Success Redefined - An Interview with Karen Gill

Karen Gill is the co-founder of everywoman, which is now in its 24th year. everywoman is a global membership organisation that champions the advancement of women. She is an advocate of ensuring that women in the workplace, and in enterprise, are given the skills, confidence, support and opportunities to realise their potential. Prior to founding everywoman, Karen had an international career working as Vice President Sales EMEA for InterContinental Hotels but after the birth of her son, she realised international travel and raising a child did not work for her. After she left her role, she went on to meet many other women that were having similar struggles and so the everywoman community was started. A decade later, both Karen, and her co-founder Max, were awarded MBEs in 2009, in recognition of their services to women’s enterprise, and in 2017 the Government’s Women’s Business Council recognised their outstanding commitment to the advancement of women in business. Here, she shares her journey with us.

When you were a child, did you know what you wanted to be when you grew up?

No, not really. I was always a very organised little girl, I had the post office set and the teacher's uniform and I think at some point I thought I'd like to be a teacher. The world was very small then and in terms of role models there wasn't really anything that I aspired to be outside of what I saw. My mum was a school secretary, my aunts were nurses and teachers and so you only really knew what you saw around you.

And do you remember having any idea about what success meant, growing up?

Yes, my mum, she was a school secretary to begin with, but she started her own business when I was 13, with her friend. They started a nursing agency together, which became very successful.  She was always a very hardworking, ambitious woman. My father was an engineer, having studied at night school, they were always pushing to do better and they wanted my sister and I to get a good education and have a great life. So that's what success looked like for me, working hard.

Has that idea of success changed over the years?

I think success is different for different people. I don't think there is an overarching definition of success that everybody should be striving for. Everybody has their own version of success, depending on what they're passionate about and what they're motivated by. For me, success is to be really engaged in the world, to be working with people and to be having some form of impact on others lives.

What's the best career decision you've ever made?

The best career decision I ever made, was probably moving back from Australia to live back in the UK. I went to Australia when I was travelling in my early 20s and that's where I managed to land the job at InterContinental Hotels and they were an amazing company to work for, in terms of investment in people. They then gave me the opportunity to come back to the UK and work, where the head office was, and so I think that was probably the best decision I made. It was nice to be home.

What do you think is the biggest challenge facing women in the workplace, when it comes to success?

I think the biggest challenge, that I still see, is around early motherhood. And it's not that organisations aren't putting things in place to make that better. We now have flexible working and of course remote or hybrid working and all of those things. It's just hard. It's hard from a psychological point of view. Especially when you have your first child and you're adjusting to such a lifestyle difference, and you still want to push and work and be engaged 100%.  I see young women who really struggle with this.

How do you feel about the phrase “having it all”, what does that mean to you?

To me, having it all is related to health and well-being. Well-being is becoming such a focus now, which is great because it was always very much swept under the rug. 20 years ago it was more about “you must get up, get on with it”. So having it all is to me is about having a real sense of well-being.

How does happiness play a part in success for you?

It’s everything really, isn't it. And it's just knowing the things that you do that make you happy. Again, it's different things for different people but I don't think you can be successful without being happy.

And what makes you happy?

It's really feeling engaged with people. The feedback from people that come and say, “Oh, we went to one of your events, it was amazing, it made me really think about what I'm doing” or “I've done this to start my business” or “I've had that conversation that I should have had with my boss.” When you get feedback that you've done something that's really impacted another person, from a positive perspective, that’s really satisfying.

How do you handle stress or pressure?

Fairly well I think, I like to walk, so long walks help my mind unravel. One of the things that I’m very fortunate to have in my life, and people are quite amazed about this, is that Max (my business partner) have worked together for 24 years, and we have probably only had cross words, or not even cross words, disagreements, about things maybe twice in 24 years. So, we just really support each other. I see business owners and people that work on their own where they don't have that partnership and their stress is a lot more difficult. I think I'm able to cope with stress more easily because I have such an amazing business partner to share the load with.

Who has helped or influenced you most along your career journey?

Oh, hundreds. It's just too difficult to choose. When I was very young, when I started at InterContinental and I got promoted very quickly, I had a wonderful support network of senior people that mentored and sponsored me and that is what we do now at everywoman. We have got partners in corporate companies like Accenture and NatWest Bank, that we've worked with for 20+ years and the people have been very supportive to Max and I, personally, but also to the business. So, we've been so lucky that we've had so many people that we've had access to, that have influenced and supported us. We've got a network of 50,000 people and whilst many of those are members and we're helping them, we've got a massive network of stakeholders that are really invested in our joint purpose.

What's your biggest goal for this year?

Our biggest goal for this year is to expand the learning and development portfolio of our business and get more organisations to really invest in their young women and give them the support they need. Our sweet spot is getting middle managers to develop a leadership mindset and supporting them through the challenges at that time. That is the most critical time and so our goal for this year is to really get out to as many companies as we can with programmes that we know have significant impact. We've got this great ‘Immersive Leadership Programme’ which is a seven month programme, made up of 90 minute (digital) workshops, run every month, interspersed with group coaching.  It is achieving significant success, as companies are seeing their future female talent become leadership ready faster and more confident in their abilities. By the end of the programme, they are so much stronger and have dealt with their ‘limiting self-beliefs’ and their ambition has grown. So that's our goal for this year.

If you could give your 15 year old self some advice, what would it be?

I think it would be to make sure that you surround yourself with the most positive, well-adjusted and happy people you can find.  And when you come across people that aren't that way, you avoid them.

Not that you can't help people, but that actually you really need to be with people that are going to help you be positive and have that positive mindset.

And finally, if you had to share one “secret to success”, what would it be?

The secret to success, I think that's it. I think it’s surrounding yourself with positive people because the more people that you can be around that are successful and positive, the more likely you will be too.

If you’d like to find out more about Karen’s work please visit her website at Home - EVERYWOMAN or connect with her on LinkedIn.