December 1, 2025 • 27 mins
In this episode, we sit down with Sam Addy, founder of the Female Advisory Board (FAB), who is reshaping how women leaders support each other’s business growth. After realising that traditional peer advisory boards had almost no female representation, Sam set out to build the UK's first in-person peer board exclusively for women, creating a space where ambition, accountability, and authenticity come together to drive real impact.
Sam shares the story behind FAB’s creation, the power of structured peer support, and why women in business often need both a safe space and a serious space to grow.
She lifts the lid on what happens inside these curated sessions, where women from different sectors challenge each other, reveal blind spots, and turn insight into action, with results ranging from personal breakthroughs to hundreds of thousands in new revenue.
You’ll hear:
➡️ The moment Sam realised women needed their own peer board
➡️ How structured accountability transforms confidence and performance
➡️ The barriers that stop women investing in themselves
➡️ Why vulnerability is a strategic strength for leaders
➡️ The philosophy behind Sam’s mantra: “Change it, rearrange it”
➡️ What it takes to build equitable spaces where women can thrive, collaborate, and lead with power
Find out more about We Are PoWEr here. 💫
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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.
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(00:21):
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This is where you can hearstories from all of our awards
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Mpw Awards and we Are PowerNever imitated, never replicated
(00:42):
singularly wonderful,everybody's wonder girl.
Well, today I am joined by thefab, sam Addy, who is the
founder of the Female AdvisoryBoard's brackets fab.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Welcome.
How are you?
Oh, thank you, simone.
It's so lovely to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
And I think one of the last times I saw you was at
the launch of fab, when youkindly invited me to come over
and we had a good old chat onstools, didn't we?
Yeah, we put the world right.
Oh well, we had dinner at theDakota the night before, which
was rather gorgeous, uh, andthen we had a fabulous literally
I'm going to overuse that wordnow, aren't I?
Um, you can't overuse it anamazing, amazing room with
amazing humans.
What's the story since thenbeen?
How's it been?
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Well, we're on our probably ninth iteration of the
Female Advisory Board.
Since I last saw you.
It's been one hell of a journey, I can tell you All with the
intention of ensuring that womencan realise their full
potential and get that richnessof life.
Yeah, it's a powerful thingthat I've created with the
(01:49):
Female Advisory Board for thosethat lean into it and see the
value in being part of a peeradvisory board.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
What have you learnt most along the way?
Good or bad, or a?
Speaker 2 (01:59):
bit of both, maybe Patience.
I'm a very ambitious person, soI literally thought that this
would be a global business bynow.
Surprise, surprise, it isn'tyet.
Um, and I've learned that.
Well, there's a couple ofnegative things, I would say,
but I see them as opportunities.
That women are holdingthemselves back.
(02:20):
That's a broad strokesgeneralization.
But there is a level ofintentionally or unintentionally
, um, we don't realize our fullpotential and lean into what
that could look like, and that'swhy, again, fab is there to try
and change that.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
It's important we do, and if you had a magic wand
unlimited money, budget andunlimited resources, you'd be
global now I, if you know, ifthere's enough women in Peru
building brilliant businesses, Iwould have fab there yesterday
and what have you learned mostabout yourself?
Because I think this, I thinkwe have a common thread.
(03:02):
There is I think I'm impatient,I know I'm impatient, I think
Team are like that, oh mygoodness, but I think that's
what spurs you on, right?
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Yes, and I think the way for me to look at it is
you've got to be patient becauseyou've got to learn and you've
got to listen to what yourclients and your customers and
your team, what they're tellingyou and be able to pivot and to
be able to make it what it needsto be.
So what I very green in theearly days imagined fab to be
(03:39):
looks nothing like what it istoday, but it's actually better.
So that patience, learning andsometimes you have to slow down
to speed up yeah, and that's hot, that's real self-education,
isn't it?
Speaker 1 (03:51):
and self-development discipline, how is that for you?
Hard full disclosure?
Oh no, literally.
As I'm asking you the question,I'm thinking god, you know, I
don't know how I we have to,don't we sometimes?
Speaker 2 (04:05):
It's probably good that I don't have a big pot of
money because it wouldn't beused correctly.
You need to put the groundworkin, you need to get the
foundations in place and thenyou go?
Speaker 1 (04:18):
What was your motivation to set this up?
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Well, I had no intention of setting it up, I
don't know, it kind of came inmy life.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
It wasn't a dinner in the Dakota, was it?
Speaker 2 (04:29):
It came into my life after I'd been consulting For a
few years, I was getting a bitfrustrated with myself because I
didn't know what I was doinglong term and I was helping all
these brilliant businesses growfantastic businesses of their
own, and I had nothing tangible.
But I didn't know what my nextstep was.
I'd already had a business ofmy own that sadly, I lost to a
(04:52):
fire, which is another story.
For another time I would workfor fantastic entrepreneurs that
scaled global businesses.
And then I discovered peeradvisory boards through a client
meeting.
I've never heard of them, whichI've since gone on to find out
that a lot of women don't knowwhat they are, and so I did a
(05:13):
lot of research, especially inthe global leader of peer
advisory, and I spoke to a lotof the members.
I spoke to a lot of the chairsof the boards and, honestly,
it's such a smart, simpleconcept.
It really, really works.
But the thing I found about itthrough my research was these
(05:33):
boards are incredible in helpingbusiness leaders grow, but you
had one or two women sittingaround those board tables and
the rest of them were men, andthat's a problem for me because
I mean, two years in now, I'vesort of had in-depth
conversations with over 200business leaders in the
Yorkshire area alone.
