Women on top

When it comes to understanding a client’s business there’s no substitute for getting out there and immersing yourself in their world- sometimes I’m lucky that this means the country seat of the Queen’s cousin!

To explain a bit more, this week has taken me from hair salons to Harewood house where I was thrilled to have the opportunity to attend the Women’s Business Forum- the ultimate business and networking event dedicated to helping business women maximise their careers.

Crucially, the forum not only offers businesswomen the opportunity to make connections but also, from a bigger picture perspective, helps organisations understand and reap the benefits of bringing skilled women into the hierarchy of an organisation.

The event, spread over two days, was dedicated to examining the role of women in the corporate world and presented a packed agenda of talks from eminent and hard hitting speakers including Lynne Featherstone the Equalities Minister, Dominic Fry- Head of Comms at Marks and Spencer and also Judith McKenna, Chief Financial Officer of ASDA.

I particularly enjoyed the presentation by Collette Dunkley, MD of Global Marketing and Communications for Barclays Wealth. She explained how men and women’s brains are, fundamentally, wired differently. Now, I guess that’s no great shock but what was surprising was some of the statistics she shared:

• Over 80% of consumer purchasing decisions are influenced by women
• 40% of UK wives who work full time earn more than their husbands
• 53% of UK’s millionaires will be women by 2020

If you’ve listened to the song by Mr. James Brown you’ll have been told “this is a man’s world”, however, with stats like those seen above, I think it’s fair to say the tables continue to turn