Skip to main content

https://food.blog.gov.uk/2021/03/08/choosetochallenge-self-doubt-but-know-when-to-embrace-it-international-womens-day/

#ChooseToChallenge self-doubt but know when to embrace it - International Women's Day

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: People

Emily Miles, Chief Executive of the Food Standards Agency, sat at a desk

Cymraeg

Today we celebrate International Women’s Day with its theme of #ChooseToChallenge. To mark the day, we are sharing a candid blog from our Chief Executive, Emily Miles, on challenging the established order.

 

The FSA is a fabulous organisation, which I feel very privileged to lead, but let me tell you something very personal. In the process of applying for the CEO job, I nearly withdrew my application. I didn’t think I was going to get appointed, and the process of preparing for being interviewed, being filmed doing a mock select committee hearing, and doing a staff engagement exercise, felt very intimidating. Fortunately, I overcame my self-doubt, did the interview and got the job. I’m very glad: I love being at the FSA.

Like any Shakespearean hero, we all have our fatal flaws and, lobsterpot-like, we have ones that are peculiar to ourselves that wouldn’t necessarily trap others. Well, mine is self-doubt.

It is driven by a fear that I am not enough. It’s an inner voice that assesses, weighs, and often finds wanting. Unchecked, I can take all sorts of situations and twist them into evidence that I don’t belong and shouldn’t be there.

A room full of men in navy, black or grey

I used to be the Director of Policing at the Home Office. I was in my mid-30s and I was responsible for a directorate of 100 people working on policing policy: from police pay and pension levels, to police integrity, to what weapons they were allowed to carry, to what powers they had. I was one of the main interlocutors for the Home Office with 43 Chief Constables, the Police Federation, the National Police Chiefs’ Council and its predecessor, the Police Superintendents’ Association, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and various other bodies.

In my meetings, there were often only one or two women in the room: there weren’t many senior police officers who were women and most were in their 40s or 50s rather than their 30s; nor were there many female senior civil servants working in that part of the Civil Service. I would start to wonder if I should be there. It would spin off from noticing that I was one of the few women in the room, to thinking I was younger than a lot of people there, to noticing I was wearing different coloured clothes to everyone (there aren’t many men in red or orange suits…), to thinking about background and knowledge. My background was in broad policy, not the specifics of policing.

In fact I had plenty to offer, I can now see: broad experience of how legislation and powers worked; understanding of how Government worked and how to get things done in a complex bureaucracy – including from a stint in Downing Street; excellent communications skills; a first class work ethic; curiosity and ability to listen well, good leadership and management of others so that they felt safe and did good work, good analysis about options and clarity about strategy; lots of contact with Ministers so I could guide the police stakeholders in how to respond to the strategic intent of the Government.

But if I wasn’t careful, I would notice the deficit, and the difference, not the positives of what I did bring; and I feared others were judging me to the same standard.

I excel in self-deprecation

I used to think, when I got more senior, that these self-doubts would disappear. I can report that they don’t go away. I’m just better at putting them in their place.

One minute I can be confidently setting the direction for the FSA, making decisions about food, risk management and staffing. And the next minute, that inner tape is off: “Oh my. You forgot to take your debit card with you to the shop. It’s a good thing you don’t run the country! Oh you do?! Heaven help the lot of us.” And then I laugh at myself and think, there I go again. One of my close friends says, I have a PhD in self-deprecation. But it’s an old tape and I’ve learnt how to subvert it.

Emily Miles, Chief Executive of the Food Standards Agency, in a crowd

We must remind ourselves of our strengths

One technique I use is to remind myself of my strengths. It’s perhaps easier to do it for our organisations than it is to do it for ourselves.

The FSA is a pretty awesome organisation. It does brilliant science. It’s brilliant at communicating risk and uncertainty. Among small food businesses, 95% trust the FSA to uphold and promote high standards. Among the general public, 73% of those aware of the FSA say that they trust it to do its job well (compared to an overall trust rating for Government of 36%). It’s won awards for its family-friendly working arrangements. It’s also in the top quartile of civil service organisations for staff engagement.

We all find it easier to describe the strengths of our organisations, and our friends and colleagues, than we find it to describe our own strengths.

The self-praise challenge

I want you to do something.

Name three things that you absolutely know you’re good at. With no apology or caveats. No embarrassment. Just own it.

Try it.

Write them down.

Mine are:

  1. I take in information quickly and understand things quickly.
  2. I’m articulate and can express things well.
  3. I’m good at seeing the big picture – and connecting the ‘how’ to the ‘what’ and the ‘why’.

