We were delighted to be able to welcome NHEHS and GDST alumnae to our most recent networking event, Leadership in a Changing World, on Wednesday 27 April. The alumnae speakers included leading experts Katy Granville-Chapman and Dr Shaheena Janjuha-Jivraj, FRSA.

Katy is a Senior Fellow at Harvard University and a Post-Doctoral Teaching Fellow at the University of Oxford specialising in leadership and character development. Katy began her career in the British Army and has since advised the Cabinet Office, Department for Education and No 10 Downing Street on leadership. Katy was asked to set up a National Citizen Service (NCS) Leaders programme for the Government. Katy also co-founded Global Social Leaders which is a movement of socially conscious young leaders in 105 countries around the world who design and lead social action projects that make meaningful change in their communities. Katy co-authored the 2020 book ‘Leader: Know, love and inspire your people’ which was runner up and highly commended in ‘leadership for the future’ at the Business Book Awards and longlisted for CMI Management Book of the Year.

Shaheena is currently Associate Professor at HEC Paris in Qatar specialising in entrepreneurial leadership, diversity and innovation in teams. Shaheena was previously Associate Professor at Henley Business School, University of Reading, and founding director of the entrepreneurship centre. She is a regular Forbes contributor, keynote speaker and thought leader in the field of innovation and diversity. Shaheena has worked with global companies, public sector and governments to support leaders to develop a strong innovative culture across their teams. Her work and research spans over 60 countries. Shaheena has co-authored two books, Championing Women Leaders published in 2018 and the 2021 book ‘Futureproof Your Career: How to Lead and Succeed in a Changing World’ which looked at the impact of the pandemic, the ongoing fourth industrial revolution and the broadening awareness of institutionalised discrimination in the workplace and the rise of activism at work. Shaheena was awarded Women of the Future in 2006 and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

The discussion was chaired by alumna Ania Rontaler, a corporate partner at law firm Simmons & Simmons and with a focus on the asset management sector. She is also the firm’s gender balance partner and co-chairs the gender network, TNOC. She also sits on the firm’s board. Ania plays a key role in pursing gender balance as a core business imperative. In 2021 Ania was listed as a top 50 trailblazer for gender equality by WeAreTheCity.

The panel spoke brilliantly on a wide range of topics including some of most common leadership myths, the concept that “love” is fundamental in leadership and being committed to being curious about people, encouraging authenticity at work and accepting that you will never fully understand others were key.  The panel noted that models of leadership taught at business schools were generally based on studies involving only white male subjects and “the research represents part of our world, but not the dominant part of our world”. It was highlighted that modern concepts of leadership are changing, for example, research has shown that fund managers who have the lowest empathy make less on investments and countries with female leaders performed better at the start of the pandemic. It was noted that “love and profit are not mutually exclusive”. We also discussed the importance of re-skilling, embracing technology and proactively investing in your career, taking risks and being creative as a leader and what happens when teams are afraid and do not experience ‘psychological safety’.  There were many excellent questions from the audience and we all agreed we could have talked all morning about leadership in a changing world.

A huge thank you to the panel for their time and expertise and to the GDST for the kind loan of their offices to host the event. 

If you would like to view a recording of the event, please email alumnae@nhehs.gdst.net for the link.