Lady Michelle Mone OBE her Fight to the Top

I had high hopes for Michelle Mone's presentation on "her fight to the top" last night, which was hosted by the Evening Standard's Business Connection community in central London. I find personal business stories of success fascinating and extremely riveting particular when achieved through adversity. I think storytelling is a great way to learn from others experiences and can be a great motivator. So that's why whenever possible I seek out these events as a way of learning and expanding my business knowledge.

I must admit I was disappointed with Mone's presentation style considering she was leading Ultimo until recently I would have expected a more polished style of presenting. She jumped around with her career journey and added rather odd examples from nowhere to try to maintain audience interest and build a rapport. Openly admitting she was no public speaker is definitely a no no and calling out no photos to the paid photographer during her presentation was a big mistake on her part. I found this exchange in front of an audience of 500+ strong business people rather awkward, demeaning and very pre-Madonna behaviour. My first thought and reaction to this crass way of handling the event photographer was "you can take the girl out of the East End, but you can't take the East End out of the girl". Mone needs to work on her interpersonal skills and remember she is no longer a business owner she works for the government and is expected to behave in a more dignified way. I hope she apologises to the photographer! Anyway, back to her career story and learnings.

Mone's Business Background

In her own words, her "fight to the top" has been incredible from a poverty stricken start in life in the East End of Glasgow, Scotland to starting her own paper round business at the age of 10 to leaving the Scottish education system with no qualifications at 15 years old. Her early years were full of struggles. She started her adult career modelling and that's where she met her (ex)husband and fell pregnant for the first time at the age of 18. She quickly found success working hard in a corporate sales role at Labatt's until she was made redundant at the age of 27. This is when her entrepreneur nature sprung to life again founding Ultimo, it took many years to make it and during this time she experienced several years of financial and personal turmoil. There is no doubt that Mone is a success at selling and her opportunistic nature saw her grow Ultimo into a lingerie empire or in her words a "bra company".

Her new status of becoming Baroness of Mayfair is incredible looking back at her humble beginnings. Recently being appointed as David Cameron's new business Tsar is in fact, a stroke of genius on the conservative's part. Partnering with a self-publicist and media hungry business woman and piggybacking on her need to be constantly in the media is a risky but shrewd political strategy. Using her to influence the Scottish vote to maintain the union and then utilising her to make the party more attractive to middle England by promoting new business development in deprived areas of Britain is an amazing spin. Personally I can think of better people placed to spearhead business development in this digital age for the UK, but what Mone lacks in education and knowledge she definitely makes up for in trying to be a success. Her fear of failure is stronger than her desire to achieve so whatever it takes she'll try to make her latest role a success for fear of landing on her face. Let's see how this pans out over the coming months and what her business report contains.

Mone's Business Advice Tips

Here are some of her business tips gathered from her speech and how I've interpreted them:

1. Work hard and ask questions. Be authentic.
2. Write down what you need to achieve every day personally and professionally. Be organised. 
3. Think big - you can do it, it is all in the mind. Be focused.
4. Look out for opportunities as they are not going to come to you. Reach out to people. Be confident.
5. With less money the more creative you will be. Be creative.
6. Even in the darkest hours never let go of hope. There is always something to keep the fight going. Be positive.
7. Hold an innovation day once a week. Crazy ideas do turn into business opportunities. Be innovative.
8. No one is more passion than you about your business. Once you work out the PR formula maximise this. Be opportunistic.
9. A healthy mind and a healthy body equate to a healthy business. Be healthy.
10. Don't waste your life being bitter. Money won't make you happy it supports your lifestyle find out what makes you happy. Be happy.
11. Get outside of comfort zone. Fear is a good driver to build your business. Be motivated.
12. Don't be scared of anyone. Remember everyone goes to the toilet the same way. Be courageous.

Finally, my key takeaway from her talk last night was "work hard, play hard and give something back". Whether you're a fan of Michelle Mone or not this is definitely sound advice on how to conduct your life. 

I'd be interested to hear your comments about this post, so please feel free to add your views and any business tips you may have. Many thanks!

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