The advantage of doing this exercise is that it forms your ground. A rock you can stand on. You don’t need to convince anyone else. I do this to counteract my natural tendency to focus on the deficit, the areas for improvement. I know from experience that confidence breeds competence.

Let’s be cheerleaders for each other and to ourselves. What did you do really well this week? What about one of your colleagues? Have you told her?

We all need to work to subvert these old stories.

Embrace your self-doubt

But – and perhaps this is the more radical part of this blog - not all self-doubt is bad.

Women often get told to get over themselves and be more confident.

I was on a prestigious training course at the University of Oxford for senior project leaders in 2017.The CEO of the UK’s professional body for project professionals came to address us. I asked him what he thought was driving the lack of senior female project leaders. His answer? Women needed to be more confident.

I tried not to get annoyed. “It’s not just us who need to change”, I said.

There’s a genre of books, like Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office and Lean In and The Confidence Code – many written by women. They tell women how to stop tilting our heads, stop apologising, that we should wear sober clothes, we should pick accessories carefully to push the idea of confidence, and we should stop using ‘touchy-feely’ language.

I read these, and think, ‘But you’re asking me to conform to the dominant culture – a masculine one.’ I’m me. I do like to wear colours. I do apologise when I don’t know enough. I do connect to my emotions a lot.

We must not allow ourselves to be confined

Mary Beard, the classicist, wrote in her book, Women and Power: “As far back as we can see in Western history, there is a radical separation between women and power… Our mental template for a powerful person remains resolutely male.”

I think that mental template has a number of qualities that we associate with masculinity (and I want to be clear here that I am distinguishing between ‘masculine traits’ and ‘men’ – the two are not the same). These are traits like confidence, soberness, protectiveness and strength; rather than self-doubt, flamboyance, being inclusive, or vulnerability. These are what many of us – women and men – think we are looking for in those who hold power.

Mary Beard - Women and Power: A Manifesto

And, to be clear, that first list are all great qualities, but to value only those is to miss out on wonderful things. This is the unconscious misogyny many of us fall into by accident, where we dismiss typically ‘feminine traits’. So we value confidence more than questioning and curiosity; we admire protectiveness and territoriality more than inclusion or sharing or tolerance; we think strength and assertiveness garners more respect than vulnerability and interdependency; and we think soberness is more impressive than fun or delight.

In particular, self-doubt does not feature in that masculine template of power. I think it should.

Over-confidence is a problem

The more I have been around the corridors of power, the more I have seen that over-confidence is a problem. People making decisions without taking time to find out what is really happening on the ground. Senior people assuming that their experience is true for others when actually their experience is niche. Indeed, we invent whole teams and institutions to puncture that confidence and provide scrutiny: from internal audit to parliamentary select committees, to the National Audit Office.

This leaves me thinking the apparently unusual thought, which is that, some aspects of self-doubt should be prized.

Where self-doubt results in inquiry, where it comes from a place of humility, from a desire to learn and open to all that is going on. Where it leads you to question your own version of the truth and wonder about others’ experience.

Self-doubt can take you, then, to creative solutions, new insights, connection and learning.

So my request is, start to value your own and others’ self-doubt.

Next time you hear someone in power say, ‘I’m not sure’, or ‘I don’t know enough yet’, or ‘I need more time’, welcome it. Don’t critique that vulnerability, don’t demand certainty where there is complexity and uncertainty. Welcome the wisdom of not-knowing.

Next time I doubt myself and my grip of a situation, I will seek to welcome it. My self-doubt is an opportunity for others to educate me and share their truth. Who can I ask? What more could I find out? What do our customers or my colleagues think?

My self-doubt can hold me back and I do need to nurture my confidence. But my self-doubt is also the fuel for me to be a better leader: a more inquiring, a more curious, a more connected one.

One of my favourite female friends introduced me to this Leonard Cohen quote:

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in

What I’m learning is, what I perceive as my ‘flaw’ might actually be my superpower. That might be the same for you, too.

#DewisHerio hunan-amheuaeth ond gwybod pryd i'w gofleidio

Emily Miles, Chief Executive of the Food Standards Agency, sat at a desk

Heddiw, rydym ni'n dathlu Diwrnod Rhyngwladol y Menywod a’r thema eleni yw #DewisHerio #ChooseToChallenge. I nodi'r diwrnod, rydym ni’n rhannu blog gonest ac agored gan ein Prif Weithredwr, Emily Miles, ar herio'r hen drefn.

