OxWIB

What do you give a f**k about? Richard Allestree, in 1673, wrote that 'There is no sound more odious to the ears of God than an oath in the mouth of a woman'. He would not have liked this leadership workshop, since it involved lots of women and lots of swearing. He probably would not have enjoyed the workshop per se, since it was all about empowering women - and empower it did! Ella took the group through a series of exercises designed to help us recognise what we cared about, what we wanted, and how to go about achieving those things. What do you care about? It's quite a stark question. Do you care about looking good? Looking like you know what you're doing? Being considered a nice person?

Julie Brown has been judged to be too nice, too soft, too aggressive, and not aggressive enough. Such is the difficulty of being a woman in business. As the COO and CFO of Burberry, with a wealth of experience in pharmaceutical companies, Julie Brown should simply be judged to be inspirational. Julie's talk emphasised that we should have respect for ourselves in our careers, from choosing the right company to setting boundaries for our work-life balance. Julie's experience in the pharmaceutical industry is illustrative. Having trained as an accountant, she had a career plan to stay with a big pharmaceutical company, ICI, for 2 years, then move to a smaller company to have a great impact. How