We are building incrediblebusinesses, but we don't see
(05:57):
enough women doing it, and evenfor society as a whole never
mind from an economical point ofview that's a massive problem.
So it sounds really cliche, butit was literally a light bulb
moment.
I can do this, I can createthis, and I literally went to
(06:17):
bed, got up the next morning andthought I'm going to create my
own female advisory board andit's going to be fab.
The rest is history.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
And just talk to us.
For those who many peoplewatching or listening will know
what a peer board is.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Just explain the headlines of it's funny you say
that I've found that peopledon't really quite get the
concept, and even that'sprobably one of being a big
challenge of mine is to try andarticulate what it's like.
You're asking people to take ahuge leap of faith and join a
board of people they don't knowwho are at similar stages of
business to them but from adifferent industry.
(06:51):
Don't talk to strangers, andit's quite a big leap of faith
to do.
There is nothing like this inthe UK.
It's the first one that's inperson, that's a monthly sort of
meet up.
But when women do take thatleap of faith and they join
their first board session, youcan guarantee the response I get
(07:14):
is oh, this is even better thanI thought it would be.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Why haven't I done it sooner?
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Why have I not done it sooner?
But there's an educationalpiece that needs to be done.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
And what are the barriers?
Is it time, is it?
I hate to.
I'm not a big fan of always.
It's easy to put confidence oneverything, sort of self-belief
or what can I pass on or gainfrom it, but we can all give and
gain.
What did you see, or still see,as those barriers?
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Yeah, there's a lot, if I'm being completely honest,
and I would say time is perhapswithout wanting to be direct
sometimes an excuse.
We do hold ourselves backmassively and there's a guilt.
I've had women that havechildren that thought I couldn't
possibly invest that amount oftime and money on myself, which
(08:04):
again is a real problem.
Where men genuinely see this aspart of their business strategy
.
It's what they have to do toget that competitive edge, and
more women need to see that andsee it as a necessity in their
life, because only good thingscome from it.
But it also comes with lookingthrough the mirror and that's
(08:26):
really quite a challenge as welland that.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
So when you talk let's dig into that a little bit
so is that kind of somethingplays back and it's like I'm not
sure I like that, or oractually I didn't see that or I
didn't want to see it all thosethings, wow.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
So in peer advisory boards.
There there's a certainstructure of how these board
meetings are held.
There's a highly curated agendathat sits behind each and every
one, and part of that issomething called round the room,
and that is where in a you'rein probably your most vulnerable
state.
(09:03):
You share a business challengeor something that's happening in
your life around this tablewith your peers who are walking
in the same shoes as you, justin a different industry, and
maybe might not be going throughexactly the same thing that
you're going through, but therewill be very much similarities.
And then we do this thing wherewe ask questions back at the
(09:28):
person that's sharing theirchallenge, instead of just
offering up a load of solutions.
We actually want to dig deeperthan that, because often the
thing you say you're challengedwith there's levels that sit
underneath that, and so there'ssolutions for absolutely
everything.
I massively believe that, butactually being held accountable
(09:49):
to making those tiny steps tochange is very hard.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Accountability is priceless, isn't it?
Because sometimes it's uh, andI think that's can be really one
of the challenges is asking forthat.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Help it is and saying out loud, but it's such a
strength, it's such a leadershipstrength to be able to show
vulnerability.
We're not perfect.
We can all learn from otherpeople, and the brilliance about
fab is that you're sat in aroom of collective knowledge of
over hundreds years ofexperience.
So why would you not want totake that different perspective,
(10:22):
apply that different learningand challenge yourself?
Because in today's world, it'snever been more competitive,
it's never been more difficult,it's probably never been more
lonely in the societies thatwe're living now.
Um, so yeah, obviously I couldtalk about that all day long,
but it's it at the end of theday.
You've got to take a good lookat yourself and the narrative
(10:46):
that our minds are our own worstenemy and, in something like a
peer advisory board, you'rechallenged on that narrative,
which is sometimes difficult tohear, but it's all done in a
really beautiful, constructiveway.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
What's a fab example?
I'm sticking with the brand onthis one, so I'm telling you
what's a good example ofsomething that's come out of one
of your nine iterations of fatso well, so many things, but you
want some specific sort of casestudies, without going into too
(11:21):
much detail, obviously, becauseyes, in that room.
Stays in the room.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
So we had one member who genuinely believes that she
generated a £350,000 increase inrevenue just from one session.
So if we just think about thatfor a moment, it was a
leadership workshop.
It was around the way she wassort of narrating sort of the
(11:44):
strategy and the delegation ofher business.
She took away the learningsfrom that and she shared it with
her team, and it wasn't herthat increased the revenue, it
was her team.
As a direct result of thelearning that she applied, I'd
say that's quite a good returnon investment, my goodness.
What do we say then?
(12:04):
I mean I could go, I could tellyou loads, but then we've had
people completely change theirbusiness model because they
never thought of doing it in acertain way and, as such,
they've increased the valuationsaleable valuation of their
business.
We've called people out on, inparticular, the recruitment of
(12:26):
how they went about recruitingemployees.
Now, that is really reallychallenging and something that
comes up a lot is how younavigate that.
