14 ways to promote yourself and get noticed

Promoting yourself may sound self-serving and you would be right, but in the world we work in so many factors contribute to success and one of them is the ability to promote yourself.  You will definitely have people around you who are willing to shout your praises, so you need to make sure they are the right people, saying the right things, in the right context about you.  You may feel awkward about promoting yourself but you need to be in control if you want to get ahead in your career.

So what can you do to promote yourself?

So how do you go about getting yourself noticed for the right reasons? Here’s some advice from the everywoman workbook, Promoting yourself, (member login is required). 

1. Be a thought leader at work – once your name is out there people will start looking to you for advice as the expert
2. Be a thought leader for your stakeholders
3. Seek real and useful feedback by letting people know you are about constant improvement
4. Become involved at work, e.g. do more than your role, help different areas of the business with your expertise
5. Deliver beyond expectations – be proactive
6. Become a great presenter
7. Get time management right – meet deadline, be on time
8. Be emotionally intelligent – be the catalyst for positive thinking and proactive problem-solving
9. Know what is going on in your organisation
10. Look like you want to be noticed (for the right reasons) – look the part, take grooming seriously, watch your tone, pitch and body language
11. Do it right the first time – quality is everything
12. Know what is important to your boss and make it important to you
13. Take the initiative – do tasks for your boss, create goals, develop yourself
14. Build your success stories ahead of time – be able to talk about accomplishments without bragging.

Do you really need to do all this?

Relationships and work environments are fluid so it is worth spending some time every few months ensuring you are in control of your brand and reputation.  The everywoman Promoting yourself workbook is full of tips and exercises to help you and from experience I know they will make you feel more comfortable with promoting yourself.

If you’re  a member of the everywomanNetwork*  login and download the workbook if not go to www.everywoman.com/join to sign up and gain instant access to the whole workbook plus a range of exclusive tools that support your personal development.

*everywomanNetwork membership gives you access to workbooks, webinars, interviews, case studies and expert advice, plus promotional opportunities for you or your business, member discounts and offers, and the ability to connect with like-minded women.

Women in technology are taking charge of their path to success

Yesterday everywoman hosted the second everywoman in Technology Leadership Academy – held at the state of the art conference area at Cisco’s offices in Feltham. From the very start of the day the entire place was buzzing with energy and ideas. Having taken a day out of their busy schedules, these women were all clearly engaged and determined to truly take charge of their path to success.

The day opened with an address from everywoman founders Karen Gill MBE and Maxine  Benson MBE who urged the audience to really take the opportunity to network with others from outside of their own companies, and to ‘be inspired by each other’.

A fabulous keynote address by Anka Wittenberg, Global Diversity and Inclusion Officer, SAP kick started the day. Anka gave some incredible insight into how SAP has really embodied the concept of diversity driving innovation. With a workforce spanning 188 countries and a diverse client base, SAP simply has to reflect its customer base in order to be successful.  What was especially interesting was how as she says, employee engagement is directly linked to having gender balanced teams – making it even more of a business imperative. She also highlighted some of the fantastic work that SAP are doing with autistic children.

Celebrating diversity on all levels is key, as she said; "We have to think differently and rethink limiting beliefs" – women shouldn’t feel they have to behave like men to advance in their careers. Her personal story was also fascinating, from starting a business at the age of just 21, to having three children while fitting in studying at university, to her current role responsible for the development and implementation of SAP’s Diversity and Inclusion strategy globally.

Following on from this was a great panel with some lively debate and once again sound advice and experience from inspirational women. Heather Dunlop-Jones, Chief Technology Officer, IBM  stressed the need to focus on what we are good at – don’t discount ‘softer skills’ as they can really stand you in good stead. All agree that a good mentor was invaluable – someone who can really inspire and help with difficult decisions. As Jennifer Sheridan, CEO and Founder of Togeva explained however it is vital to get on well with your mentor, there has to be a synergy of ideas and outlook in order for it to work.

