The career domino effect

Hear from Finding Your Voice 2022 winner, Harriet Shepherd, about the skills she gained, the relationships she solidified and how the workshop was a springboard for her career development.

How was your experience participating in the Finding Your Voice workshop in 2022 and what valuable skills did you learn that have aided you in your career since?

When we [the Finding Your Voice contestants] went into it, I literally had no idea what to expect. We weren't really sure how it was going to go down and what we were going to learn.

But what I did know was we were going to write the speech there. And I think a lot of public speaking stuff that you get offered is all about the presentation itself, not the actual writing of the content.

That side of it made it a lot more valuable as well, that you were going from nothing, not even knowing what topic you were going to talk about right through to writing it, how to structure it through to then the actual presenting.

So, to say that we did that in what was it like three hours or something was unbelievable.

The whole process of developing it, even though it was only a two-minute bit at the end, it's kind of like a condensed start to finish putting a presentation together, which I just found so valuable.

When we went in, Chimmey and I started talking about a topic that we had no intention of talking about. Originally, we were going in there with something quite safe and then deciding to change our mind at the last minute, which was, you know, testament to Alison and her process.

I was sort of starting to think about talking about things that were slightly more emotional or slightly deeper than our kind of surface level subject matter areas that we know about.

That whole process of putting yourself out of your comfort zone, writing the content and then delivering it as well to a group of people was just so nice.

But the biggest thing about it was the group of people that we were there with felt so psychologically safe, everyone just had such respect for each other, was so supportive and it felt like a really comfortable environment to put yourself out there, which is amazing.

Whereas usually your first couple of times public speaking are in daunting situations.

It just felt really good to put yourself out there and do something pretty exciting, and then go away and feel the adrenaline and know that you've kind of taken a step forward.

As one of the winners of The Finding Your Voice workshop in 2022, you were invited to IMpower in Monaco and participated in the panel discussion ‘If I were a CEO…’. How was that experience and what were your main takeaways from the event?

The experience was amazing. It was such an amazing event, such an amazing place. When I got there it was kind of, again, you don't know what to expect. I thought it was quite going to be quite a formal conference, turn up to the event and go away having learned stuff.

Whereas, actually, through the whole experience I felt like we developed really strong connections with people, mentors, relationships in the industry. And all of the networking events and drinks evenings just solidified that, you've got a chance to talk to people as humans as well as subject-matter experts, which I just found so, so valuable.

And I still stay connected to people that I've met and are mentored by a couple of them as well. And so, through the whole process, and even now I'm still reaping the benefits of those sessions. In terms of the actual panel discussion, I found it so great to be part of.

…even now I'm still reaping the benefits of those sessions.

We did it with the other contestants as well who were on the Find Your Voice panel and we all kind of spoke about different things that we were passionate about, but there was a thread all the way through. The facilitator was amazing.

So as a first panel experience, again we were guided through it. It felt really, really safe to talk about what you wanted to talk about. The audience participation was great as well. We had quite a lot of questions and quite a lot of people there. So, it was just, it was a really nice experience. And I found there were a couple of CEOs in the audience as well and their take on what we were saying, and their questions were really fascinating.

So just the exposure, the development, putting yourself out there again and working through the adrenaline and then coming out the other side with so many connections and relationships that you've built over that time was just incredible.

Since participating in the Voice and attending IMpower, what has happened in your career in the

year since?

Well, I've moved jobs, I've had a promotion, all of those kinds of things. I think the skills that I've developed there, the confidence that it gave me has started to build and I kind of see that as a bit of a catalyst for things starting to change.

It's been quite a big period of change over the last year. I've put myself out there more to speak more, which has meant that I've actually been recognised and seen more, which means that I've then got opportunities in different things.

I think it does become a bit of a domino effect without you even realising.

If I were to pick the point in time that it all started to go and skyrocket, that would be the event [IMpower]. And I think even though I don't do much public speaking now, there was a period of a year where I did quite a lot on the back of the event. I'm keen not to lose that now and let the confidence kind of waver. But that’s it, once you start and you keep going, I found myself after this [workshop] just saying yes to anything that came through that I was nervous about because of the benefit that I saw last time. It just grew and grew and it has gone really well.

But yeah, it's, I think, like I said, I can't reiterate enough the confidence, realising also that people in the industry are human through being at that event. I'm feeling comfortable enough to talk to people who are really senior in the industry and get their point of view and learn and keep developing.

Why do you think initiatives like the Finding Your Voice workshop, why are they important for the wealth and investment management industry?

I think there's two sides to it. One side is the fact that it's predominantly focused through the women in asset servicing. That being the channel that I went through, so it was purely around giving women a voice as well. And that channel was a really positive channel because the representation across the industry is notoriously bad, but it's getting better.

But equally as it gets better, we need to make sure that women are feeling confident enough to put themselves in those situations. And at conferences I've been at in the past, and this isn't a negative comment against men in the slightest, it's just that there's a fewer people like me and therefore, you don't put yourself out there as easily.

We need to make sure that women are feeling confident enough to put themselves in those situations.

Women don't put themselves out there as easily, they kind of want to know that they're going be great before they'll do something. And I think this workshop tried to change that thinking and say you know what, we'll give you the tools but then just say yes and just put yourself out there and start to develop.

I think the kind of gender split there was really important, but then also just kind of the session itself just gives you so much from relationships, confidence, all of that kind of thing that you can then take forward into other aspects of work as well. I think that split was really important for two very different reasons.

What advice do you have to someone who is considering applying for The Find Your Voice workshop this year?

“Do it.”

I think do it, but then totally throw yourself into it and be prepared to talk about anything that comes to you on the day. I think the more that you put yourself out there and talk about something niche or talk about something kind of personal, things that you like outside of work, anything, you'll get much more out of it than if you stick to your subject matter area. You get to make that shift and just fully embrace the day and Alison's process and you'll get a lot out of it at the end for sure.