By Emilie Oldknow, CEO at Hanbury Strategy
How did you make the transition from a mid to senior level position?
I had a lot of support from my female colleagues, but I am not sure I did it well. When I was promoted to my first proper management position, I was 25 years old. I had been promoted over the heads of long-standing male colleagues. It wasn't always easy, but I tried to treat them with respect and became an active listener. Plus, I learnt from my mistakes - mistakes are something we all make, it's how you deal with them and move on from them which I think is truly telling.
What do you love about your role?
I love dealing with people, through good times and bad. I get a lot of satisfaction from supporting people, mainly women, through their working lives.
At Hanbury, I love how varied my working day is - one minute I am interrogating business data, the next I am leading sessions on female leadership and then I am advising business on the new Labour government. It is very fast paced and I get to work with some extremely smart and decent people. I keep saying that I am learning something new everyday - which is incredibly exciting and exhausting at the same time!
How do you balance work and life?
It's tricky and the slightest change to the routine can be stressful, but throughout my career my Dad has been a constant pillar of strength and support. He brought me up from the age of 11, so we have a very strong relationship and friendship. From when my kids were little to now being teenagers, he's been on hand - to the extent that he was at my house at 6.45am this morning so I could get to work.
I used to feel guilty for doing the school run or going to the nativity, but that's a distant feeling. I can honestly say I don't have any of the guilt which goes along with parenting and working. I hope that comes across to other parents who I work with and becomes a source of confidence for them too.
How do you continue to invest in your professional and personal development?
As the first CEO at Hanbury and as a new CEO myself, I am keen to soak up as much knowledge and experience as I can. I am proactive about seeking advice from others and not afraid to ask for help and support. I have also started professional coaching sessions again, which I hope will equip me with even more skills to enhance my role.
How are you using your position / voice to #AccelerateAction towards gender equality?
I am so proud to say that, with our amazing people team, we have just launched the first ever Hanbury women's leadership development programme. It's a time intensive course which means the business has to give the participants the space to fully immerse themselves in the content. As an alumni of the scheme myself, and having seen it work in other places, (for example, when I was the Chief Operating Officer at Unison), we reduced our gender pay gap by over 5% in the three years we ran it. The course showcases how personal learning and development can have a lasting impact on women and their careers, as well as what matters to businesses.
I am also keen to play a part in increasing pay transparency in the industry, and am extremely invested in making both of these initiatives a success.
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