Global Schools Conference - National Council of Young Women

The National Council of Young Women is the junior section of the National Council of Women GB - an organisation that highlights women's issues, researches how to improve them, and lobbies the government to implement positive change.

Pau (UVI) told us about a recent conference our group attended...

"The National Council of Young Women (NCYW) group was delighted to attend the Global Schools Conference “Inspiring Future Female Leaders” from Benenden School.

Inspirational talks were given by HRH Princess Basma bint Talal of Jordan (leading figure in humanitarian causes), Amber Atherton (entrepreneur and investor), Georgina Seccombe MBE (British Olympian), Dr Amy Jadesimi (International businesswoman, promoter of women's rights and sustainable industry), and Dame Didi Wong (entrepreneur, movie producer, and financier).

We gained leadership strategies from each speaker, especially when listening to Baroness Manningham-Buller, a former Director-General of M15 and former Chair of the Wellcome Trust. Although she stated that there are no martinis or Aston Martins in MI5, she said one must constantly challenge how you are doing things, don’t be afraid to change things and turn your weaknesses into strengths.

HRH Princess Royal spoke about leadership in the public eye, and warns against living your life on social media, but to learn to trust those you work with so that in turn they will trust you when difficult decisions have to be made.

The top tips that I would take are to “observe leaders and see what you can learn from them”, take the best ideas, add them to your own, and become the leader of what you want to be with confidence.

There was so much information gained, we will make an assembly presentation that will be useful for everyone."