Unknown Speaker 0:19
Northern Power Women podcast for your career and your life no matter what business you're in.
Simone Roche 0:26
Hello, and welcome back to the We Are More season of the Northern Power Women podcast. I'm your host Simone Roche and this season I'm chatting to our winners, commended and partners of the Northern Power Women Awards, doing what we do best which is showcasing and spotlighting role models. Northern Power Women are proudly the largest celebration of gender equality in Europe. And I created them to highlight the amazing impact that whether you be individual organisations, teams and services are having whilst accelerating gender equality and wider inclusion from up here in the North. And you know that at the Northern Power Women HQ, we are super passionate about continuing to build this community of trailblazers and go getters and getting people involved. And that's a question I get asked all the time. Well, a great place to start is our new improved Power Platform, which is at wearepower.net and now you will find our calendar of events such as our powerup networking and all our webinars and all our podcasts' episodes too. So, all in one place, what's not to love. We'll put a link in the show notes too, so you can sign up today for free.
Now, without further delay, my guest this week is our Commended Transformational Leader of 2022 the wonderful Sharon Davies and one of our rare repeat guests. As Sharon joined the Reflection season at the end of 2021. Sharon is the Chief Exec of the amazing, inspirational and impactful Young Enterprise, which is a leading employability and financial education, charity empowering young people across the UK, something that is so vital right now and always has been but right now I can't even begin to see and appreciate how important this is. Sharon's professional background as youth worker and latterly over the last 12 years in the charity sector. Sharon's passionate about access to the provision of opportunity for young people having benefited first-hand from opportunities that have made a huge difference to our own life, please check back on Sharon's previous podcast to find out more about that story and the quick save you need to check up on that. But the importance of making these opportunities available to all regardless of starting point is an area of work that has been of keen personal interest to Sharon for almost 30 years now, the importance of making such opportunities available to all regardless of their starting point is an area of work that is so so passionate and a personal interest to you, Sharon, welcome to our podcast again.
Sharon Davies 2:54
Thank you so much for such an exciting start to my week.
Simone Roche 2:58
You know, I love it. And I loved it when we had the conversation last year. If you don't know what the quicksave are please do reflect back to the episode last year because we had a good conversation. And I always love the conversations that we have at the start of the podcast before we press the record button. And I always think I think we're going to have to do that. It's almost like a late-night women's hour kind of scenario where we're having some of those offline conversations about what happens behind the scenes, but you are a transformational leader, and you have been, you're so passionate. It was as I say 30 years. I can't believe that. But when you were named Commended back in March. What is what's happened to you since then? Has it opened any doors for you?
Sharon Davies 3:37
Oh, most definitely. Simone. It's been incredible. I mean, I think certainly, the first thing that it did was really provide recognition of the great work and the value of the work that the team do in service of young people providing those opportunities and supports our young people kind of to build their futures. And you know that's what we've been continuing to do. And I wear my badge with pride all the time. I love it. And it was just a fantastic opportunity to be recommended by your peers and in front of your peers and women celebrating women it was just a phenomenal experience.
Simone Roche 4:12
Yeah had such a buzz in the room and I think it's amazing when you bring individuals together to celebrate others there was that literally just that buzz and uplift and we talk about transformational leader and leaders you can be a leader in all aspects of your life you can believe in at home leader in your community, leading in the workplace, leading in the voluntary sector. I think we did a piece of research with Teesside University about new traits of leadership, sort of as we were navigating the pandemic and what does a leader look like? Do you think Have you seen change in sort of what does a leader look act or sound like over recent years?
Sharon Davies 4:56
Most definitely. And I think I think those increasingly complex environments that leaders operate in means that, you know, increasingly, you needing to be able to build really good teams. And that building of really good teams is really important because you can't lead all the time you can't, you know, you think about that a wild geese flying in formation often think about that. And then fly 70% longer than geese flying on their own. And that's because they're changing position all the time, the leader, the person who the goose, if you like, that's facing that kind of ongoing headwind is changing all the time. And that's what you need within a team, you need great people, great impact players that can move around, they anticipate things that Brene Brown was talking with the guests the other day that looks at life through opportunity, goggles, that's what you need, and you need to build those teams that can do that. And a leader is great. I think in lots of ways now leaders shouldn't be seen as the flag bearers very often they are standing behind my own personal preferences around servant leadership, you're serving your organisation, you're serving alongside your peers and the people that you work with. And I think I think great leaders are able to anticipate the importance of building those good teams, and for me more than ever now, in those complex environments, you need to be able to bring real clarity where you can as a leader to what it is that the organisation is trying to do.
