In this eye-opening finale of Series 5, Sophy Norris speaks to Clare Willetts, the CEO and Founder of Not Only Pink and Blue, on how and why gender stereotypes that start in the playground continue into the workplace.

Clare began her business after noticing how starkly children’s products were divided into pink and blue, and recognised the same patterns reappearing later in workplaces and boardrooms. Not Only Pink and Blue works with organisations to uncover and change the hidden beliefs that start in the playground to shape culture, unlock talent, engagement, and retention. Clare goes beyond policy to tackle the root causes of gender bias, so culture, people, and performance can thrive.

Her work has been featured on the BBC, The Independent and Business Matters, and recognised by Theo Paphitis’s Small Business Sunday. And now on The Dangerous Women Podcast, where we find out that gender stereotypes are not only deeply entrenched, but pervasive, and at times insidious. Even down to the clothes we buy our children; animals on boys’ t-shirts are often predatory and on girls they are prey. Pretty dark stuff.

The conversation is wide ranging, at times jaw dropping, and always enlightening. Discussions cover:

• Gender stereotypes start as early as eight, when girls lose confidence and boys empathy; and we take this gap with us from the playground into the workplace
• Male and female confidence is different; for women is tends to centre around being proud of achievements, for men it is the feeling of being able to do anything
• Confidence does not mean being the loudest person in the room, or the one that takes up the most space
• We need to be clear, down to granular detail, what we mean when we ask people to be confident, or a leader etc.
• Empathy and kindness are vastly underrated skills
• The language we use with girls and boys is very different
• Bias is embedded from the get-go - in the book we read, the clothes we wear, the programmes we watch, the heroes we reference, the way we are taught
• The gender pay gap starts young, there is a 20% disparity between boys and girls’ pocket money
• Our brains are capable of change, and we can relearn, remove limits, and challenge stereotypical norms
• Children need to be taught the power of critical thinking
• Paternity leave is a necessity not a perk
• Gender division is not a PHSE module, it should be systemic change across our education system
• The Hobbit has 1900 "hes" to every one "she"
• The importance of sport in redressing gender stereotypes

Links:

Clare Willetts LinkedIn
Not Only Pink and Blue
Sophy Norris LinkedIn
The Alligator Pi Agency LinkedIn
The Gendered Brain by Gina Rippon
Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez
Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams

In this Episode, we are channelling positivity, something we could all do with in such a chaotic world.

Nonie White, former documentary Director, turned Founder, turned ICF ACC Executive Coach and accredited Positive Psychology Practitioner. She is a BAFTA-nominated storyteller who works with the science of flourishing to help ambitious entrepreneurs step into their next level of leadership and impact. Her clients are award-winning founders scaling service, tech, and product-based businesses. And Nonie helps ambitious - dangerous women - lead powerfully, calmly, and sustainably by building unshakeable performance, confidence and leadership from who they are at their best.

She has co-authored the Forbes-featured report, The True Cost of Female Entrepreneurship, the result of interviews with hundreds of women, and that showcases patterns that lead to burnout or breakthrough. What separates those who thrive is not more strategy. It is deeper self-knowledge and stronger internal foundations.

In this podcast our host Sophy speaks to Nonie about what drives her, how positive psychology has helped her, and how this evidence-based practice helps the leaders she coaches. They discuss some of the biggest issues facing entrepreneurial women as we ride this period of immense business transition, including:

• Getting to know ourselves better and how that shapes our lives and taking the appropriate action.
• Understanding what makes us thrive.
• Radically putting ourselves as the centre of our own lives
• If psychology is getting us to 0% (even) then positive psychology is getting us to +5%
• Understanding who we are at our best and not performing a version of ourselves.
• Just knowing our character strengths means we perform 9% better, and if act on then we can perform 18% better.
• Entrepreneurship is one of the most challenging things we can do, and when we are women, which comes with a new set of challenges.
• It is important to experience joy at work, and to know we do not have to be our thoughts.
• Successful female entrepreneurs rewrite the rules and do things differently. They flourish despite the challenges, and they get better results. These are the Positive Deviants.
• And there is an emerging blueprint to do things differently (The True Cost of Female Entrepreneurship is linked below)

Links:

Nonie White LinkedIn
Sophy Norris LinkedIn
The Alligator Pi Agency LinkedIn
Nonie's Website
Nonie's Leadership Test
VIA Institute Character Strengths
The True Cost of Female Entrepreneurship
Martin Seligman
Barbara Fredrickson
Emmie Faust LinkedIn

In this Episode, Sophy talks to a woman who defines the meaning of a portfolio career, a carefully crafted series of roles and services that enable her to share her expertise, support and lift those she works with and lean into the industries she is passionate about.

Monica Chadha's story is one of grabbing opportunities, following instincts, harnessing mentorship and sometimes stepping into the unknown. This is a woman who knows her value and shares it. Today, she is the Chair of a PwC Advisory Board; sits on the Advisory Board for the 30% Club, a Non-Executive Director of the British Film Institute; and a Senior Advisor to Digital Entertainment Group International (DEGI); British Association for Screen Entertainment (BASE); and the International Union of Cinemas (UNIC). She is a member of the British Screen Forum and a voting member of BAFTA.

Of course, she didn’t begin with such an illustrious portfolio, but she did start making waves early on. She started her career at Technicolor Distribution in supply chain management and was appointed to the Board of the British Video Association aged 24. She became Production Director of Prism Leisure Corporation PLC aged 25. Since then, she has held several roles including CEO of MyMovies.Net; Non-Executive Director of Obviously Creative; Chair of the British Independent Film Awards Advisory Board; a member of the BAFTA Digital Communications Board; Advisor to Marlow Film Studios; a member of the Bias in AI Research Group at Durham University; and the All-Party Parliamentary Group for AI; and Vice Chair of Queen Mary University of London.

Monica is a faculty member of the Financial Times Board Director Programme and a confidential thinking partner and coach for senior executives. In 2019, she was named as one of the top 50 Women to Watch in the UK Female FTSE Board Report.

It's an impressive list, daunting even. But, as you will hear as you listen to this podcast, Monica is anything but daunting. She is fun, mischievous, insightful and generous. She shares her experiences and wisdom widely, and there is much to learn from her discussions with Sophy.

Just some of the MANY takeaways include:

• Managing success at a young age, and how people respond to that success, "the most important relationship is the one with yourself."
• The importance of turning confrontations into conversations.
• Understanding that what is dangerous for some feels safe for others.
• Knowing what your values are early on and being able to articulate them.
• The crucial power of relationships, of holding on to them, and letting go of them and the absolute importance of egalitarianism (aka human flirtations).
• You are the CEO of your own career. Curate your own personal boardroom of advisors, and know the expanse of your network, and who to tap into for different scenarios and advice.
• Remembering that leadership needs a phenomenal network.
• Hope is harvesting opportunities and seeing possibilities everywhere.
• Sometimes we have to manage the difficult stuff, so understanding how is key.
• Why humour is a superpower.
• Always be careful what you say yes to and remember to think about what you want your exit to look like.
• Progress is a series of tiny wins built on years of experience. Remember that!

LINKS:

Monica Chadha LinkedIn

Sophy Norris LinkedIn

The Dangerous Women Collective LinkedIn

The Alligator Pi Agency LinkedIn