By Tim Howard, MBA2020
When I think of my experience at London Business School, one of the most appropriate adjectives that stands out is ‘progressive’. Whether speaking with my classmates, who are change-agents in their respective fields, or taking advantage of my professor’s office hours to learn about upcoming research projects that inevitably have a global impact, I rarely walk away without feeling both challenged and inspired.
My perspective is constantly evolving; the more involved I get on campus, the greater the opportunity to be exposed to diverse thinking. And this is a good thing – it’s why I chose to do my MBA, and why I chose London Business School. I knew that in order to develop my critical thinking, and become a better version of myself, I would need to not only surround myself with people who were world-class, but also people who thought differently.
The opportunities to get involved in programmes, projects or initiatives seem endless, and so it comes down to consciously choosing where to spend your time. As part of my self-development at LBS, I’ve come to learn that equality is one of the things that is important to me, and so I wanted to find ways in which I could get involved to help create a more level playing field. Having been exposed to some of Dr. Randall Peterson’s research, I was intrigued by gender inequality in the workplace, and wanted to get involved to help address this.
It didn’t take long to realise that the opportunity really lay within the annual Women in Business (WiB) conference, which this year seeks to directly address the issue, with topics ranging from The Modern Household to The Economic Advantages of Inclusion. My role is to work with the conference chair, and to help organise the back-end logistics. This has given me ample opportunity to learn about stakeholder management, influencing people in order to obtain buy-in, and also working across various groups, both internal and external, in order to build a comprehensive programme that allows attendees to benefit from the insights provided by both men and women in leadership positions. The goal is to have people walking away from the conference not only thinking differently about how gender equality in the workplace is defined, but also equipped with a set of tools that will enable each person to take action, and to make an impact with his or her environment.
Getting involved in a large conference, such as this one, has given me a new perspective to this issue that I wasn’t fully aware of. And this is the reason that I wish to get more involved in projects and programmes that are unfamiliar to me – I want to walk away with something that challenges my preconceived notions, while also inspired to make a difference.