Kate Richardson-Walsh, is the most capped female hockey player in her country’s history, and was captain of the GB and England women’s hockey teams for 13 years. An inspirational and charismatic leader she has been widely credited for helping build the incredible team ethos and commitment that drove the GB team to a nail-biting victory at the Rio Olympic Games. In winning gold Kate also made history in other ways, becoming one half of the first same-sex married couple to win an Olympic medal playing in the same team. Having made her international debut as a defender in 1999, Kate maintained elite performance levels for 18 years and made 375 appearances for her country. After securing a bronze in London 2012, Rio 2016 was her fourth Games and finally yielded the coveted Olympic Gold medal. Alongside her GB duties Kate has captained England for 13 years, winning the European Championships in 2015 and securing two bronze and two silvers in four successive Commonwealth Games. Short-listed for the FIH World Player of the Year Award, Kate has also been GB Hockey’s Athlete of the Year, has twice won the prestigious Hockey Writers’ Player of the Year, and in 2017 was awarded an OBE for services to hockey. Kate was also nominated for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award in December 2016. Kate was given the honour of carrying the Great Britain flag in the closing ceremony of her final Olympic Games in Rio 2016.

TOP TIPS

1. Connection starts with us

To truly connect and build strong relationships with other people we first must connect with ourselves. We are all so busy and lots of us put ourselves last on the to do list. Can we tune into our mental, physical and emotional state on a regular basis to enable us to “do” more good days than bad? Do we know what good looks like and what we need to do to prepare for a good day? What things do we need to be aware of and take control of if we are able? This is a daily practice and will help you feel a greater sense of control and a deeper level of self-empathy.

2. Step into your power

Are you able to say with absolute confidence what you are excellent at? Would you be able to share it with your team, family or friends? Do you know the strengths of the people around you? This was one of our winning differences. The knowledge of my super strengths enables me to dive into my role with clarity and confidence. I feel more valued and worthy when I know that I am playing to my strengths to help the team achieve its goals. Being able to create opportunities and platforms for you to deliver to your super strengths is what teamwork is all about. Shine your light brightly for all to see.

3. Putting marbles in the trust jar

Trust is hard earned and easily broken. Trust is at the heart of every strong relationship and high performing team. To build it we must be prepared to be brave and be vulnerable. Showing up authentically allows people to connect fully. Giving people space to show up fully as themselves without fear of judgement or retribution builds empathy and again contributes to trust. This is daily intentional work. Building trust can feel uncomfortable and clunky at times but the rewards will far outweigh the small moments of discomfort. Teams and relationships built on trust are resilient and agile. It will be more fun and there will be more wins.

Written by Kate Richardson-Walsh OBE

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Please note, the views expressed by the original article author are theirs alone and do not necessarily represent those of Washingtondowling Associates Ltd or The SHE Show and therefore we take no responsibility for the content or accuracy of this post.  

Scotty Mills has led a life that he could never have dreamt of. From the backstreets of South London, he went on to serve his country and lead Britain’s Commandos around the globe as a Commando ‘Green Beret’ Officer. In 2003, operating alongside the US Navy Seals, he led a team of Marines into Iraq as ‘first on the ground’ theatre entry troops and has been deployed on missions all around the world. As Commanding Officer, he led a team of recovery specialists who were responsible for rebuilding the lives of hundreds of battle-scarred physically and mentally broken injured service people across all 4 Armed Forces.

A World Record breaker, he was selected as an Olympic Flag Bearer at the London 2012 Olympic Games. As Head of Performance for all 6500 Commandos, he has worked closely alongside multiple elite teams who went on to win gold medals at Olympic, World & European Championships .

More recently, as an advisor to the FA, he inspired Gareth Southgate, Harry Kane and the England Football Team to develop their culture through innovative leadership and team cohesion training that saw them come together and perform when the pressure was on. Known as “Gareth’s Secret Weapon”, a term coined by the renowned TV Presenter Lorraine Kelly.

Scotty has built up a very strong reputation internationally for being able to inspire others to reach their full potential. In 2018 he was voted the most inspirational serviceman across the entire Armed Forces community receiving a National Award.

Leaders set the tone and environment for any organisation to succeed. Be the standard. Listen to Scotty as he shares his unique experiences, from how he transformed from being a Marine on the ground, to one of their key commanders leading Britain’s Green berets around the globe. 

Top Tips

1. Inspire your people every single day.

2. Never ask your team to do anything you wouldn’t do yourself.

3. Leaders set the tone and environment for successful teams to flourish.

4. Listen to your people and act on their good ideas.

5. Grow your team by growing your people.

6. Become the standard that everyone aims for.

7. Overcome any adversity by taking ownership of the key moments. Raise your head above the parapet and be prepared to do things that most won’t do. 

