The 2019 edition of our annual conference will take place at the Business Design Centre in London on 21 November, and will focus on Leading Outside the Ordinary. The full programme is available on the website, and in this blog series, you will get the know our speakers a little bit better.
Stephanie Maurel is the CEO of Concordia. At the conference, she will take part in a panel to discuss ethical entrepreneurialism.
What’s your favourite thing about working in the social sector?
The people and the passion are my favourite things about working in the social sector. People love what they are doing and have the most amazing stories to tell, both terribly sad and amazingly uplifting. Knowing you get to have an impact on lives and communities and the next generation of stories that will be told is a huge driver.
What does leading outside the ordinary mean to you?
Leading outside the ordinary means always going the extra mile, always asking why and always putting the person first. We get nowhere if we don’t take an interest in the people around us and get to know their hopes, wants and fears, we need to use our networks, use the social links we have and always drive to make sure we leave whatever we touch better than when we arrived.
What’s the best professional advice you’ve been given?
There is a great mental wellbeing poster by Monzo which starts that ‘it is okay to be wrong, cry, say you don’t know. Have a tough day. Ask for help. Fail. Take a mental health day. Have a different opinion. Take a break when you need it’. For me, the best advice is hidden in that poster. It is okay to be me, and that I as a leader is a great person to be. We won’t get anywhere without being authentic, passionate and making sure that we are okay too.
What’s your favourite thing to do for your own wellbeing?
I’d love to say yoga or Pilates or mindfulness but I haven’t fitted them into my life…yet! I love podcasts and keeping up with current affairs and listening to comedy shows; if I can do this whilst outdoors and wandering around woodlands and nature all the better.
Why do you think it’s important to attend networking events?
People make the world go round, people make a difference and the impact that my charity is driving to have is on people. Nothing happens without people helping each other out in a big or small way – networking is the key that unlocks all of the ideas and the possibilities. Everyone is interesting and everyone is fascinating, including me and the people in the networking rooms we enter whether they be real or virtual. Why wouldn’t we want to talk to a load of people about what we love and what we do and see if together we can make things better, bigger or brighter?
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