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007 Conquering imposter syndrome, being different, resilient and brave.
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Arriving in the UK from Zimbabwe in 2004 with her then boyfriend, now husband, Charity Bare was only initially here to do her masters degree in the UK. She stayed and broke boundaries within the insurance world through her resilience, determination, and hard work. Championed by some key stakeholders, Charity has risen courageously through the ranks to become a female board director in the still predominantly male world of insurance. Overcoming Imposter syndrome, moments of low confidence, three maternity leaves, and a chatty personality, Charity has learned to let down the ‘professional mask’ to bring her ‘whole self’ into the workplace, into her leadership style. Building and managing relationships, building allies, influencing and persuading by taking down the mask of professionalism.
KEY TAKEAWAY
Creating comfortable spaces, enjoying your job
It's very important to me that people do feel comfortable, because I remember myself when I used to see those other executives thinking “oh...I can barely breathe at this point”..it's important to make people feel good and happy to be at work.
I stopped taking it so seriously, and actually enjoy the job. Before.. I thought "oh, gosh, I've got to make sure that this gets done...oh, my word. I didn't hit that deadline, oh... this is the end of the world as I know it." It's not, it's about managing expectations. It's about enjoying your time with people.
Fast track promotions
I happen to have a really good support structure in the role that I was promoted too...Head of Risk Manager. The CEO at the time, for whatever reason, saw something in me… he said to me, "You should definitely do that job…you need to need to take that job." It surprised me! I couldn't possibly be the Head of Risk.. are you crazy? I've been here for a year, there's no way. But every day, I always think back to that day. And, I think, wow! If it hadn't been for him, I don't know where I'd have been. And... he was a white male.
Building allies when you’re different from those around you
I've been very lucky to have come across people that don't see that I'm different in any way. They see me. They see what I can bring to the table.. they've put me forward for things because that's the important thing. You've got to have allies. And it's quite hard to build those allies when you are different, because most people gravitate to what they know. They gravitate to people that are like them… I'm so unlike everybody, it's not even funny.
I’m black, I’m female, I’m very different!
I struggled a lot with imposter syndrome as a result. In my mind, I thought, well... you can only be in those positions, if you are off a certain tenure in the business, they'll be looking at me and saying, What is she doing here? What's she done to get to this point? Who does she think she is? Because I am different. I'm relatively young…I'm black and female.
ABOUT CHARITY BARE
Charity has over 15 years’ experience within the London market spanning responsibilities for establishing and overseeing the governance, risk management and compliance frameworks. She originally started her career as an underwriter having completed a Masters in Risk Management following a move to the UK from Zimbabwe in 2006.
CONNECT WITH CHARITY
linkedin.com/in/charity-bare-b93b7323
ABOUT THE HOST – ALLI SPARGO
Alli is the mother of two daughters and a son, a wife, a daughter and a sister. She is also an executive leadership coach who passionately believes that every individual has the potential to be who they want to be, and do what they want to do (she is living proof of that!): to BE the BEST version of themselves. Alli specialises in behavioural performance as an executive leadership and systemic team coach. Her breadth of business experience, together with her coaching and facilitation expertise, enables her to enhance leadership capability and personal impact, whilst understanding the demands of the commercial and organisational environment.
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If you would like explore how working with Alli would support you to be the person you want to be, have the career (and life) you want to have and support your team to perform at their optimum, then please book a free 1 hour meeting with her: booking:-Exploring-Human-Behaviours-at-Work-with-Alli
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HOSTED BY: Alli Spargo
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The views, thoughts and opinions expressed in this podcast belong solely to the host and guest speakers. Please conduct your own due diligence.
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