What are we truly known for? The panel touched on this issue which I personally found really interesting. As Jacqueline de Rojas, Vice President & General Manager UK & Ireland, CA Technologies put it, you have to “Decide what you want to be famous for”.  Spending time on yourself is essential in order to find direction.

Perhaps the most insightful piece however was when discussing what road blocks faced these successful women in the past – with a simple answer from Heather, backed by many of the others – that the biggest road block was them themselves – something I am sure am sure many of us can identify with. All in all, a great panel moderated by the engaging and lively Delyth Harris of Cisco.

Following lunchtime and fantastic networking it was time for the attendees to do some work themselves with the afternoon masterclasses. “Preparing for tough conversations” really delved into why we put off the conversations that quite frankly, we would rather not have… and just what the impact of doing this is – personally and on the business as a whole. “Think about but don't dwell” on issues was a key message here – encouraging a real sense of perspective.

Strategic Thinking for the female leader  stressed how simplicity is key and that effective leadership is all about vision. If we take the time to raise our heads and explore we can achieve so much more and what’s more, “Never ever make a decision under stress. Take a moment”.

The day came to a close with a motivational session from Penny Mallory:  “World class Thinking, World Class behaviour" which injected amazing energy into the end of the day. Penny got us all thinking about what being world class really means, and how actually, we all have the potential to be world class. She encouraged the audience to peek about their comfort level from time to time… and see what happens!

Attendees finished the day raring to go and with a real sense of purpose, which was fantastic to see. As our panellist Poonam Joshi, Head of Ad Operations, Gumtree  said “Women can achieve what they want in technology, they just need to believe”.

I think that sums it up perfectly.  

The next everywoman in Technology Leadership Academy will take place at IBM Southbank on 1 October. www.everywoman.com/techacademy 

6 Time Management Skills - be more productive with your time

We are all busy, but do you think you are busier and less productive than you should be?  If so it’s time to look at how you manage your time. The following (taken from the everywoman workbook, Managing your time - member login required) will help you identify where you spend your time and analyse how productive your activity is. It will also give you some pointers that will help develop your time management skills.

1. Understand how you use your time – create your time audit

Create a time log and record your activity at work for a few days (you’ll find a template in the workbook).  Ideally, set an alarm for every half hour to record what you are doing.  It is best to do this in real-time rather than retrospectively as memory is usually kinder than reality.  Don’t record unnecessary information; it is the activity, the time spent on it, and whether it was effective that is important.

2. Link your time to productivity

List 5 topics you expect to discuss at your next performance review or 5 things you should be contributing to within the business.  Look at your time audit and highlight the tasks that link to the 5 things on your list.  How much time have you spent on things that have little or no consequence to your performance or to the overall goals of the business?  If you carry out tasks that are not on your list then you may need to rethink and refocus your activity or speak to your line manager if your goals/objectives are the right ones. 

3. Urgent versus Important

By assessing the urgency and importance of a task you can prioritise what needs to be done.  Use the grid below to plot the tasks you have in your time audit, or perhaps think about your week ahead. 

The best use of your time is to focus on the tasks in the quadrants that relate to IMPORTANT tasks.

Important – the more you focus on the top 2 quadrants, the more effective your time will be
Not Important – the bottom two quadrants are not classified as IMPORTANT and therefore are not aligned with your own objectives.  These take time and use various resources.  (You’ll find more detail in the workbook)

4. Set goals

You need to set goals so you have a direction to work towards, no matter what gets in the way.  You need to know what you are doing is helping you get where you want to be.  Make your goals SMART (Significant, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound).  Once you have created your goals you need to back them up with action – think about what you need to do in order to achieve your goals.

5. Plan your time

It is a fact that planning takes time, but not planning will mean you work with no order or structure which will result in wasting time.  Setting objectives, priorities and milestones will help you avoid constant fire fighting and enable you to focus on the really important tasks.  Don’t just think of the big tasks you have to do have a list of some quick tasks you need to do to fill gaps, e.g. clean your inbox, update a contact, sign some documents.  Those 5 minute bursts of activity can add up to hours of time over a month.

