February 3, 2025 • 31 mins
Join us as Paul Kallee-Grover MBE shares his extraordinary journey, revealing the unexpected honour of receiving an MBE during the tumultuous times of 2021. From his initial spark of interest in urban regeneration and geography to launching his own venture, Key Partnership, Paul opens up about his evolution from a connector of ideas in international real estate to a trailblazing entrepreneur. Discover how a chance encounter with a former CEO set him on a new path, emphasising the excitement of projects over people management, and how this has shaped his professional adventure.
Explore the world of international markets alongside an export champion who has been at the forefront of promoting UK trade overseas. Paul's story unfolds from a pivotal moment at the 2010 World Expo in China to his impactful roles, including those at Arup. As an export champion since 2013, he has dedicated himself to nurturing startups, providing invaluable cultural and licensing advice. Hear how his experiences, bolstered by a prestigious education at MIT and overcoming personal challenges like ADHD and dyslexia, have fuelled his passion for mentoring businesses and individuals alike, earning him accolades such as a Board of Trade Award.
Find out more about We Are PoWEr here. 💫
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, hello and welcome to the we Are Power
podcast.
If this is your first time here, the we Are Power podcast is
the podcast for you, your careerand your life.
We release an episode everysingle Monday with listeners in
over 60 countries worldwide,where you'll hear personal life
stories, top-notch industryadvice and key leadership
insight from amazing role models.
(00:21):
As we Are Power is the umbrellabrand to Northern Power Women
Awards, which celebrateshundreds of female role models
and advocates every year.
This is where you can hearstories from all of our awards
alumni and stay up to date witheverything.
Mpw Awards and we Are PowerNever imitated, never replicated
(00:42):
singularly wonderful,everybody's wonder girl.
Well, hello and welcome to thepodcast.
Today I am joined by theincredible, wonderful look at
him.
Look at that smile.
Paul Cully Grover, mbe.
Does that ever get old?
Speaker 2 (00:59):
No.
Does it get old for you?
No, no.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
It's a while now it is.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
It is, and I think every time there's a new batch
come out, I get so excited.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Well, for every year I literally to the annoyance of
my husband, Rob, because theycome out, they get announced at
like 10 o'clock at night, and sowe just had the recent batch of
news.
I go through them.
There's 158 pages on a PDF andI always go through because I
think it's quite overwhelming,isn't it?
Yes, my husband always says itwas, what was it?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
My bloody effort is what it stands for and I'm like,
is it Rob?
Speaker 1 (01:34):
But what did it feel like when you got that envelope
through and what did you get itfor?
Speaker 2 (01:38):
I got it for international trade.
So it came.
It was that odd year, it was2021.
So we were kind of in COVID notquite in COVID.
I'd left a company, started ina new business.
So it all just felt verystrange because, as I said, I've
been doing international tradefor, at that point, a decade and
I'd been working with thegovernment as an export champion
(02:00):
.
But because I think we were ina sort of a COVID-ish world, I
hadn't really seen anybody.
So to then get something in thepost from an organisation
you've been working with forquite a while was to think, well
, I've seen you all on teams andI've done zoom calls with you
all, but I've not.
You know, at that point in timeI wasn't doing any
(02:20):
international trade and I didn'trealise these things take two
to three years to go through theprocess and a lot of times and
I say this to people you knowyou might get knocked back one
or two times.
I had no idea.
I don't know if you had anyidea no idea at all.
So I think sometimes for peopleit's patience.
Your time will come, and tojust be recognised is great.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
It's wonderful.
It is wonderful and you solet's talk about you.
We've talked aboutinternational trade.
You have your own business KeyPartnership, which you set up in
2021.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
2021, yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
But where did your adventure?
You know, you've worked forArup previously as well.
Where did your whole kind ofcareer adventure?
How did you get to this pointthat you get the lovely?
Well, it's not a very lovelyenvelope, it's a brown envelope
that looks like a tax statementthat gets you get your MBE, for
you know, services tointernational trade.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
But where did your adventure take you?
Where did that start to get youin?
I think you go back to sort ofmy early teens really.
So I was really fortunate I hadsomeone who guided me, both in
terms of GCSEs.
A-levels degree actually gaveme my first job.
So you know, from the age ofsort of 12, somebody had been
guiding is the word I'm going touse and you know, I wanted to
(03:33):
work in sort of regeneration andcities and I love geography and
it's like, well, there'scertain things you can do and
certain things you can't.
I'm not great at maths, socivil engineering was out the
and it was like, well, why don'tyou think about planning and
law and those sorts of things?
So that's kind of the path Iwent on and I worked for a
(03:55):
number of international realestate companies in the UK, but
then, as I got more advanced,the opportunities then came to
go to their other offices.
That's the exciting bit.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
And how would you, with all these adventures you've
had?
How would you describe poorCallie Grover in a couple of
sentences?
Is that even possible?
Speaker 2 (04:14):
It is possible.
Yes, it's like the elevatorpitch, isn't it?
I'm a connector, I connectpeople.
I connect people to ideas,ideas to people, people to
projects, projects to places.
So yeah, I connect things.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
You're a matchmaker.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Kind of a matchmaker Kind of a matchmaker.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Is this what led you to setting up Key?
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Yeah, I think I'd worked for corporates and
there's nothing wrong withcorporates Corporates are great
but I kind of had my time andyou get to a point in your
career where you spend more timemanaging people and not
managing the projects and it'sthe projects I get excited by.
That's where my knowledge camein.
So, as I said, I'd had a careerworking for a lot of
(04:52):
multinationals and then in thatCOVID period I went to actually
work for a family office Neverdone that before.
So working for sort of a momand pop team type thing, you
know, and you're there with theowner of the business, really in
the business.
I said I love this, this isreally exciting.
Um, and an opportunity came upand, um, he, you know the, the,
(05:16):
the uh, the CEO of that businessactually gave me money to help
me set up and said here you go,here's, here's three months.
Uh, this will see you throughset up.
And said here you go, here'sthree months, this will see you
through.
Give it a go, see what happens.
And you know that.
You know I'm so grateful toChris and his team for giving me
that start.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Really, but that, ultimately, the world is about
relationships, isn't it?
Speaker 2 (05:35):
It is about relationships.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
We talk about money makes the world go round.
But if we don't have thoserelationships and that network
community, then nothing'spossible, right?
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Nothing's possible and you know, as I said, it's
with his blessing.
So there were certain clientsthat came with me and other
clients where we had thatconversation and said well, you
know they're your client, so wewere working with family offices
.
So it is all aboutrelationships, it's all about
families working, creatingopportunities.
So I was very fortunate when Iset up I had a couple of those
(06:06):
clients, plus others I'd workedwith for years, who helped me,
so that initial three monthsthat I'd been given I didn't
really need it, luckily.
But I think for starting up onyour own it's you know you've
got mortgages to pay and billsto pay and it's kind of like
very, very nervous, anxious time, like am I doing the right
thing?
Speaker 1 (06:26):
And what did you?
You talked about before thatsort of the.
You had someone helping youmake those decisions.
When you were A-levels, yourdegree gave your first job.
You know mentorship, I supposeif you like, definitely
mentorship.
Where did you go to for thatadvice?
You had support from the familyoffice, but where did you go to
(06:49):
when you were thinking you'veset up keen you're like, am I?
Speaker 2 (06:50):
actually doing the right thing?
Do I actually know what?