8. It’s ok to fail. Learn from it, and bounce back to show the resilience you need to be able to overcome. 

9. If your life is free of failure then you have not pushed yourself hard enough.

Written by Major Scotty Mills

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If you want to hear more from Major Scotty Mills he will be speaking at our next event The SHE Show North East, Tuesday 25th March 2025, Hilton Newcastle Gateshead.

“It was never my intention to join the Royal Marines, but a chance encounter changed my life and I never looked back”… Major Scotty Mills has led the kind of life he could never have dreamt of. From the backstreets of South London, he has since gone onto serve his country and lead Britain’s Commandos around the globe as a Royal Marines Officer. 

More recently, as an advisor to the FA, he inspired Gareth Southgate, Harry Kane and the England Football Team to the World Cup Semi Final through innovative leadership and team cohesion training, that saw them able to come together and to perform when the pressure was on in Russia. 

Scotty’s incredibly compelling journey is filled with exceptional stories of the power of human inspiration … how effective teamwork is more important than individual ability, how to really understand people and feel how they feel and so many more golden nuggets to help change hearts and minds!

• Attitude trumps talent every single day.
• Grow your 100% by raising the bar.
• Live your life through strong values. 

Top Tips to never give in!

1. Attitude trumps talent.

Develop a commando winning mindset and you can ‘overcome’ anything.

– Define your goal, narrow your focus, maintain a positive mindset and you will overcome
– Don’t become paralysed by fear of failure. Remove the ‘white noise’ from your life and remember that your greatest successes will be just the other side of your biggest defeats.
– Face your fears, learn from your mistakes and just keep going.

2. Grow your 100%.

Become self-disciplined and teachable in your approach to life. Listen and learn, then adapt and grow.

– Make a contract with yourself based on your values and find your WHY.
– Build a routine with self-discipline at its core.
– Self-discipline will take you to levels and places you never thought possible.

3. Train hard – fight easy.

Do the things that others won’t do to have the success that most will never have. Live a life based on integrity.

– People with integrity choose to do the right thing, even when it’s hard.
– You can’t fake integrity, but once you have it then people will trust you.
– Someone with true integrity knows that everyone deserves respect.

Written by Major Scotty Mills

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If you want to hear more from Major Scotty Mills he will be speaking at our next event The SHE Show South, Tuesday 11th July 2023, DoubleTree by Hilton, MK Dons Stadium, Milton Keynes

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Major Scotty Mills, Royal Marines (Retired)

Scotty Mills has led a life that he could never have dreamt of. From the backstreets of South London, he went onto serve his country and lead Britain’s Commandos around the globe as a Commando ‘Green Beret’ Officer. In 2003, operating alongside the US Navy Seals, he led a team of Marines into Iraq as ‘first on the ground’ theatre entry troops and has deployed on missions all around the world.

As Commanding Officer, he led a team of recovery specialists who were responsible for rebuilding the lives of hundreds of battle-scarred physically and mentally broken injured service people across all 4-Armed Forces.

A World Record breaker, he was selected as an Olympic Flag Bearer at the London 2012 Olympic Games. As Head of Performance for all 6500 Commandos, he has worked closely alongside multiple elite teams who went on to win gold medals at Olympic, World & European championships .

More recently, as an advisor to the FA, he inspired Gareth Southgate, Harry Kane and the England Football Team to develop their culture through innovative leadership and team cohesion training that saw them come together and perform when the pressure was on.

Known as “Gareth’s Secret Weapon”, a term coined by the renowned TV Presenter Lorraine Kelly, Scotty has built up a very strong reputation internationally for being able to inspire others to reach their full potential. In 2018 he was voted the most inspirational serviceman across the entire Armed Forces community receiving a National Award.

Scotty’s incredibly compelling story is filled with exceptional stories of the power of human inspiration. Now an accomplished motivational speaker, and as a performance leadership and culture specialist, Scotty is highly sought after across multiple industries to continue his life’s work to ‘Inspire people and teams’ to achieve their impossible dreams.

Scotty is married to Suzanne and they have 4 grown children. His first published book, “Never Give In” charts the ‘12 Commando Rules for Life’ and is available here Never Give In by Major Scotty Mills | Waterstones.

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Please note, the views expressed by the original article author are theirs alone and do not necessarily represent those of Washingtondowling Associates Ltd or The SHE Show and therefore we take no responsibility for the content or accuracy of this post.  

1. To work effectively with others, you must know yourself first.

That is, appreciating your strengths, limiting behaviours and how you typically show up in the world. It’s important not to limit your understanding to the outcomes of psychometrics or feedback from your nearest and dearest. Consider who you can work with and how you can create the richest picture of yourself from multiple perspectives. You need to understand how other people experience

2. The first step on the leadership journey is to learn to be an effective follower.

Do you know how effective followers behave? Are you one? How effective are the people who are following you now? If you haven’t, read the seminal work of Kelley and consider where your behaviours fit – and what you might do to become more effective. It is almost impossible to be a good leader if you aren’t also a good follower. How do you support your leaders?