Simone Roche 6:26
You're right. We've navigated the last few years, we've offset the pandemic, we've got this economic crisis, which is really just beyond challenging to kind of all walks of life and all ages. And one of the things that you've been leading Young Enterprise is to create 1 million meaningful financial enterprise education opportunities by 2023. And I think the was the goal was about 40,000 volunteers. How are you doing on? Are you on track?
Sharon Davies 7:01
Yeah, we are we are with we're in the third year of we're in the final year now, actually the fourth academic year. So, we've created over 880,000, financial enterprise education opportunities, that's with our partners, volunteers, alumni, teachers. And we've engaged nearly 22,000 volunteers, alumni and teachers in mobilising and providing the support if you like. And next year, we celebrate our 60th anniversary, 60 years of transforming young people's futures. So, if you're listening, and you're a young enterprise alumni, and you're thinking to yourself, I did young enterprise when I was at school, we would love to hear from you because we are celebrating the impacts of young enterprise over those 60 years. So yeah, absolutely on track, but really looking forward to doing more really, because now more than ever, as you said before, Simone, those young people need those opportunities, they need the support to be building their futures
Simone Roche 7:54
We talked about this ahead of this. Well, you know, that opportunity maker, we're always passionate about connecting people, with people and people with opportunities. And I think this will be great if we can, you know, we'll put details in the show notes around Young Enterprise. How amazing would it be to get that alumni back into action, isn't it and paying it forward, something really, really, really important about that paying it forward. We talked about the economic crisis and financial education is so so important. And you and I were in together in a room quite rarely probably at the start of the summer, I think there was the Alison Rose review, it was an event down in London. And I remember that, but I think Dame Caroline Dinesh and she is former women's equality minister, and she was talking about entrepreneurship and financial education in schools. And all I could do is I'm looking at the other side of you going this is who you need to speak to this is this is an organisation here a charity here, 60 years in already doing this. You're passionate about this? And how can we change the narrative for the next generation, and accelerate, you know, and your role in accelerating social mobility?
Sharon Davies 9:07
Well, I think the first thing to think about is that young people have been demonstrating that enterprising mindset throughout the pandemic, they continue to do so. But we also know that the pandemic has disproportionately impacted young people and we need to be writing more opportunities, we need to be providing more support. They're the two things that really harness can make a massive difference. If we're really, really clear and really purposeful in really wanting to level the playing field, if you like, and we know the lifelong habits around money have formed pretty much by the age of seven. So, we need to be kind of getting financial education into schools early. Only one in three children in primary school and less than 50% of secondary school aged children get access to financial education, but it can make so much difference. If you think about the world is becoming increasingly cashless but there is the digital divide, which obviously prevents access to many financial products for many, but we need to be able to make sure that financial education is real and relevant to the changing world that young people are operating in so that we're looking at how do we make sure that when we're looking at opportunities around risk and reward, we're really clear to them about crypto currency, we're really clear to them how they avoid scams, we're really clear to them about how they can use money to be that enabler to be that opportunity maker, rather than just focusing on how does it reduce debt? And how does it how do we reduce financial exploitation? And I think that one of the things that I think is really important is how we change that narrative around financial education. How do we harness it with the likes of entrepreneurship so that we can help young people think about financial education on how we can help them in entrepreneurship and making entrepreneurship very much accessible for any young person? If you think about it, they could have up to 10 careers if you're working to age of 70. Why can't one of those careers be an entrepreneur, whether it's a full-time job or a side hustle?
Simone Roche 11:08
Absolutely and I love a side hustle. Just flashing back. Gosh, quite a few years ago, I remember having doing a podcast and we talked about with one of our panellists about, oh, gosh, I've had a credit card in my drawer, I had it go to university, it's been in there my first job, I was too terrified to use it because of the scary stats and the figures on there. So, you know this is why it's so important, isn't it? Because we've got to know where we're at and not getting to that, get down that rabbit hole of debt. And secondly, I think if there was any, another endorsement by probably the man of the era at the moment, Steven Bartlett, on his diary of a chief exec podcast recently was talking again, about that financial education, we need to get you on his podcast, actually, Diary Of A Chief Exec you need to get on there. But you know, he talks passionately again, about this is one of the most important things that you could learn as you're growing up, is about that money. So, there you go. There's your new Ambassador.