You know how to make this work,as my own amazing network of um
people in Liverpool that I workwith, um, lots of um important,
powerful women in the city andI reached out to all of them and
just said can we sit down, canwe have a conversation?
You know I'd never doneaccounts before.
You know all these kinds ofthings.
It's like where do I go, who doyou use, who could you
(07:10):
recommend?
And there was sort of a lot oflearning.
I think we always say that whenyou set up in business a lot of
learning.
But I'm three years in, so I'vealways been conscious.
You know most businesses failin 12 months when you've got 18
months and then three years,which you know.
I'm just enjoying it, so we'llsee where we go right and what.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
What advice would you give to anyone out there who's
you know, you know, having theirown adventure in their career
and maybe thinking they want tobe brave and do something bold
or whatever.
What advice would you give themapart from find a good
accountant?
Speaker 2 (07:39):
yeah, find a good accountant, step out and do it
and, I think, speak to a numberof people, speak to people
number of people, speak topeople who've done it, and
people who've done it will tellyou the pitfalls.
They'll tell you what you'vedone wrong.
So you know, I can say this now, one of the things I did very
early on I launched my business.
I was very you know, this is mycompany key partnerships, this
is what my brand is, all thissort of stuff and then I got
served with a notice to not usethe logo, not use the name, and
(08:02):
that costs me a lot of money toresolve very early on.
Had I have gone through thingsin the right process, it
wouldn't have been a challenge.
So I say to people now like,just make sure you've done this,
speak to someone around this.
There are so many voices thatcan help you and places you can
go.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
And people want to help right.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
They really do, and what they really want to do is
go.
This went awfully wrong for me.
Try not to do this.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Yeah, no, we don't want that do we?
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Nobody wants that.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
How can we help people avoid making those
mistakes?
And where are we now?
11 years you've been serving asa… Export champion, an export
champion.
Now for me, I feel like there'sa superhero cape coming into
play.
But what is that?
How did that come about?
So what does it look?
Speaker 2 (08:43):
like.
At that point I'd been workingon my own business or the
company I was working for atthat time, and we were working
in lots of differentinternational markets and we had
an opportunity to enter intoChina.
So this was actually 2010, along, long time ago now and
Liverpool as a city was the onlyUK city represented at the
(09:05):
World Expo.
So the government at the timecame to my company and said
would your business beinterested in going out to
Shanghai and finding anopportunity?
And that's how it kind ofstarted the conversation.
And we did.
We went out there, we set up anoffice, we did all sorts of
things off the back of that andthen I moved over to Arup, which
you mentioned, and with Arupagain, there was lots of
(09:28):
opportunities in differentmarkets.
So an export champion this sortof they first came out in 2013.
So this was a Northwest conceptunder a chap called Clive
Drinkwater and his team at theit was UKTI, then it's now
Department of Business and Tradeand they wanted this sort of
(09:51):
network built around them ofpeople who had done it, so that
if you were a startup business,you could go.
What do I do in this market?
What do I need to be aware of.
What cultural training do Ineed, what licensing do I need,
and who better than businesses?
So that was the initial piece,and there's still five of us
who've been there from the verybeginning.
Um, but it's um, it's sort of600 odd now, I believe, across
(10:14):
the country.
It's sort of been rolled out,um, and every year, uh, they
decide, you know, are new peoplegoing to come in, are people
going to move on?
And I've been very fortunate.
I I've been asked to stay eachyear and I will say this I was
the first one to sort of walkthe floor.
So most people it's attached tothe business and then when they
leave the business, it's gone,whereas I've moved several
(10:37):
businesses and kept the title.
So it's more about me and whatI can do with the business than
it is around.
You know, just leaving it withthe business, sort of thing.
So, yeah, that was great and ittalks about the MBE piece.
So back in 2018, I was one of Ithink it was four of us
originally who won this sort ofborder trade award, a bofter
(11:00):
they were called.
Yeah, brilliant, it's as nearas I'm going to get Board of
Trade Award, and that was givingus sort of recognition for what
we were doing to support the UKPLC overseas, and really I've
just sort of built on that.
And for me now having both theyou know, the export champion
(11:22):
Board of Trade, the MBEbe, whenI look at new markets, I speak
to an ambassador, I speak to theteam on the ground and it's
kind of like an endorsement thatI know what I'm doing, um, but
also I'm bringing all thesebusinesses behind me.
Can you help?
Speaker 1 (11:37):
that's what it's for really and that giving back,
helping, paying it forward issomething that strikes me, is
that's integral in your DNA.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
You know you want to help.
You're happy to ask for help,but you have roles at the
Liverpool City region WirralChamber.
You've got really key advisoryroles within these organisations
.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
I do.
I do that, but I also do sortof private mentoring as well.
So I really love just workingwith businesses, which which is
which is what I love seeing themexplore new markets, sell
products, um.
I've got a few people, um,through your organization that
I've I've mentored, and thenI've got some people I mentor in
north america, um, and this isjust really about helping them,
(12:19):
find out about them, so talking,listening, that sort of stuff
and I.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
It wasn't so long ago that we had a conversation and
I don't know that it was duringthe judging, because you've been
one of our judges for a goodfew years now and you always
love coming in for thediscussion, and this year,
everyone, we were all in person,weren't we?
So it was amazing.
But uh, you talked about peoplereaching out to you on LinkedIn
for mentoring.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Yes, I had a couple just before Christmas actually.
Um, and I think if you look atmy LinkedIn, it's always a
balance.
You know there is a lot of workon there.
There's a lot of personal stuffand I try and sort of talk to
people about.
You know, what is the purposeof social media posts really?
And it's to give a sort of amore rounder version of yourself
.
You can be just talking aboutwork or you can just be talking
about yourself.
(12:59):
So I try and Can we have a chat?
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Well, you have so many strings to your bow.
A master's from MIT in Boston,yeah.
How on earth did that comeabout?
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Yeah, that's really odd.
Well, it's not odd, it'sstrange.
So I've never been academicallygifted right.
I was diagnosed when I was 18with ADHD, dyslexia, dyscalculia
.
We've now got dysgraphia aswell.
So you know, all these thingsare seen as negatives.
I no longer see them asnegatives, which is really good.
(13:37):
You know they've all got sortof disorder.
I ignore the disorder bit andjust think that they give me the
ability to do things.
So that would never have beenon my cards when I was sort of
17 or 18.
I went to a good university,went to Cardiff, studied
planning and law and I did well,I worked full time.
(13:57):
So I didn't get a first, I didokay.
And then, when I was workingfor one of these multinational
companies, they said look, we'vegot a partnership with MIT and
we're looking to put some of ourstaff with opportunities
through.
Would you consider it?
And I was like would I considergetting a qualification through
(14:19):
MIT?
Yes, I would, and I've hadstrong links with Boston for a
number of years and to actuallygo and study there and use all
these things.
And I go a lot.
I'm regularly in America nowand when I take over businesses
from the uk I go straight intothe mit.
It's like I'm an alumni.
Let me in here, let me see theyou know the um, the chief for
(14:43):
this department head, and thathas been really useful.
Again I had an opportunity, soI really want to showcase now
and mit, as you know, is sort ofleading in a lot of these
fields.
I was doing urban resilience,yeah, and urban resilience.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
What even is that?
Speaker 2 (15:00):
so it's really just the the impact on external
factors on it can be on business, it can be on climate, it can
be all sorts of things and it'show you cope with that.