Mae'r Asiantaeth Safonau Bwyd (ASB) yn sefydliad gwych, ac rydw i’n teimlo'n freintiedig iawn yn ei arwain. Ond gadewch i mi rannu rhywbeth personol iawn â chi. Yn y broses o ymgeisio am y swydd, bu bron i mi dynnu fy nghais yn ôl. Doeddwn ni ddim yn disgwyl cael fy mhenodi, a chefais fy nychryn gan y broses o baratoi ar gyfer y cyfweliad, cael fy ffilmio yn gwneud gwrandawiad ffug i bwyllgor dethol, a chynnal ymarfer ymgysylltu â staff. Yn ffodus, mi wnes i oresgyn fy hunan-amheuaeth, gwneud y cyfweliad a chael y swydd. Rwy’n falch iawn: Dwi’n caru bod yma yn yr ASB.

Fel unrhyw arwr Shakespearaidd, mae gan bob un ohonom ni ein diffygion, ac mae gennym ni rai sy'n unigryw i ni ein hunain na fyddai’n effeithio ar eraill. Wel, hunan-amheuaeth yw fy un i.

Mae'n cael ei yrru gan ofn nad ydw i’n ddigon. Mae'n llais mewnol sy'n asesu, yn pwyso, ac yn aml yn fy nghael yn brin. Heb ddelio gyda’r llais hwn, rydw i’n gallu cymryd pob math o sefyllfaoedd a'u troi’n dystiolaeth nad ydw i’n perthyn a na ddylwn ni fod yno.

Ystafell yn llawn dynion yn gwisgo glas tywyll, du neu lwyd

Ro’n i'n arfer bod yn Gyfarwyddwr Plismona yn y Swyddfa Gartref. Ro’n i yng nghanol fy 30au ac yn gyfrifol am gyfarwyddiaeth o 100 o bobl yn gweithio ar bolisi plismona: o gyflog yr heddlu a lefelau pensiwn, i uniondeb yr heddlu, i ba arfau yr oedden nhw'n cael eu cario, i ba bwerau oedd ganddyn nhw. Fi oedd prif gydlynydd y Swyddfa Gartref gyda 43 o brif gwnstabliaid Ffederasiwn yr Heddlu, Cyngor Cenedlaethol Penaethiaid yr Heddlu a’i ragflaenydd, Cymdeithas Uwcharolygwyr yr Heddlu, Arolygiaeth Heddlu Ei Mawrhydi ac amryw gyrff eraill.

Yn fy nghyfarfodydd, yn aml dim ond un neu ddwy fenyw oedd yn yr ystafell: doedd dim llawer o uwch swyddogion heddlu yn fenywod, ac nid oedd llawer o uwch weision sifil benywaidd yn gweithio ym myd ‘securocrat’ y Gwasanaeth Sifil. Ro’n i’n dechrau meddwl tybed a o’n i’n perthyn mewn gwirionedd? Byddai'n dechrau o sylwi mod i'n gwisgo dillad gwahanol i bawb (roedd fy rhai i fel arfer yn fwy lliwgar) i feddwl am gefndir a gwybodaeth. Roedd fy nghefndir i mewn polisi eang, nid ym manylder plismona.

Ac eto, roedd gen i ddigon i'w gynnig: profiad eang o sut roedd deddfwriaeth a phwerau'n gweithio; dealltwriaeth o sut roedd y Llywodraeth yn gweithio a sut i gyflawni pethau mewn biwrocratiaeth gymhleth; sgiliau cyfathrebu rhagorol; moeseg gwaith o'r radd flaenaf; chwilfrydedd a'r gallu i wrando'n dda, y gallu i arwain a rheoli eraill yn dda fel eu bod yn teimlo'n ddiogel a’u bod yn gwneud gwaith da, y gallu i ddadansoddi dewisiadau yn dda ac eglurder am strategaeth.

Ac, yn hollbwysig i'r rhanddeiliaid heddlu yr o’n i’n gweithio gyda nhw, roedd gen i lawer o gyswllt â Gweinidogion fel y gallwn eu cynghori nhw ar sut i ymateb i fwriad strategol y Llywodraeth, a sut i gyflwyno eu barn mewn ffyrdd a fyddai fwyaf derbyniol.

Ond os nad o’n i’n ofalus, ro’n i’n sylwi ar y diffyg, a'r gwahaniaeth, nid elfennau cadarnhaol y pethau ro’n i yn eu cynnig.

