How to maintain Energy as a Leader navigating change with the former CRO at Caxton

Speaker A: The main lesson I learned when my business folded through the recession was that uh, if I ever did anything again, I would ensure that the business partners I picked would have polar opposite skill sets to me because we'd ended up morphing into the same person and doing the same thing and that is not good for any business.

Speaker B: Totally, totally agree with that point. Welcome back to another episode of the Sales Transformation Lab and today we're really excited to welcome another awesome revenue leader is in the hot seat today we're welcoming Melanie Mills who is really experienced revenue leader with over 20 years driving commercial success in both B2B as well as B2C. As former Chief Revenue Officer at Capstone Payments, which was the pioneering UK fintech, Melanie built six figure revenues, fostered inclusive sales strategies and scaled high performing teams to new heights. Now as founder and CEO uh, of Connection Career Elective or ccc, Melanie is empowering future focused leaders to transform careers, networks and sustainable growth. Mel, thanks so much for joining us.

Speaker A: Yeah, thank you for a lovely intro, Matt. Great to be here, Mel.

Speaker B: We're going to be covering a really interesting topic on the show today and you and I are recording this in Q4 of 2025. We're going to be talking about energy and its effects, um, on team performance and the end outcome. Before we jump into today's topic. Now, I obviously did a bit of an intro there at the beginning, but I'd love to throw it over to you and perhaps you can talk the audience through a little bit more about your journey into leadership and how you came to found CCC as your most recent project.

Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. So I'm an entrepreneur at heart, fell into whatever job I could get when I was younger, which was sales. But for me it was never about sales. And that's why I do think the term sales obviously, especially in the uk, has, you know, a bad rap for many good reasons. But for me, when I started in my journey I was working in fashion, so quite a transition into tech. But where I started was it was all about meeting people and I've always been great with people. So even prior to that, working behind a bar, you know, having conversations with people, knowing what they would want before they came in, uh, and then building relationships so they'd want to come back. Right. So my biggest strength has always been with people. And so then I moved to Harvey Nicholls because I moved from Hull to Leeds, Harvey Nicholls opened up there and I love my time there because I met so many new people and this for me was never about what do they Want to buy. It was more about me getting to know them because if I got to know them I'd understand their lifestyle, their requirements and they wouldn't then just walk out with what they needed. They'd walk out potentially with a new wardrobe or a head to head new look. They'd end up with makeup, they'd end up with the bag, they'd end up with everything and a loyalty card and I'd go home early hopefully for being the um, number one loyalty card person for the day which is what drove me the bottle of champagne and leaving early. But anyway I think it's very much about the people and I love to problem solve and that transitions across any industry because if you are curious enough to want to know that person and build a relationship then it all just follows. So yeah, I moved from Leeds, Harvey Nichols to London, worked um, Karen Millen, then moved into cosmetics and then set up my own business. So I'd always wanted to set up a uh, creative agency. In my early twent that seemed like quite a big feat but we got some printer Princess Trust funding, had my business partner and we did, yeah, six and a half, seven years through some really exciting times in music and fashion and lookbooks and Britain's Next Top Model and the Merber Awards and lots of really cool stuff. And it definitely was more of a lifestyle business, you know when you looked at the balance sheet. But we had a great time and we did some cool stuff until the recession hit. And when that recession hit my business partner had also fallen pregnant. I was coming into my 30s and I thought okay, I need to grow up now. So I went back into business development for an unknown, certainly in the uk, an unknown brand that is now very well known and was bought by Unilever and that was Hourglass Cosmetics. So I grew the UK very quickly and then moved into more of a global role. So as a global ambassador trainer, um, and just replicating a lot of what we'd created in the UK and sharing that with the wider team so that the kind of global movement became what it was and then moved into tech. Quite the transition. I think I'd had enough of, shall I say I was ready for more. I think I'd hit bit for Glass Ceiling, spent a lot of time in fashion because cosmetics and wanted something different. And I think the main driver for that for me was diversity, diversity of thought, diversity of people. For me I've got a growth mindset. I'm always wanting to learn and do more. So yeah, moved into technology, into uh, an edtech actually really exciting. Spent three and a half, four years, was one of the first senior hires and we built an amazing culture and a team of nearly 40 salespeople. Birth from B2C that we then transitioned into B2B and that was leadership programs. Initially it was more of a uh, individual brand whether it be fashion photographers, makeup. But then we spotted uh, an opportunity to then move that uh, into the corporations that they were working for. So worked with lvmh, ah NARS and a few others and then that went bust actually. So it's been a turbulent journey that nearly went bust. They are still going but the majority of the team were let go. Uh, and then I moved into Loosely Fintech for a startup that really need to start to drive revenue and we were lucky enough to sell that solution to Experian. So went through acquisition there and then started to work for Caxton. You mentioned brilliant. Very well established business that was really trying to push into the B2B space. And we created all sorts of new products so faster payroll payments. We also created uh, an M and a payment disbursement solution. We really created PASS as a service so payments as a software. So we were selling the technology over historically transactional FX and uh, expense management and that was amazing. And whilst I was there I was lucky enough to be able to set up the Caxton Career Collective which was all about serving underrepresented industries and roles where I could see women not climbing the ladder as they should. I was working with a lot of payrollers, huge amount of female talent that I couldn't see, then moving up the ranks into partnership levels in accounting firms. In financial services, clearly it's male dominated, in technology it's male dominated. I was surrounded by very senior people but when I was at the table the majority of those people were men. So when I had the power to be able to select the people that were sitting around those tables, I'd make sure it was more mixed. And we started to grow this community of you know, progressive, entrepreneurial to a degree but career driven, fundamentally career driven women that just wanted a community of support so they could continue on um, with their career journeys. And that's then what led me to the Connection Career Collective as it's known today because I left Caxton in a fantastic position because I wanted more. I wanted a chief exec role. And here we are today.