3. Why would someone pick you to be on their team?

What behaviours, qualities and expertise do you display that others admire and value? How can you harness them to be a more effective teammate/partner?  And is there anything in your shadow that make you less effective? Are there typical people or environmental factors that cause you to be a less effective partner? If you know what they are, you can create the conditions where you can thrive…or even leave a place that has the conditions that limit your impact and success.

4. The best leaders have the confidence to lead, follow, or partner interchangeably

And don’t feel that these different roles threaten their status, power, or impact. They work collegiately and collaboratively. They know when to take the lead and when to sit back and empower others. Have you thought critically about how you behave in these three roles? Engaging in coaching can really help you to see how you are seen by others in these three roles – so you can adapt accordingly.

5. Leadership doesn’t have a finish line or a gold standard.

Leaders are constantly learning, evolving with a mindset of curiosity and an understanding of the power of reflection. If you are spending a lot of time doing the stuff of leadership and not much time thinking about being a leader, then you are limiting your leadership potential. How will you create the capacity for self-growth?

6. Think about when you started being a leader

For many of us, leadership is thrust upon us early in our lives – perhaps at school, in sporting activities and even in the family. What have you learned in all those situations? What did you learn about being a follower and partner? Leadership is more than just a job title or position.

Written by Dr Rona Mackenzie

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If you want to hear more from Dr Rona Mackenzie she will be speaking at our next event The SHE Show South, Tuesday 11th July 2023, DoubleTree by Hilton, MK Dons Stadium, Milton Keynes

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Dr Rona Mackanzie, Director Of Youth Leadership, Inspirational Development Group

Rona spent the first twenty years of her career in education, working across seven schools in all facets of leadership and management. Whilst working full time, she completed a Masters and Doctorate, focusing on Leaders and Leadership, and conducted Ofsted inspections in the secondary sector – but please don’t hold that against her!

In 2013, she was appointed as the Founding Principal of Lincoln UTC, a 14-19 college specialising in Science and Engineering. She worked closely with industry partners and as a team they enabled students to develop personally, technically, and academically. LUTC graduates launched successful careers and were the kind of people you’d want as a colleague – that’s the gold standard!

Rona became frustrated with the education systems focus on exam results as the primary measure of success, so she hung up her headship boots in 2017 and returned to university. In her transition to industry, she completed an MBA and was headhunted to the role of Chief Operating Officer of a luxury jewellery company – amazing for a woman who didn’t wear jewellery herself. After three years she moved to a business development role in the cyber security sector and joined the Inspirational Development Group in 2021.

Rona is always seeking ways to support young people to be ready for the challenges of life. At IDG she champions the development of leadership capacity in young people and is working globally to change the face of compulsory education as we know it. She also works with ‘big kids’ and delivers leadership development programmes to an array of global corporate clients operating in the public, private and third sectors. She and her suitcase are well travelled, including recent trips to clients in the UK, Ireland, Jordan, Bahrain, and the UAE, and she’s often seen on-screen engaging with delegates in the far-flung corners of the world.

In her spare time, Rona is the Chair of Zest Theatre Company, a national portfolio arts charity whose work amplifies the voices of young people. A lifelong sportswoman, she is most at home in the gym, under water, or in the mountains. She is currently studying to become a Qigong instructor – a new way for her to try and slow down and connect with the here-and-now. Ask her how she’s getting on…

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Please note, the views expressed by the original article author are theirs alone and do not necessarily represent those of Washingtondowling Associates Ltd or The SHE Show and therefore we take no responsibility for the content or accuracy of this post.  

1. Decision in action, calmness in crisis.

When under pressure at work tell yourself in a calm voice to, “calm down and make a decision” and keep repeating this mantra. This should give your brain space and time to relax and enable you to make a decision to the best of your cognitive ability.

2. Don’t panic as it scares the troops. 

Don’t flap when under pressure as a leader’s emotions are contagious. If you panic so will your staff. Control your emotions, control your behaviour and your staff will control theirs.

3. Chew the fat.

People matter so sit down and chat with them. Break bread, make the tea, get to know them, listen to their concerns and share their moments of pride and achievement.

4. No plan survives contact with the enemy.

Don’t trust fake certainty as the unexpected will always happen. The future is never certain. Prepare for the worst case scenarios, just in case.

5.  Think two up two down.

When planning always think about your role in the plan two levels up but also how your plan will affect your staff two levels down.

6. Fill the information vacuum.

Communication is one of the most important aspects of leadership. If people are not kept informed, particularly about decisions that affect them, they are very likely to fill the void with incorrect and damaging information. Withering whispers in an organisation grow strong and become damaging noise.

