Words .....that work

I have been thinking about the disconnect between the 'tone from the top' advice we keep hearing in the UK about boardrooms, the very 'top' of our companies - and the message being given (or not) by government at the top when it comes to the way its own business is conducted.

By that I mean the way women in politics - or those who aspire to it -

Too much to say and not enough time. That's good, I think - it means there are more things that I care about than the time at my disposal. A productive mix. 

First - next week the British Group Inter-Parliamentary Union (BGIPU) has kindly asked me to be part of a panel debate on violence v women in Politics (from a media perspective). The timing could not be better. Three women took on Facebook last week on misogyn...

There might be a problem with frozen middle management in business.

I say 'might' because I have done no studies, but I read (and think)  a lot - and there are some interesting things to consider. I am focusing on UK, but I know the readers of this blog are global - and it might resonate. Please share if it does.

Today there is a huge emphasis on recruitment at graduate level - and given the economic climate, plcs can take their pick. Some of the most-...

Thinking ahead clearly isn't a strong point of UK plc.

I say this as we are still talking, two years on, about the serious under-representation of women in business. It has taken us two years in the UK to work out that - oops, there's a problem with the pipeline - and it needs multiple measures to fix it.

I wonder how long it will take before tax breaks are considered in any serious capacity. How about one for maternity ? That would both send a strong mess...

I suspect that it isn't often that the UK's Confederation for British Industry (CBI), which describes itself as the country's "top business lobbying organisation" can spare its President for half a day.

And it isn't every day that FTSE 100 chairman Sir Roger Carr stays  for four hours at an event after spending 10 min...

It is the kind of week when I am going to be playing 'catch-up' for awhile, so bear with me.

I had my hand up for a question at the #FemaleFTSE event when the Cranfield School of Management  revealed its latest bombshell findings on the stalling of progress in appointing women to boardrooms of Uk plc.

Only a man asked it instead - well, he used a question to take five minutes to ma...

I launched this blog on February 7, 2011 - Lord Davies was looking into why there was such a serious lack of women in the boardrooms of UK plc and I needed a platform to express my views. I also thought the general level of debate in the media around 'glass ceilings' was shockingly banal.

Having been a headhunter and worked with many of the people who make the decisions at this level, I had some unique insights. I had also only recently made a re-entry into journalism and st...

The words 'Asian', 'Women' and 'Achievement' go together far more often than many people in the UK realise. But put together they can also represent a whole set of challenges which anyone from outside those particular cultures could be forgiven for missing.

It is doubly important then, to showcase the achievements and the individuals behind them as inspiration for other women looking towards careers and progression in an open society based on merit.

I watch with interest as the UK government's focus shifts to the many, many, underlying issues around the lack of 'women on boards' of UK plc.

On the whole, it's a good thing : complex problems demand complex and multi-faceted solutions.

But it is also becoming very apparent that this is a 'slow burn' which means, I'm afraid, that this is all very welcome, but maybe what we need is more immediacy of political will.

Because we don't have t...

A senior figure in the UK's listed oil and gas  industry confided in me the other day that he thought Brian Martin was "mad." I have only met the man mentioned twice, but if I were Brian Martin, managing partner of Opus, the headhunter to the industry, I would probably be inclined to take it as a compliment.

If he is "mad" it is because he insists on pushing at the boundaries of plc...