Speaker B: Amazing. What a ride. Super cool journey Mel. When I was looking through the sort of show notes that the team prepared ahead of this, one of the things they wrote down was the journey from fashion to fintech, which is, it's fair to say, uh, not a very kind of conventional path. And you've been in a range of different industries as you, as you rose and sort of built your career. If you reflect back on that career journey, you know, before we jump into today's topic of energy, what maybe one or two of the things that you look back on that you feel really enabled you to get ahead and break through some of those glass ceilings that you were talking about.

Speaker A: And for me, it's a natural curiosity and drive personally. But ultimately I put it down to other people. I've been able to transition because I learn from others and I'm curious and I ask a lot of questions. And I think it started actually with mentorship in the Princess Trust. They as part of the package, offer you a mentor. And we started with a mentor and, and we could not see the value in that individual. It was lovely to go and get some recognition and some pats on the back, but it wasn't helping us move forward at the pace that we wanted to. So we requested kindly if we could pick another mentor. We pick someone who would had a real strong marketing background and because we wanted to grow and scale. And I think from there on, every change in my career, I've looked for someone and I'm very good at spotting talent. So whether it was at a conference or whether it was at an event or whether it was simply someone that I'd had a sales call with, if I really connected and could see real value in that individual, then I would ask them and I'd ask them for help. And that's how I moved into kind of the professional services space. There was, uh, an amazing consultant called Jeremy Hyman, Maria Mason, who is now an equity partner at bdo. I just asked for help. I said, would you mind giving me some time? Because I want to pick your brains because clear you're an expert in what you do and I like the way you do it. And through my career I've always done that and because of that I've done the same. So I've always to mentored my teams when I've left. I've, uh, kept a few people that I've mentored along the way. And it's what one of the main drivers was for the Connection Career Collective is that, uh, I wanted to be able to do that scale. And I'm just one person, but I come across all these amazing female leaders who want to give back equally. And that's kind of where it came from. So I think it's a combination, but certainly spotting talent that can help you along the way. Building that kind of personal advisory board as you go, Having critical, you know, thinking partners, having people in industries that you want to tap into, I think is the approach I took.

