Fiona Hathorn: “Merit is in the eye of the beholder”

Fiona Hathorn is the CEO of Women on Boards UK, an organisation which helps people achieve success at leadership level. With a network of 30,000 members, the organisation has helped more than 1,800 people onto boards. Her own board positions include a role as non-executive director at Spktral, a technology company which helps organisations to simplify the gender pay gap reporting process. Fiona says she charts a great deal of her success down to her parents. Because her father’s mother was the main breadwinner, he raised Fiona without the usual biases that suggest men should earn more and achieve higher positions than women. She’s carried this confidence and belief with her throughout her life, and wants others to know there’s no limit to their abilities by removing arbitrary barriers. Inspired and motivational, Fiona explores the power of community support in achieving social mobility, challenges the concept of meritocracy, and explains the importance of role models. In this conversation she empowers you to open your mind to a role in the boardroom, a place where you can make real change in an organisation, by setting its culture, strategic vision and environmental policies.

Your host is Tunde Banjoko OBE, founder of Making The Leap.