‘Put your head above the parapet’

AngelA Spindler, 55, is CeO of n Brown group plC, which owns the brands Jd Williams, Simply Be and Jacamo. She is married with two children and lives in Cheshire.

You need self-belief to succeed. I come from a very ordinary workingclass background and was surrounded by strong, matriarchal women who all had a fierce work ethic and made me believe there was nothing I couldn’t achieve. I wanted to be a hairdresser when I was little, and didn’t really become ambitious until I got my first job as a graduate trainee at Cadbury/schweppes. It was very meritocratic there and you were rewarded for hard work and dedication. It made me realise you don’t need a private education or wealthy background to succeed, but you do need an inner confidence, which is what my family gave me.

Find out what you’re good at – then do it. I found I was great at selling. Persuading and negotiating is like breathing to me. success is about abC – ability, breaks and courage. you’ve got to find what you’re really good at, have the courage to do it, and be in the right place at the right time. you can control the first two, but luck is trickier.

put your head above the parapet. you can’t be a shrinking violet and stay behind the scenes. When I was just 21, during a critical time for the company I was working for, the person doing the

presentation to the shareholders suddenly became sick. I’d helped with the script so I volunteered to do it. It was a huge risk. but I worked hard and memorised the whole thing verbatim in about 48 hours – and pulled it off. It put me on the map and got me promoted.

i came to n Brown to transform the business, not just make it tick over. We’re changing it from a uK-based company to an online business with global ambitions– that’s the goal. and I’m confident we can do it. I had to make 450 people redundant because of changes to the business, which is always incredibly difficult and something I don’t relish, but I’ve also recruited

300 people with modern digital skills to make the company fit for the future.

it’s all about teamwork. I rely on a team much more than me to get the job done. I regard myself as a conductor, guiding a really excellent orchestra.

“You don’t need a private education or wealthy background to succeedÓ

i scare myself every single week with the decisions i take. I’m not sure you’re doing your job if you don’t. No matter how high up the career ladder you go, you never get to a position of safety even if you’re the boss. you have to accept a certain level of stress and uncertainty. It goes with the territory.

Saying that, i don’t lie awake worrying. I’ve learned over the years that it’s absolutely pointless. I’m very good at compartmentalising and putting concerns aside until I can deal with them.

I’ve learned not to fret over things that are beyond my control and act quickly to prevent mistakes or correct them.

i’ve always felt i’ve been treated equally to men. When I was younger I would look at senior male managers in the office and think “I can do that”. so I did. If anything, I felt it was my age, when I was younger, for which I was discriminated against, not my gender. I’ve always worked to prove myself.

But if you dO come across sex discrimination, my advice is don’t try to change it. Just go somewhere else! Why waste your energy and risk being humiliated – those companies will ultimately fail because they’re only calling on 50% of the talent available; how ridiculous is that? It’s also important to have women at the top. I like to see at least one female candidate on all shortlists, otherwise we’re doing business a disservice.

i hope i’m an inspiring boss – i aim to be authentic and honest, and tell people how i feel. that might make me a bit inconsistent at times – I forget to tell colleagues that I’m actually just thinking out loud sometimes rather than issuing instructions or telling them what I’d like done.

A brilliant nanny and an organised home life is crucial. My children are grown up now, but all the time I worked, I had a fantastic nanny who came at 7am and didn’t mind hanging around at the end of the day for a cup of tea – or glass of wine! – so we could catch up. she was an amazing support to me and a great friend. Sadly, success at work hasn’t always meant success at home. When the children were little I went through a horrible divorce. My amazing family rallied round, but it’s the emotional fallout that knocked me for six. It was difficult but I did bounce back and, second time round, I married my soulmate.

i’m now an empty-nester – my children are 25 and 27 – and loving it! I’m not under pressure to dash back for homework or make dinner. My husband is an academic, which complements my job perfectly. We tend to relax over a glass of wine in the evening to unwind.

i’m not sure what i’ll do after n Brown group but i feel it’ll be something with a bigger agenda beyond business. I’d like to be involved with something that is giving back. My role models aren’t just older women but people like Malala yousafzai, who are incredibly brave and have changed lives all over the world.

Holidays and sport are how i relax. We own a house in Pollença in Mallorca where we retreat to. We’re also a very sporty family – we all play tennis and walk the dogs for miles. last year I did a 200-mile bike ride from london to Paris in aid of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and raised £1 million, which was a fantastic feeling. I want to do more of that. >>