So it's, when you put somethingunder stress, whether it's a
city, whether it's a rail system, a road system, your business.
And I remember when we weredoing scenarios, so I studied
this in 18, 19.
(15:21):
And one of the scenarios wewant to do is about a pandemic,
and they were like, oh well,that's never going to happen,
let's not do that.
Let's focus on climate change orsomething.
So yeah, a couple, couple ofyears later then to see the
pandemic um was reallyinteresting because it was kind
of, how do businesses work?
And and when you did thatcourse, it wasn't just you on
(15:41):
your own, obviously, there waspeople from pharmaceutical
companies, there was people fromfoundations, so actually, again
, it was that network.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
That was the exciting bit and we've talked about key
the business.
We've talked about your roles,your advisory roles and board
roles.
We've talked.
You've got a new role at theplayhouse and everyman theater
trustee trustee there.
Indeed, that's amazing.
That's literally just beenannounced, I think just before
christmas.
Um, sometimes and you know youtook the opportunity to to go in
(16:10):
and do the masters in boston,but sometimes it can be
overwhelming and you know, can'tfit it all in.
How have you managed to makethat jigsaw piece?
All those pieces fit, becausethere's other pieces in there,
because you're you're paul thehuman, the the paddleboarder
yeah, the surfer the voiceoverartist.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Yeah do voiceover, voiceover stuff in America as
you do.
Two soap operas, actually, Twoonline podcast soap operas, I
think if you want to call themyeah, we can do a whole other
episode on that.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
And equally, let's not even forget the fact that
you used to play keyboards in a90s band.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
I still do play keyboards in a 90s band, yeah.
Or I should say I stand behinda keyboard in a 90s band.
I still do play keyboards in a90s band, yeah.
Or I should say I stand behinda keyboard and look great and
just look amazing, right yeah,yeah but how do you make all
those pieces fit?
Speaker 1 (17:04):
you just make them fit and walk the dog and walk
the dog.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
I, you know, I, my philosophy has always been, you
know, say yes and then work itout.
So I think, for me, you know,often people ask me do you want
to do this or do you want, andI'll say yes, before I thought
about what it actually means.
Um, and for the most part, youcan, you can do it.
You know, I think one of mybiggest challenges this was a
(17:27):
couple of years ago now.
I got asked to do one of thosecharity strictly things, um,
have that on my notes right here.
Yeah let's just weren't you inpink.
I was in pink.
Well, it was, we were barbieright, I wasn't barbie, I was
ken, but you know um.
So yeah, it was, it was veryinteresting, but, um, I didn't
(17:48):
realize how much work goes intothat.
You can't just rock up and dothat.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Because you have a pretty professional dancer,
don't you to work with?
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Yeah, you have 10 weeks to work with and the
pressure's about letting themdown.
But it's also.
You're raising money forcharity.
You've got friends, family,whatever else in the room and
early on I was like, oh well,it's just a laugh, everyone's
going to give you a lot of stuff.
No, they're not.
No, they're not.
They want BBC quality dance.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
And so do you right.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
I did.
Yeah Well, you've won a BAFTA.
This is a step to a BAFTA,right.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Yeah, that's the way to get there.
I would say it was.
You know, I like pushing myselfout of my comfort zone.
That was probably as far asI've gone, um, out my comfort
zone, because even when I'mdoing, the keyboard stuff.
There's a keyboard in front ofme, yeah and I'm, uh, I'm, you
know I'm not singing.
There's a singer doing all thatsort of stuff.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
I'm background what dance did you do?
Speaker 2 (18:43):
we did the samba, um to dance the night away, which
was the barbie, the barbie mainsong.
Um, there was a lift, there wasall sorts of stuff, there was a
lot of glitter and, uh,diamantes.
That was just me.
Um, I had diamante cuban hills.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
They were amazing still, got them still got them.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Yeah, I don't know when I'm gonna wear them again
on a surfboard.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Well, rob did it.
Rob did northern power.
My husband did uh strictly manyyears ago for roy castle um,
and he did argentinian tango toSeven Nation Army is what he did
, and he was full on spandex.
It's one for the team thereThey've just learned that about
Rob.
But just going back to thequestion, actually, how do you
(19:26):
make all that work for you?
Because before we startedrolling today we talked about
you know you spend a lot of timein Newquay.
That's a happy place for you.
But before we started rollingtoday we talked about you know
you spend a lot of time in newkey.
That's a happy place for you umbut then how are you going to be
able to get to here, or I needto get to china, or I need to
get to boston, you know, butyou're making that work for you,
your downtime I'm alwaysworking, so my downtime in my
work time.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
So I'd say you know I wouldn't promote this for
everybody, but seven days I dostuff over days.
I'm not working full-time anyone of those days.
I get things done, I get thingsfitted.
I think that's where I said youknow, growing up, having or
being diagnosed with ADHD,you're told you can't do this,
you can't do this.
These are all challenges,whereas I've learned through,
(20:08):
like the ADHD Foundation, whichis here in Liverpool, that there
you know, if you channel that,you use that in the right way,
which is here in Liverpool thatif you channel that, you use
that in the right way, it worksfor me.
So I've got multiple platesspinning at any one time.
The challenge is to make surenone of those plates drop.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Maybe get some plastic ones.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
That's what I was going to say plastic plates, but
that actually works for me.
So I work better.
In an environment where I'vegot lots of things on at once, I
think the worst thing for me islike a blank in the diary.
I'm like, well, what was thatmeant to be?
You know, I'd rather have threeor four things.
So straight after this I'mgoing to go and see a new
business.
I've got another business tosee later on.
In between I'll probably fit ina gym session.
(20:48):
So it's one of these where youknow I was thinking because I
knew I was coming into you andI'd just been out surfing a few
days ago.
There's this moment when I'mjust looking at the horizon,
looking for that perfect wave tocome in, and you have to read
everything the weatherconditions, the water conditions
, who's around you, what's goingon and then watching the waves
to work out that you've got toflip, turn, do all your bits and
(21:09):
pieces to get the perfect waveto ride.
In.
Most of the time you're notgoing to get it, it's not going
to be the right wave, but whenyou do get it, that elation,
that sort of endorphin rush.
And I'd say that's what I dowith my work.
I constantly look at thehorizon, what's coming?
How can I prepare for that?
What can I do?
Who can I bring with me?
All these sorts of things.
(21:34):
So you know, know, for me thatsort of works really well.
And and again, when I'm doingcertain sports, and you'll see
these, these are all high, highfocus, high adrenaline.
Because of of my conditions, Ican't do something that goes
over a long period of time.
I'll get bored um, whereas if Ido something that's short and
bursts, it works.
It works perfectly for me youdo you right.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
That's what, yeah, and you talked earlier about,
say you know I, my whole ethosis say yes, say yes and work it
out later.
You know, and it will come off.
Is there?
Is there a a real motivationalquotation out there that you
live by?
Just say yes.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Just say yes, like I'm doing a three peaks
challenge later this year,because I said, jess, just
before Christmas someone washaving a foot operation and said
, oh, I'd really like to be ableto climb a mountain.
I was like, well, why don't wedo three?
You know, it's that kind ofthing Go big or go home, right,
right.
So we'll see how that works out.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
And one of the things that has come through this
whole conversation.
You talked earlier around aboutwhen you were setting key up.
I'm going to sit down with some.
