Health, History and Summer Holidays!

Hosted a ladies’ lunch at People’s History Museum last week.  Fantastic place; who wouldn’t want claim to it’s sub-title “Ideas Worth Fighting For”?  The current exhibition is interesting to the social marketer in me; it features banners.  These are the advertising of ideas, and the creativity that goes into them is as lively as the thoughts and feelings behind them and anything seen on our various screens

Anyway, back to lunch.  We made a diverse, chatty bunch, united by being women-in-business.  I took along this timeline to help spark conversation and we enjoyed sharing our thoughts and experiences as 21^st century working women; we are indeed on the shoulders of giants and will continue making strides.

I also had my regular visit to my premature menopause Consultant.  At The Daisy Network Conference in June, I listened carefully to the presentation by Mr Nick Panay and went to my appointment better informed.  I feel empowered by the information I have gained; it is certainly the case that our health is firmly in our own hands.  I will now be asking for a second opinion with confidence.  This is part of why working for The Daisy Network is so rewarding.  My press efforts would have got premature menopause (and me!) into a national paper if News International hadn’t stolen every page!  On this occasion I concede to The Fourth Estate ;-)

I’m rapidly accelerating toward a week in the sun, won in a competition no less!  I have no plans to look this particular gift-horse in the mouth; I’ll be relaxing with my other half and enjoying the day-dreaming time.  I’m now updating my audio device (a rather old award winner) and will end on a cheery musical note; Catboy Slim anyone?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTLgeqCaYMY&feature=player_embedded

Human Support

“Support” can mean anything from Spanx to a premium rate phone number, so I chose “human” as this is about the real thing - support from people.   This will be an ongoing subject because I enjoy ongoing support from, you guessed it, people J

This week I particularly felt the support of colleagues and professional associates. 

I had cause to reach out to people with whom I’ve shared professional challenges and successes.  I was buoyed up by their input.  I generally linked my job satisfaction and performance to them (a fantastic bunch). Achieving objectives with these expert colleagues was always a real buzz and I learned every time.  What I discovered is that they consider me an expert too.  It was extraordinary to read unambiguous accounts of our work together and discover I - marketing manager - was also instrumental in our projects and highly valued for it.  So a big thank you; you know who you are – and I can’t wait to work with you all again

I also benefitted from the Media Leaders event at Living Room, where I sweltered along with about 100 others and met some fantastic new professionals.  DLA Piper have a 21^st century working culture including its web activity; nice one.  Weber Shandwick has invested in a studio to offer cost effective video creation; another step forward for this leading PR agency.  Spoke about change management with an IT executive from PZ Cussons; good to know we’re all in it together on that front.  Talking about my own organisation, Forward Ladies, whose purpose is human support, ignited interest and buy-in from all, particularly two inspiring executives from BDB.  Thank so much Su Allen for bringing us together!

Finally, I stole some quite time to listen to an old Podcast in which this network, Forget-me-Not,  was featured and kinda made me think maybe human is the only support worth having:

http://www.innovationsindementia.org.uk/videos_walkinggroup.htm

My next event is:

http://www.forwardladies.com/networking-events-manchester/women-in-business-lunch-1870

Liberty and Sorority

Very early start last week with a Business Breakfast to initiate the Trafford Leadership Network, run by Trafford Partnership.  Fantastic to be in on something at the start, particularly something as optimistic and productive as this.  That was followed on Wednesday by lunch with other Forward Ladies at Cheshire Conference & Events.  As always, it was great to meet with other business women and I came away better informed and connected.  The mix was great with employed and self-employed women.  It emerged that running interests of our own alongside loyalty to our employers is good for both.  It enables us to diversify our own skills and experience, benefitting the employer, and provides an avenue of commercial independance should it be needed or wanted.

I attend many events and Forward Ladies are particularly rewarding.

On Thursday I met with a Forward Ladies member about event sponsorship before heading off to the The Point where 50 Trafford firms were appearing at a Business Showcase.  It’s a fantastic venue and the event demonstrated the local business community is as lively as ever, investing in sustaining themselves and sharing plans for growth.  The business week ended with a meeting at Betty’s Ilkley, that is a drive over gorgeous countryside and delicious cream tea, not to mention great decisions on all sides; result!

I found time today to “Listen Again” to the Reith Lecture, Aung San Suu Kyi: Liberty.  It was the right way to hear it as it deserved undivided attention.  I can’t recommend it enough, and hope it is still there now for you to listen to.  I’ll be scheduling that in for the next few weeks as this is one role model I will always learn from.

Next week I’ll be adding more Forward Ladies events and applying myself to content for the new Daisy Network site, but now I’m going out to catch the sun!