6. Delegate

Delegation takes time and effort and often you will think it will be quicker to do the job yourself or you don’t want to be seen as ‘dumping’ work onto others that you could do yourself.  Invest some time now to ensure a successful outcome.  Also, delegation is a key developmental tool.   Delegating to others frees you up to do tasks that will develop your skills so the best way to look at it is by understanding how you will benefit in the future. 

Time management skills take time to build and practice makes perfect so it’s a good idea to schedule time in your diary to carry out your time audit on a regular basis,  this will help you stay focused on the things that make a real difference.

 

 

You’ll find more about this and many other business critical self development topics on the everywomanNetwork* if you’re not a member go to www.everywoman.com/join to sign up and gain instant access to the whole workbook plus a range of exclusive tools that support your personal development.

*everywomanNetwork membership gives you access to workbooks, webinars, interviews, case studies and expert advice, plus promotional opportunities for you or your business, member discounts and offers, and the ability to connect with like-minded women.

"My everywomanNetwork membership offers many inspiring tools, such as the online seminars which are a good way to start the morning; I was surprised at how much was covered.  It has definitely inspired me to take further action."

everywomanNetwork Member, Royal Mail

"The everywomanNetwork topics are sometimes common sense, but they are often ones we overlook. Self reflection and development is a key area in remaining open to opportunities for every business, and grasping the nettle so to speak"

everywomanNetwork Member, Deep Blue Baby Ltd

The 4 steps to managing a crisis

When faced with a difficult situation, are you the type of person who launches in with little thought, or do you take stock and respond from a position of control?

Often, all eyes are on you and how you handle the situation.  Your team will look to you for guidance and your superiors will want to know you have everything under control.  Do you?  The way you think and communicate in a critical situation says a lot about you as a person, and you as a leader.  Above all you need to be in control.

The everywoman workbook, Tackling critical situations, (member login is required) has some tried and tested advice and guidance to help you be the best that you can be and for you and those around you to get through the situation.

When you were a child, you were probably taught to “Stop!  Look!  Listen!” before your crossed the road.  This very simple phrase forced you to focus on the task in hand (crossing the road) and not get distracted (playing with a ball or running to friends on the other side).  This same process of Stop! Look! Listen! is also taught in business schools with the addition of “Respond!” as a crisis management tool – the S.L.L.R. process.

1. STOP – avoid knee-jerk thinking.  Gather your thoughts, take a breath, and assess the situation before you speak or act.
2. LOOK – do a situation sweep.  What are the non-verbal behaviours you see?  What background should you take into consideration?  Assess the environment around you.
3. LISTEN – really listen to what is being said.  Look for underlying messages and meanings.  Tap into your network of advisers and support team to get a neutral perspective.
4. RESPOND – you need to respond, but ONLY after you have calmed down and taken all you can into considerations to enable you to respond appropriately.

S.L.L.R. sorts out your thinking - which is half of the process that puts you in a position of control when handling a critical situation.  The other half is how you communicate.  The Tackling critical situations workbook gives you 8 points to consider when communicating under pressure so you are in control rather than being on the back foot:

-Have a key message and stick to it
-Have the facts to hand
-Be as open and honest as you can be
-Watch the jargon
-Take care of yourself
-Tell people when they will hear back from you
-Actions mean more than words
-Be clear and concise

That’s the theory, now it’s over to you for the practice part.  Think about a difficult situation you have been in, how you handled it and consider the outcome.  Return to this same situation and run through the scenario again, but this time using the advice in this article.  Did the outcome differ?  Would the above advice have made you feel more confident and in control of what was happening to you and those around you?

I would love to hear your stories of how you have tackled difficult and critical situations.  Please post your comments below and then other readers can learn from your experiences.