You specifically went to sortof key women in the city and in
your network to sit down andcommunicate with and, you know,
listen to and ask for advice.
You are, you know, a realunsung advocate and I think
you're very happy to give andoffer opportunities and support.
But do you, do you identify asa really strong advocate for
gender equality?
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Yeah, I think so, but I don't see it.
I just kind of reach out topeople and I think you know it's
looking for people who may bemarginalized for whatever reason
, sort of to stick together andit's just sort of, you know, if
somebody can do something, I'llask them.
It just so happens that I knowcertain women who've been very
(23:16):
successful in their businessescreated their own businesses or
creating businesses and I thinkfor me I just need to reach out
to people who who have done that.
Yeah, that works for me andother than um three peaks
challenge yep is any moredancing there's no more dancing,
any more keyboarding yeah,there is actually.
(23:37):
I've got low.
I've got three or four gigsover the summer, um, some pretty
big ones actually, which I'mquite looking forward to.
You know, big festivals andstuff.
So that should that should beexciting.
Um, I'm off to moldova in acouple of weeks time.
Um, I don't know if you saw umon my socials.
We uh we sort of orchestrated,facilitated a new air route to
(23:59):
to moldova.
So I'm working with thediaspora at the moment.
That that that community um ontrade links.
So I'm going out there as sortof a pre-trade uh to go and
speak to ministers and britishambassador or whatever.
Um, and then later in the yearwe'll take a delegation out to
go and see what are the businessopportunities.
(24:20):
So, again, most people don'tknow much about Moldova, but
it's on the border with theUkraine and borders Romania.
They're on a fast trackascension into the EU, so
there's lots of opportunitiesfor businesses and so, yeah,
it's an exciting market.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
And do you think that ability to spot is one of your
superpowers?
Do you see that?
Yeah, definitely.
Or do you have a crystal ball?
Speaker 2 (24:43):
No, I think.
I always think I'm a firmbeliever that you can make
business with anyone.
You know you can connect withanybody.
Let's get stuck in a lift andsee what happens.
And you asked me earlier youknow what does my business do?
And again, this sort ofelevator pitch.
I actually went to an eventsounds more glamorous than it
was.
It's in New York, so you knowit's quite glamorous and it was
(25:04):
an elevator networking event.
I was like, oh, what's this allabout?
And you get there and it's ahuge queue of people and they
put you in a group of four intoa lift that takes two minutes to
get to the top floor.
I said you've got two minutes,30 seconds each, to find out
about each other's businessesand when the doors open to the
room of people up there you'vegot to introduce each other.
(25:26):
So you've got to work out.
As those doors shut, am I justgoing to talk about myself for a
minute and therefore someoneelse is going to miss out, or am
I just going to listen which Idon't do very well and absorb
that information?
Oh, it was horrible.
I hated it, but it works reallywell and I learned so much just
from that and a few othernetworking events like don't
(25:49):
have your name on.
You Don't have your namebecause you know my name's quite
long and you've got all theletters and stuff.
Somebody there had one of theSesame Street characters like
Elmo or something, so I rememberhim now and that wasn't their
name, but it was their sort ofability for you to stand out in
the crowd.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
So how did you?
I want to go back that twominute.
There must have been a lot oflifts, right?
Speaker 2 (26:08):
No, no.
Well, there was a speed liftand then there was the slow lift
that went up.
You had to turn the key in it.
So four of you Four of you 30seconds each intro for each
other.
You'd never met them before inyour life and you were in a lift
.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
And how did the person intro you?
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Really badly because one of the other people had
chatted for a good you know 40seconds, 50 seconds on the way
up and when you've got to focus.
You know which is hard for me,um, being able to have that sort
of control.
And I then went on a anothermission where we went over to
north america was an lgbtbusiness leaders mission.
(26:44):
So all the businesses wereeither led by lgbt people or had
involvement in lgbt, and on ourfirst day it was like what is
your business?
And I'd sit there for like 10minutes.
You know, my business is blah,blah, blah, blah and it would
every day it'd have to getshorter and shorter and shorter.
So the elevator pitch is youknow, what does key partnerships
do?
And we add value to business.
That's it.
(27:05):
We can then expand on what thatmeans and what we do and all
these sorts of things.
But so often I say to people,what do you do, what is your
business?
And they just kind of you know,all the words come out of you
and you've got to try and workout what it is You're talking
about me.
Aren't you important in NorthAmerica?
(27:36):
When you're doing business outthere, they want to kind of get
down to the core of you.
And then this is where thethick skin comes in.
If they're not interested,they're gone.
They are literally moved onfrom you, disposable.
But you've got to play a game.
I like to call it, sort of likeyou know, guess who, or snap.
So let's just say I met you andwe're talking and you decide
you're going to go off.
And when I meet a woman who'slooking to become an
(27:57):
entrepreneur, I'd have toremember where you were in the
room to find her, to bring youback together.
So it's that connector pieceand that's really valuable.
If they see value in youconnecting people, even though
your business might not connect,they see value in you.
Then the next time they wantsomebody or have a need for
something, they'll come back andsay, oh, do you know somebody
(28:17):
or could you help me with this?
And that's really worked for me.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
And that connecting, that's your superpower.
It's connecting.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
yeah, it's your superpower.
Yeah, guess who Snap.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
What's the superpower ?
We don't know about you.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
I don't know.
I don't know about mysuperpower.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
Tell me you could do a handstand or a headstand on
your paddleboard.
I wish I could.
I wish I could.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
No, I think you know, my whole sort of professional
career is about predictingwhat's going to happen, you know
, and trying to avoid certainthings.
So I've always been quite goodat that, I've always been sort
of very good at that sort ofvisualization piece.
So, yeah, that would be.
It's not really a superpower,is it?
Speaker 1 (28:56):
of course it's a superpower, although I do think
you could be working up to that.
Headstand on the and your happyplace is new key my happy place
is in water ah, so it can beanywhere I'm.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
I'm absolutely fine um cold, warm, warm would be
nice open water swimming quite alot, yeah, so I'm happiest near
water, but I'm from Brightonoriginally, right, so this is
always funny.
I have to know where the wateris when I sleep, you know, it's
one of those kind of things.
I need to know where the edgeis.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
And interestingly I remember, during whatever point
it was in the lockdown, you wentpast our boat on a paddleboard
and it was brilliant, you werelike oh my God, we're not
speaking to humans in forever.
Socially distanced paddleboardmeeting wasn't it, it was, it
was amazing.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
I did a few of those board meetings, as we called
them, when we weren't allowed todo anything, and then we went
on to sort of running meetings.
There was a whole sort of piecewhere it's just really just,
you know, trying to do somethinga little bit more interesting,
more fun really.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
And what are you most excited about this year?
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Oh, this year or this month shall we say, In a couple
of weeks we've got the ChineseNew Year celebration and I do
the Chinese Dragon Of course youdo that's that's.
We just started training um.
So it, yeah, that's reallyexciting, and we do that in
(30:20):
chester and then we do it inliverpool um on the first
weekend of february.
So first and second um, becausethat's where chinese new year
falls this year.
Um, I said I'll be in moldovabefore that and then I'm going
to be out in France for MIPIN,which is the the big property
event in in Cannes, supportingsome of my clients in Liverpool
(30:41):
and also finding some newclients, hopefully amazing,
amazing.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
Paul Calligrover, you're a legend.
I love everything that you do.