Speaker B: Has your personal advisory board changed as your careers developed?

Speaker A: 100%. It has to, especially if you're transitioning as much as I have. But equally there's different stages. You need different people right around you at different stages. And some people will work and some people won't. Some people will be great for a short period and then just don't, uh, serve the purpose anymore. And you obviously very grateful, but it was a moment in time. I think that having. And you've got to be careful not to just have a look of people just like you because naturally we always gravitate to people. That works quite easy. But actually you want people to challenge you and to bring some diversity of thought and some, you know, critical challenge at times and something different. Right. I think the main lesson I learned when my business folded through the recession was that, uh, if I ever did anything again, I would ensure that the business partners I picked would have polar opposite skill sets to me because we'd ended up morphing into the same person and doing the same thing. And that is not good for any business.

Speaker B: Totally agree with that point at the end there. And for those that, you know, listen to this, who know myself or my co founder Ash, we are literally chalk and cheese. So we're completely polar opposites in terms of skill set and diversity of thinking. So 100% echo that, that sentiment. It's a really interesting point you make, uh, also around thinking differently. And one of the pieces that I'm hearing from a lot of my leadership network at the moment is that, you know, go to market, leaders are a little bit concerned that, uh, organizations perhaps looking for a different profile of individual in their organization, then obviously how AI is accelerating the world of work and changing the dynamic of what skills you need in the organization. I know a lot of, you know, leaders who are on the market for roles at the moment and they're concerned about their kind of future job prospects. How do you kind of see this evolution that's happening in the market at the moment where organizations are perhaps waking up to the fact that they need a more dynamic profile of leader who can get their hands dirty and embrace the latest tools and ways of working?

Speaker A: Yeah, for sure. It's. For me, it's the creative thinking part you know, a lot of people go into kind of corporate careers with degrees and book smart and experts in one space. But maybe on um, as you mentioned that that dynamism, that dynamic as they could be and that's what's enabled me and that's also what has meant when I've hired, and I've always hired my own teams. I'm really passionate about recruitment and their candidate experience and feedback and just doing it the right way because I've had such horrif horrific experience myself. I've got a million and one stories whereby I mean they can crush. It crushes your confidence, right? To have so many rejections and nerve feedback like it's just not a nice place to be. I mean there should be some kind of law against it in my opinion. But it's really important because it can ruin people and their mental health. And it's. Yeah, it's a topic I'm really passionate about and it feeds very much into the work we do with the career collective. So I approach it very, very differently. I look for different attributes, I look for core skills, attitud behaviors. You know, I don't just look for have you had 10 years experience doing this exact same thing and now you're ready to move on? Isn't necessarily going to bring a whole load of energy and drive and excitement and I want to know people's um, interest. What's why this role, what's your interest in the product? What is your interest in the client base? I want to get deeper. So my interviews are always, you know, really two sided conversations of me asking a hurl hearse of probably very random questions. But I get to know people and I get to know the, the root roots of their motivation because let's be honest, sales is all around motivation and especially with the younger generations. It's not just about the money anymore. It really isn't. It's purpose, you know, it's mission, it's you know, that connection, it's that community people are looking for more. So yeah, it's an area that you, you have to be mindful of and AI isn't going to help that necessarily unless it's building built in the right way when it comes to recruitment. This human piece, right is that we should all be leaning into humanity more because it's fantastic that we've got AI that can do all the boring crap that we don't want to do. Quite frankly, you know, that's going to speed us up, that makes us more productive. Let's use it but let's not forget that we equally need to train up the next generations of people. They, they will need to be there. There's no point just wiping off the junior roles because how do you then continue the forward motion? You will always need humans, human make the decisions over what to buy and what not to buy. Yes. You'd be fed the data from whatever solutions you need. And so that's my thinking on it anyway. What's your take, Matt?

