Women in insurance – Stand Proud!!!

Last week I had the pleasure of attending the inaugural 50 over Fifty event, which was held at the gravity defying, very plush offices of WTW on Lime Street.

50 over Fifty is a relatively new initiative aimed at celebrating the contribution women aged over 50 make to all aspects of the UK insurance industry. It was a fabulous.

It was founded by two very Inspirational women Katrina Foster and Michaela Gibson.

Anyway, why the very ballsy clickbait headline Paul you might ask????

It’s quite simple, at the event I was introduced to and met many outstanding women, all with fascinating stories to tell about the journeys they have taken to get where they are today.

I’ve paraphrased one of the conversations I had with one of the winners who works for a leading insurance company). 

I’ve deliberately not used her name in order to avoid causing any embarrassment…

Me: “Congratulations on being recognised as a winner”

Winning Woman: “Thank you”

Me: “What’s your line of work in the insurance industry”

Winning Woman: “Oh, I only work in credit control”

Me: “Please don’t say “only”, let me ask you a question, how much revenue did you collect in the last month on behalf of your company?”

Winning Woman: “£20,000,000”

Me: “Wow. What a great result.  I don’t know of any CEO that would not be delighted to hear that a member of their team had collected such a large sum of money.  I know as a business owner I’d be extremely happy with this type of news (sadly it's never £20 million). You should be proud of this achievement and of your recognition this evening.”

Winning Woman “Thank you” 

And this wee little conversation is the whole point of this blog and its title.

Women where you are making a difference and doing a great job don’t be uneasy about blowing your own trumpet.  I for one am bored with men being seemingly the only trumpet players in the insurance orchestra.

Men, if you come across examples, like the one I have shared here - support, encourage and nurture women. This isn’t just an insurance thing, it’s a much wider societal issue and something as friends, fathers, brothers, partners and work colleagues we must  do. 

Before I sign off, let me end this blog where I started “Women in insurance – Stand Proud”

End

I’m going to dedicate this blog to my three daughters April, Jasmine and Eloise, who remain, each and every day the best teachers I’ve ever had.