7. Ask and listen to feedback.

Confident leaders will listen to constructive feedback so they can learn and improve.

8. Go gestalt.

All members of a team should share and agree on their roles so the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts. Real psychological safety comes from teams that know each other’s roles and their individual contribution and value to the team and organisation.

Written by Stewart Hill

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If you want to hear more from Stewart Hill he will be speaking at our next event The SHE Show North East, Tuesday 28th March 2023, Hilton Newcastle Gateshead

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Stewart Hill

Stewart is living proof of the brain’s ability to grow and of a person to flourish. Stewart faced many testing physical environments as a British Army officer, particularly in warfighting operations, all of which challenged his mindset and allowed him to become stronger and resilient. His life changed the moment shrapnel exploded into his brain, whilst on operations in Afghanistan in 2009. Medically discharged from the Army in 2012 after 3 years of rehabilitation it was an end to his 18 years of service, a life he loved. Nothing prepared him for dealing with the impact of his traumatic brain injury.

Stewart’s life lessons have been forged in the furnace of adversity, high pressure environments, isolation, career loss, injury and death. Never have his experiences been relevant to so many. The leadership techniques Stewart used instinctively in Helmand Province have been improved through living with a traumatic brain injury and mastering his brain impairments. Stewart will show how:

Strong leaders inspire their followers through pathos.

Compassion, trust and courage are the foundation of teams that gel and work together, generating loyalty for the company and a bond within the team that leads to outstanding performance

Getting leadership right in an organisation can be the difference between success and failure. Inspirational leadership is about taking individuals and your teams along with you by moving them from merely functioning, through operating effectively to inspirational leadership amongst all team members.

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Please note, the views expressed by the original article author are theirs alone and do not necessarily represent those of Washingtondowling Associates Ltd or The SHE Show and therefore we take no responsibility for the content or accuracy of this post.  

1. Make it about your team

Every leader should skill themselves up. We all read up on what are the best practices out there. We all go to conferences and listen to the best out there and take note about what they’re good at. We all see what the best in the world are doing in their own field. We all want to take a little bit out of others that we see who are successful. But whatever we take on board must suit the group of people we’re leading. Each group needs a certain leadership style and the leader must adapt to the group. Not the other way around

2. Leadership when you lose

Some will tell you the only leadership worth taking note of is that of a team that’s just lost. In any sphere or field, it’s the team that has not met it’s targets that needs real leadership. Looking at what has happened, looking at what the team did and giving solutions to fixing the issue isn’t as simple if everyone is under pressure. This is when the good leaders are at their best, giving clear and simple messages to steer the group to not making the same errors.

3. A Team under pressure 

– What does your team want to hear

– What do you want to say

– What does your team NEED to hear

Those three things are often miles apart when you’re under pressure as a leader. If my team is losing and I’m emotionally caught up in it, then what I WANT to say often isn’t helpful. Also, the team who are under pressure usually WANT to hear something from the leader and will often won’t be what they NEED to hear. If you can take egos and emotion out of important decisions, you’ll have more chance of getting the message right.

4.  Keep telling stories 

A group who is together for a long while will need more than the ‘usual’. Keeping it interesting and engaging in the workplace can be a challenge. I talk to my team a lot about HOW we do the WHAT. What we do is important, but it’s how we do it that I think sets my teams apart the from others. Explaining the HOW needs constant updates as the landscape in my industry is constantly adjusting.

5.  It’s got to be more than just winning 

Do you have a why? If it’s simply about being good or being the best then there’ll be a shelf life to your leadership. More than ever in today’s world people want a WHY. Each team, group or organisation has a mini society of its own. The ethics of this mini society need to be healthy and progressive. My Team’s WHY is specific to us as people, but I will share with you that we don’t want to win if it means cheating or cutting corners. We’d rather come 2nd in a healthy environment as we know we’ll be better the year after.

Do you have a why ?

Written by Brian McDermott 

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If you want to hear more from Brian McDermott he will be speaking at our next event The SHE Show North East, 26th April 2022, St James’ Park, Newcastle United Football Club.

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Brian McDermott, Field to Office

Brian McDermott is a former Royal Marines Commando, former professional player with Bradford Bulls and currently Rugby League coach. Brian’s is a successful coach who has drawn on all his experiences from the his 3 fields of elite performance to create a unique style of coaching, leadership and management. Brian currently shares his time between Rugby League coaching and running Field to Office.

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Please note, the views expressed by the original article author are theirs alone and do not necessarily represent those of Washingtondowling Associates Ltd or The SHE Show and therefore we take no responsibility for the content or accuracy of this post.  

The SHE Show Thrash Out Leadership, Behaviour and Culture Change… “If you think you’re leading, but no-one is following then you are only taking a walk!” (John C Maxwell)

Wednesday 12th May 2021, 10:00am – 11:00am