How to break the glass ceiling
Having been brought up as the only male in a household of women, and having gone to university in the early 1980s when the issue of equality of the sexes was to the fore, I pride myself on believing that we are equal regardless of gender. I operate from a mindset that recognises ability over race, faith or gender.
All around me I see people succeeding because of their ability and I believe society is moving towards this being the norm. Just look at the Olympic medal haul of Team GB; you see as many women as men building the nation’s pride. Yet in business we still see men dominating at the top tier.
But not for long.
Over a hundred years since Emily Pankhurst gave her famous ‘Freedom or death’ speech we again have a woman prime minister in the UK and are potentially less than three months away from the first female president of the United States of America. Gender equality is real and present.
Yes, there are still differences within the business environment – just take the Institute for Fiscal Studies’ recent report highlighting the gender pay gap – but if we believe this is how it will always be, then we do ourselves an injustice. We are constantly evolving, not just as humans, but in how we approach our lives; day by day our society and our attitudes are changing.
I work with people from all walks of life, from all over the world and all different market sectors, to help them become more aware of their personal impact and show them how to gain more presence; when I see participants walking in to a training room for a course I don’t see gender or race walking in, I see people and treat them all the same, because fundamentally we are all the same.
It is for this reason I am proud to be working with the School of Life to deliver the Emerging Women Leaders course in London on 6 September. Because there are still prejudices hanging around, because there is still a perceived glass ceiling, I designed this course specifically to help develop a mindset that enables emerging leaders to succeed regardless of gender. As the author of Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg, says, “In the future there will be no ‘female leaders’. There will just be leaders.”
Emerging Women Leaders is a workshop designed to help you take charge of the way you are perceived – arguably the most important factor in your success.
Numbers are limited, to ensure that everyone gets the most from the training, and the course takes place on Tuesday 6th September at 70 Marchmont Street, WC1N 1AB. Book your place at the table today, while tickets are still available. I hope to see you there.