Eileen Richards MBE - Leading from the front in business and recruitment

Nottingham Business School Business Leaders

Successful businesswoman Eileen Richards didn’t have a high-powered upbringing.

But thirty years after she walked into a recruitment agency and asked to try as many temporary positions as possible, she is now one of the East Midlands most prominent business leaders.

She has also been presented with an MBE by Prince Charles for the help she has given to other aspiring women business leaders.

And in this episode of the Nottingham Business School Business Leaders’ Podcast, she talks about the importance of building relationships and developing expertise.

“We all need KPIs in business, to measure and manage performance” she tells Honorary Visiting Professor Mike Sassi.

“But the old saying that people buy from people, will last forever.

“Then it’s your expertise as an individual that takes that relationship to a different level.

“People pay for a service or product because they can rely on you to be an expert in a field.”

Eileen runs the ER recruitment agency in Leicester and is President of the East Midlands Chamber.

Much of her time is spent helping big companies recruit executives and non-executive directors for their boards. So, she knows what organisations are looking for in their leaders.

She also recognises why mentoring future leaders is important.

“Without realising it [early in my career] I had a really good mentor who saw something in me and gave me a long piece of rope that I could have done one of two things with!

“Luckily it worked out for me. I desperately didn’t want to let him down.”

Eileen also talks about the influence of her upbringing in a big Northern Irish family, in Leicester.

She says: “Being one of seven children was absolutely fantastic. We didn’t have a lot of money.

“But we also didn’t have mobile phones and laptops, so we weren’t distracted. We learned to communicate.

“I went straight into a job from school – started as an office junior and ended up in a senior position.

“But the company was moving to Bristol and I didn’t want to leave Leicester… so I walked into a recruitment agency and said I’d like to temp as many businesses as possible.”

A few years later, she was in senior management with a recruitment agency.

She adds: “When I was 30 years old [and I was first appointed as MD] this lovely car arrived and suddenly my salary went up significantly.

“I remember my dad saying: Jesus! Things like this don’t happen to people like us!”

That was more than a decade ago.

Now, as an experienced business leader, Eileen runs her own company and has words of advice for up-and-coming leaders: “You can’t do it all, so surround yourself with the right people. And believe in yourself!”