , The Football Association, Chatham, Google, Moneysupermarket…  difficult events to top, but 2014 already had promise and so far it has not disappointed. The running theme of Women in Business was always going to spark healthy debate and interesting insight, and we sought to encourage this with a series of formal debates.
Big questions, with complex answers.

At the beginning of the year Pearson FT hosted an event on the 10th floor of their impressive building featuring a panel from Tesco, the Royal Navy, brayleino and Rocket Consulting. Attended by almost 60 members and guests and Chaired by my good self, Richard Smelt, the panel was asked about the “what-and-why” of the glass ceiling. “Where is the biggest block” – is it with men or women?  “Where does education fit in”? “What should change in employment law”? “There was a very diverse gender and age mix and many perspectives”. Big questions, with complex answers.  Of course, we were not going to fix the world in one event, but we could certainly start the ball rolling!

A similar event was held in Liverpool attracting over 40 members including the Lord Lieutenant for Merseyside, Dame Lorna Muirhead.

The debate format was new to TLC and with such an engaged audience the debate continues. But what good is debate without action?

The conclusion of the events was that although significant progress had been made there was still much do. Some structural questions about flexible working for both male and females were identified but we also tackled a perception/ reality of what was described as” typical” female insecurity and how our education system works. Feedback was very topical, very informative and very encouraging to see major corporates being serious and action orientated.
The output was then fed into a subsequent event where teams looked at the big “so what” questions and developed a number of themes for action which we will published shortly. Coaching was very much a theme of the event hosted by Pearson coaching.
Sandwiched in between was an amazing story of skill and perseverance – Sally Kettle who rowed the Atlantic with her Mum. I felt there was much to learn from her approach to the challenge, overcoming fears, staying motivated when exhausted  and to life in general.

Priceless Business Intelligence
Although TLC choses a theme for the year there are always spin-off events that tackle general leadership questions, motivations and theories; one such event was Bentley Motors.
Shona Fletcher, TLC  founder member at the event said “Gaining insight into how Bentley coped through the recession, how they maintained staff moral and employee engagement through exceedingly tough times, and how they fought hard to ensure that the new 4×4 production would remain in the UK is priceless business intelligence”.

Real Insight
Similarly  Raja Saggi’s, Head of SMB Marketing at Google UK, exceptional insight into the technological trends and changes he foresees in the next 5 years is “crystal Ball gazing” at its best, but also a provided  a unique opportunity to question someone at the heart of technical sales and Marketing creativity.
Read more about this particular event in the blog, “Crystal Ball Gazing” Written by TLC Founder member Sir Trevor Soar.
So, what is next? Next up- Houses of Parliament featuring one of our “best loved (unless you are Google amazon or Starbucks!) Female politicians, the Royal Navy and next year an archbishop. a TV presenter an academic and the story of the regeneration of one of Britain’s greatest institutions – watch this space – or better still, join us!

The Leaders Club bringing great, and diverse, minds together in great places!!!

Richard Smelt
HR Director of McCain Foods and a non-executive Director for both Boxington Corporate Finance and Hays PLC.