Karren Brady - Playing to Win: 10 Steps to Achieving Your Goals

Cover

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playing to win

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10 steps to achieving your goals

Karren Brady With Leon Hickman

The successful woman's game plan

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Copyright Karren Brady 2004

The right of Karren Brady to be identified as the author of this book has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

First published 2004 by
Capstone Publishing Limited (A Wiley Company)
The Atrium
Southern Gate
Chichester
West Sussex PO19 8SQ
http://www.wileyeurope.com

All Rights Reserved. Except for the quotation of small passages for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except under the terms of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP, UK, without the permission in writing of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex PO19 8SQ, England, or emailed to permreq@wiley.co.uk, or faxed to (+44) 1243 770571.

CIP catalogue records for this book are available from the British Library and the US Library of Congress

ISBN 1-84112-563-6

Typeset in Zapf Humanist 11/15pt by Sparks Computer Solutions Ltd
http://www.sparks.co.uk

Printed and bound by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall

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Every day I meet capable, intelligent women of all ages in positions of responsibility, and yet the number appointed to boardrooms is very small. At the next level, the percentage of women who own or run a company is pitiful. Is there something wrong with us? Or something so exceptional about men that they are automatically promoted in front of women? I do not think so and, surely, only a Neanderthal chauvinist would answer those two questions with affirmatives.

But something is amiss. All the statistics say so. The Women and Equality Unit reported in 2003 that in all UK listed companies fewer than 1% of chairmen were women, and to emphasize this miserable figure the survey added that only 4% of executive director posts (including chief executive officer) were filled by women. Overall, women held 4% of directorships. There are areas, specifically in the public sector, where this figure is mocked. Compare the 73% of women managers in health and social services with only 6% in production. I leave readers to decide whether the bias against women is a hangover from centuries of traditional thinking; whether it is both this and a distrust of women in high positions in what many men consider is 'their world'; or whether a hatred of self-confident women still exists in many boardrooms, even, woundingly, among some of the few women who actually sit in them.

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This book addresses these questions and many others entirely from the woman's angle. I make no apologies for this it is a tiny correcting of the balance that has always existed but I have avoided whingeing and complaining, and not just because it will be thrown back in our faces. Simply, I hate it. We must look at this prejudice with the clear-eyed intelligence of women who have risen or are rising to positions of huge responsibility and have succeeded in the cauldron of competitive business. It was a privilege to talk to all of the cast who were so kind as to provide their thoughts and experiences. They are all very busy women but were happy to engage in endeavours to try to warm the climate towards women in business. May I introduce them, in alphabetical order.

Dawn Airey currently chief executive of the British Sky Network, she comes from a questing background, and fought the woman's corner in her days on the ITV scheduling group. She is sporty and dynamic.

Sly Bailey chief executive of the biggest newspaper group in the land, Trinity Mirror, she began work as a telephone sales rep, and found her ambition to run the company. At IPC, she oversaw what was the country's biggest management buyout and then sold the company. She is truly an inspiration and a wonderful lady.

Karen Blackett born of West Indian parents who demanded high standards, she is the young marketing director of Mediacom and also a kick boxer. Not a woman to fool with at work or play.

Tina Blake in her early forties and from Birmingham, she has twice sold companies, one in corporate videos and the other in training. Her father's love of adventure has rubbed off on her.

Martha Lane Fox in her early thirties, she comes from an academic family and was the face of lastminute.com, which she cofounded. It boomed, nearly bust and is now making a small profit. She shocked the business world recently by quitting to take on new challenges.