Sharon Davies 12:09
Thank you. It is right though, isn't it? If you think about all the decisions that you make every single day, the cumulative impact the compound impact of those decisions, if you've received financial education, if you can use comparison websites, compared to someone that doesn't get that access, then why wouldn't you want to empower young people with the opportunity to make the best possible use of their money as possible?
Simone Roche 12:31
And what else can business leaders do to engage young people? Because it's more than just the attracting we can all offer the free water bottles and the and the various sessions and stuff, but it's actually how do we not just engage and attract that talent? But how do we retain that talent and grow that talent? What traits of leadership can businesses and business leaders be used?
Sharon Davies 12:53
I mean, I would get, firstly, I would go back to the whole kind of making sure those opportunities are available for young people, if you're thinking about young people coming into your business, how do you help them make the most of their money? So how do you as part of your induction, make financial education part of that, so that they understand, you know, when they're receiving their salary, even if it's just to put a link in their induction to the Money and Pension Service, which will provide some information on finances. So really helping them think about their own finances, I think that gives a really good sense of an employer who cares about their people, I think that's really important now more than ever, I think it's about culture, I think it's about accepting that a young person comes in with a glass half full, they've got stuff to contribute, you know, it isn't all about, you know, young person coming into a new job as an empty vessel. Believe me, I've seen, you've seen Simone, you know, the talent we have is incredible. There are opportunities there to feed in, well, how does how does generation Zed contribute to the working environment? I think currently, we have four different generations who are contributing to the workplace, how do we support Gen Zed to take a rightful and make a rightful contribution to that. They're a powerful generation brave, very socially aware, able to kind of really well, digital non-natives as well. So we should be embracing more about what they can offer rather than what they can't do. I think
Simone Roche 14:27
I couldn't agree more, you know, we do our PowerUp sessions that are one hour, two lots of 20 minute conversations and our mentors already, we call it micro mentoring, but the mentors always get as much out of it as the mentees and I think, I constantly, Anna and Lydia now we're back in the office constantly have conversations and just because I'm saying it doesn't mean that is right, or it's how we should do things. It's like I would love to know, how should we do this? Should we look at this from a different perspective, would this be of interest to you? What's more important, pizza or sushi if that's what we're doing? It can be it can be every piece. And I think this is why when we talk about the levelling up agenda the Transformational Leader category that you are there, you will be the ongoing holder of the commended title. But we've we've switched it to Levelling Up Leader this year to recognise individuals at any stage of their career playing part in the levelling up agenda. And it's really important to have those those seats and those voices at the table, what would your advice be to those people who think am I a levelling up? Have I got a voice to be heard? Or is it just the people at the top? How do we encourage those voices to be heard?
Sharon Davies 15:39
I mean, first thing I will say is that I think within this environment, everybody is a leader. You know, whether you're a leader of yourself, your organisation, your team, everybody has got an opportunity there to lead. And I think we're learning from people whose just example of how they are conducting themselves with humility, with dignity, but also kind of helping other people to get along. I mean, I think that's a massive thing. If you're one of those people, and you feel like you've got something to offer them, step forward, step forward because leaders are looking for those kind of people with those opportunity goggles, if you like to help an organisation, steer an organisation, because it's not one person who will get an organisation through this territory, it will be everybody and everybody's got a contribution to make. So if you think you've got that make your voice heard, and find those advocates around you, who are supportive of you. And if you feel like you've perhaps not got the confidence and you want to build that, find those advocates around you who might help you kind of raise your voice a little bit.
Simone Roche 16:46
I love young enterprise. I love everything that you stand for, please do check out the show notes. If your alumni, Sharon and the team want hear your story because storytelling is so so so important. So irrespective of what your journey has been, there's always a story to pass on. So please do check out the show notes. And thank you for tuning in today. If you love our episodes, let us know by rating review and subscribe and wherever you get your podcasts. This helps us spread our stories of role models who are accelerating gender equality, and wider inclusion from here in the North.
Reach out and socials at Northpowerwomen on Twitter and Northern Power Women on all our other social media and let us know what you think. Join us next Monday we'll now be joined by another fantastic role model from the MPW community. My name is Simone Roche and you've been listening to the Northern Power Women podcast a what goes on video production
Transcribed by https://otter.ai