The first WPO (Women Presidents Organisation) UK’s Birmingham and London Joint Retreat, held in Oxfordshire last month, delivered all you would expect from a WPO event – and much more besides.
As always with the calibre of women that is always in the room at a WPO event, the quality of ideas and information that was flowing was exceptional. The day’s bespoke content was provided by the members for the members, with a focus on health – health of the business and health of the individual.
Karen Tracey, Head of the UK groups, began the Retreat with a timely reminder of all the content available for members on SPARK – the online learning platform that comes with their membership. We all enjoyed sharing what values we admired from our heroes – and were often surprised by how often those values were reflected back on ourselves. A great exercise to do – and one I for one, shall be using in interviews.
The key note presentation for the morning, was a joint piece from two world class experts in cyber – (Prof) Deborah Leary OBE, CEO of Forensic Pathways Ltd and Wendy Morgan, CEO of Jumar.
As business owners we know that cyber security is of increasing importance but I don’t think anyone in the room understood, until the presentation, the level of threat now facing all of us – professionally and personally. Even to the extent that all cybercriminals operating on the dark web have vendor feedback scores! Demonstrating the scale and sophistication of the criminals at work. We all went away promising ourselves to revisit our own cyber security and that of our companies.
The good news is that there is Early Threat Detection technology to help, as Deb explained. By actively monitoring our platforms, businesses can detect threats such as data breaches or ransomware attacks – including on partners / supply chain, allowing them to take proactive measures to mitigate risks. By taking the right action businesses can prevent extortion attempts, minimise financial losses associated with ransom payments or reputational damage. Simply put this is all about looking after the cyber health of our businesses.
Wendy then went on to explain how and why businesses can optimise processes through effective AI adoption. AI, it was stressed is not something for the IT team – it’s something the whole business must engage with. AI it is said is not the next revolution – it’s here already and is bigger than the invention of the internet, say experts. Wendy inspired us all to revisit how we engage with AI, with some simple examples of what it could do for us – to improve efficiencies and therefor the financial health of our businesses.
After lunch, WPO member, Jayne McIntosh, founder of Air Aesthetics & Wellness Clinics, gave a presentation on how members can look after their own health. Jayne shared some comprehensive tips on how we can all restore our wellness. From which foods we should eat more of, what we should eat perhaps less of, to keeping ourselves hydrated and encouraging us to do more to ensure we get the best sleep possible. Her presentation also included a timely reminder to make time for ourselves! Whether that’s regular exercise or simply taking a few minutes first thing each morning to appreciate the world around us before we start on those emails!
Stress is something most of us encounter too often – and as we know it brings with it risk to our mental and physical wellbeing – so it was really good to be reminded that we all need to look after our own health – not just that of our businesses.
The event concluded in true WPO style with a relaxed dinner, where the conversation continued to flow and promises were made to make sure that whilst this may have been the first UK Retreat it won’t be the last. Roll on 2025!