Speaker B: Yeah, it's such an interesting time in the market. I am seeing one school of thought where leaders are almost and obviously this has been well documented in, in the mainstream media around declining graduate entry level roles. You know, lots of organizations thinking well actually rather than taking a risk on an entry level role, let's look at using AI to automate quite a lot of that kind of analyst type support work. And, and actually with the budget that we do have, let's go with more experienced profiles of hires. You know, I'm seeing kind of that one school of thought and part of me wonders whether uh, are enough leaders in this current market taking a risk and you know, really going for the junior talent and investing in them to really kind of bring them through with those uh, you know, different ways of thinking, different ways of working that they can bring rather than just defaulting to what's tried and tested and known.

Speaker A: Yeah, it's all a risk, right? Like everyone is so risk averse because money is tight so they just default to this. Well, it's less risky to have someone that's been there, done it and uh, knows it. Right. Maybe it's quicker to market, quicker to sales. But what you're missing out on there is often drive, hunger, energy because they're all a bit tired. Right. I'm not saying that everyone is, but if they're all doing the same thing for a long period of time and they've done it before, they're not thinking with, you know, creative thinking. They're not doing less with more. They're not you know, thinking outside the box. And honestly if you can. And uh, that's where I get really passionate around the uh, cross industry play. You don't have to have someone that's been in that exact industry. Like everyone's so precious around their industries and there is no need to be because everyone's gonna have to learn your bit of tech anyway. Right? So who's the fastest learner? Who proves that growth mindset, who has been agile because they'll bring a whole load of new energy and motivation into your Organization because they won't be tired of just doing the same old bloody thing, quite frankly.

Speaker B: Yeah, spot on, M. You know, we've used this word energy quite a few times in a conversation already now. Uh, I think just the final point I'd make on the leadership side, I am also seeing perhaps a category of leaders who you spoke about being tired. Given the kind of seismic changes that are happening in the workplace right now. Maybe they are just a little bit tired and they don't have the energy to kind of go again and maybe they are kind of checking out a little bit.

Speaker A: That's fine. Take a break and go and get yourself something in a different industry. Right. Like, yeah, I think, acknowledge that. I think there's such a lack of self reflection. Right. You know, you've got to be uber self aware. Like I've burned out on numerous occasions. I've taken the time, I've reset, I've learned my lessons. I've generally gone into something else with a whole learn more energy. Like you've got to be self aware. And if you have, if you're lucky enough that you haven't burnt out, then there's no way, if you're a seasoned leader that you aren't absolutely knackered and just over it, quite frankly. So I just think there's an element of too few people take a real, you know, hard look at themselves and where they are and why they're there. And that's really important. Right. We don't know it all. Every day is a school day. We all have to do that kind of stuff. And the more regular you're doing it and also getting feedback. People are scared of feedback. Oh, I'm the leader. No, no, get feedback from every level. You know, learn for yourself, learn for them. That's what's important.

Speaker B: Great. Some great insights there. When you think about energy, we're recording this in Q4 is, you know, it's proven to be a difficult year for lots of revenue leaders in the current market. Net new business has been harder to come by. As you mentioned, purse, uh, strings are tight. How do you think about maintaining your own energy levels as a leader? Uh, in a market like the one that we're experiencing at the moment, a

