WIPM: two inspirational leaders give their advice. Be focused and play to your strengths!

The APM Women in Project Management 2024 conference explored what makes for great leadership. What better way to understand what it takes than to hear it first hand from those who have risen to the top? Enter Dr Yvonne Thompson CBE DL, APM’s President and a pioneering woman in business; and closing keynote speaker Maggie Alphonsi MBE, an England World Rugby Cup winner. Here are some of the highlights of their inspiring presentations.

A zigzag career

Thompson’s career has not followed a straight line: “It's been a bit like steering a ship -you don't go in a straight line; you weave your way across from here to get to the other side. Being a woman of colour and a single parent, it hasn't been easy - my trajectory is not what many people thought it would be.”

Thompson came to the UK from Guyana when she was six years old. “That was the start of me building my resilience,” she explained, “because you have to have that to stay the course.”

Spending her career leading on diversity and inclusivity, she was asked what makes for a strong inclusive working environment? “Everybody has access to resources, opportunities, and finance at the same level that everybody else has it. More and more of us need to understand everybody else's culture, because to be inclusive we have to understand each other,” she said.

Focus, focus, focus

What advice would she give to women who want to get ahead in their project careers? “One of the things I always say is to find your focus - and focus on your focus. You need to know where you're going. I knew I was going to the top, but I didn't know how I was going to get there. So, you really need to decide what it is you want to be, what you want to do, and don't be deterred,” she advised.

And, what’s the secret to her success? “It's about believing in yourself. If you want to succeed, you have to have the self-confidence to believe in yourself, because if you don't, you won't persuade anybody else to believe in you.”

Creating a winning mindset

Maggie Alphonsi MBE, an England Rugby World Cup winner, gave the closing keynote. The first thing she did was to ask the audience to consider what drives them to be successful. “Why do you do what you do? What keeps you striving to move forward to be the best version of yourself? It's important that we step out of that comfort zone and stretch and challenge ourselves, and grow as a result,” she said.

She explained that when she works with leaders, they often tell her about their weaknesses and all the things they need to improve about themselves and the areas they are struggling in. “I always say to them that there are no such things as weaknesses, only underdone strengths,” she said. You need to focus on your strengths and think about what makes you impressive.

“I think it's really great when you know what your strengths are”, she said, telling everyone in the audience to share what they thought their three most impressive strengths are with the person next to them. “When you hear your strengths being set out, it makes you feel it, believe it, back it, and be it,” she explained.

Leadership is bigger than you

But that’s not enough. “As leaders, how do we think about ensuring that others know their strengths, that they hear it, and that they learn to lead with their strengths?”, she asked. “As a leader, you do not want the people who you lead or those who follow you to depend on you. You need to make them leaders too,” she said.

Alphonsi became the first ever female ambassador for a men’s sport, when in 2015, she won that position for the England men’s world cup rugby team that year. “That was the first time I realised what visible leadership was because I was the first woman to do that, and I was the first person of colour. People were like, what does a woman know about men's rugby? What does a woman of colour know about men's rugby? And I realised that it wasn't about me – it was about leadership. Leadership is bigger than you. It's not about you, it's about those around you. It's about being a visible role model so others can see you and think that they can follow you or exceed you,” she explained.

“Be the change you hope to see in the world. Whatever change you want to create, bring others along with you.” What a way to end such an inspirational day.