On the 24th of October,  Dame Inga Beale, former CEO of the world’s specialist insurance market, Lloyds of London, was the special guest for this autumn’s much anticipated Fireside Chat, hosted by the Global Women’s Leadership Programme.

One of the most powerful women in London, Beale was invited for an intimate conversation about her successes, but more importantly, the hardships that she has faced and how that has empowered her to be one of the greatest female leaders of this decade.

Lessons in leadership

Beale’s words of encouragement related to topics regarding getting comfortable with discomfort, safety in diversity, and collaboration being the essence of leadership.

Her words of wisdom have inspired me to stop fearing the unknown as that is the only thing that stops us from discovering our true potential. I am an MSc Marketing Strategy and Innovation student and today, I am a member of the Cass FinTech Society. Although it is far from being a field I am familiar with, I am embracing it as a new challenge and exercise that will help me gain further knowledge on some of the most relevant topics in the 21st century.

PIE,  an acronym presented by Beale, stands for performance, image and exposure.  We learnt these three key components are key to a successful career and we should aim to deliver quality work daily, work on being perceived positively, and expand our networks as much as we possibly can.

As we all stood up to leave, everyone turned to each other with a smile that defined how inspired we all felt.

I was very impressed by the turnout. Ladies, your presence was expected as this day was a chance for us to embrace and to celebrate girl power. Gentlemen, your presence was admirable, your support to your female colleagues, students and friends gives us the energy to progress.

Opportunities for Cass women

As a Global Women’s Leadership Scholar, this event was only a teaser for what I know will be yet to come for this upcoming school year. Being a Cass student and an ambassador of this programme makes me want to set my goals higher than ever before. This opportunity has boosted my confident in my ability to become a leader of my generation, and with this programme, I can expose myself to a large network of people that will allow me to pursue the changes I hope to see in the world someday.

This is a rare opportunity that most people cannot obtain throughout their time at school, but Cass makes it a priority to bring these exact opportunities to its students, why not make the most out of it?

The Global Women’s Leadership Programme aims to exercise your mind and help you flourish into the leader you’ve always wanted to become. I am proud to be involved in such an initiative and we are thrilled to continue foster ambition throughout the upcoming events we will be hosting this year.

Khadija Cherif, MSc Marketing, Strategy and Innovation (2019)

Join the Cass Global Women’s Network to stay tuned on our upcoming events!