Sara Clipstone is a Training and Support Officer at Eurotunnel Le Shuttle, a public limited company (société anonyme) listed in Paris and in London, with a market capitalisation of €3.5 billion. We sat down with her to have a chat about her thoughts on women and business.
What are the biggest challenges you see for women in leadership roles?
Just recently on television this has been the topic of conversation. Piers Morgan was talking about it on GMTV the other day, saying that for Brexit there are ten people on the committee. Only one person is a woman. Well actually I’ve always thought if you’re the right person for the job, then that’s it. Our sex shouldn’t give us any advantage or disadvantage in the work place, if you’re the right person, then you’re the right person, don’t just be head count. At Eurotunnel I’ve never been treated any differently because of my sex, just as a work colleague.
This is one of the things we are interested in; it’s not simply a case of meeting CSR targets, but developing women within an organization that perhaps lack confidence that could excel.
But then I don’t think it’s just women. I think it’s understanding what is your comfort zone, and being prepared to push yourself outside of it. I do it myself as much as possible. If I see there’s an opportunity to push myself, I’ll take it. Now I encourage my team to do it as well, so they might come to me and say, ‘Sarah I can’t believe you’re making me do this’. I wouldn’t push too far, but a little bit. I push them all into their un-comfort zones, every now and again, to stretch them. And I think individually we need to do that as well. Challenge yourself as much as possible by coming out of your comfort zone, this will help you grow in confidence and knowledge.
What advice would you give to the next generation of women in business?
Don’t apologise for the things you can’t do. You know I started off by saying to you I don’t have formal university, or college qualifications. I felt I had to say it, but I shouldn’t have to. You shouldn’t have to apologise for things, it should be the case of being confident in yourself. And try. You’re the only one that can hold you back. Be confident in your abilities, don’t apologise for what you see as your faults, other people will make up their own minds anyway, you don’t need to be your own critic. And as long as you can communicate with someone you can do anything.
The other thing is talk to people. When I go to France, wherever I go, I challenge myself to talk to different people. I know that sounds very strange. But whether I’m at the gym, or at Zumba, or go to France for the day (I actually take after my mum like this) I’ll go and talk to people, particularly within Eurotunnel because we are one big company. We are one big family.
You’re the one that stops you from going any further. You really are. It doesn’t matter whether it’s little steps or big steps. You’re the only one that actually can stop you from stretching that comfort zone. You are the only one. I recently lost a lot of weight and actually I was the only one that was going to change that situation. I like to concentrate on things that I can influence not on things that I can’t influence. But actually, sometimes you can’t change a situation. You can only influence it. And even if it’s only influence in your own personal emotions, you can influence it.