Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Barrister and businesswoman best known for turning around the chronically dysfunctional Lambeth Council.
On the island
Eight records
Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)Favourite
I recently saw Karine Bailey Rae in concert, and she's just a stunning performer... And she sang this song Kay Sarasara, which my mum used to play for me as a little girl, which was really none of us knows what the future is gonna be, so live your life, live every day.
This is a song that will remind me of growing up. And my sister, we shared a bedroom together in the for our first sixteen years of our lives, and she loved The Stones and The Beatles and Dylan, and I certainly love this particular track.
You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Loves You
Well, this is a real anthem for my mum. This is Diana Washington. We would play on, you know, the old record player, lots of music of Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday. But Diana Washington was somebody who never quite had the profile actually, even now, that some of those other great singers enjoy.
Oh gosh, well it's Bob Marley. Natural Mystic is a is this lovely track. There are very few musicians which one's sons like at the same way as you do, but Bob Marley is a sort of family hero figure and it's quite a spiritual song and so I think I'll listen to some Marley.
We're gonna hear Joan Sutherland just a soaring, soaring, soaring voice, and this is her singing from Norma Castadiva.
Well, this is a anthem to me and my women mates. Uh, you know and it is when the going gets tough. When the going gets tough, actually you go round to your friends and you put on your high heel shoes and you have a glass and you blast Tina Turner, simply the best.
Well, this is a a piece of music that I was introduced to actually by my husband, who has a real eclectic music taste. But it's Rai Kuja and Ali Fakaturi, and it's this great combination of African voice and electric guitar.
Jan Garbarek & The Hilliard Ensemble
Well, I think having some choral music and having a sense of one's own small part in this great universe of ours. And so uh it's Jan Garbreck and the Hilliard ensemble. So choral music with a wonderful saxophone.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:45How have you found [boardrooms] as environments to work in?
They've all had their unique and different challenges and I I still feel after all these years that women's voice, obviously not least in football, is still pretty rare. I think I have worked with some incredibly talented people however and you learn to navigate the politics across the boardroom table and that's what I've done wherever I have been.
Presenter asks
2:27Can you give me an illustration of the kind of thing where you thought this guy's just really not listening to me?
There probably have been too many instances of when you've sat round a table and you've made a comment and you realise that you've just been ignored. There were certainly in the world of football certain characters who would definitely ignore and not even listen to what you were saying. When you go into a boardroom as a woman, I think the big difference is that you always have to win the approval and respect of the people round that table. If you're a man, it's accorded to you automatically.
Presenter asks
5:49Do you think a sort of a lack of first hand experience ever makes you anxious about what you can bring to the boardroom table?
The keepsakes
The book
Jane Austen
I'm a bit of an insomniac, so I read about, I don't know, two or three books simultaneously. But I usually always have a classic by the bed. And so I'm going to ha have the book that I've probably now read a hundred and ten times, but can I can always reread. It will be Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.
The luxury
solar powered digital photograph album
I'm not allowed to take my spaniel above my little dog. No, no, no, no, no, no. Um I will take, therefore, a sort of solar powered digital photograph album. So and then I can look at all the pictures of all these wonderful people that I've known in my life.
Yes, it does. There's always that moment which is have I d have I just taken one step too far in my risk taking ambition. But what I always hold fast to is actually that there will be many experts around the table... It is about understanding how all of those bits fit together to make the overall project, whatever that project might be, work.
Presenter asks
15:09How come you left school with just two O levels?
I failed my 11 plus, you know, it was at that time in the education system... I just couldn't do those tests. And I suppose by that point I was already struggling with issues around my identity and I just found school difficult. You know, at that time there were n there were no other... kids from any other backgrounds but English backgrounds.
Presenter asks
15:42Were you treated differently [at school]?
Yes, I mean, I've I was a curiosity for some... it was a time where you would be called monkey and half breed and those sorts of names. And and I think at times, you know, as we know, children can be very cruel without realizing it. I think they thought it was a slight joke. They didn't realize how hurt it it made me feel. But it was a very lonely place. And I think that as a consequence, um, my educational performance suffered.
Presenter asks
26:13Why on earth did you decide to apply for the post [at Lambeth Council]?
Well, there's a there's a saying that it's better to live one day as a tiger than a hundred days as a sheep. At the time, there were many people who said, Don't go and do this, it will ruin your career.
“When you go into a boardroom as a woman, I think the big difference is that you always have to win the approval and respect of the people round that table. If you're a man, it's accorded to you automatically.”
“I've never wanted to be nice, because nice is about blending into the wallpaper. And I suppose because I was this young mixed race girl in a very white area, I couldn't blend in. And actually, I made the decision I am gonna just stand out more.”
“I don't believe in positive discrimination. What I believe is in ensuring that talent... be it black talent, female talent, has the opportunity to rise and achieve their potential.”