But when you're consistentlydoing it and it's not improving,
then that kind of needs to becalled out and as a result, she
came away and said I feel likeI've had a bit of a kick up
backside in the fab meeting, butit was what she needed in a
(12:48):
really safe space, obviously.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
But you're not paying or joining, or investing your
time, effort, energy andbusiness intelligence to not
then do anything with it.
Otherwise, you may as well justbe a passenger on the back of
the bus.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Exactly that.
I'd never created FAB to be alight touch.
I'm not really that kind of I'mnot really a fluffy kind of
person.
I want to roll my sleeves up.
I want to look at your cashflowforecast.
I want to look at your balancesheet and I want to see where
you can improve.
We can all improve, but let'sdo it together.
Who holds the mirror up for you?
(13:22):
I'd say my husband.
He's very honest, but he's beenmy biggest support.
Obviously, I have a team ofsupport around me, but I'm very
critical of myself.
I like to think I have a growthmindset, so I read a lot.
I listen to a lot of podcasts.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
We are power podcasts .
Oh, that's so lovely of you, ofcourse we are Power Podcasts oh
that's so lovely of you, ofcourse.
But when you were 10, youdreamed of being a flautist at
the Royal Albert Hall.
I did.
Do you ever go back and pickyour flute up?
Speaker 2 (14:00):
No, I honestly can't remember the last time I even
saw it.
I don't think I know where itis.
I think I might be able to playa couple of notes, but
certainly wouldn't be able toread the music and theory,
wasn't?
I wasn't very good at thetheory side of music anyway.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
You've talked about Yorkshire before.
This is where you grew up.
This is where you you sort ofbuilt your business career in
Yorkshire.
What part is that?
No nonsense, straight talking,culture and just groundedness.
I'm sure that's a made up word.
Put you where you are and madeyou who you are as a leader.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
I think we also need to include in that, as I was
born in Newcastle, so not onlydo.
I have three quarters of my lifein Yorkshire.
It started in the pubs and clubscenes of the northeast, which
is a very interesting start tolife, but I do think that has
given me a massive addedadvantage into what grit looks
(14:58):
like not standing still andsomething you said the word
earlier on, and I really believein flex leadership.
You've got to be able to change, you've got to be able to adapt
, you've got to be able to movequickly, and I think we talk
about that a lot with members atthe moment is, you know, change
is your best friend, now morethan ever.
(15:18):
So, yeah, that grit part of meI won't say resilience, because
I think there's lots of.
I think resilience has becomelike a bit of a trophy for
people to hold up and say I'mreally resilient.
You know I don't always seethat as a positive.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
It, you.
It's interesting actually talkabout trophy words, and burnout
is something I feel like isthere at the moment and almost
being glorified a little bitlike as again the same trophy, I
mean burnout is very real, yeah, um, but as is a lot of the
words that are out there.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
But I suppose I'm a bit nervous about labels,
because and we did this in a, ina sort of leadership behavioral
workshop that we did where itwas around your behaviors, as
opposed to your personalities,and when you start being labeled
as something, it becomes staticand something that you feel
that you can't change, whereasif you think of something
(16:19):
behaviorally, for example,behavior can change and so, yeah
, I agree with you, we need tobe careful to not sort of stay
stuck in a I'm this because it'sharder to get out of it.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Yeah, really hard and one of my big, my favorite
industries is the, thehospitality industry, because I,
you know, I always find itinteresting that 92% of people
have worked in hospitality atsome form, some part of their
career.
But we don't see it as that upthere, amazing kind of place to
work um and to grow and get theskills you learn.
(16:57):
You went further than thatbecause you ran your own
restaurant business, didn't you?
What were the key lessons that?
Speaker 2 (17:03):
you took away from that so many.
But you've got to remember it'sdirty, it's dirty work, it's
rough.
You know it's not for thefaint-hearted hospitality, but
it teaches you such lessons inhuman behaviour.
It gives you skills that youcan translate into any anything
you do in your life.
Um gosh again.
(17:25):
I learned so much from that andI would say again it's about
that, that grit and that flexleadership is what I would say.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
And you talked earlier about when you're
talking to your FAB groups, yourFAB cohorts, about change being
your friend, but you have aphrase that you use don't you
yeah, change it, rearrange it.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
It's just, it's been my mantra.
I genuinely believe so.
Despite whether you're abusiness owner, whether you're
employed, no matter where youare in your walk of life, I've
seen so many people stuck, nothappy with what they're doing.
But they stay stuck and theycomplain about it and it becomes
their narrative again.
(18:09):
Something I said earlier onthere's always solutions you can
change, but that change isreally hard and it's not pretty
and it takes work and it'ssometimes easier to stay
comfortable.
But even though you're nothappy, you know honestly I think
it's something that if I have achallenge, what can I change?
(18:30):
What do I need to do to makemyself happier?
How can I change it?
How can I rearrange it?
It's not the worst mantra tosort of be held by and it's
served me well.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
No, and I always think, with change comes pain,
but also comes great opportunity.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Yeah, and it's very easy to talk about the solutions
and what you can do and justlittle bits here and there to
sort of incrementally move youalong the way.
The actual doing is reallyreally hard and that's why it's
really important that you've gotthe support to make sure that
you actually do do the change.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
100 and if you could remove one systemic barrier that
is still in play for many um,what would you do?
That again, specifically thatexists for women in business.
Can I have?
Speaker 2 (19:14):
two.
Yeah, you can do two, thank you.
So there's an external barrier,that is the whole
infrastructure of how the worldhasn't been built for women and
how the care burden that womenoften carry is so significant
and doesn't give us the sameprivilege as men to be able to
(19:36):
live the life that we want to.