The everywoman workbook that the above advice is taken from, Tackling Critical Situations, can be downloaded from the everywoman website (member login required).  The workbook combines more tips and strategies to help you tackle difficult situations with tools and exercises so you can put your new-found knowledge into practice straightaway.

 

 

If you are not a member of the everywomanNetwork* you can download a preview from the bookshelf on our Personal Development page or go to www.everywoman.com/join to sign up and gain instant access to the whole workbook plus a range of exclusive tools that support your personal development.

*everywomanNetwork membership gives you access to workbooks, webinars, interviews, case studies and expert advice, plus promotional opportunities for you or your business, member discounts and offers, and the ability to connect with like-minded women.

Female entrepreneurs - has your business journey been a breeze?

 

Running your own business is certainly not a constantly easy path to take. The good news is that there are 620,000 majority women-owned businesses¹ in the UK and there have never been more female-run businesses in the UK. The not so good news is that only 4% of women² engage in entrepreneurial activity (versus 9% of men). Why do you think this is?

One factor could be as identified by the RBS Group in its report, Women in Enterprise: A different perspective³. The report found that women tend to be more risk averse than men and are “affected by social factors such as the desire to maintain a home-based, part–time business to combine domestic and economic activities.”

The GEM Women’s Report⁴ says that: “Compared with men, fewer women believe there are lots of opportunities for entrepreneurship and that they have the capabilities for this endeavour. Fewer women than men intend to start businesses and more are dissuaded by fear of failure.” Do you agree?

It is widely acknowledged that a lack of female role models to show other women that it is possible to run your own business and be successful can be an issue. This is borne out by the Women in Enterprise: A different perspective report which found that “the very small number of credible and successful female entrepreneur role models is highly detrimental in encouraging women to consider entrepreneurship as a career.  There is a complex combination of socio-economic factors related to education, careers, domestic responsibilities and role models which effectively dissuade women from considering entrepreneurial activity and self-employment.”

There is good news however and our experience at everywoman shows that there are so many inspirational female run businesses out there who are making it a success. Running a business may not be the easiest option as the path to entrepreneurial success is not always paved with gold, but when the decision has been made I believe that women are extremely resourceful when it comes to overcoming obstacles, both personal and business-related.

The NatWest everywoman Awards recognise women like these – those who have broken down barriers and come out triumphant. The experiences of previous Award winners  who are all excellent role models - exemplify the resilience of the UK’s female entrepreneurs. Perhaps their stories will inspire you to enter this year.

 Take Jessica Rose who has led her enterprise, the London Jewellery School, from potential  bankruptcy to be the largest independent provider of amateur and professional jewellery-making courses in the country. After investing all her savings into premises she discovered they were not fit for purpose, leaving her facing potential bankruptcy. Jessica’s steely determination and quick thinking came into play and the next day she signed a contract in none other than Hatton Garden, London’s famous jewellery quarter, and has not looked back since.

Ultimately we need to oncover more role models in order to inspire other women to consider entrepreneurialism. Just like Jessica, we want to hear your story so you can inspire others who are facing challenges.

If you are an entrepreneur who refuses to be deterred, then shout loud, be proud and nominate yourself. Alternatively, if you know a woman who deserves recognition for her perseverance and ultimate success, but won’t come forward, you can nominate her yourself. Nominations are open until 8 July.

The best of luck!

 

 

1) Women's Enterprise Task Force http://www.womensenterprisetaskforce.co.uk/news_and_events/8/article.html

2) The Total Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) rate in the UK is 9% for men and 4% for women. TEA is defined as people who are either in the process of setting up a business or running a business that is less than 3 years old. (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2010)

3) RBS Group, Women in Enterprise: A different perspective http://www.inspiringenterprise.rbs.com/sites/default/files/Women_in_Enterprise.pdf

4) Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, 2010 Women’s Report (published in 2011) http://www.gemconsortium.org/docs/768/gem-2010-womens-report

Women in technology - are you prioritising your personal development?