Rydw i'n rhagori mewn dibrisio fy hun

Ro’n i'n arfer meddwl, wrth i mi ddringo’n uwch, y byddai'r hunan-amheuon hyn yn diflannu. Galla’i ddweud wrthych chi nad ydyn nhw'n diflannu. Ond rydw i’n well am eu rhoi yn eu lle erbyn hyn.

Un funud, rydw i’n gosod cyfeiriad yr ASB yn hyderus, gan wneud penderfyniadau am fwyd, rheoli risg a staffio, a'r funud nesaf, mae'r llais mewnol yn ôl yn fy mhoenydio: “O diar. Fe wnes di anghofio mynd â dy gerdyn debyd gyda ti i'r siop. Mae'n beth da nad wyt ti’n rhedeg y wlad! Duw a’n helpo ni i gyd.” Ac yna dwi'n chwerthin ar fy mhen fy hun ac yn meddwl, dyna fi'n mynd eto. Mae un o fy ffrindiau agos yn dweud mod gen i PhD mewn dibrisio fy hun. Ond mae'n hen lais, ac rydw i wedi dysgu sut i'w dawelu erbyn hyn.

Emily Miles, Chief Executive of the Food Standards Agency, in a crowd

Rhaid i ni atgoffa ein hunain o'n cryfderau

Un dechneg yw atgoffa fy hun o fy nghryfderau. Efallai ei fod yn haws gwneud hynny ar gyfer ein sefydliadau nag yw ar ein cyfer ni ein hunain.

Mae'r ASB yn sefydliad eithaf anhygoel. Mae'n gyfrifol am wyddoniaeth wych. Mae'n wych am gyfathrebu risg ac ansicrwydd. Ymhlith busnesau bwyd bach, mae 95% yn ymddiried yn yr ASB i gynnal a hyrwyddo safonau uchel. Ymhlith y cyhoedd, mae 73% o'r rhai sy'n ymwybodol o'r ASB yn nodi eu bod yn ymddiried ynddi i wneud ei gwaith yn dda (o'i gymharu â sgôr ymddiriedaeth gyffredinol o 36% ar gyfer y Llywodraeth). Mae wedi ennill gwobrau am ei threfniadau ar gyfer sicrhau gweithle teulu-gyfeillgar. Mae hefyd yn chwartel uchaf sefydliadau'r gwasanaeth sifil ar gyfer ymgysylltu â staff.

Mae pob un ohonom ni yn ei chael yn haws disgrifio cryfderau ein sefydliadau, a'n ffrindiau a'n cydweithwyr, nag yr ydym yn disgrifio ein cryfderau ein hunain.

Yr her hunan-ganmol

Mae pob un ohonom ni yn ei chael yn haws disgrifio cryfderau ein sefydliadau, a'n ffrindiau a'n cydweithwyr, nag yr ydym yn disgrifio ein cryfderau ein hunain.Rydw i eisiau i chi wneud rhywbeth. Nodwch dri pheth rydych chi'n gwybod yn sicr eich bod chi'n dda yn eu gwneud. Heb unrhyw ymddiheuriad nac eithriad. Dim embaras. Cymerwch berchnogaeth drostyn nhw.

Rhowch gynnig arni.

Ewch ati i’w hysgrifennu nhw.

Dyma fy rhai i:

  1. Rydw i’n prosesu gwybodaeth yn gyflym ac yn deall pethau'n gyflym.
  2. Rydw i’n siarad yn rhugl ac yn gallu mynegi pethau'n dda.
  3. Rydw i’n dda am weld y darlun mawr – a chysylltu'r ‘sut’ o'r ‘beth’ a'r ‘pam’.

Mantais gwneud yr ymarfer hwn yw ei fod yn ffurfio'ch sylfaen. Craig y gallwch chi sefyll arni. Does dim angen i chi argyhoeddi unrhyw un arall.

Pam trafferthu? Rydw i’n gwneud hyn i weithio yn erbyn fy nhueddiad naturiol i ganolbwyntio ar y diffygion, y pethau i'w gwella.

Mae hyder yn magu cymhwysedd.

Gadewch i ni fod yn gefnogwyr i’n gilydd ac i ni'n hunain. Beth wnaethoch chi’n dda iawn yr wythnos hon? Beth am un o'ch cydweithwyr? Ydych chi wedi dweud wrthi?
Mae angen i bob un ohonom ni weithio i wyrdroi'r hen straeon hyn.

Cofleidiwch eich hunan-amheuaeth

Ond – ac efallai mai dyma ran fwy radical y blog yma – nid yw pob hunan-amheuaeth yn ddrwg.

