Hello and welcome back to Working It.
I talk to many leaders, in an attempt to stay “ahead of the curve” and hear what they think. These meetings aren’t just about good ideas and premium cookies 🍪. I also enjoy the unexpected ways life comes full circle.
In 2022, I went with my most successful friend (as her “plus one”) to a new event: Anthropy at the Eden Project in Cornwall. It was an invigorating experiment: a gathering of leaders from business, charities, governments and beyond, to work on a plan for positive changes for Britain post-Covid. Let’s think of Davos, but in a biome. And without the tiered ticketing structure or crazy egos.
I was there from the beginning (what a trendsetter 😎). Since then, many more people have gotten involved; If you’re interested, Antropia’s next, much larger conference will be in March 2025. This week, I finally caught up with its founder, John O’Brien, to talk about leadership and connection. (No cookies, though.)
Read on to learn the many benefits of young people joining boards (PSA: “young” in board terms is 40-something). And at Office Therapy we advise someone who feels left out at work. It’s happened to all of us 😥.
Send your stars to shine like Neds (or become one yourself) 🙋🏽♂️
Why not encourage your talented executives to become non-executive directors (Neds) of another organisation? This is the most original idea on staff retention and professional development* that I have heard in a long time. Comes from Warren Partners Sally Dunwoody**, headhunter specialized in leaders of financial services companies.
Sally told me: “If you offer someone in an executive role the opportunity to be a non-executive in an organization that doesn’t compete with what they’re doing, it’s a great development opportunity for them and you’ll keep them. You will retain them, they will receive training in a wide range of skills that will be very useful for your business and you will not pay for that training; “Someone else will pay for it.”
Even better, Sally said: “[Neds] have immediate access to, say, six other people on the board they work on, plus the rest of the company they work with, plus their resources. All of that brings a lot of extras to your business and access to people and places who can advise, advise and help you.”
Typically, serving executives will only have time to take on a Ned role. What kind of person, I asked Sally, could be a candidate for the role of Ned? “You would be in a broad business role, probably starting out as a functional specialist, so you would probably be in finance or marketing, business development or human resources. Technology in particular is good (anything to do with technology or data) or a general manager.” For the new generation of Neds, it is probably at the “ExCo or ExCo minus one” stage.
The biggest barrier to executives taking on a role elsewhere might not be an unsupportive boss, but age. According to the latest (2023) Spencer Stuart Board Indexthe average age of Neds in the UK is 60.9 years: “Female Neds are slightly younger on average (59.3 years) than their male counterparts (62.5).” Boards are proving surprisingly stubborn about recruiting younger people, even those with relevant experience. The youngest Neds are probably in their 40s.
It’s something that needs to change, especially now that many companies have four or five generations in the workplace (as discussed here last week). As Sally noted: “Younger people are needed at the board table as they can help move the debate away from ‘this is how we’ve always done it’ and can also help ‘bring the customer to the boardroom’. ‘. Think about a payday loan company, for example: how many of your board members have ever found themselves in the situation of needing that service?
There are also many programs aimed at helping people fill board positions: Warren Partners, for example, has a Board Scholarship Program connecting FTSE 250 companies with talented people from minority backgrounds. Women on the boards offers networking and training opportunities. And, *declaring interest*, the FT Board Director Program offers a diploma for Neds candidates in the UK and Asia. (Tell me others you’ve participated in or participated in and we’ll mention them here.)
What can you do to improve your chances of finding a non-executive position? Thinking several years ahead will be helpful, whether you’re thinking about doing it alongside a corporate job or as part of a transition to a portfolio career. Becoming a school governor or charity trustee is a good first step. Sally’s advice: “Do something that catches your attention, so you can lean into it properly and give it the energy and passion it deserves.”
*Do you have more ideas to expand Ned’s group 🌊? Send me an email: isabel.berwick@ft.com
**I met Sally many years ago, on a campsite in France ⛺️. We reconnected recently, creating another “full circle” moment.
This week on the Working It podcast
Burnout is a huge problem, but very poorly defined, and there is even more confusion about how to prevent and treat it. Into this void comes the expert voice from this week’s guest on the Working It podcast, Dr. Audrey Tang. Audrey is a psychologist, coach and Award-winning author. We recorded our talk earlier this month, live on stage at the FT Weekend Festival.
