In my experience, women are often apologetic when it comes to expressing their ambitions. Before London Business School, I was the same: I think it mostly stemmed from conformity bias, as well as the weight of cultural and gender expectation.

The Women in Leadership programme gave me the opportunity to talk about my aspirations openly – not only with my sponsor, but with my cohort too. I’ve since met many people with similar goals, which has given me the confidence to articulate my own ambitions – building future-ready care provisions to create purpose and extend lives.

My background is in engineering, where facts and logic are the focus. But to add value to my role as Head of Business Change UK at Sunrise Senior Living, I needed to preserve my existing knowledge while ushering in a new, more diverse way of thinking. It was the promise of this that ultimately drew me to the Women in Leadership programme.

In order to meet the challenges of the care industry, I knew I had to adapt my personal leadership approach. Care is a people-centric sector going through unprecedented financial and operational change – it therefore requires new ways of leading and innovative solutions.

Being an authentic leader doesn’t always come naturally. It’s about learning to be courageous and taking confidence from those who’ve been through similar challenges. This was one of the programme’s biggest draws. Having a sponsor to provide that kind of support really helps develop your confidence. I’ve now created a three-year plan looking at what my organisation needs and what I want to achieve.

The cohort was one of the programme’s biggest assets. Through seeing how other participants tackle and solve their problems, I’ve learnt how to improve the way Sunrise Senior Living works. My class was a mix of women from a range of backgrounds who all shared their experiences and diverse ways of thinking. As a result, we found it really easy to connect – I now count them all as trusted friends.

As a global business hub, London is full of diverse organisations where employees all have their own unique stories and skill sets. From a leadership perspective, it’s essential that we’re able to navigate and communicate with this broad range of individuals while working towards a common goal. Being able to communicate with impact, influence and understanding was something I wanted to develop. The programme definitely helped me achieve this: I now use my voice and body language differently according to different audiences and environments.

In order to grow, you need to feel comfortable enough to be challenged. The Women in Leadership programme creates a safe environment where you can work on your self-awareness. Through a 360 review, you learn about your strengths as well as areas for improvement.

Through the programme, I discovered that I’m goal oriented and passionate about excellence – which can make me seem impatient, strong-willed and even pushy. Having learnt this about myself, I’m now more conscious of my behaviour and mindful of how I operate.

London Business School’s faculty are world-class experts and this is evident in the way they share their knowledge and communicate. They push you outside your comfort zone and challenge your assumptions without ever making you feel vulnerable. Through regular exposure to the concepts, tools and techniques they introduce, your learnings are quickly converted into behaviours.

Having the backing of Sunrise Senior Living really made me feel valued when embarking on the Women in Leadership programme. It’s always great to receive an increase in salary or added incentives, but when a business is willing to invest in you as a person, it feels fantastic. I look forward to giving back and demonstrating the value of their investment!

If I had to describe the programme in one word, it would be transformational. The experience made me challenge the perceptions I had about myself and rethink my role. I’m now more mindful of falling into competency traps and am focusing on mastering the art of delegation. The programme also taught me that ‘what got you here, won’t necessarily take you further’: it’s about constant learning and reflection.