Why I'm no longer talking to women about equality*

You can thank the weather. I had no intention of writing a column this week as the sun was supposed to make an appearance and my plan was to sit in the garden reading. All day. Apart from the bit of the day where I have to walk the dog. And prepare dinner. And play scrabble.

As it is, it's cloudy, so here goes. No prep has been done so this will be a proper stream of consciousness. Like Virginia Woolf writing Mrs Dalloway except I haven't been to buy any flowers.

Gentlemen, I'm talking to you

As you may know, my business, the Reignite Academy, is chiefly concerned with improving opportunities for women. Specifically women working in law, but that's by the by. I've been hard at work designing a series of "Master Classes" on various topics related to the subject, aimed, obviously, at women.

Master Class: (n). a high-quality and relatively brief learning experience jam-packed with in-depth knowledge

I realised this week that I've been getting it all wrong.

My elevator pitch

Let me digress for a moment. On Thursday, Tanja, my business partner and I went to a business meeting in a swanky office in the City. The meeting was held in offices on the top floor of a sky scraper, which meant a trip in the lift once it was over.

Two men got in the lift. It's a shared building so I have no idea who they worked for but they definitely looked quite at home in the building. They were "professionals".

Tanja and I had both managed to wear black and white that day. As they entered the lift the two men looked us both up and down and one decided to comment on how nice it was that we'd made an effort to match, or something along those lines and the two of them giggled/sniggered for the rest of the journey down. They were still giggling as they made their way across the square for lunch.

No. Not appropriate. Granted, they didn't "touch our bottoms" (as the now ex Chairman of Tesco allegedly did at a CBI dinner) and on the face of it commenting on what someone is wearing isn't offensive and yet, it is. I think it's what people who know about these things would call a "micro aggression". I know a lot of senior women in business and I can't imagine ANY of them getting into a lift with two men they'd never met before and making a "joke" about what they were wearing.

I'm pretty sure the men in question would be shocked to hear that we found their remarks offensive and wouldn't think they'd done anything wrong.

Which is why, from now on, I'm not going to be talking only to women about equality, we need to make sure that men are in the room having the same conversation.

Dual Career Couples

One of our first Master Classes is going to be on the topic of "Dual Career Couples", drawing in part on the work of Jennifer Petriglieri and also hearing from people who've made this particular conundrum work.

I have to say, I'm mighty relieved that I had this particular revelation now. Can you imagine running a session on how "dual career couples" can make it work with only one half in the room? It would be as daft as ... well let me see ....

Chancellor and Water Cooler Moments

Last week, Jeremy Hunt went to suck up to the British Chambers of Commerce and thought it would be a good idea to show that he was "on their side". Which can be the only possible explanation for him making a speech that said most people should be "back in the office" full time because they needed those "water cooler moments" to generate creative ideas.

He clearly hadn't consulted with Mel Stride, his fellow MP and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions who is pushing to get more of those who have left the workforce back to work. Or academics like Cal Newport who have done a lot of work on how creativity requires "Deep Work". Or anyone who knows anything about the thousands of people with (often hidden) disabilities who could work if only an employer let them do so on reduced hours and at home.

I was cross about it, shared my opinions here on LinkedIn and lo and behold lots of people seem to agree with me.

Home Secretary and the Rule of Law

Here's another one for you. Not only does she regularly incite racial hatred, our current Home Secretary was caught speeding and broke the rules by asking civil servants to fix her up with a one to one speed awareness course. Allegedly.

Business Secretary and Just In Time Manufacturing

As I'm sure you clever people know, "Just In Time" manufacturing was a management philosophy first deployed by the Japanese car industry in the 1970s, the idea being that you'd build things to meet customer demand right on time, in the right quantity, no waste etc. Product would be ready right when you needed it.

Which is not what can be said for the Government's approach to industrial strategy.

I'm not an expert but I think the semi conductor industry first got going in the sixties and probably went into overdrive in the nineties when chips were starting to be in everything.

So can someone explain to me why it took until this week (May, 2023) for them to roll out the UK's semi-conductor strategy?

At this rate they'll be unveiling the next big thing, like, say, the strategy for Electric Vehicle battery manufacturing some time in 2050.

Here's what Jeremy Hunt had to say:

"Watch this space because we are very focussed on making sure that the UK gets EV battery manufacturing capacity,"

Reassured?

Near Catastrophic Injury

I walked to the shops this morning. The Hackney Half Marathon was in full swing. The race went over a crossing that was between my and the fish shop. I had to take my life in my hands, look for a gap and dash across the flow of runners to make it there. And the same on the way back.

I risked a near catastrophic injury.

It never happened. I lived to tell the tale.

Ready for Summer

After our lift encounter, Tanja and I decided to head to a water cooler to do some strategic planning. We couldn't find anywhere with a water cooler, but we did find a roof top with something more appropriate. And believe it or not we had a very good strategic planning session.

Do great work for great clients with great women. And men. Essentially.

I've also overcome the annual "Do I need some white jeans?" question (the answer is always No - I do not have the legs for white jeans and I'm not entirely sure that white jeans are ever the right answer).

Instead I've bought some off-white cargo pants. Very pleased I am with them too. Perfect for a London summer where the sun still seems to be in hiding.

I'm watching: Steeltown Murders. If ever there was a case for Levelling Up. It's set half in the 1970s and half in the 1990s and pretty much nothing has changed, which makes it quite hard to follow, especially when the cop from Life on Mars (1970s) is the cop in the 1990s version. And the guy who goes on to murder a child in Broadchurch is married to the friend of the victims.

I'm reading: Forbidden Notebook by Alba De Cespedes. It's supposed to be "A captivating feminist classic .... a jewel of Italian literature." It's non fiction though and Im not great at non-fiction. I'll let you know

I'm not reading and never have: Martin Amis. Tried, didn't like, don't get the fuss.

I have read and would recommend: His stepmother, Elizabeth Jane Howard, the Cazalet Chronicles. Understated, underrated masterpieces in my humble opinion.

That's it. I'm off to put on my cargos and partake in an Aperol with my friend Erin who is recovering from the trauma of an incident involving a wood pigeon and her English Bull Terrier. Now that, my friends, was a very REAL catastrophic incident.

*With acknowledgement to Reni Eddo-Lodge, author of Why I'm no longer talking to white people about race and whose work is far more serious and important than this little blog..

PS We're up to 6,903 subscribers to this little ditty. I have no idea where they (you) all come from, why they are here and why only a fraction seem to actually view the message itself from one week to the next. I regularly find myself bumping into someone I've never met before who claims to be a regular reader. It must be true because it's not as though I introduce myself with "Hello, I'm Lisa, the author of the famous blog That was the week that ....". And in any event, it's not the sort of thing you'd make up. Or invent. Like telling the doctor you drink 14 units of alcohol a week.

Anyhow, the point is, wouldn't it be nice to get to 7,000. I don't know why, exactly. It's not as if anyone pays, and I still don't have a national newspaper knocking on the door to offer me a regular column (not sure they could afford me TBH). But it would be nice. So tell your friends. Though perhaps not if they are big Suella or Jeremy fans.