Speaker A: holiday, it's a simple thing. You make sure you've got something to look forward to, right. And you go on holiday. And one of the best things that my partner brought to me was a holiday towards the end of December. I love Christmas. You can imagine. Big kid, love it. Super hyped up. Love a Bit of Christmas and then, oh my God, you know, that is all over now, right? And the weather and all the rest of it. Book a holiday if you can or just take a break because honestly, time to reflect, reset gives you the energy and, and the renewed thinking to power forward. So I would always really highly recommend to my team and certainly all my leaders, like, like, I need to know that you've all got quarterly holidays booked in. Look, you shouldn't be saving everything up just for one. Like, you've got to look after your energy. We did loads of stuff around high performance. A lot of them were into sports, which was great. Running at lunchtime. I play a lot of netball. I really encourage, you know, the teams to build a running club or set up a netball club somewhere else. You thought all the fundamentals that we all know about, right, like exercise, what are you eating? Are you getting fresh air? Uh, you know, all of those basics is encouraging it. And then trying to lead by example. Now, I admit that I'm not the greatest when I'm in the office. Getting away from the office, that was not my thing. But I can guarantee that I was going off to play netball every evening and I wouldn't be clock checking that my team were going out for a run. I'd encourage that type of behavior. Right. And I do think that there is this lead by example piece. You can't. I just don't, uh, believe you can be telling people to have high energy and motivation and do all these things if you're not doing it yourself. And it's the way that I've always rolled.

Speaker B: Yeah, There's a lot of talk in the market at the moment about this 996 culture. Uh, I'm not sure if you're familiar.

Speaker A: Explain that to me.

Speaker B: So in San Francisco startup culture at the moment, there's this narrative that's been pushed by a lot of VCs and certain founder groups that, uh, if you're not working am till 9pm six days per week, you're missing out on this golden opportunity of building AI confidence. And I've got some strong views on this, which I'm happy to share in a moment. But, uh, when you hear kind of like hustle culture like that996, like, is that even realistic in terms of maintaining energy levels as a leadership team?

Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, look, there's time and place. What you can't do is maintain that, uh, for too much of a long period. And I think there's different stages in people's lives. Look When I had my business, I was in my 20s. I didn't have other responsibilities and I was driven to want to make that work. And I probably worked seven days a week, worked seven days a week doing multiple different things to bring in the money to try and keep me going. We didn't, you know, take investment or anything, but I loved it. I loved what I was doing. The majority of what I was doing, I loved it. I think there's a time and a place and I think there's a huge amount around when you have the energy clearly in your. It's a different lifestyle. Right. And you may not have kids. I think you can't say for founders in their face, they've got this huge amount of experience and knowledge where they probably don't need to do that. I absolutely am not doing that right because I've done it before. But I do think depending on where you're setting up your company, there may be periods that you need to do that and you need to accept it because nothing comes easily. So I think it's about time and place. I don't think there is one right answer. You can't just have that culture and appoint it to everybody. It's select.

Speaker B: I'd agree with that. And as most business owners know, the reality is probably a little bit more than996, but it's not office. You know, you're not in the office 9am to 9pm and I think the challenge I've got is that I think there's maybe some bravado going on around, like you say, young teams in their 20s where their life is the startup, um, and therefore their social environment. Friends are, uh, the office. I think, you know, that context is really, really important when you think about energy and how it translates onto your team. You spoke about three things earlier, Mel. You spoke about connection, community and motivation as being so important in a sales environment. How do you think about as a leader, your own energy and how that impacts the team in terms of how you show up?

