The Secret Skill We Should All Be Talking About

Show notes

We’ve seen a much-needed increase in strong, successful women in business over the past few decades, but given the current momentum now is not the time to stop pushing for progress.

This week on The Company Doctor, we’ve got the wonderful Dr Selina Neri, who for over 26 years has worked in executive management in the tech industry, and is now Dean of Hult International Business School.

It’s only fitting that such an inspiring woman with a global business background should join us to share her journey, and her invaluable advice on accelerating your business career, staying hungry for success, and being fearless.

Key takeaways from this episode:

Be fearless

To become a diamond, be willing to get ‘cut’

Stay driven and be hungry

Quotes & Highlights

“I think what makes me and what I'm known for is personality, passion, and competence. I could add a fourth one, which is one of my favourite English words, and that's grit. Those four attributes, I think, make me who I am, and also map out what I've become given my origins.” - 2:10 - Dr Selina Neri

“What pleases me is the fact that there is momentum that we’ve never had before. This momentum is a combination of women who have started to be vocal about what they are doing, what they want, what they deserve, and there's a conscience that we didn't have before.” - 5:55 - Dr Selina Neri

“Everybody wants to be a diamond, but not everybody's willing to be cut, and if we want to be diamonds, we need to be willing to be cut. That part of the process, to just be cut and get up and get on with it.” - 7:25 - Dr Selina Neri

“There was this expectation from the companies I worked for that I’d always be willing to go the extra mile. Being single doesn't mean you have no life, it simply is a different setup of a life, right?” - 11:15 - Dr Selina Neri

“There has to be an incredible amount of self-awareness. We need to know ourselves at any point in time in life, and what we bring to the table. At a young age, we can’t bring 20 years’ experience but we bring energy, competence, attitude, and appetite. We bring what we call coachability, which is the willingness and ability to learn.” - 14:20 - Dr Selina Neri

“We need to be hungry for what we are going for, for whatever definition of success we have. In my generation it was money making, and it's changed profoundly into working with purpose.” - 16:25 - Dr Selina Neri

“Hire character, train competence, because people of character will learn anything they need to learn. But if they don't have character it’s going to be a relatively short gain. I always surround myself with people who are so much better than me, and not feeling threatened by having this talent around us. At the end of the day, leadership is all about being bigger than yourself.” - 20:15 - Dr Selina Neri

“Fear is a really bad beast. Fear is something that makes us, quite frankly, handicapped, mentally and emotionally. I'm a woman who has fears - it's not that I have arrived, so to speak! But I have learned to manage those fears.” - 23:30 - Dr Selina Neri

Links & references

Gary Gamp: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garygamp

George Clode: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgeclode

Dr Selina Neri: https://www.linkedin.com/in/selina-neri-ph-d-0400128/

Hult International Business School: https://www.linkedin.com/school/hult-international-business-school/

Episode keywords

TheCompanyDoctor, podcast, podcasting, business, business podcast, CEO, CMO, COO, CFO, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, networking, marketing, women in business, female entrepreneurs,