Technology moves at such a pace that in order for you to keep up, you have to keep up-to-date and develop your coding capabilities, improve your project management skills, etc. But is this done at the expense of finding the time for personal development  - such as confidence or leadership skills? These core skills are just as valuable in terms of advancing your career and giving you the edge over others seeking the same roles as you. 

In 2012, everywoman teamed up with Alexander Mann Solutions to commission a survey into the factors affecting the advancement of female middle managers to more senior roles. The survey sampled female middle managers and HR leaders and found some common ground in views, but disturbingly found disparities as well.

The report, Focus on the pipeline: engaging the full potential of female middle managers, made several key recommendations and I want to highlight two of them to you.

1) Prioritising training and development – survey respondents were asked if they were confident about achieving promotion: 21% said they were not getting the right support, 20% said they were not getting the right training and development, and 5% said they did not have the right skills.

Recommendation: Female middle managers are not prioritising their own training and development, believing their ability and drive will lead to promotion. Businesses can improve female middle manager progression by ensuring they have full access to training and development programmes which put them on the senior management track

2) Taking responsibility for your own career – 49% said there is a joint responsibility between themselves and their employer, 39% felt it is the responsibility of their employer, and 13% said themselves. When HR leaders were surveyed, 64% want to see individuals driving their advancement themselves.

Recommendation: It’s vital that female middle managers are encouraged to take more responsibility for their own careers. The report found an uncomfortable home truth that female middle managers underestimate how much personal responsibility they need to take for developing their own careers.

There seems to be a pattern forming here. Basically, YOU need to grab your career by the horns and drive your personal development forward – be proactive, don’t wait for your employer to do something. But how can you do this? It's a challenge certainly, but everywoman provides you with a suite of tools and opportunities to have the career in technology that you deserve.

Technology Leadership Academy

The everywoman in Technology Leadership Academy is a whole day on 12 June for you to focus on you and your development, away from your day-to-day role and environment. Contrary to what the stats above say about the views of many female middle managers, the reality is that promotion opportunities do not just happen – make sure you take stock and look at the bigger picture to take control of your career. This event does this for you and gives you the opportunity to determine your future in this dynamic and exciting profession.

Ambition Hour

We all know that the current economic climates is tough, and women have to push themselves forward in order to stand out. To do this you must take control of your own personal development to rise above the competition.

Ask any successful business person and they will tell you they have generally focused on developing core skills to make them great leaders, speakers, time managers, presenters and delegators. To help you take charge and drive your own development, the everywomanNetwork has created the Ambition Hour campaign - one hour a week to focus on you and your development.

Take action now – get started with your Ambition Hour and book your place on the everywoman in Technology Leadership Academy

everywomanClub meets Jo Swinson

A big thank-you to Jo Swinson, Minister for Women and Equalities, for coming to speak to us about her experiences as a woman in government, at our last Club event. It was interesting that age, more so than gender, was her biggest challenge, initially being mistaken for a researcher rather than an MP and it was fascinating to hear about her transition from PR to Politics.

It was good to hear from Jo that women across Parliament, regardless of party politics, are working closely with one another to address issues facing women in business and young girls growing up.  She is championing a couple of campaigns, to improve opportunities for women in business and tackle important issues young girls are facing in society. Work such as the Think, Act, Report, which encourages employers to address barriers to women in business and within organisations, covering the likes of equal pay and recruitment. Also, the Body Confidence campaign which tackle misleading adverts that reinforce negative perceptions and encourage a culture of judging women on their bodies alone.  If we are to inspire and give the next generation of young women confidence to go into and progress in business, these things need to be addressed.

Jo spoke about the importance of getting more women onto boards and the need to focus on the talent pipeline, ensuring everyone can achieve what they want and not be held back. Most women will not sit on a board; this is why getting women to focus on their careers goals, as well as businesses to focus on the talent pipeline is so important.