Speaker A: Look, it's my leadership style. It's something that people have said my entire life. Where do you get your energy from? I mean, going back to the Harvey Nichols days, I was working seven days a week, not at Harvey Nicholls, but five days at Harvey Nichols. I'd be driven to get off early because I was then working in a bar or working in a restaurant as well. So maintaining that energy at the time, I wasn't doing all the right things. I was probably doing all the wrong things, quite frankly. Definitely way too Many energy drinks, but different stages. You learn. I mean, bringing sport back into my life was a huge thing. So kind of managing your energy and knowing that that is, is especially in commercial roles, a big part of it. People can connect with you and trust you. That, uh, is everything, right? Everyone's looking to build trust and you can't build trust unless you're kind of open and honest. And again, this is a very different leadership style to what we're used to back in the day. But I could not be more honest, open, uh, upfront, authentic. That's my nature. I probably have had to think about oversharing at certain stages in my career and that wasn't a benefit. And maybe being too close to teams that I'd built and doing too much with them. So I think there's a time and a place and there's an understanding. I think with your teams, if you don't really know who they are as a whole human being, it's going to be very difficult to keep them motivated, keep them engaged. You need to understand their learning styles, you need to understand, you know, their home life. You need to understand the whole human to then get the best out of that person. So I think, you know, the connection is there. Ah, I then think the community p bringing more people who are on the same journey, right? Do it in their different ways and different personality types and all the rest of it. People bringing more together. It's motivation, right? Then that's more power, you know. So I think the community piece and using that as a commercial driver is huge. And we see it more with content creators now and it's a movement, right? And it's of people that feel like they found their tribe and they can then help one another. I've always been like, give before you take like sales. Typically you're being talked at, uh, I can't stand it. That's why I'm so bad at interviews because I want to ask, uh, questions and listen and learn. But obviously you've got to sell yourself. So failed at that miserably and been told to stop asking questions at times because how are we supposed to get to know what you can do if you're still asking questions? And that's got better, you know, with the more senior roles it is two way. But I just remember back in the day and it's just people talk a huge amount and if you're talking a huge amount, how the hell are you understanding the needs and requirements of the person that's in front of you? Whether that is sales Pitch, whether that is with your team M. There's that real deep psychological connection of who is this person? What do they need? How do I solve their problems? And actually saying, I can't solve your problem. I've done that. And that's how I start to build my community. Because you know what? I can't do this. This is not right. But let me introduce you to three people that might. And I've done that my entire career. It's like, I can't do it, or this doesn't fit for me. But let me introduce to someone that can and that's starts to build this kind of ecosystem of goodwill and good business and. And I find even whether I've used something or worked with someone, but I'm, um, building this trusted network, right? Trusted network where people are doing things in the right way. They're actually delivering.

Speaker B: That's a really powerful point around trusted network. So my understanding there is being really clear on what you're good at, where you can help, and then also helping prospects or potential customers if they're not a fit for you in making those three introductions, as you say. And that's the piece that helps unlock that, uh, trusted network.

Speaker A: Yeah, for sure. Trust is so, uh, valuable. Right. You can't buy trust and it takes a long time to build it. And what we're trying to do with our early careers is educate them on that. Trust comes from delivery, actually delivering something. And we obviously, in your younger careers, yes, you jump around a bit because maybe you're not clear right. On what it is that you want or where you fit. Trust is the foundation of my success because wherever I've gone, I've delivered upon what I said I was going to do. So therefore, everybody around you is like, well, they'll do that. I'm more than happy to recommend. I'm more than happy to open a door. And that's why most of my career transitions have been fairly smooth as well, because it will be a client or a partner that I've worked with already, who knows me and I have a conversation and then say, well, I'm looking for something else. And then that's how I ended up at Caxton. They were a client of paid Ashboard. I was a CEO, uh, of a financial wellness platform at my time there that we built. They were a partner there. They already kind of knew me. I knew them. And then conversations evolved. So there wasn't actually a rule, but the rule was created. So I think being aware of who you are, your expertise, how you come across in person. The value of that, how you come across online, you will end up, that's, that's your amplifier, right? Like if you can get this authenticness, your expertise, if, if you are shouting about it, no one else is going to. So then that gives you more reach and keeps you in mind. And if you kept in mind it might not be in the right time and we all know in sales, right, it might not be a sale today but, but it could be a sale in a year or two years. So it is just staying relevant, staying present and really working hard on your relationship. Huge amount of my energy goes into thinking about maintaining my relationships. I'm the driving force of that now. It's easier because I've got this community as well and we can hold key events and other things. But yeah, really valuing and understanding the power of that will support your entire career and business growth journey.

