5th of September, London
Earlier this month, around 40 women and men from different CPG & Retail companies in the UK came together to meet in the London Marsh offices, located in the Tower Bridge for another inspiring networking event hosted by the LEAD UK Chapter Committee.
The meeting began with Helen Cooke’s presentation on disability and diversity together with her personal journey was inspirational some interesting facts shared with us:
- 6.9 million employees within the UK have some form of disability
- 1 in 3 of us will be or know someone who is disabled
- 11% of graduate students have a disability
- 10% of those with disability never discuss or inform their employers
Helen’s Company MyPlus Consulting is a valuable source of information on government funding linked to the Equality Act. Helen would welcome the opportunity to discuss any aspects of diversity and disability – you can contact her directly via her web site or sending a message to her email address.
Natalie Gill from Timewise gave us a teaser on her project regarding flexible working and different solutions on how this can be handled. Natalie is coming back to our meeting in March 2018 to discuss further.
Peter Higgs from Business Network International (BNI) talked about how to network effectively. We all go to networking events but do we get the best out of these meetings? Peter gave some useful tips on how to improve your body language, what to get from networking events, opening and closing discussions and understanding what are your networking objectives. Recommended reading includes James Borg’s book Body Language – How To Know What’s Really Being Said.
During the meeting, three pieces of valuable education material were shared:
- EY – This isn’t about fixing our women – A study looking at the return on investing in female specific leadership development
- Cranfield School of Management – Professor Elisabeth Kelan – Millennials and the future workplace
- A guiding light – a good mentor can help you succeed in business and life – Kelly Rose Bradford
LEAD Chapter Chair Sue Knowles announced dates of the upcoming LEAD Chapter Events:
- December 5th, 2017
- 2018: March 6th, September 11th, December 4th
Next meeting will be held on 5th December and will be hosted by EY at their offices in London – See you there!