Yn aml, fe ddywedir wrth fenywod i beidio â meddwl cymaint o’u hunain, ac i fod yn fwy hyderus a chael gwared ar eu hunan-amheuaeth.

Ro’n i ar gwrs hyfforddi uchel ei fri ym Mhrifysgol Rhydychen ar gyfer uwch arweinwyr prosiect yn 2017. Daeth Prif Swyddog Gweithredol corff proffesiynol y Deyrnas Unedig ar gyfer gweithwyr prosiect proffesiynol i’n hannerch ni. Fe ofynnais iddo, yn ei farn ef, beth oedd y rheswm am y diffyg uwch arweinwyr prosiect benywaidd. Ei ateb? Roedd angen i ferched fod yn fwy hyderus.

Bron i mi â sgrechian arno: nid ni yn unig sydd angen newid, meddais i (yn gwrtais, dwi'n meddwl!). Mae angen i chi a’ch rhagdybiaethau hefyd!

Mae yna genre o lyfrau Saesneg, fel Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office a Lean In a The Confidence Code – llawer wedi'u hysgrifennu gan fenywod. Maen nhw'n dweud wrth ferched sut i roi'r gorau i blygu eu pen, i roi’r gorau i ymddiheuro, i wisgo dillad difrifol, i ddewis ategolion neu ‘accessories’ yn ofalus er mwyn gwthio'r syniad o hyder a rhoi'r gorau i ddefnyddio iaith ‘touchy-feely’.

Rydw i’n darllen y rhain, ac yn meddwl, ‘Ond rydych chi'n gofyn i mi gydymffurfio â'r diwylliant goruchafol – un gwrywaidd.’ Fi ydw i. Mae gen i hunan-amheuaeth. Rydw i’n hoffi gwisgo lliwiau. Rydw i’n ymddiheuro pan nad ydw i’n gwybod digon. Rydw i’n cysylltu â fy emosiynau lot.

Ysgrifennodd Mary Beard, y clasurwr, yn ei llyfr, Women and Power: “As far back as we can see in Western history, there is a radical separation between women and power… Our mental template for a powerful person remains resolutely male.”

Rydw i’n credu bod gan y templed meddwl hwnnw nifer o rinweddau rydyn ni'n eu cysylltu â gwrywdod (ac rydw i eisiau bod yn glir yma fy mod i'n gwahaniaethu rhwng ‘nodweddion gwrywaidd’ a ‘dynion’ – nid yw'r ddau yr un peth). Mae'r rhain yn nodweddion fel hyder, difrifoldeb, amddiffynoldeb a chryfder yn hytrach na gwendid neu fregusrwydd. Dyma'r pethau y mae llawer ohonom ni – menywod a dynion – yn meddwl yr ydym ni’n edrych amdanyn nhw yn y rhai sy'n dal pŵer.

Mary Beard - Women and Power: A Manifesto

Ac, i fod yn glir, mae'r rhain i gyd yn rhinweddau gwych, ond yn fy marn i maen nhw’n colli allan ar rai nodweddion gwych sydd fel arall yn cael eu gwerthfawrogi'n llai. Dyma'r misogyny anymwybodol y mae llawer ohonom ni’n syrthio iddo ar ddamwain, lle rydym ni’n anwybyddu ‘nodweddion benywaidd’. Felly, rydym ni’n gwerthfawrogi hyder yn fwy na chwestiynu a chwilfrydedd; rydym ni’n rhoi mwy o werth i amddiffynoldeb a thiriogaethedd (territoriality) na chynhwysiant neu rannu; rydym ni’n gwerthfawrogi cryfder a phendantrwydd yn hytrach na chyd-ddibyniaeth. Yn benodol, a yw hunan-amheuaeth yn ymddangos yn y templed hwnnw? Ddim eto. Ac, mi fuaswn i’n dadlau, fe ddylai.

Rhaid i ni beidio â chaniatáu i'n hunain gael ein cyfyngu i dempled cul o bŵer, gan nad dyma'r arweinyddiaeth y mae ein sefydliadau yn ei haeddu.

Y mwyaf rydw i wedi bod o amgylch y coridorau pŵer, y mwyaf rydw i wedi gweld fod gor-hyder yn broblem. Pobl yn gwneud penderfyniadau heb gymryd amser i ddarganfod beth sy'n digwydd mewn gwirionedd ar lawr gwlad. Pobl uwch yn tybio bod eu profiad yn wir am eraill pan fydd eu profiad yn niche mewn gwirionedd. Yn wir, rydym ni’n creu timau a sefydliadau cyfan i grebachu’r hyder hwnnw yn fwriadol ac i graffu: o archwilio mewnol i bwyllgorau dethol seneddol, i'r Swyddfa Archwilio Genedlaethol.

