It's all about the balance...
... working away from home alone is a tough job!
How did you cope with last week’s heat?
I’m still sweltering from last weekend yet TBH. I do love hot weather - but preferably when I’m bikini-clad, stretched out on a sunbed, sipping a cocktail and looking out to the sea.
Not when I’m prepping scripts for events I’m about to host!
But variety in my work is something I am lucky to have a lot of. So rushing around like the proverbial blue-ar*ed fly is not a problem to me.
The main issue comes when I say YES to booking that are too close together and my mind starts to flip out about how I’m going to manage all the travelling, on top of standing on a stage and doing my job well.
This week I had two back-to-back events. See? I messed up on the bookings.
Female excellence
On Wednesday I hosted the last day of CIPFA’s Public Finance Live. 700 delegates from the accountancy and public finance sector nationwide descended upon my home town’s International Convention Centre for 2 days.
They were discussing all sort of challenges & innovations like climate change and digital fraud, trust in public services and the like.
If you’ve ever had a fan girl moment, you’ll know what this feels like.
I chaired a session about restoring public trust and holding our public institutions to account with the Political Editor of The Guardian and all round Journalism Powerhouse, Pippa Crerar.
And the closing keynote address was with Radio 4 Today & University Challenge presenter, Amol Rajan.
It was all about social mobility and his feeling that the UK we live in doesn’t have the correct focus, when it comes to talent and leadership.
The room packed out for this end of day session and our Q&A was non-stop. I couldn’t get through all the questions the audience wanted to ask him.
Needless to say he was an absolute gent and it was a superb way to round off the day.
After that I jumped on a train to London to prepare to host the everywoman’s annual Women in Transport & Logistics Awards at the stunning Park Plaza London Riverbank hotel.
The hotel is just a stone’s throw from MI6 HQ, where Blaise Metreweli has just taken charge as the first woman to head up UK’s foreign intelligence services.
It’s the fourth time I’ve had the honour and it really is just that. The room was filled with just short of 500 people celebrating the excellence of women in all levels of roles - from apprentices to entrepreneurs to leaders.
All of them are ensuring everything we need in our retail stores and for businesses to run are stored and distributed efficiently, arriving safely in the right condition and on time for whenever we need it.
Last year the overall Woman of the Year Award went to Sarah-May Harrison, Operations Supervisor at FedEx Express.
After starting her career at just 16, Sarah-May navigated a range of challenges with outstanding professionalism and resilience.
Renewal?
There’s something so exhilarating about hearing about how women transform workplaces, and have powerful impacts at work.
Being recognised at awards like the everywoman awards starts a transformation in them, and their careers are propelled forward as a result! It’s wonderful to witness.
And I know we can’t all win awards.
Sometimes we don’t always feel we’ve got enough fuel in the tank. Sometimes only a cheerleader will do.
Enter me!
And if you missed my survey last week - where I asked how I can help you - click here.
THANKS to everyone who did complete it last week. I appreciate it.
I’m looking at planning some free weekly webinars to boost us all up as we move into the Autumn.
Energy and confidence always take a dip for me, so if there’s help you’d like around those, let me know.
I’m thinking about guided meditations but also help around your thinking if you want to change job or career direction, and how to figure out what your best transferable skills are etc etc.
That ‘balance’ I was talking about
So with Austen and I being busy bees working up and down the country this last week, our ‘balance’ is this weekend’s Rum Festival in Brum. It’s the 10th year now and it’s the first time we’re going. My amazing friend Anita Champaneri, the driving force behind the mighty Delicious PR, is the architect of it all. I love her and everything she does! (There’s a story there I might share with you one day)
You can chat to rum owners and enthusiasts, sip cocktails and get your groove on (apparently there’s gonna be some amazing reggae rhythms on the go all day too).
If you’re in the city and at a loose end, get your ticket now!
So tell me what are you up to this weekend? Any plans? Are you going out? Who with? Where? Or you chillin’ and exercising RADICAL self-care?
Whatever you’re up to, stay cool in this second bout of a heatwave!
Until next week, all my love
Marv
xxx