The Minister was right when she mentioned that the challenges of getting more women through the talent pipeline are not the same across all sectors. Different areas of business need different approaches, from both within the business community and from government. However, regardless of what sector any woman works in, there is so much she can do to get on the right track to career success. A notion we know you’ll agree with.

Club member Rebecca George and our host for the evening, spoke about her quest to get more women into STEM and we were stunned to hear from Jo that although a high number of girls study sciences at school, almost half of Britain's co-ed schools have no female students taking A-level physics. The shocking fact is that this rules out so many career choices, including engineering.

We have seen a slowdown in the number of female executive appointments and need to work together to ensure women are not being held back. It is fantastic to see someone like Jo ensuring these issues and debates remain at the heart of government.  She is a great role model and is clearly someone who enjoys making a difference. Like our Club members, she is a fantastic Ambassador for women in business, our only hope is that we see more young women like her in politics.

The 6 elements that make you ‘you’

Ever heard the phrase: “People buy people”?  Of course you have!  You have most likely said it yourself, but do you truly understand what it means and its significance with regards furthering your career?

Whether you work for a company or run your own business, the “people buy people” effect still exists.  What your client/customer buys is your personal brand, not just what you will do for them.

Your personal brand is what gets  you noticed and puts you ahead of the competition as it represents what you are all about – it tells others what you are bringing to the table that other people are not.   

Discover your personal brand

Everywoman expert Sara Parsons shares in the everywomanNetwork workbook, An Introduction to Personal Brand, that your personal brand consists of six elements. These elements define who you are and what you have to offer – in other words, what makes you tick. I found they gave me a great framework for getting started in my thought process around my personal brand so thought I’d share them with you, see  the personal brand pyramid below.

To work out what’s in your pyramid, go through each level, from the base to the tip, and jot down words or phrases that come to mind – keep your answers to a business context and be as specific as possible.  For example, instead of just saying you value honesty, add what honesty means to you.  Is it telling it like it is?  Is it being true to yourself?  Or is it sticking to the facts and not making judgements? 

When you have a list of what makes you ‘you’, your challenge is to focus on your best bits and then use your personal brand when you come into contact with people to project how you want to be perceived. 

Knowing and, effectively, communicating your personal brand is what sets you apart from everyone else and will increase your chance of getting that next promotion, landing a new job, or signing that big contract.

If alarm bells are ringing because you think a personal brand is all about blatant self-promotion and arrogant, let me leave you with one thought … everyone has a personal brand (people will always have an opinion about you) and you need to choose whether to project yours in subtle ways to ensure you are being perceived how you want to be … or not.

 

 

The everywoman workbook that the above advice is taken from, An introduction to your personal brand, also has some great tips and tools that will help you focus on your personal brand and then use it to your benefit.

If you are a member of the everywomanNetwork*, login and gain access to the complete workbook plus associated videos, online seminars and articles.  If you are not a member, go to www.everywoman.com/join and sign-up for instant access to take control of your personal development.

Access to the everywomanNetwork will help you plan your Ambition Hour.

*everywomanNetwork membership gives you access to workbooks, webinars, interviews, case studies and expert advice, plus promotional opportunities for you or your business, member discounts and offers, and the ability to connect with like-minded women.

Celebrating UK talent at the 2013 FTA everywoman in Transport & Logistics Awards

When thinking of a job in transport and logistics, we often visualize driving trucks, making deliveries and spending time in warehouses. The exciting, dynamic nature of the industry never really shines through – which is unfortunate as the career potential is huge. The scope of the sector is enormous - worth over £93 billion to the economy the UK logistics sector employs 2.3 million people, however only a small percentage of these are women.

Yesterday we witnessed just a snapshot of the incredible opportunity that exists at the 2013 FTA everywoman in Transport & Logistics Awards, where we saw eight worthy winners take home awards for their talent, innovation and dedication to the industry. These Awards are crucial for an industry such as transport and logistics as they demonstrate just how exciting a career in transport and logistics can be, in order to attract more women into forging a career in the sector.

