Better Under Pressure

Fran Boorman is an award-winning business leader, having built and exerted a multi-million-pound turnover business while bringing up two young children. Subsequently, Fran launched groundbreaking Goal 17, a mentor training company known for innovative social impact programs. She was voted the UK's number 1 female business influencer by Global Woman and is featured in Forbes and on the BBC.  Her businesses now partner with some of the biggest global sporting brands, including premier league football clubs and premiership rugby clubs. In addition, she is a non-executive director of several high growth businesses and is currently creating an exciting new technology platform to bring millions of people together in meaningful mentoring partnerships to improve equality.   In our conversation, she reveals how she borrows from the lesson she learnt as a semi-professional skier, the importance of surrounding yourself with people who are limitless and how the word "Yes" forced her to become comfortable with being uncomfortable.

In this episode of Better Under Pressure, I sit down with Alan Jones, Head Teacher at Fulham Cross Academy in West London. Alan has over 20 years of experience as a teacher, and the last sixteen he's spent as a school leader.   I had the pleasure to work with Alan just before the pandemic when he was working at Fulham Cross Girls School, where he invited us to work with the girls on supporting them as they prepared to deal with the pressure of exams. In our conversation, he talks about the difference between boys' and girls' reactions to dealing with the pressure of exams, anticipating Ofsted and the inexplicable power of an orange tie.

On this episode of Better Under Pressure, I am joined by Nilema Bhakta-Jones, Group General Counsel for Kantar, the world's leading data, insights and consulting company. Nilema and I first crossed paths at the Courageous Leadership event she founded to fund an education project run by the charity Plan International to continue the education of disadvantaged girls in Zimbabwe, where she was born. She is a qualified Barrister and, in 2020, was named one of the 100 Women to Watch by Cranfield University. During our chat, she talks about navigating pressure when it feels deeply personal, the strength that she gains from connecting to family legacy and sacrifice, and how the image of a lioness got her through a moment of immense pressure.

In the second episode of "Better Under Pressure", I am joined by Anabel Hoult, CEO of Which?, the UK's most prominent consumer rights organisation. Her experience as a leader across multiple industries, including retail, charity, consumer services and fintech, makes her a natural choice as a guest to speak about pressure and how she handles it. During our time together, she shares the power of a pen and a piece of paper, what her conversations with herself look like as she heads into high challenge situations, and what it was like to be the first Head Girl in a boys' boarding school.

In this first episode, I’m delighted to be talking with Paula MacKenzie, Managing Director of KFC UK & Ireland, responsible for over 28,000 team members, 960 restaurants and 35 franchisees. She has over 20 years experience in the food and drink industry. In our conversation, she shares what she means by ‘reversing out of her day’ and how she managed the pressure moment of speaking to an audience that was ‘anti the fast-food’ industry.