“The Accelerated Development Programme helped me consider the bigger picture for the luxury sector.”

Prior to Walpole, I had a variety of educational and work experiences. I studied law at Newcastle University and really enjoyed it - I have a strong sense of justice and found it intellectually fascinating, but knew that I would be better suited to environments that were more creative and either commercially orientated, or people/service focused, and had the scope to work internationally.

After university I had eight brilliant years working in creative agencies and production companies both in the UK and internationally, with clients that included Orange, BAFTA, Disney and Peroni. I then found I wanted a new challenge and decided to hone my experience in luxury – a sector that I felt passionate about.

I joined Walpole as General Manager in 2006. It was the dream role having the chance to work with the most prestigious British luxury brands, to be at the centre of an evolving sector, and to use the breadth of the marketing, communications and relationship management skills I had refined in my agency life. I joined just as the organisation was finalising their new strategy. A central part of my new role was to deliver the repositioning of the business to focus on luxury, as well as finding ways to grow the membership, broaden the range of new services and activities, and create our suite of mentorship programmes.

In my 15 years at Walpole I’ve been lucky to have had a lot of responsibility, and to have been able to drive the organisation forward in terms of our membership, range of activities, and external profile. I’m still endlessly fascinated by the luxury business and its customers, by the brands, and the people we represent. I feel inspired by the opportunities on the horizon, but I also need to develop new skills, to step outside of our sector and challenge myself.

One of our members recommended the Accelerated Development Programme at London Business School. It offers an unparalleled learning experience covering the business fundamentals of strategy, leadership, finance and marketing. When I read the course outline, I knew it was exactly what I was looking for in terms of the subjects covered and the structure of the course. The course is designed with two weeks of study, followed by eight weeks back in the office, and then another two weeks of study – this really worked for me. It enables solid blocks of focused learning, then being able to immediately apply those learnings and insights in the workplace. It also means that it is possible to juggle the demands of work and family life, something which I know all too often stands in the way of women pursuing development opportunities.

Despite the many gains over the last few years there still aren’t enough women in senior leadership positions, and scholarships are key in addressing this in-balance.

Working at a not-for-profit means training at the level of executive leadership programmes can sometimes be difficult, however, seeing there was a women’s only scholarship really encouraged me to apply for the programme.

It is a generalisation, but often women can tend to prioritise everyone and everything else above themselves, and with that their own development is sacrificed. Another thing I hear from women is that they have the desire to progress but just can’t see how they will make everything work. However, in an ever-changing landscape you have to be continually learning, to constantly challenge the way you think and act, to be adaptable, and vitally be able to encourage others to do the same. Scholarships are critical in giving women the opportunity and time to prioritise their development, to give them the tools to take the next step in their careers.

The Accelerated Development Programme was professionally and personally life changing. The programme is so well rounded. The content and structure is incomparable, covering modules in strategy and innovation, leadership, marketing and finance. I found the approach to leadership really valuable – a mix of in class work, group and individual coaching. You develop your own personal plan from the learnings and insights, which I still reference every week. which I still reference every week.

The teaching is first class, learning from the leading academics in their fields who are passionate about their subjects, and who all have such breadth of global business knowledge and experience.

I hadn’t anticipated the benefit of studying with so many brilliant like-minded leaders from such diverse industries and backgrounds, it taught me so many lessons and broadened my thinking immeasurably. We had 14 different nationalities on the course, people who came from industries ranging from finance to construction. The experience gave me so many insights into different cultures and taught me the value of working with and building truly diverse teams – something that the luxury sector is working on.

Individual and group mentoring, which happens alongside the classroom work, has been invaluable for my self-reflection, . I found it incredibly valuable to look at what great and good leadership looks like, and to dig further into my own strengths. I’m quite softly spoken and empathic, perhaps I had viewed that as a weakness in the past and now I can see it’s a strength.

Being an original thinker is key to so much of the course. Through the Accelerated Development Programme, you see that being able to think a bit differently to others is a valuable skill. Understanding yourself as an individual and the skills you bring is crucial to the course; the emphasis is always on how you can apply what you’re learning to both yourself and your business. It’s such a different way of learning to the classic “learning and assessment model”, it’s much more about your individual development.

As well as thinking about applying what I was learning on the programme to Walpole, I was thinking about the bigger picture, too. Where is there space for innovation, for example, and how as a sector do you market British luxury at this moment in time? What are the broader challenges around modern leadership? And what kind of skills do we need in next generation leaders? How can we ensure that we as an organisation stay relevant, and how do we lead our sector forwards? Now I try to block out time and think about how I can apply my learnings to different problems and opportunities as they arise, or who of my fellow alumni can I bounce ideas around with.

The programme has made me much more self-aware, which is so important as a leader. Knowing where you need to develop learning from your colleagues, and creating those diverse teams is so vital. I want to make sure that I can empower those around me. Being at LBS really reminded me of my passion for learning, the importance of challenging your thinking, and always being focused on excellence in everything you do. The programme was a phenomenal experience and I can’t recommend it more highly.