#250 - 250th celebrations

But before I go there, why brave feminine leadership right back when I named this and I interviewed the very first people, why did I call it that? And to be honest, I think it was because it felt a little bit controversial.

You know, you don't necessarily see those things together.

And the audience either loved it, were intrigued by it, or knew immediately it wasn't for them.

But the overwhelming response was, I love those words together.

And I'll say, let me share how I use it.

I mean, it's got a really practical purpose for me, because in the early days, I felt so awkward about saying brave feminine leadership or describing myself as a brave feminine leader.

But actually, it became really important.

And I own it today.

But I used it to help me do scary things.

I used it to help me find the courage to do stuff that I didn't want to do, that I was scared of doing.

And For me at the time, I was transitioning from a role as a CEO leading a large organisation into today what is a portfolio career where I do a whole range of rewarding things.

But I would say to myself at times, what would a brave feminine leader do? And my response would be she would make that call.

She would take that step.

She would say no to that thing or she would say yes to that thing.

So that was how I used it.

So I could single out on this journey so many people and it feels slightly unfair to do it, but I am going to call out three as a starting point.

And the first one I'm going to call out is Meredith Helicarp.

Meredith was amazing in just believing in this from day one, which gave me a lot of confidence, but in also opening up her incredible network and which gave us the opportunity to listen to these incredible leaders, so many diverse leaders.

And I will forever be grateful for Meredith on that.

I also want to call out Ricky Novak, because during COVID, you know, on one of our sort of lockdown periods, we managed to sneak a walk together.

And I really tentatively said to her, I've kind of got this idea, and I'm wondering if I should do it.

And I'm wondering if you might like to be interviewed.

And she was just absolutely yes and absolutely we must do it.

And then she proceeded to open up her network to me too.

People are so generous.