Hear tips to spot early signs of burnout in yourself and your colleagues, and learn how to stay afloat when working in a dysfunctional organization. There are also many interesting questions from the audience 🏆.
office therapy
the problem: I recently discovered by chance that I had not been invited to a select dinner at my workplace. When I heard it, I felt like I was on the playground and no one wanted to play with me. It was pure humiliation and then I got angry. I’m over it now, but I’m curious: why was my response physical and what’s the best way to deal with the “bruises” of our condition🤕?
Isabel’s advice: I decided not to respond to this because my reaction was visceral. It reminded me of that moment when I realized that my daughter was the only one in the group of friends who wasn’t invited to Alpha Girl’s birthday party. It sucks 🤬.
Here’s the most unbiased (and most impressive) Ben Tye, CEO of the digital transformation consultancy Gate One, and also a psychotherapist and executive coach:
“Oh, I feel for you. Rejection hurts, and being excluded is a powerful way of being other that can lead to feelings of shame, helpless anger, and rage.
“It’s telling that you describe an intense physical reaction and feeling like you’re back on the playground with no one wanting to play with you. We all carry within us what is called our “inner child.” It is a way of describing the younger parts of ourselves that can sometimes emerge during stressful or traumatic situations. In psychological terms, it is a form of regression when an experience can make us feel very young and vulnerable again.
“Be good to yourself, acknowledge the pain of being left out, and find a way to be kind to yourself on dinner day. Maybe have one of your own with friends, family and people you love and who love you in return? Finally, if you experience this regularly, you might consider working with a psychodynamic coach or psychotherapist to analyze what is happening and address whatever is there.”
*Do you have any workplace issues for in-office therapy? Big, small: we tackle them all. Send to isabel.berwick@ft.com. We anonymize everything.
🚨 Here office therapy will alternate with the very popular “Dear Jonathan” Career advice column by Jonathan Black. Send your professional dilemmas to dear.jonathan@ft.com.
Five notable stories from the world of work
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Uber’s next step: take on Amazon. Newly profitable Uber is in the business of expansion: a great case study in corporate ambition from Yasemin Craggs Mersinoglu and Camilla Hodgson. Will it really become the “operating system of your daily life”?
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The office is not the only solution: Amazon CEO Andy Jassy accelerated the “return to the office” debate when he announced he wanted workers back at their desks five days a week. Emma Jacobs asks how something as boring as the office ended up being such a hot topic.
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Young women are starting to leave young men behind: Women are making progress in education and in the workplace, but most strikingly, some young men are actively disengaged and their prospects are slipping. A worrying article on data trends by John Burn-Murdoch.
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Check in: why has the UK Labor government been so bad at politics? A classic story of dysfunctional office politics, except this time they rule the UK. Jim Pickard and Lucy Fisher investigate.
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PwC UK partner median salary falls to £862,000 as sales growth stagnates: No further comment is necessary, but PwC is the first of the big four to report results, says Simon Foy.
One more thing. . .
If you’ve ever wanted to look more “put together” in your clothing choices, or have felt like you don’t really “get” fashion 🤷🏼♀️, read “How I lost (and found) my style at 67 years old“, by Cathy Horyn in The Cut. What will instantly make you feel better is that Cathy is a fashion critic. If she hasn’t been sure what to wear, what hope is there for the rest of us? It’s also a great example of positive aging: embracing change and making the most of it. (Yes, this is an article aimed at women, but there are many universal lessons.)
This week’s giveaway
It’s okay, I lied, it’s not a gift. . . but a large conference on the future of work based in New York that is free to join online. The Charter Workplace Summit 2024 will be held on October 8. Register here and join Charter co-founders Kevin Delaney and Erin Grau and other leading names in leadership and the future of work. Sessions that caught my attention feature JPMorgan’s AI chief on how humans and AI can work better together.
A few words from the Working It community. .
The newsletter about the benefits of journaling about working life generated interesting responses, including a couple of readers who questioned the ownership of such artifacts. If you are noting who said what in meetings. . . Does it belong to your employer as evidence if something goes wrong 🤢? I’ll investigate (send me your expert opinions).
But my favorite email came from Trigvie Robbins-Jones, known as Trig, a director at PwC. He wrote: “I do something similar in cartoon form because the work is too fun to take seriously.” I agree, but Trig really draws his thoughts. And they are brilliant. he has a blogeither follow him on LinkedInwhere he posts strips related to professional life that will lighten your feed when it’s filled with serious posts from self-promoters and over-caffeinated conference attendees 😱.