It's about giving back, you'repaying it forward.
You make time and space forothers and thank you so much for
being a massive advocate andsupport for everything that we
do.
Space for others.
And thank you so much for beinga massive advocate and
supporter for everything that wedo at we are power thank you,
thank you so much, thank yousubscribe on youtube, apple,
amazon music, spotify orwherever you get your podcasts.
(31:06):
Leave us a review or follow uson socials.
We are power underscore net oninsta, tiktok and twitter, or we
are power on linkedin, facebookand we are underscore power on
youtube.
Hello, hello and welcome to the we Are Power
podcast.
If this is your first time here, the we Are Power podcast is
the podcast for you, your careerand your life.
We release an episode everysingle Monday with listeners in
over 60 countries worldwide,where you'll hear personal life
stories, top-notch industryadvice and key leadership
insight from amazing role models.
(00:21):
As we Are Power is the umbrellabrand to Northern Power Women
Awards, which celebrateshundreds of female role models
and advocates every year.
This is where you can hearstories from all of our awards
alumni and stay up to date witheverything.
Mpw Awards and we Are PowerNever imitated, never replicated
(00:42):
singularly wonderful,everybody's wonder girl.
Well, hello and welcome to thepodcast.
Today I am joined by theincredible, wonderful look at
him.
Look at that smile.
Paul Cully Grover, mbe.
Does that ever get old?
Speaker 2 (00:59):
No.
Does it get old for you?
No, no.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
It's a while now it is.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
It is, and I think every time there's a new batch
come out, I get so excited.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Well, for every year I literally to the annoyance of
my husband, Rob, because theycome out, they get announced at
like 10 o'clock at night, and sowe just had the recent batch of
news.
I go through them.
There's 158 pages on a PDF andI always go through because I
think it's quite overwhelming,isn't it?
Yes, my husband always says itwas, what was it?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
My bloody effort is what it stands for and I'm like,
is it Rob?
Speaker 1 (01:34):
But what did it feel like when you got that envelope
through and what did you get itfor?
Speaker 2 (01:38):
I got it for international trade.
So it came.
It was that odd year, it was2021.
So we were kind of in COVID notquite in COVID.
I'd left a company, started ina new business.
So it all just felt verystrange because, as I said, I've
been doing international tradefor, at that point, a decade and
I'd been working with thegovernment as an export champion
(02:00):
.
But because I think we were ina sort of a COVID-ish world, I
hadn't really seen anybody.
So to then get something in thepost from an organisation
you've been working with forquite a while was to think, well
, I've seen you all on teams andI've done zoom calls with you
all, but I've not.
You know, at that point in timeI wasn't doing any
(02:20):
international trade and I didn'trealise these things take two
to three years to go through theprocess and a lot of times and
I say this to people you knowyou might get knocked back one
or two times.
I had no idea.
I don't know if you had anyidea no idea at all.
So I think sometimes for peopleit's patience.
Your time will come, and tojust be recognised is great.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
It's wonderful.
It is wonderful and you solet's talk about you.
We've talked aboutinternational trade.
You have your own business KeyPartnership, which you set up in
2021.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
2021, yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
But where did your adventure?
You know, you've worked forArup previously as well.
Where did your whole kind ofcareer adventure?
How did you get to this pointthat you get the lovely?
Well, it's not a very lovelyenvelope, it's a brown envelope
that looks like a tax statementthat gets you get your MBE, for
you know, services tointernational trade.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
But where did your adventure take you?
Where did that start to get youin?
I think you go back to sort ofmy early teens really.
So I was really fortunate I hadsomeone who guided me, both in
terms of GCSEs.
A-levels degree actually gaveme my first job.
So you know, from the age ofsort of 12, somebody had been
guiding is the word I'm going touse and you know, I wanted to
(03:33):
work in sort of regeneration andcities and I love geography and
it's like, well, there'scertain things you can do and
certain things you can't.
I'm not great at maths, socivil engineering was out the
and it was like, well, why don'tyou think about planning and
law and those sorts of things?
So that's kind of the path Iwent on and I worked for a
(03:55):
number of international realestate companies in the UK, but
then, as I got more advanced,the opportunities then came to
go to their other offices.
That's the exciting bit.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
And how would you, with all these adventures you've
had?
How would you describe poorCallie Grover in a couple of
sentences?
Is that even possible?
Speaker 2 (04:14):
It is possible.
Yes, it's like the elevatorpitch, isn't it?
I'm a connector, I connectpeople.
I connect people to ideas,ideas to people, people to
projects, projects to places.
So yeah, I connect things.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
You're a matchmaker.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Kind of a matchmaker Kind of a matchmaker.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Is this what led you to setting up Key?
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Yeah, I think I'd worked for corporates and
there's nothing wrong withcorporates Corporates are great
but I kind of had my time andyou get to a point in your
career where you spend more timemanaging people and not
managing the projects and it'sthe projects I get excited by.
That's where my knowledge camein.
So, as I said, I'd had a careerworking for a lot of
(04:52):
multinationals and then in thatCOVID period I went to actually
work for a family office Neverdone that before.
So working for sort of a momand pop team type thing, you
know, and you're there with theowner of the business, really in
the business.
I said I love this, this isreally exciting.
Um, and an opportunity came upand, um, he, you know the, the,
(05:16):
the uh, the CEO of that businessactually gave me money to help
me set up and said here you go,here's, here's three months.
Uh, this will see you throughset up.
And said here you go, here'sthree months, this will see you
through.
Give it a go, see what happens.
And you know that.
You know I'm so grateful toChris and his team for giving me
that start.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Really, but that, ultimately, the world is about
relationships, isn't it?
Speaker 2 (05:35):
It is about relationships.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
We talk about money makes the world go round.
But if we don't have thoserelationships and that network
community, then nothing'spossible, right?
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Nothing's possible and you know, as I said, it's
with his blessing.
So there were certain clientsthat came with me and other
clients where we had thatconversation and said well, you
know they're your client, so wewere working with family offices
.
So it is all aboutrelationships, it's all about
families working, creatingopportunities.
So I was very fortunate when Iset up I had a couple of those
(06:06):
clients, plus others I'd workedwith for years, who helped me,
so that initial three monthsthat I'd been given I didn't
really need it, luckily.
But I think for starting up onyour own it's you know you've
got mortgages to pay and billsto pay and it's kind of like
very, very nervous, anxious time, like am I doing the right
thing?
Speaker 1 (06:26):
And what did you?
You talked about before thatsort of the.
You had someone helping youmake those decisions.
When you were A-levels, yourdegree gave your first job.
You know mentorship, I supposeif you like, definitely
mentorship.
Where did you go to for thatadvice?
You had support from the familyoffice, but where did you go to
(06:49):
when you were thinking you'veset up keen you're like, am I?
Speaker 2 (06:50):
actually doing the right thing?
Do I actually know what?
You know how to make this work,as my own amazing network of um
people in Liverpool that I workwith, um, lots of um important,
powerful women in the city andI reached out to all of them and
just said can we sit down, canwe have a conversation?
You know I'd never doneaccounts before.
You know all these kinds ofthings.
It's like where do I go, who doyou use, who could you
(07:10):
recommend?
And there was sort of a lot oflearning.
I think we always say that whenyou set up in business a lot of
learning.
But I'm three years in, so I'vealways been conscious.
You know most businesses failin 12 months when you've got 18
months and then three years,which you know.