Mae hyn yn fy ngadael i feddwl rhywbeth eithaf anarferol, sef bod rhai agweddau ar hunan-amheuaeth yn werthfawr.

Lle mae hunan-amheuaeth yn arwain at ymholi, lle daw o ymgais i fod yn wylaidd, o awydd i ddysgu a bod yn agored i bopeth sy'n digwydd. Lle mae'n eich arwain i gwestiynu'ch fersiwn eich hun o'r gwir a myfyrio am brofiadau eraill. Mae hunan-amheuaeth yn eich arwain chi, felly, at atebion creadigol, a mewnwelediadau, cysylltiadau a dysgu newydd.

Felly, fy nghais i yw, a allwch chi ddechrau gwerthfawrogi eich hunan-amheuaeth chi ac eraill? Y tro nesaf y byddwch yn clywed rhywun mewn grym yn dweud, ‘Dydw i ddim yn siŵr’, neu ‘dydw i ddim yn gwybod digon eto’, neu ‘mae angen mwy o amser arna ’i’, diolchwch am hynny. Peidiwch â beirniadu’r bregusrwydd hwnnw, peidiwch â mynnu sicrwydd lle mae cymhlethdod ac ansicrwydd. Cofiwch groesawu’r doethineb o beidio â gwybod, o hunan-amheuaeth.

A’r tro nesaf y byddwch chi’n amau eich hun a’ch gafael ar sefyllfa, diolchwch am hynny. Cofleidiwch y ‘ddim yn gwybod’. Mae'n iawn i wneud hynny. Pwy allwch chi eu holi? Beth arall allech chi ei ddarganfod? Beth yw barn eich cwsmeriaid neu'ch cydweithwyr? Mae eich hunan-amheuaeth yn gyfle i eraill eich addysgu a rhannu eu gwir.

Mae fy hunan-amheuaeth yn gallu fy nal yn ôl ar brydiau ac mae angen i mi feithrin fy hyder. Ond fy hunan-amheuaeth hefyd yw'r tanwydd i mi fod yn arweinydd gwell: un mwy ymchwilgar, mwy chwilfrydig, mwy cysylltiedig.

Yn wir, efallai mai'r hyn y mae eraill yn ei ystyried yn ‘ddiffygion’ yw eich pwerau chi mewn gwirionedd. Fe wnaeth un o fy hoff fenywod, ffrind prifysgol i mi, gyflwyno’r dyfyniad Leonard Cohen hwn i mi:

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in

Beth dwi’n ei ddysgu yw, efallai mai'r hyn dwi’n ei weld fel fy ‘ngwendid’ yw fy mhŵer i mewn gwirionedd. Gallai hynny fod yr un peth i chi hefyd.

Sharing and comments

Share this page

7 comments

  1. Comment by Rozanne Kidd posted on

    A fabulous share and great to hear a strong female leader embrace her flaws as encourages others to do the same. Thank you.
    Accept the lack of self confidence and fear of failure -and do it anyway!

    Reply
  2. Comment by Tola posted on

    What a great blog Emily and thanks for sharing. It is so reassuring to hear your description of self count, confidence and embracing your strengths. Thank you and Happy International Women's Day.

    Reply
  3. Comment by Richard Bridge posted on

    Emily, that is an extraordinary blog. So powerful and so true in so many ways. Embrace uncertainty and imperfection. And as I recall, the FSA is lucky to have you!

    Reply
  4. Comment by Beth de Gatacre posted on

    This is absolutely wonderful and such a refreshing shift from the usual narrative - so thank you.

    Reply
  5. Comment by Alison Baptiste posted on

    Emily - really well said - and I love the Leonard Cohen link - what a refreshing way to hear wise words!

    Reply
  6. Comment by Katie Macaulay posted on

    An excellent post - thoughtful, insightful and useful. I'd love to invite Emily on to The Internal Comms Podcast.

    Reply
  7. Comment by Virginia Lorenz Lorenz posted on

    Love this, thank you for sharing

    Reply

Leave a reply to Tola

Cancel reply

We only ask for your email address so we know you're a real person

By submitting a comment you understand it may be published on this public website. Please read our privacy notice to see how the GOV.UK blogging platform handles your information.