That is a massive problem andnot something that we to be able
to live the life that we wantto.
That is a massive problem andnot something that we'll be able
to change overnight, but it isa real barrier to our growth.
And then, secondly, there's aninternal barrier, and I think
that is an intergenerationalprogramming of how we're
perceived to society, how we'resupposed to behave, you know how
(19:58):
we're supposed to presentourselves, and this our mind.
It just it's incredible how ourmind can tell us things that
are really, really holding usback.
So there's two massive onesthere that don't just suddenly
sort itself out.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
And do you have something that outside of work,
that you have that Sam time,that ritual or something you do
every day, that you must do?
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Something that I do every day is I write.
I like to get everything out ofmy head onto paper, find it
really effective, and it allowsme to decompartmentalize and to
reduce the overwhelm.
Is that everything?
Is that work, life, family?
Yeah, 100% flute lessons thatwon't be being taken up anytime
(20:48):
soon, I can tell you.
But, um, yeah, because I likeI'm sure some people can get
overwhelmed there's's a lothappening, we're busy and
sometimes that can make you feelvery stressed.
So actually and we do some ofthis actually in the
workshopping is we do a lot ofwhat's called alone together
(21:08):
time, where in a timedenvironment you write down all
the say, all the challenges thatyou're facing on a a sticky
note, one challenge for stickynote, and then you map it out on
a wall and it's reallyinteresting because nine times
out of ten those challengesaren't as significant when you
can visualize them.
(21:29):
Um, that's not to discreditthem, obviously, but it's to
just get some perspective andthen to be able to think
strategically okay, what can Ido?
What?
What's the quickest wins I canget to start improving things.
And I kind of feel that's justhow I am programmed.
(21:50):
I suppose I do like to think Ihave fun as well, but I have to
say Fab has pretty much consumedmy life and if you had an extra
few hours in the world in theweek or the day, what would fun
look like?
Fun would look like eating out.
I love eating out Food ofchoice.
Oh, that's a hard one.
(22:10):
Probably sushi or Italian.
Getting myself to the coast,getting on some coastal walks,
seeing the, the sea smelling inthat sea air.
It's nothing, nothing better,um, and actually would like to
start traveling again, becausethat's where you get the
creativity going, you get freshperspectives and see the world
and you can channel that backinto your life when you come
(22:32):
back.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
So those things and before we step into the power
jar, which is our new jar of fun, exciting.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
It's exciting.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
We just got a question from one of our
previous guests.
I'm going to hand that to you.
Sam, and just if you were,while you're getting that one
out, that question out if youwere to invite somebody
fictional, real, alive or pastto join fab, who would it be?
Speaker 2 (23:02):
probably jacinda ahern.
Yeah, oh, honestly, her exitspeech made me cry.
I think what she did,especially around covid, was
very brave and it was the bunny.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
When she talked to the kids about the easter bunny,
I always think that was suchsuch a massive moment because it
was to the parents to go.
It's okay, kids, the EasterBunny's coming.
All the kids, all the adultsare like that.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Oh, my feel a real strength for a powerful position
and only wish that more leaders, global leaders say no more.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Yeah, exactly, what's the question on the piece of
paper?
Speaker 2 (23:48):
The question drumroll please is who has been your
biggest silent supporter,Someone who never takes credit
but always had your back.
Now I think I'm going to caveatyou can't say your husband,
because you've alreadyname-checked him.
Is that?
Because that's who I was?
Speaker 1 (24:07):
I just made it tougher, oh crikey that's a hard
one, it's tough, it's notmission easy here you know.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Well, probably I'd have to say my mum, is that a
bit of a cliche?
Speaker 1 (24:24):
it's okay.
What's mum's name?
Speaker 2 (24:26):
joe, come on joe, and she doesn't really have a clue
what I do.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Just being honest my mum didn't, until she came to
the awards for the first timeand was like ah, now I get it.
Yeah, yeah, there you go.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
That's my daughter, but she doesn't need to know.
And so when you think about asilent sporter who always has
your back, never takes creditfor it, she's always there when
it's messy and you're upset, cansense it.
It's a spidey sense.
Yeah, she does say that I knewsomething was off, I knew you a
call, and so, yeah, I'd have tosay my mum.
Sorry if that's a bit of acop-out, but that was a really
(24:58):
hard one.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
And on the train home .
I'll think of a differentanswer.
Take it away, then take it awayand final, final what is the
future?
You said earlier, you know it'snot been the path you wanted to
, where you were directly going,but what is next?
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Well, year three is very exciting.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
I can't no-transcript to me right at the start of
(25:46):
when I was building, uh, thiscommunity and they were like,
well, how does it feel?
And I went fast is it stable?
Speaker 2 (25:54):
yeah, just strapping yeah, you do have to strap in.
I mean, what you've achieved isabsolutely incredible, um, but
you've got to believe in it.
You've really got to believe init to be able to put to make it
worthwhile otherwise why wouldyou?
Speaker 1 (26:08):
why would you do this to ourselves, sam?
Why?
Speaker 2 (26:11):
why?
But we do.
And when you see the impactthat it has, it's worth
everything and that's has, it'sworth everything.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
And that's the difference.
It's the magic, it's the swan,isn't it?
You can be the swan and seethis impact, even sometimes the
teeny, tiny things but it'sthose small, teeny, tiny things.