With the Savoy as the glitzy setting for the day, guests got the pleasure of meeting not only the phenomenal winners and finalists, but also a whole host of familiar faces from the industry. Compering the day was Torie Campbell, the presenter of Honda Formula 4-stroke. Also in attendance was minister Stephen Hammond MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport who spoke on the importance of encouraging women into the sector.

He emphasised how we need to “challenge and inspire” and the importance of widening the message to ensure more women enter the sector.   He provided some interesting statistics – among the 830,000 drivers in the UK, only 39,000 of them are women and out of the 71,000 managers only 9,000 women. Quite a disheartening statistic and something that with the help of the awards, should change. 

On the morning of the Awards, a roundtable discussion was held with senior industry leaders to discuss practical initiatives to attract and retain female talent, which will be covered in a forthcoming issue of Motor Transport magazine. Following this, the ceremony began with a lavish lunch followed by the presentation of the Awards – the real highlight of the day. Taking home awards were women who came from an abundance of different career backgrounds. From 20 year old Shauni O’Neill who is London Underground’s youngest train driver through to Marion Roberts, station manager at Network Rail who managed one of the busiest train stations during the 2012 London Olympics the day portrayed what vibrant jobs women can have in the industry.

Another shining moment was the presentation of this year’s Woman of the Year Award.  Jacqui Gavaghan, Performance Director from Reading Transport Limited took home this accolade. Jacqui has revolutionised systems and processes in the logistics industry and is a great example of a woman excelling in her career.

Finally, this was the first year a real industry pioneer took home the inaugural Spirit of everywoman Award. Nikki King OBE, Managing Director of Isuzu Truck Ltd received the award and for all of the right reasons. Having worked in the industry for more than 25 years, Nikki’s love of trucks has seen her rising up to a managing director position and most recently, selling her multi-million pound business. She is a real advocate of raising awareness of the industry and focuses on encouraging other women into this diverse sector.

I really believe it is women like Nikki, Jacqui, Shauni, Marion and the rest of the winners and finalists who will change thinking and allow for more women to see that the world of transport and logistics isn’t all trucks, warehouses and deliveries. There is a huge amount of opportunity, which is why the awards are a great way to really showcase the vibrancy and energy of this exciting sector.

The Apprentice: outdated, set up, and cringe worthy

The Apprentice is back on our TVs for series 9. Where the ‘crème de la crème’ of British business and entrepreneurial talent get to strut their stuff for the chance of a dream job with Lord Sugar.  Or at least this is what we should be watching. Instead what we get, on the whole, is a bunch of self-obsessed, arrogant and, often, inept wannabes. If you’re like me you find this all a bit of a turn off, and soon you're reaching for the remote.

The show has come in for quite a bit of criticism for its selection of female candidates, where appearance increasingly counts over substance. It’s becoming an unfortunate reality that this is how women need to dress and act to get on the show and succeed. This is sending completely the wrong message to young girls watching at home, or women thinking of going into business. Something Lord Sugar, if he is really interested in finding the next Martha Lane-Fox, should nip in the bud pretty fast.

I wonder what Karren Brady who sits next to Lord Sugar on The Apprentice “board” makes of the female candidates. As one of the most successful businesswomen in the country, and role model to many women in business, I’m sure she is raising her eyebrows at some of the behavior?

Few truly believe The Apprentice is really about finding genuine business talent any more, which is a shame. We have so much fantastic homegrown business talent that really should be celebrated. 

The women I meet on a regular basis are the real talent of British business. Yesterday for example I was at FTA everywoman in Transport & Logistics Awards, celebrating the inspirational women working in one of the most dynamic business sectors for female talent. If only we had more women like yesterdays winners on our TVs rather when the current crop of Apprentice hopefuls I'm sure we would see more young girls and women going into business and not being afraid to succeed.