“Building a Better Working World” - An Interview with Imogen Hudson from Ernst & Young

Imogen Hudson started her working life as an insurance broker, before moving into management consultancy with Ernst & Young or EY 2 years ago. After moving through a number of roles, she found herself seeking a new challenge and was inspired when her brokerage firm worked with a consultancy, so much so that she decided to make a change. We talked to her about the challenges of changing your career, the value of networking in the management consultancy sector and the ideas behind Ernst & Young's “building a better working world” principle.

Tell us a bit about working for Ernst & Young.

Working for a big brand has its challenges and rewards. Having a brand stamp on you and being endorsed by a real global player is both a privilege and a responsibility. The company challenges and stretches staff greatly, and provides a difficult but stimulating environment to work with.  So it’s a balance; there are rewards and intellectual interest on one side, with the inevitable stress on the other.

Why do you do what you do?

I started working with a consultancy that came in to help the brokerage firm I was at and was inspired by them, the culture and the issues they were tackling. I like solving problems, fixing things and understanding how things work. And I guess I like helping people to make their businesses better.

What are your opinions on the value of networking in your sector?

In my specific sector, the biggest value that consultants can give is a third party perspective on a problem. The more perspectives you have, the easier it is to give advice and see a problem on the wider scale. Essentially, I need to be able to think about a problem more broadly, which comes a lot from talking to other people about their industries to broaden my own knowledge. Networking also helps with learning how to talk to a wide range of different people and learning to understand other industries quickly. It also provides me with loads of different reference points so that I can do my job more effectively.

EY talks a lot about 'building a better working world'. How do you feel businesses like EY can best work towards this goal?

That strapline has to fit for EY within a really broad range of business activities, covering the entire breadth of what EY does, such as both the consulting and audit sides, etc. It's about asking how can we make you function better as a business? How can we make your contribution to the world better? Improvement and change never happened without people talking to each other. Making big things happen, making big companies move, change and grow takes a lot of collaboration and understanding on all sides. It's about perspectives – how can we learn from other people to make you as a client better by helping you?

And finally, what was your biggest challenge when changing career paths?

I went from having a small team and responsibility to being stretched, pushed and challenged every single day. The better you get, the more and more you stretch and learn. It doesn't get more comfortable. However, I get to solve some really intricate and complex business problems and work with a broad range of clients on a frequent basis.

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Our next event will be this week at TateHindle on 12th October. We hope to see you there!

How to Boost Innovation and Problem Solving Through Collaboration

Working together is one of the hardest and most rewarding aspects of our work lives. Different personality dynamics, skill sets and experiences are present in every team and in every workplace. The best teams succeed both because of and despite of this diversity.

When you're working on a project that spans several different disciplines, the ability to consult others who are experts in the core-competencies needed to make the project work is crucial. Not only will they have the required knowledge but they mostly likely look at the project from a new, different angle, seeing things and sparking off ideas that you wouldn't have done on your own.

Building a diverse team is often the only way to assemble the breadth of knowledge and skills required to pull off a complex, innovative project. For example, a film production needs researchers, scriptwriters, producers, cameramen, grips, actors, etc. Each of those people brings specific skills to the table as well as their own ideas, biases and unique point of view.

Even having multiple people with similar skill sets working on one specific aspect of the project can produce unique insights and brand new perspectives as they will come from different backgrounds, have trained at different schools and have different experiences influencing the way they think.

Collaboration Outside Your Business

Collaborating with other businesses provides the potential to experiment with new product areas and ideas as well as introducing both parties to a brand new customer base. It's important to carefully choose who you work with as collaborators who are different to you will often bring the most innovation to partnership.

Working with businesses in another industry or with a different audience in the same industry to pool client and press contacts is often beneficial, but it's also important that you're on the same page in terms of the final outcome and any ethical considerations.

However, it may be preferable to work with businesses with the same goals and customer bases. This helps increase your existing knowledge of your specific area of work as well as ensuring a greater level of understanding within the partnership.

Top Tips

1. Set Goals. Make sure that everyone knows exactly what they're working towards. This helps to keep individuals focused on team goals and provides measurable indicators of success.

2. A good team will share knowledge freely, learn from one another, help one another complete jobs and meet deadlines, and share resources.

3. Communicate. Share your ideas and listen to others. Digital tools such as Asana or Podio can be helpful for staying in contact and sharing information, especially for remote working teams. Podio is also useful for keeping a shared record of contacts and events.

4. Colleagues who focus not just on their own goals and the goals of the team/company but also each other's individual goals, working together to help everyone achieve what they need to in the best possible way, often get the best results.

5. Remember, colleagues should tell you when an idea is great but they should also let you know when it needs improvement and when it's so terrible that you need to scrap it immediately.