They all add up and, all of asudden, those individuals whose
businesses start to turn, togrow, to shift or just have a
reality check, that's because ofyou.
(26:38):
So thank you, sam, for beingfab.
Thank you, I've not said thatenough.
This time I love it.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Welcome to the Fab Podcast, Sam.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Thank you for coming over to see us, thank you for
being brave in the jar and thankall of you for joining us.
If you want to get involved,please check out the show notes
and you can find out more aboutfab and we will see you next
week.
Subscribe on youtube, apple,amazon music, spotify or
wherever you get your podcasts.
Leave us a review or follow uson socials.
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(27:11):
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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, today I am joined by thefab, sam Addy, who is the
founder of the Female AdvisoryBoard's brackets fab.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Welcome.
How are you?
Oh, thank you, simone.
It's so lovely to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
And I think one of the last times I saw you was at
the launch of fab, when youkindly invited me to come over
and we had a good old chat onstools, didn't we?
Yeah, we put the world right.
Oh well, we had dinner at theDakota the night before, which
was rather gorgeous, uh, andthen we had a fabulous literally
I'm going to overuse that wordnow, aren't I?
Um, you can't overuse it anamazing, amazing room with
amazing humans.
What's the story since thenbeen?
How's it been?
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Well, we're on our probably ninth iteration of the
Female Advisory Board.
Since I last saw you.
It's been one hell of a journey, I can tell you All with the
intention of ensuring that womencan realise their full
potential and get that richnessof life.
Yeah, it's a powerful thingthat I've created with the
(01:49):
Female Advisory Board for thosethat lean into it and see the
value in being part of a peeradvisory board.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
What have you learnt most along the way?
Good or bad, or a?
Speaker 2 (01:59):
bit of both, maybe Patience.
I'm a very ambitious person, soI literally thought that this
would be a global business bynow.
Surprise, surprise, it isn'tyet.
Um, and I've learned that.
Well, there's a couple ofnegative things, I would say,
but I see them as opportunities.
That women are holdingthemselves back.
(02:20):
That's a broad strokesgeneralization.
But there is a level ofintentionally or unintentionally
, um, we don't realize our fullpotential and lean into what
that could look like, and that'swhy, again, fab is there to try
and change that.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
It's important we do, and if you had a magic wand
unlimited money, budget andunlimited resources, you'd be
global now I, if you know, ifthere's enough women in Peru
building brilliant businesses, Iwould have fab there yesterday
and what have you learned mostabout yourself?
Because I think this, I thinkwe have a common thread.
(03:02):
There is I think I'm impatient,I know I'm impatient, I think
Team are like that, oh mygoodness, but I think that's
what spurs you on, right?
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Yes, and I think the way for me to look at it is
you've got to be patient becauseyou've got to learn and you've
got to listen to what yourclients and your customers and
your team, what they're tellingyou and be able to pivot and to
be able to make it what it needsto be.
So what I very green in theearly days imagined fab to be
(03:39):
looks nothing like what it istoday, but it's actually better.
So that patience, learning andsometimes you have to slow down
to speed up yeah, and that's hot, that's real self-education,
isn't it?
Speaker 1 (03:51):
and self-development discipline, how is that for you?
Hard full disclosure?
Oh no, literally.
As I'm asking you the question,I'm thinking god, you know, I
don't know how I we have to,don't we sometimes?
Speaker 2 (04:05):
It's probably good that I don't have a big pot of
money because it wouldn't beused correctly.
You need to put the groundworkin, you need to get the
foundations in place and thenyou go?
Speaker 1 (04:18):
What was your motivation to set this up?
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Well, I had no intention of setting it up, I
don't know, it kind of came inmy life.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
It wasn't a dinner in the Dakota, was it?
Speaker 2 (04:29):
It came into my life after I'd been consulting For a
few years, I was getting a bitfrustrated with myself because I
didn't know what I was doinglong term and I was helping all
these brilliant businesses growfantastic businesses of their
own, and I had nothing tangible.
But I didn't know what my nextstep was.
I'd already had a business ofmy own that sadly, I lost to a
(04:52):
fire, which is another story.
For another time I would workfor fantastic entrepreneurs that
scaled global businesses.
And then I discovered peeradvisory boards through a client
meeting.
I've never heard of them, whichI've since gone on to find out
that a lot of women don't knowwhat they are, and so I did a
(05:13):
lot of research, especially inthe global leader of peer
advisory, and I spoke to a lotof the members.
I spoke to a lot of the chairsof the boards and, honestly,
it's such a smart, simpleconcept.
It really, really works.
But the thing I found about itthrough my research was these
(05:33):
boards are incredible in helpingbusiness leaders grow, but you
had one or two women sittingaround those board tables and
the rest of them were men, andthat's a problem for me because
I mean, two years in now, I'vesort of had in-depth
conversations with over 200business leaders in the
Yorkshire area alone.
We are building incrediblebusinesses, but we don't see
(05:57):
enough women doing it, and evenfor society as a whole never
mind from an economical point ofview that's a massive problem.
So it sounds really cliche, butit was literally a light bulb
moment.
I can do this, I can createthis, and I literally went to
(06:17):
bed, got up the next morning andthought I'm going to create my
own female advisory board andit's going to be fab.
The rest is history.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
And just talk to us.
For those who many peoplewatching or listening will know
what a peer board is.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Just explain the headlines of it's funny you say
that I've found that peopledon't really quite get the
concept, and even that'sprobably one of being a big
challenge of mine is to try andarticulate what it's like.
