Confidence boost

I write in response to the article by Graeme Atha entitled “Gender equality focus at marketing festival” (Friends of The Scotsman, 20 July).

I am very pleased to see that the Marketing Society of Scotland is to debate gender equality in business at the Amplify Marketing Festival on 27 August. It’s no secret that women dominate the marketing arena, yet too few achieve their full potential.

Lack of confidence has been at the heart of every challenge I have seen in corporate life. The good news is that confidence is a learnable skill and the Marketing Society has the opportunity to showcase practical and transforming solutions that really work.

It is interesting to note in my research of 80 CEOS that female leaders rate confidence highly in their list of essential leader attributes, yet it doesn’t even feature on men’s because they already have it in bucketloads.

Sustainable changes will only come from empowering women to create their personal brand – something that is bread and butter to marketing professionals – through increased confidence. It is only then can we work to develop women’s ability to identify big picture opportunities and to seek advancement.

It is this clarity of process, combined with proven psychological strategies and skills which deliver success; debate alone cannot change generations of unconscious gender bias.

ROS TAYLOR Corporate & leadership coach Grosvenor Crescent, Edinburgh