Speaker B: You spoke there about your online brand, Mel and uh, I speak with leaders all the time. You you know, ask me about building personal brand and they said it's just not my style, you know, it's not my thing. You know, I always struggle with that because I said well do you really think it was my, my style or my thing when I started? So you know, how do you think about overcoming that inertia with leaders who perhaps have so much great thought, leadership and content to share with the world but aren't able to overcome that initial hurdle.

Speaker A: I get some help. I mean I haven't spoken, I've spoken a lot about mentorship but uh, I think coaching, I've invested heavily in coaching and my, the years, you know, if you, if you know you've got a blocker to something that's going to help you then overcome it, solve the problem. So I think coaching is a great idea. I think that going through, you know, a program, in fact we've created uh, a brand, personal brand. So brand. Brand. You. I think the word brand sometimes is what can be off putting. And I also think if you're working within a corporate environment you can feel a little bit apprehensive around it. So I think there's this kind of personal profile, right? Let's just kind of publish and announce your personal profile about you know, what you are great at and just talk what happens on a daily basis around how you've shared your expertise. It doesn't have to be much more than that but having like this six week program and find out really deep rooted who you are and what matters to you and what your content will be Then having a framework around how you can then push that out. We've got, uh, a brilliant coach who was one of my coaches and a marketing expert who has built a business off the back of what she does. And it isn't that she's a content creator, but it's driven her visibility to win her a huge amount of business. So we've got people that are in roles that uh, have actually done it. I'm not really a fan, fan of people that just talk about stuff but haven't done it before. So we built this program for that very reason. Short six weeks and then you just up and running. Right. You just need the confidence, I think you need the content structure and then you need to be held accountable and then you're away. And I had that very conversation whilst I, with my original coach and then I moved into Caxton and obviously it's a bit more corporate and it's fintech and we had this debate around, well, yeah, but you run your own business business, you can be as free as you want, you can do what you want. Right. And if not, if you're working within a business, you have to make sure that you're kind of following brand guidelines and all the rest of it. But LinkedIn is your space, so you should be able to talk really about what you want. And yes, depending on the corporate you're within, you just follow some guidelines. They should love it, they should want it, and the more people that do it, the better for their brand. And it's something we trained at Caxton. Take this on or done. I'm telling you, it will help you with your career, it will help you with your business and hitting your quota and you should do it.

Speaker B: I think going back to our point around the importance of human connection and it feels, you know, people buy from people in today's world, at least, personal brand is a really great way. Put yourself forward in terms of communicating who you really are as a person and then that can only be a good thing in terms of supporting your growth in your career.

Speaker A: Right? Uh, 100%. And I think it's a really good way of accessing people that you probably think you could never access this. Actually, I've got a meeting with an amazing lady, so I have to be on time today. And we met online. Uh, it was purely through a kind of a shared approach to what we're doing being quite authentic and real in, in the approach. We spoke online. She came to our event. I've got a meeting. There's a business partnership there that started actually online. It didn't start in person. Now clearly, you know, it is fantastic to go out and network, but energy wise, you have to manage that. Now for some people, you get energy from it. I'm one of those people. If I'm around people, I'm energized. But many people are drained from it. So they have to manage their energy levels and they have to be far more strategic in their thinking if they're going to go and do it because it takes so much more out of them. That's what our last event was on. It was around kind of supporting people and their approach to in person and online and the benefits that it reaps, rewards, you know, whether that's for the business you're working for or for yourself.