You're asking people to take ahuge leap of faith and join a
board of people they don't knowwho are at similar stages of
business to them but from adifferent industry.
(06:51):
Don't talk to strangers, andit's quite a big leap of faith
to do.
There is nothing like this inthe UK.
It's the first one that's inperson, that's a monthly sort of
meet up.
But when women do take thatleap of faith and they join
their first board session, youcan guarantee the response I get
(07:14):
is oh, this is even better thanI thought it would be.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Why haven't I done it sooner?
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Why have I not done it sooner?
But there's an educationalpiece that needs to be done.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
And what are the barriers?
Is it time, is it?
I hate to.
I'm not a big fan of always.
It's easy to put confidence oneverything, sort of self-belief
or what can I pass on or gainfrom it, but we can all give and
gain.
What did you see, or still see,as those barriers?
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Yeah, there's a lot, if I'm being completely honest,
and I would say time is perhapswithout wanting to be direct
sometimes an excuse.
We do hold ourselves backmassively and there's a guilt.
I've had women that havechildren that thought I couldn't
possibly invest that amount oftime and money on myself, which
(08:04):
again is a real problem.
Where men genuinely see this aspart of their business strategy
.
It's what they have to do toget that competitive edge, and
more women need to see that andsee it as a necessity in their
life, because only good thingscome from it.
But it also comes with lookingthrough the mirror and that's
(08:26):
really quite a challenge as welland that.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
So when you talk let's dig into that a little bit
so is that kind of somethingplays back and it's like I'm not
sure I like that, or oractually I didn't see that or I
didn't want to see it all thosethings, wow.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
So in peer advisory boards.
There there's a certainstructure of how these board
meetings are held.
There's a highly curated agendathat sits behind each and every
one, and part of that issomething called round the room,
and that is where in a you'rein probably your most vulnerable
state.
(09:03):
You share a business challengeor something that's happening in
your life around this tablewith your peers who are walking
in the same shoes as you, justin a different industry, and
maybe might not be going throughexactly the same thing that
you're going through, but therewill be very much similarities.
And then we do this thing wherewe ask questions back at the
(09:28):
person that's sharing theirchallenge, instead of just
offering up a load of solutions.
We actually want to dig deeperthan that, because often the
thing you say you're challengedwith there's levels that sit
underneath that, and so there'ssolutions for absolutely
everything.
I massively believe that, butactually being held accountable
(09:49):
to making those tiny steps tochange is very hard.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Accountability is priceless, isn't it?
Because sometimes it's uh, andI think that's can be really one
of the challenges is asking forthat.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Help it is and saying out loud, but it's such a
strength, it's such a leadershipstrength to be able to show
vulnerability.
We're not perfect.
We can all learn from otherpeople, and the brilliance about
fab is that you're sat in aroom of collective knowledge of
over hundreds years ofexperience.
So why would you not want totake that different perspective,
(10:22):
apply that different learningand challenge yourself?
Because in today's world, it'snever been more competitive,
it's never been more difficult,it's probably never been more
lonely in the societies thatwe're living now.
Um, so yeah, obviously I couldtalk about that all day long,
but it's it at the end of theday.
You've got to take a good lookat yourself and the narrative
(10:46):
that our minds are our own worstenemy and, in something like a
peer advisory board, you'rechallenged on that narrative,
which is sometimes difficult tohear, but it's all done in a
really beautiful, constructiveway.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
What's a fab example?
I'm sticking with the brand onthis one, so I'm telling you
what's a good example ofsomething that's come out of one
of your nine iterations of fatso well, so many things, but you
want some specific sort of casestudies, without going into too
(11:21):
much detail, obviously, becauseyes, in that room.
Stays in the room.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
So we had one member who genuinely believes that she
generated a £350,000 increase inrevenue just from one session.
So if we just think about thatfor a moment, it was a
leadership workshop.
It was around the way she wassort of narrating sort of the
(11:44):
strategy and the delegation ofher business.
She took away the learningsfrom that and she shared it with
her team, and it wasn't herthat increased the revenue, it
was her team.
As a direct result of thelearning that she applied, I'd
say that's quite a good returnon investment, my goodness.
What do we say then?
(12:04):
I mean I could go, I could tellyou loads, but then we've had
people completely change theirbusiness model because they
never thought of doing it in acertain way and, as such,
they've increased the valuationsaleable valuation of their
business.
We've called people out on, inparticular, the recruitment of
(12:26):
how they went about recruitingemployees.
Now, that is really reallychallenging and something that
comes up a lot is how younavigate that.
But when you're consistentlydoing it and it's not improving,
then that kind of needs to becalled out and as a result, she
came away and said I feel likeI've had a bit of a kick up
backside in the fab meeting, butit was what she needed in a
(12:48):
really safe space, obviously.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
But you're not paying or joining, or investing your
time, effort, energy andbusiness intelligence to not
then do anything with it.
Otherwise, you may as well justbe a passenger on the back of
the bus.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Exactly that.
I'd never created FAB to be alight touch.
I'm not really that kind of I'mnot really a fluffy kind of
person.
I want to roll my sleeves up.
I want to look at your cashflowforecast.
I want to look at your balancesheet and I want to see where
you can improve.
We can all improve, but let'sdo it together.
Who holds the mirror up for you?
(13:22):
I'd say my husband.
He's very honest, but he's beenmy biggest support.
