I recently came across a quote that really struck a chord with me, it read: “The man at the top of the mountain didn’t fall there.” Upon first glance, it felt true. Great heights are rarely reached without a lot of hard work. However, I couldn’t help but think it would be an even more accurate - and powerful - statement if the gender was changed to ‘woman’. 

Because for women, there’s no such thing as ‘stumbling’ into the corner office, or magically ‘finding’ yourself in the role of chief decision maker. You can be certain any woman in a c-level position or in a seat at the board table fought tooth and chipped nail to get there. The journey would have been full of obstacles, difficulties, and quite frankly biases. 

Frustratingly, the representation of women in senior leadership across industry and society is still abysmal. To paint the picture, recent research by the Cranfield School of Management found just eight of the CEOs in the top 100 UK companies were women.

Meanwhile, only 21% of FTSE 100 boards and 32% of FTSE 250 boards have yet to reach the Hampton-Alexander target of 33% women on their boards.

As we’ve said time and time again at AllBright, this isn’t just an issue for visibility – it’s an issue for performance, for productivity, and for profit.

But perhaps even more importantly, it highlights the huge need for corporate structures to reflect the sort of multifaceted society we want to live in. There has never been a more crucial moment than now for diverse thinking and inclusive action. 

So, how do we continue to make progress in changing these statistics as rapidly and effectively as possible? Having been in a minority position as a woman at the head of a large corporation, I know the answer is layered. There’s the issue of getting there in the first place; having access to the knowledge, the tools and confidence you need to smash the glass ceiling — or to use my opening metaphor, ascend the mountain. Then when you’ve finally made it, receiving the support you need to thrive at high altitude.

Debbie and I created AllBright to help women at every stage of this climb. Our mission is to empower women to reach their professional potential by providing networking opportunities, skills-based courses and hoards of inspirational and practical resources. 

There are different challenges at each point of a woman’s working life, but it became clear to us that women at senior levels face a very specific set of challenges. I experienced it first hand in my prior tenure at Hearst, and it’s exactly why we developed the Elevator programme - to solve some of the problems that hold women back and armour them with the equipment to make it to the top. 

If you’re not aware, Elevator is AllBright’s bespoke 12 month training programme, designed especially for senior leaders who are ready to take the next step in their careers. We onboard a limited number of women per cohort to ensure participants gain the absolute most they can from their personal coaches and from one another. The curriculum combines invaluable one-on-one sessions with technical masterclasses, custom workshops and an unparalleled quality of content — all the things I wished for as I rose from department head into C-suite roles, and ultimately on to the board. 

And the results speak for themselves. This past year alone, we saw AllBright member, Katie, begin Elevator in September and land her first leadership role as quickly as November.  Meanwhile, Shelley became Managing Partner of a global agency and credited the programme’s one-to-one coaching in getting her there and negotiating the salary she wanted and deserved. The success stories are ample and so encouraging.

Our Elevator doors are open for 2022, so come on in. We can’t wait to see more top floors filled with brilliant women, it’s long overdue.