Speaker B: Awesome. I think there's some really helpful reminders in there for leaders listening to this. Just in terms of, you know, they've got, probably got the blinkers on Q before it's just all about hitting the number and seeing where we end up. But as they start to reflect and hopefully take some holiday towards the end of the year, just having these reminders around, things that you can do to monitor and improve your own energy levels. Well, before we wrap up the show, I wanted to, you know, we've talked loosely around. I want to just, you know, help us understand a little bit more about, you know, what you're working on, what does it involve and what's m. The

Speaker A: objective, the objectives are to. Everything that we've discussed here, um, is to share it with wider audience. And yes, that was originally built for women because I saw too few women climbing career ladders and I wanted to change that. So it is a predominantly female network for women in underrepresented rurals and industries. Because of the network and the founding partners I have, it tends to be financial, uh, services, professional services and technology. But we are open to all industries and we have tfl. We have had various different, you know, clearly in transportation, too few women. I've had conversations with other, you know, sectors anywhere where that's important and they want to change the dynamic because they believe in diversity of thought. It's great. So what you've got is this really career driven, career focused group of individuals and male allies. So we have some fantastic men in, but they do understand that actually they could do some things to help women on their career journey and that's the base of it. So on one side you've got B2C. So you've got all those individuals on their career journey that we support with whatever they might want. And we do that through our partners, tried, tested, trusted partners. And that will be career advice. That will be personal brand profile. That will be networking events. Because everyone that is there is there to give. Not with get in mind, but naturally that is what happens. Right. People are, uh, open, they offer their offices, we host events. So historically it's been kind of quarterly events. But as I've taken this over now as my main occupation, it's now moved into programs. So it can be training programs, whether that's for an individual to invest in or whether that's for a business to say. Actually, I like what you're talking about. I can see that it could support my team. So there's sponsorship internally and there's often mentor programs internally. Well, most my mentors have been external to the organization and that's what's really helped me. It's also helped build relationships. It's also brought on new clients. Right. In that way. So I have got a huge network of amazing senior leaders who all want to give back. So the entire model now is about paying it forward. It isn't a subscription where you have to pay monthly. None of that. This is about if you're coming, bring someone else with you. Do right. And yes, there may be some cost to pick an event or join a mentorship program or go on a program, but there's no subscription to it. This is about paying it forward and bringing someone else with you. Because the senior level, that's what they really wanted to do. And I think that really works within corporate as well. It's like, who do you spot? Where's the talent? Let's give them their leg up and let's give them all the tools to support it. Whether that's early, mid or. I do a lot of advice, advisory as well. I work with a few businesses on their strategy for growth. So whether it is a business growth strategy, whether it's your people growth strategy, or whether you as an individual want to grow, want to progress, want to transition, then we've got this amazing network of people that will support all of those things.

Speaker B: I love it. That's awesome. And as you know, I've just hired two women into my business in the last two weeks. Definitely something I'll be directing them towards. And I'm sure lots of listeners. Listeners will be curious to learn more. Oh, I'm assuming that LinkedIn is probably the best place for people to reach out if they do want to connect.

Speaker A: Yes.

Speaker B: Discuss any of the leadership or talent topics that we covered today.

Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. LinkedIn's a place. Otherwise, hello@ConnectionCareerCollective.com if you want to drop an email. But yeah, we would welcome, you know, more like minded humans to join this movement of the future of work isn't so bloody negative, honestly. There's always a positive spin on everything. There's always an opportunity. This is a huge opportunity. So yeah, let's use it in the right way, the technology and the AI. Let's not be scared of it. Right. And let's just position ourselves to be required for the future and that is being as human as possible.

Speaker B: Yeah, 100% aligned on that vision, Mel. And obviously that's, you know, very close to my heart with what we're building at you hubs and you know, this is all about the people become your final differentiator data. When everybody has access to the same technology and tools and messaging and outbound, your humans, uh, are the last differentiator for your business.

Speaker A: Yeah. Biggest asset also, biggest cost. So I'd be invested in them wisely.

Speaker B: Mel, this has been a great conversation. Thanks so much for coming on the show today and really looking forward to sharing this with the industry.

Speaker A: Yeah. And for us to talk more, Matt. Right. I think there's real synergy around what you guys are doing. I believe in it and, and if it helps kind of provide the data to then know where those people need that support, it makes perfect sense. So yeah, appreciate the team reaching out and thank you for your time.