Obviously, I have a team ofsupport around me, but I'm very
critical of myself.
I like to think I have a growthmindset, so I read a lot.
I listen to a lot of podcasts.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
We are power podcasts .
Oh, that's so lovely of you, ofcourse we are Power Podcasts oh
that's so lovely of you, ofcourse.
But when you were 10, youdreamed of being a flautist at
the Royal Albert Hall.
I did.
Do you ever go back and pickyour flute up?
Speaker 2 (14:00):
No, I honestly can't remember the last time I even
saw it.
I don't think I know where itis.
I think I might be able to playa couple of notes, but
certainly wouldn't be able toread the music and theory,
wasn't?
I wasn't very good at thetheory side of music anyway.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
You've talked about Yorkshire before.
This is where you grew up.
This is where you you sort ofbuilt your business career in
Yorkshire.
What part is that?
No nonsense, straight talking,culture and just groundedness.
I'm sure that's a made up word.
Put you where you are and madeyou who you are as a leader.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
I think we also need to include in that, as I was
born in Newcastle, so not onlydo.
I have three quarters of my lifein Yorkshire.
It started in the pubs and clubscenes of the northeast, which
is a very interesting start tolife, but I do think that has
given me a massive addedadvantage into what grit looks
(14:58):
like not standing still andsomething you said the word
earlier on, and I really believein flex leadership.
You've got to be able to change, you've got to be able to adapt
, you've got to be able to movequickly, and I think we talk
about that a lot with members atthe moment is, you know, change
is your best friend, now morethan ever.
(15:18):
So, yeah, that grit part of meI won't say resilience, because
I think there's lots of.
I think resilience has becomelike a bit of a trophy for
people to hold up and say I'mreally resilient.
You know I don't always seethat as a positive.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
It, you.
It's interesting actually talkabout trophy words, and burnout
is something I feel like isthere at the moment and almost
being glorified a little bitlike as again the same trophy, I
mean burnout is very real, yeah, um, but as is a lot of the
words that are out there.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
But I suppose I'm a bit nervous about labels,
because and we did this in a, ina sort of leadership behavioral
workshop that we did where itwas around your behaviors, as
opposed to your personalities,and when you start being labeled
as something, it becomes staticand something that you feel
that you can't change, whereasif you think of something
(16:19):
behaviorally, for example,behavior can change and so, yeah
, I agree with you, we need tobe careful to not sort of stay
stuck in a I'm this because it'sharder to get out of it.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Yeah, really hard and one of my big, my favorite
industries is the, thehospitality industry, because I,
you know, I always find itinteresting that 92% of people
have worked in hospitality atsome form, some part of their
career.
But we don't see it as that upthere, amazing kind of place to
work um and to grow and get theskills you learn.
(16:57):
You went further than thatbecause you ran your own
restaurant business, didn't you?
What were the key lessons that?
Speaker 2 (17:03):
you took away from that so many.
But you've got to remember it'sdirty, it's dirty work, it's
rough.
You know it's not for thefaint-hearted hospitality, but
it teaches you such lessons inhuman behaviour.
It gives you skills that youcan translate into any anything
you do in your life.
Um gosh again.
(17:25):
I learned so much from that andI would say again it's about
that, that grit and that flexleadership is what I would say.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
And you talked earlier about when you're
talking to your FAB groups, yourFAB cohorts, about change being
your friend, but you have aphrase that you use don't you
yeah, change it, rearrange it.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
It's just, it's been my mantra.
I genuinely believe so.
Despite whether you're abusiness owner, whether you're
employed, no matter where youare in your walk of life, I've
seen so many people stuck, nothappy with what they're doing.
But they stay stuck and theycomplain about it and it becomes
their narrative again.
(18:09):
Something I said earlier onthere's always solutions you can
change, but that change isreally hard and it's not pretty
and it takes work and it'ssometimes easier to stay
comfortable.
But even though you're nothappy, you know honestly I think
it's something that if I have achallenge, what can I change?
(18:30):
What do I need to do to makemyself happier?
How can I change it?
How can I rearrange it?
It's not the worst mantra tosort of be held by and it's
served me well.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
No, and I always think, with change comes pain,
but also comes great opportunity.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Yeah, and it's very easy to talk about the solutions
and what you can do and justlittle bits here and there to
sort of incrementally move youalong the way.
The actual doing is reallyreally hard and that's why it's
really important that you've gotthe support to make sure that
you actually do do the change.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
100 and if you could remove one systemic barrier that
is still in play for many um,what would you do?
That again, specifically thatexists for women in business.
Can I have?
Speaker 2 (19:14):
two.
Yeah, you can do two, thank you.
So there's an external barrier,that is the whole
infrastructure of how the worldhasn't been built for women and
how the care burden that womenoften carry is so significant
and doesn't give us the sameprivilege as men to be able to
(19:36):
live the life that we want to.
That is a massive problem andnot something that we to be able
to live the life that we wantto.
That is a massive problem andnot something that we'll be able
to change overnight, but it isa real barrier to our growth.
And then, secondly, there's aninternal barrier, and I think
that is an intergenerationalprogramming of how we're
perceived to society, how we'resupposed to behave, you know how
(19:58):
we're supposed to presentourselves, and this our mind.
It just it's incredible how ourmind can tell us things that
are really, really holding usback.
So there's two massive onesthere that don't just suddenly
sort itself out.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
And do you have something that outside of work,
that you have that Sam time,that ritual or something you do
every day, that you must do?