I'm just enjoying it, so we'llsee where we go right and what.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
What advice would you give to anyone out there who's
you know, you know, having theirown adventure in their career
and maybe thinking they want tobe brave and do something bold
or whatever.
What advice would you give themapart from find a good
accountant?
Speaker 2 (07:39):
yeah, find a good accountant, step out and do it
and, I think, speak to a numberof people, speak to people
number of people, speak topeople who've done it, and
people who've done it will tellyou the pitfalls.
They'll tell you what you'vedone wrong.
So you know, I can say this now, one of the things I did very
early on I launched my business.
I was very you know, this is mycompany key partnerships, this
is what my brand is, all thissort of stuff and then I got
served with a notice to not usethe logo, not use the name, and
(08:02):
that costs me a lot of money toresolve very early on.
Had I have gone through thingsin the right process, it
wouldn't have been a challenge.
So I say to people now like,just make sure you've done this,
speak to someone around this.
There are so many voices thatcan help you and places you can
go.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
And people want to help right.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
They really do, and what they really want to do is
go.
This went awfully wrong for me.
Try not to do this.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Yeah, no, we don't want that do we?
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Nobody wants that.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
How can we help people avoid making those
mistakes?
And where are we now?
11 years you've been serving asa… Export champion, an export
champion.
Now for me, I feel like there'sa superhero cape coming into
play.
But what is that?
How did that come about?
So what does it look?
Speaker 2 (08:43):
like.
At that point I'd been workingon my own business or the
company I was working for atthat time, and we were working
in lots of differentinternational markets and we had
an opportunity to enter intoChina.
So this was actually 2010, along, long time ago now and
Liverpool as a city was the onlyUK city represented at the
(09:05):
World Expo.
So the government at the timecame to my company and said
would your business beinterested in going out to
Shanghai and finding anopportunity?
And that's how it kind ofstarted the conversation.
And we did.
We went out there, we set up anoffice, we did all sorts of
things off the back of that andthen I moved over to Arup, which
you mentioned, and with Arupagain, there was lots of
(09:28):
opportunities in differentmarkets.
So an export champion this sortof they first came out in 2013.
So this was a Northwest conceptunder a chap called Clive
Drinkwater and his team at theit was UKTI, then it's now
Department of Business and Tradeand they wanted this sort of
(09:51):
network built around them ofpeople who had done it, so that
if you were a startup business,you could go.
What do I do in this market?
What do I need to be aware of.
What cultural training do Ineed, what licensing do I need,
and who better than businesses?
So that was the initial piece,and there's still five of us
who've been there from the verybeginning.
Um, but it's um, it's sort of600 odd now, I believe, across
(10:14):
the country.
It's sort of been rolled out,um, and every year, uh, they
decide, you know, are new peoplegoing to come in, are people
going to move on?
And I've been very fortunate.
I I've been asked to stay eachyear and I will say this I was
the first one to sort of walkthe floor.
So most people it's attached tothe business and then when they
leave the business, it's gone,whereas I've moved several
(10:37):
businesses and kept the title.
So it's more about me and whatI can do with the business than
it is around.
You know, just leaving it withthe business, sort of thing.
So, yeah, that was great and ittalks about the MBE piece.
So back in 2018, I was one of Ithink it was four of us
originally who won this sort ofborder trade award, a bofter
(11:00):
they were called.
Yeah, brilliant, it's as nearas I'm going to get Board of
Trade Award, and that was givingus sort of recognition for what
we were doing to support the UKPLC overseas, and really I've
just sort of built on that.
And for me now having both theyou know, the export champion
(11:22):
Board of Trade, the MBEbe, whenI look at new markets, I speak
to an ambassador, I speak to theteam on the ground and it's
kind of like an endorsement thatI know what I'm doing, um, but
also I'm bringing all thesebusinesses behind me.
Can you help?
Speaker 1 (11:37):
that's what it's for really and that giving back,
helping, paying it forward issomething that strikes me, is
that's integral in your DNA.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
You know you want to help.
You're happy to ask for help,but you have roles at the
Liverpool City region WirralChamber.
You've got really key advisoryroles within these organisations
.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
I do.
I do that, but I also do sortof private mentoring as well.
So I really love just workingwith businesses, which which is
which is what I love seeing themexplore new markets, sell
products, um.
I've got a few people, um,through your organization that
I've I've mentored, and thenI've got some people I mentor in
north america, um, and this isjust really about helping them,
(12:19):
find out about them, so talking,listening, that sort of stuff
and I.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
It wasn't so long ago that we had a conversation and
I don't know that it was duringthe judging, because you've been
one of our judges for a goodfew years now and you always
love coming in for thediscussion, and this year,
everyone, we were all in person,weren't we?
So it was amazing.
But uh, you talked about peoplereaching out to you on LinkedIn
for mentoring.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Yes, I had a couple just before Christmas actually.
Um, and I think if you look atmy LinkedIn, it's always a
balance.
You know there is a lot of workon there.
There's a lot of personal stuffand I try and sort of talk to
people about.
You know, what is the purposeof social media posts really?
And it's to give a sort of amore rounder version of yourself
.
You can be just talking aboutwork or you can just be talking
about yourself.
(12:59):
So I try and Can we have a chat?
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Well, you have so many strings to your bow.
A master's from MIT in Boston,yeah.
How on earth did that comeabout?
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Yeah, that's really odd.
Well, it's not odd, it'sstrange.
So I've never been academicallygifted right.
I was diagnosed when I was 18with ADHD, dyslexia, dyscalculia
.
We've now got dysgraphia aswell.
So you know, all these thingsare seen as negatives.
I no longer see them asnegatives, which is really good.
(13:37):
You know they've all got sortof disorder.
I ignore the disorder bit andjust think that they give me the
ability to do things.
So that would never have beenon my cards when I was sort of
17 or 18.
I went to a good university,went to Cardiff, studied
planning and law and I did well,I worked full time.
(13:57):
So I didn't get a first, I didokay.
And then, when I was workingfor one of these multinational
companies, they said look, we'vegot a partnership with MIT and
we're looking to put some of ourstaff with opportunities
through.
Would you consider it?
And I was like would I considergetting a qualification through
(14:19):
MIT?
Yes, I would, and I've hadstrong links with Boston for a
number of years and to actuallygo and study there and use all
these things.
And I go a lot.
I'm regularly in America nowand when I take over businesses
from the uk I go straight intothe mit.
It's like I'm an alumni.
Let me in here, let me see theyou know the um, the chief for
(14:43):
this department head, and thathas been really useful.
Again I had an opportunity, soI really want to showcase now
and mit, as you know, is sort ofleading in a lot of these
fields.
I was doing urban resilience,yeah, and urban resilience.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
What even is that?
Speaker 2 (15:00):
so it's really just the the impact on external
factors on it can be on business, it can be on climate, it can
be all sorts of things and it'show you cope with that.
So it's, when you put somethingunder stress, whether it's a
city, whether it's a rail system, a road system, your business.
And I remember when we weredoing scenarios, so I studied
this in 18, 19.
(15:21):
And one of the scenarios wewant to do is about a pandemic,
and they were like, oh well,that's never going to happen,
let's not do that.
Let's focus on climate change orsomething.
So yeah, a couple, couple ofyears later then to see the
pandemic um was reallyinteresting because it was kind
of, how do businesses work?