More Information

To Build Your Business, Smash Your Silos – https://www.fastcompany.com/1839317/build-your-business-smash-your-silos

5 Reasons why collaboration contributes to innovation – https://www.freshconsulting.com/5-reasons-why-collaboration-contributes-to-innovation/

The unexpected business benefits of collaboration – https://www.trainingjournal.com/articles/opinion/unexpected-business-benefits-collaboration-0

5 Reasons Why Collaboration Is Essential in Today's Business Environment – http://www.inc.com/natalie-nixon/5-reasons-why-collaboration-is-essential-in-today-s-business-environment.html

How to Network Effectively (and Why)

Networking is a term that we throw around a lot in our working lives. It's one of those polarising things that people either really love or really hate. Or really love to hate. So what is networking and why is it important?

In the world of business, networking is essentially the process of connecting and interacting with others to exchange information and develop professional contacts. In other words, networking is about meeting and talking to people who you will be able to work with in the future, either collaboratively to create something new or to problem solve for one another.

If you want to be able to network effectively, you have to be able to ask your self not only “what can this person do for me?” but also “what can I do for them?” If you give as much as you take, then you can build up goodwill. It's up to you and your network to then keep that momentum going but asking 'what's next?”

A lot of people see networking as manipulative and as a necessary (perhaps even unnecessary) evil in the business world. This doesn't have to be the case. Good, effective networking is a symbiotic relationship; two or more parties connecting and creating genuine relationships to get things done.

Is all networking good networking?

It's a common misconception that all networking is worthwhile. Not only do you need to make sure that you aren't wasting someone else's time but also that they aren't wasting yours.

When it comes to joining networking groups, be discerning and never feel pressured to sign up. Some groups have a strong, solid purpose and others are scams, hitting up business owners for joining fees. If it feels right and you want to be a part of it, then jump right in. But if it doesn't, then it just isn't worth your time.

Making sure, going in, that you know exactly what you want and why you are networking in the first place. Don't do it just because you think you're supposed to; it's okay to break the 'rules' if they aren't going to be useful to your business.

Be a Connector

One of the best ways to build your network and to build your personal brand is to introduce people within that network to one another. Not only does this help to improve your relationship with those people – they feel valued and are far more likely to remember you – but it helps them to expand their own network. Often, those will be the people who will offer you work or help you out later down the line.

With this in mind, don't spend all our time in industry specific groups. Diversify the events you attend and the connections you make because you never know when you're going to want to diversify your brand or need that outside knowledge on a project.

Again, good networking isn't just about helping yourself, it's about helping others. Your experiences and knowledge should be as value to the people in your network as theirs are to you. Share you expertise, be nice to everyone and shelve your ego. When people see that you're interested in helping them, they're more likely to trust you and reciprocate.

Top Tips

1. Be authentic, genuine and trustworthy. Not only will this boost your reputation in the long run but people are more likely to work with you in the short term.

2. Consider what you can do for others as well as what they can do for you.

3. Know what your goals are and what you need to succeed.

4. Choose your networking groups carefully. If it doesn't feel supportive, then walk away.

5. Ask open-ended questions in networking meetings to open up the discussion and show members that you're interested in what they have to say.

More Information

How to network like you really mean it - http://www.inc.com/minda-zetlin/8-things-power-networkers-do-make-connections.html

How to network effectively - https://www.nytimes.com/ref/open/finance/OPEN-NETWORK-EFFECTIVELY.html

Create an effective networking strategy - http://www.marketingdonut.co.uk/marketing/sales/sales-lead-generation/create-an-effective-networking-strategy

Welcome to the Brain Exchange!

About Us

Founded in October 2013, the Brain Exchange is an exclusive, diverse and high quality network for experienced business professionals. We are focused on solving problems and developing ideas through real, face-to-face connections and a passion for collaboration, learning and knowledge exchange. Busy, experienced business people come to our events to relax, reflect and review their situation honestly.

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No two meetings are the same – the participants, venue and topic change every time. Each group is comprised of a small, diverse group of people with a range of business skills and experiences to bring to the debate. With the benefit of professional moderation in a confidential, relaxing environment, the group focuses on a work-based issue presented by a member and as a team, participants analyse the issue and work towards a practicable solution.

By becoming a member, you gain access to a wealth of ideas and different perspectives on a range of business topics. Our events provide members with experiential learning about effective problem-solving and teamwork, as well as a new ideas for their business and their own professional development. We also offer regular interaction with the wider Brain Exchange community via an exclusive online forum and regular e-newsletters.

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Every week we will be posting a variety of articles on our new blog from news round-ups to tips to interviews of high profile business people with something to say.

Mondays will be a profile of a business or person, Wednesdays will feature tips and advice for a successful business, and Fridays will be our weekly news round-up day. And look out for special Thursday posts after a meeting, where we offer a summary of what was discussed and any useful conclusions that the group reached.


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Our next event will be at Buttle UK on 14^th September. We hope to see you there!