Ladies Who Brunch

Just back from the Everywoman Networking Brunch where there was lots of talk of mentoring and I got to speak to quite a few people about Technical Change, and the importance of visible women in leading roles.

The panellists, including solicitor and judge Karen Aldred, Financial Mail on Sunday Editor, Lisa Buckingham, IBM's Jacqueline Davey, GE's Isabel Fernandez and Citibank's Carolanne Minashi were all immensely dynamic women with a kindergarten-full of children between them and more titles after their names than you could shake a stick at.

It's probably best not to attribute quotes directly but one really good idea was "pyramid mentoring" whereby mentees go on to mentor women in positions below them and these in return mentor their subordinates (I hate to use hierachical terms but for the sake of brevity they work here - you get the picture).

Another good suggestion, re trying to encourage girls to consider less well-trodden career paths at school, was to relay the benefits of these "unusual" careers (eg, information technology, financial services) not just to the pupils but also to the parents and careers advisors - as it's these last two who can be the real barriers to change.