Most of us see Karren Brady CBE on the BBC One Programme – The Apprentice.
She is currently the Vice President of West Ham United Football Club and is very aptly known as the ‘first lady of football’.
Why first? Because she was literally the first girl to lead in a male dominated industry of football. At the age of 23, she took on a leadership role at the Birmingham City Football Club and was responsible for the company’s flotation in 1997 and becoming the youngest managing director of UK PLC. In 2009, she sold the club for £82million.
She’s a woman who leads by example, forging the way for other women leaders. I’ve been using her as an example of being a Key Person of Influence in the industry for a long time and when I saw her at her keynote yesterday, I could not help but resonate with what she said and was moved…I was impressed not just at what she said yes to, but more of what she said ‘no’ to.
Being a CEO has it’s trying times…sometimes there are issues with capacity of what can be done, sometimes it requires the team, finding new avenues of growth and all this whilst keeping an eye on the ball (I mean business and profits).
It does shine the light on the journey seeing someone else having walked the path before you and learning from their ups and down.
As a women in business, she is my champion and it gives me impetus to hear her say that “personally I do not invest in a company that does not have women in leadership roles”. There is a lot for young women to aspire towards…a step at a time.
But then you meet someone who has been through the path (probably faced challenges which are many folds greater — and has been triumphant through it all). I liked her approach towards the growth of the company and alignment of the team. Her top tip was to employ people smarter than you. She went on to saying that she herself does not invest in a company that doesn’t have women leaders in it.
The journey continues and I look forward to inviting Karren Brady to our KPI event someday…