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Something that I do every day is I write.
I like to get everything out ofmy head onto paper, find it
really effective, and it allowsme to decompartmentalize and to
reduce the overwhelm.
Is that everything?
Is that work, life, family?
Yeah, 100% flute lessons thatwon't be being taken up anytime
(20:48):
soon, I can tell you.
But, um, yeah, because I likeI'm sure some people can get
overwhelmed there's's a lothappening, we're busy and
sometimes that can make you feelvery stressed.
So actually and we do some ofthis actually in the
workshopping is we do a lot ofwhat's called alone together
(21:08):
time, where in a timedenvironment you write down all
the say, all the challenges thatyou're facing on a a sticky
note, one challenge for stickynote, and then you map it out on
a wall and it's reallyinteresting because nine times
out of ten those challengesaren't as significant when you
can visualize them.
(21:29):
Um, that's not to discreditthem, obviously, but it's to
just get some perspective andthen to be able to think
strategically okay, what can Ido?
What?
What's the quickest wins I canget to start improving things.
And I kind of feel that's justhow I am programmed.
(21:50):
I suppose I do like to think Ihave fun as well, but I have to
say Fab has pretty much consumedmy life and if you had an extra
few hours in the world in theweek or the day, what would fun
look like?
Fun would look like eating out.
I love eating out Food ofchoice.
Oh, that's a hard one.
(22:10):
Probably sushi or Italian.
Getting myself to the coast,getting on some coastal walks,
seeing the, the sea smelling inthat sea air.
It's nothing, nothing better,um, and actually would like to
start traveling again, becausethat's where you get the
creativity going, you get freshperspectives and see the world
and you can channel that backinto your life when you come
(22:32):
back.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
So those things and before we step into the power
jar, which is our new jar of fun, exciting.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
It's exciting.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
We just got a question from one of our
previous guests.
I'm going to hand that to you.
Sam, and just if you were,while you're getting that one
out, that question out if youwere to invite somebody
fictional, real, alive or pastto join fab, who would it be?
Speaker 2 (23:02):
probably jacinda ahern.
Yeah, oh, honestly, her exitspeech made me cry.
I think what she did,especially around covid, was
very brave and it was the bunny.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
When she talked to the kids about the easter bunny,
I always think that was suchsuch a massive moment because it
was to the parents to go.
It's okay, kids, the EasterBunny's coming.
All the kids, all the adultsare like that.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Oh, my feel a real strength for a powerful position
and only wish that more leaders, global leaders say no more.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Yeah, exactly, what's the question on the piece of
paper?
Speaker 2 (23:48):
The question drumroll please is who has been your
biggest silent supporter,Someone who never takes credit
but always had your back.
Now I think I'm going to caveatyou can't say your husband,
because you've alreadyname-checked him.
Is that?
Because that's who I was?
Speaker 1 (24:07):
I just made it tougher, oh crikey that's a hard
one, it's tough, it's notmission easy here you know.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Well, probably I'd have to say my mum, is that a
bit of a cliche?
Speaker 1 (24:24):
it's okay.
What's mum's name?
Speaker 2 (24:26):
joe, come on joe, and she doesn't really have a clue
what I do.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Just being honest my mum didn't, until she came to
the awards for the first timeand was like ah, now I get it.
Yeah, yeah, there you go.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
That's my daughter, but she doesn't need to know.
And so when you think about asilent sporter who always has
your back, never takes creditfor it, she's always there when
it's messy and you're upset, cansense it.
It's a spidey sense.
Yeah, she does say that I knewsomething was off, I knew you a
call, and so, yeah, I'd have tosay my mum.
Sorry if that's a bit of acop-out, but that was a really
(24:58):
hard one.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
And on the train home .
I'll think of a differentanswer.
Take it away, then take it awayand final, final what is the
future?
You said earlier, you know it'snot been the path you wanted to
, where you were directly going,but what is next?
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Well, year three is very exciting.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
I can't no-transcript to me right at the start of
(25:46):
when I was building, uh, thiscommunity and they were like,
well, how does it feel?
And I went fast is it stable?
Speaker 2 (25:54):
yeah, just strapping yeah, you do have to strap in.
I mean, what you've achieved isabsolutely incredible, um, but
you've got to believe in it.
You've really got to believe init to be able to put to make it
worthwhile otherwise why wouldyou?
Speaker 1 (26:08):
why would you do this to ourselves, sam?
Why?
Speaker 2 (26:11):
why?
But we do.
And when you see the impactthat it has, it's worth
everything and that's has, it'sworth everything.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
And that's the difference.
It's the magic, it's the swan,isn't it?
You can be the swan and seethis impact, even sometimes the
teeny, tiny things but it'sthose small, teeny, tiny things.
They all add up and, all of asudden, those individuals whose
businesses start to turn, togrow, to shift or just have a
reality check, that's because ofyou.
(26:38):
So thank you, sam, for beingfab.
Thank you, I've not said thatenough.
This time I love it.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Welcome to the Fab Podcast, Sam.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Thank you for coming over to see us, thank you for
being brave in the jar and thankall of you for joining us.
If you want to get involved,please check out the show notes
and you can find out more aboutfab and we will see you next
week.
Subscribe on youtube, apple,amazon music, spotify or
wherever you get your podcasts.
Leave us a review or follow uson socials.
We are power underscore net oninsta, tiktok and twitter, or we
(27:11):
are power on linkedin, facebookand we are underscore power on
youtube.
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