And and when you did thatcourse, it wasn't just you on
(15:41):
your own, obviously, there waspeople from pharmaceutical
companies, there was people fromfoundations, so actually, again
, it was that network.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
That was the exciting bit and we've talked about key
the business.
We've talked about your roles,your advisory roles and board
roles.
We've talked.
You've got a new role at theplayhouse and everyman theater
trustee trustee there.
Indeed, that's amazing.
That's literally just beenannounced, I think just before
christmas.
Um, sometimes and you know youtook the opportunity to to go in
(16:10):
and do the masters in boston,but sometimes it can be
overwhelming and you know, can'tfit it all in.
How have you managed to makethat jigsaw piece?
All those pieces fit, becausethere's other pieces in there,
because you're you're paul thehuman, the the paddleboarder
yeah, the surfer the voiceoverartist.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Yeah do voiceover, voiceover stuff in America as
you do.
Two soap operas, actually, Twoonline podcast soap operas, I
think if you want to call themyeah, we can do a whole other
episode on that.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
And equally, let's not even forget the fact that
you used to play keyboards in a90s band.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
I still do play keyboards in a 90s band, yeah.
Or I should say I stand behinda keyboard in a 90s band.
I still do play keyboards in a90s band, yeah.
Or I should say I stand behinda keyboard and look great and
just look amazing, right yeah,yeah but how do you make all
those pieces fit?
Speaker 1 (17:04):
you just make them fit and walk the dog and walk
the dog.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
I, you know, I, my philosophy has always been, you
know, say yes and then work itout.
So I think, for me, you know,often people ask me do you want
to do this or do you want, andI'll say yes, before I thought
about what it actually means.
Um, and for the most part, youcan, you can do it.
You know, I think one of mybiggest challenges this was a
(17:27):
couple of years ago now.
I got asked to do one of thosecharity strictly things, um,
have that on my notes right here.
Yeah let's just weren't you inpink.
I was in pink.
Well, it was, we were barbieright, I wasn't barbie, I was
ken, but you know um.
So yeah, it was, it was veryinteresting, but, um, I didn't
(17:48):
realize how much work goes intothat.
You can't just rock up and dothat.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Because you have a pretty professional dancer,
don't you to work with?
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Yeah, you have 10 weeks to work with and the
pressure's about letting themdown.
But it's also.
You're raising money forcharity.
You've got friends, family,whatever else in the room and
early on I was like, oh well,it's just a laugh, everyone's
going to give you a lot of stuff.
No, they're not.
No, they're not.
They want BBC quality dance.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
And so do you right.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
I did.
Yeah Well, you've won a BAFTA.
This is a step to a BAFTA,right.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Yeah, that's the way to get there.
I would say it was.
You know, I like pushing myselfout of my comfort zone.
That was probably as far asI've gone, um, out my comfort
zone, because even when I'mdoing, the keyboard stuff.
There's a keyboard in front ofme, yeah and I'm, uh, I'm, you
know I'm not singing.
There's a singer doing all thatsort of stuff.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
I'm background what dance did you do?
Speaker 2 (18:43):
we did the samba, um to dance the night away, which
was the barbie, the barbie mainsong.
Um, there was a lift, there wasall sorts of stuff, there was a
lot of glitter and, uh,diamantes.
That was just me.
Um, I had diamante cuban hills.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
They were amazing still, got them still got them.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Yeah, I don't know when I'm gonna wear them again
on a surfboard.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Well, rob did it.
Rob did northern power.
My husband did uh strictly manyyears ago for roy castle um,
and he did argentinian tango toSeven Nation Army is what he did
, and he was full on spandex.
It's one for the team thereThey've just learned that about
Rob.
But just going back to thequestion, actually, how do you
(19:26):
make all that work for you?
Because before we startedrolling today we talked about
you know you spend a lot of timein Newquay.
That's a happy place for you.
But before we started rollingtoday we talked about you know
you spend a lot of time in newkey.
That's a happy place for you umbut then how are you going to be
able to get to here, or I needto get to china, or I need to
get to boston, you know, butyou're making that work for you,
your downtime I'm alwaysworking, so my downtime in my
work time.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
So I'd say you know I wouldn't promote this for
everybody, but seven days I dostuff over days.
I'm not working full-time anyone of those days.
I get things done, I get thingsfitted.
I think that's where I said youknow, growing up, having or
being diagnosed with ADHD,you're told you can't do this,
you can't do this.
These are all challenges,whereas I've learned through,
(20:08):
like the ADHD Foundation, whichis here in Liverpool, that there
you know, if you channel that,you use that in the right way,
which is here in Liverpool thatif you channel that, you use
that in the right way, it worksfor me.
So I've got multiple platesspinning at any one time.
The challenge is to make surenone of those plates drop.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Maybe get some plastic ones.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
That's what I was going to say plastic plates, but
that actually works for me.
So I work better.
In an environment where I'vegot lots of things on at once, I
think the worst thing for me islike a blank in the diary.
I'm like, well, what was thatmeant to be?
You know, I'd rather have threeor four things.
So straight after this I'mgoing to go and see a new
business.
I've got another business tosee later on.
In between I'll probably fit ina gym session.
(20:48):
So it's one of these where youknow I was thinking because I
knew I was coming into you andI'd just been out surfing a few
days ago.
There's this moment when I'mjust looking at the horizon,
looking for that perfect wave tocome in, and you have to read
everything the weatherconditions, the water conditions
, who's around you, what's goingon and then watching the waves
to work out that you've got toflip, turn, do all your bits and
(21:09):
pieces to get the perfect waveto ride.
In.
Most of the time you're notgoing to get it, it's not going
to be the right wave, but whenyou do get it, that elation,
that sort of endorphin rush.
And I'd say that's what I dowith my work.
I constantly look at thehorizon, what's coming?
How can I prepare for that?
What can I do?
Who can I bring with me?
All these sorts of things.
(21:34):
So you know, know, for me thatsort of works really well.
And and again, when I'm doingcertain sports, and you'll see
these, these are all high, highfocus, high adrenaline.
Because of of my conditions, Ican't do something that goes
over a long period of time.
I'll get bored um, whereas if Ido something that's short and
bursts, it works.
It works perfectly for me youdo you right.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
That's what, yeah, and you talked earlier about,
say you know I, my whole ethosis say yes, say yes and work it
out later.
You know, and it will come off.
Is there?
Is there a a real motivationalquotation out there that you
live by?
Just say yes.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Just say yes, like I'm doing a three peaks
challenge later this year,because I said, jess, just
before Christmas someone washaving a foot operation and said
, oh, I'd really like to be ableto climb a mountain.
I was like, well, why don't wedo three?
You know, it's that kind ofthing Go big or go home, right,
right.
So we'll see how that works out.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
And one of the things that has come through this
whole conversation.
You talked earlier around aboutwhen you were setting key up.
I'm going to sit down with some.
You specifically went to sortof key women in the city and in
your network to sit down andcommunicate with and, you know,
listen to and ask for advice.
You are, you know, a realunsung advocate and I think
you're very happy to give andoffer opportunities and support.
But do you, do you identify asa really strong advocate for
gender equality?
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Yeah, I think so, but I don't see it.
I just kind of reach out topeople and I think you know it's
looking for people who may bemarginalized for whatever reason
, sort of to stick together andit's just sort of, you know, if
somebody can do something, I'llask them.
It just so happens that I knowcertain women who've been very
(23:16):
successful in their businessescreated their own businesses or
creating businesses and I thinkfor me I just need to reach out
to people who who have done that.
Yeah, that works for me andother than um three peaks
challenge yep is any moredancing there's no more dancing,
any more keyboarding yeah,there is actually.
(23:37):
I've got low.
I've got three or four gigsover the summer, um, some pretty
big ones actually, which I'mquite looking forward to.
You know, big festivals andstuff.
So that should that should beexciting.
Um, I'm off to moldova in acouple of weeks time.
Um, I don't know if you saw umon my socials.
We uh we sort of orchestrated,facilitated a new air route to
(23:59):
to moldova.
So I'm working with thediaspora at the moment.
That that that community um ontrade links.
So I'm going out there as sortof a pre-trade uh to go and
speak to ministers and britishambassador or whatever.
Um, and then later in the yearwe'll take a delegation out to
go and see what are the businessopportunities.
(24:20):
So, again, most people don'tknow much about Moldova, but
it's on the border with theUkraine and borders Romania.
They're on a fast trackascension into the EU, so
there's lots of opportunitiesfor businesses and so, yeah,
it's an exciting market.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
And do you think that ability to spot is one of your
superpowers?
Do you see that?
Yeah, definitely.
Or do you have a crystal ball?
Speaker 2 (24:43):
No, I think.
I always think I'm a firmbeliever that you can make
business with anyone.
You know you can connect withanybody.
Let's get stuck in a lift andsee what happens.
And you asked me earlier youknow what does my business do?
And again, this sort ofelevator pitch.
I actually went to an eventsounds more glamorous than it
was.
It's in New York, so you knowit's quite glamorous and it was
(25:04):
an elevator networking event.
I was like, oh, what's this allabout?
And you get there and it's ahuge queue of people and they
put you in a group of four intoa lift that takes two minutes to
get to the top floor.
I said you've got two minutes,30 seconds each, to find out
about each other's businessesand when the doors open to the
room of people up there you'vegot to introduce each other.
(25:26):
So you've got to work out.
As those doors shut, am I justgoing to talk about myself for a
minute and therefore someoneelse is going to miss out, or am
I just going to listen which Idon't do very well and absorb
that information?
Oh, it was horrible.
I hated it, but it works reallywell and I learned so much just
from that and a few othernetworking events like don't
(25:49):
have your name on.
You Don't have your namebecause you know my name's quite
long and you've got all theletters and stuff.
Somebody there had one of theSesame Street characters like
Elmo or something, so I rememberhim now and that wasn't their
name, but it was their sort ofability for you to stand out in
the crowd.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
So how did you?
I want to go back that twominute.
There must have been a lot oflifts, right?
Speaker 2 (26:08):
No, no.
Well, there was a speed liftand then there was the slow lift
that went up.
You had to turn the key in it.
So four of you Four of you 30seconds each intro for each
other.
You'd never met them before inyour life and you were in a lift
.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
And how did the person intro you?
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Really badly because one of the other people had
chatted for a good you know 40seconds, 50 seconds on the way
up and when you've got to focus.
You know which is hard for me,um, being able to have that sort
of control.
And I then went on a anothermission where we went over to
north america was an lgbtbusiness leaders mission.
(26:44):
So all the businesses wereeither led by lgbt people or had
involvement in lgbt, and on ourfirst day it was like what is
your business?
And I'd sit there for like 10minutes.
You know, my business is blah,blah, blah, blah and it would
every day it'd have to getshorter and shorter and shorter.
So the elevator pitch is youknow, what does key partnerships
do?
And we add value to business.
That's it.
(27:05):
We can then expand on what thatmeans and what we do and all
these sorts of things.
But so often I say to people,what do you do, what is your
business?
And they just kind of you know,all the words come out of you
and you've got to try and workout what it is You're talking
about me.
Aren't you important in NorthAmerica?
(27:36):
When you're doing business outthere, they want to kind of get
down to the core of you.
And then this is where thethick skin comes in.
If they're not interested,they're gone.
They are literally moved onfrom you, disposable.
But you've got to play a game.
I like to call it, sort of likeyou know, guess who, or snap.
So let's just say I met you andwe're talking and you decide
you're going to go off.
And when I meet a woman who'slooking to become an
(27:57):
entrepreneur, I'd have toremember where you were in the
room to find her, to bring youback together.
So it's that connector pieceand that's really valuable.
If they see value in youconnecting people, even though
your business might not connect,they see value in you.
Then the next time they wantsomebody or have a need for
something, they'll come back andsay, oh, do you know somebody
(28:17):
or could you help me with this?
And that's really worked for me.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
And that connecting, that's your superpower.
It's connecting.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
yeah, it's your superpower.
Yeah, guess who Snap.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
What's the superpower ?
We don't know about you.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
I don't know.
I don't know about mysuperpower.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
Tell me you could do a handstand or a headstand on
your paddleboard.
I wish I could.
I wish I could.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
No, I think you know, my whole sort of professional
career is about predictingwhat's going to happen, you know
, and trying to avoid certainthings.
So I've always been quite goodat that, I've always been sort
of very good at that sort ofvisualization piece.
So, yeah, that would be.
It's not really a superpower,is it?
Speaker 1 (28:56):
of course it's a superpower, although I do think
you could be working up to that.
Headstand on the and your happyplace is new key my happy place
is in water ah, so it can beanywhere I'm.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
I'm absolutely fine um cold, warm, warm would be
nice open water swimming quite alot, yeah, so I'm happiest near
water, but I'm from Brightonoriginally, right, so this is
always funny.
I have to know where the wateris when I sleep, you know, it's
one of those kind of things.
I need to know where the edgeis.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
And interestingly I remember, during whatever point
it was in the lockdown, you wentpast our boat on a paddleboard
and it was brilliant, you werelike oh my God, we're not
speaking to humans in forever.
Socially distanced paddleboardmeeting wasn't it, it was, it
was amazing.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
I did a few of those board meetings, as we called
them, when we weren't allowed todo anything, and then we went
on to sort of running meetings.
There was a whole sort of piecewhere it's just really just,
you know, trying to do somethinga little bit more interesting,
more fun really.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
And what are you most excited about this year?
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Oh, this year or this month shall we say, In a couple
of weeks we've got the ChineseNew Year celebration and I do
the Chinese Dragon Of course youdo that's that's.
We just started training um.
So it, yeah, that's reallyexciting, and we do that in
(30:20):
chester and then we do it inliverpool um on the first
weekend of february.
So first and second um, becausethat's where chinese new year
falls this year.
Um, I said I'll be in moldovabefore that and then I'm going
to be out in France for MIPIN,which is the the big property
event in in Cannes, supportingsome of my clients in Liverpool
(30:41):
and also finding some newclients, hopefully amazing,
amazing.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
Paul Calligrover, you're a legend.
I love everything that you do.
It's about giving back, you'repaying it forward.
You make time and space forothers and thank you so much for
being a massive advocate andsupport for everything that we
do.
Space for others.
And thank you so much for beinga massive advocate and
supporter for everything that wedo at we are power thank you,
thank you so much, thank yousubscribe on youtube, apple,
amazon music, spotify orwherever you get your podcasts.
(31:06):
Leave us a review or follow uson socials.
We are power underscore net oninsta, tiktok and twitter, or we
are power on linkedin, facebookand we are underscore power on
youtube.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!