Ann Francke OBE - Why I champion gender diversity in the workplace

Nottingham Business School Business Leaders

Ann Francke is one of Britain’s most high-profile women business leaders – and a passionate campaigner for gender diversity in the workplace.

She has spent almost nine years as CEO of the Chartered Institute of Management, highlighting the business benefits of having more women in senior management.

But her campaigning is also fired by her own personal experience as a woman executive in a world dominated by men.

She tells the Nottingham Business School Business Leaders’ Podcast: “There were many instances where I was the first and only female on the executive committee or board and I felt very othered.

“I was made to feel quite uncomfortable and excluded – whether consciously as it was in some cases or unconsciously, as it no doubt was in others.”

Ann tells Honorary Visiting Professor Mike Sassi about an occasion when she decided to confront the sexism head-on.

“I called it out…absolutely and directly… in front of everyone,” she says.

“What I was really signalling (to my boss) was, we’ve gotten to a point where our values have diverged. What I value, is not how you are treating me.

“Then there is a kerfuffle. People try to gloss it over. They say: Why don’t you just apologise?

“In that particular instance I said, well I don’t really have anything to apologise for. And then, of course, you end up leaving the organisation.”

But there is an interesting postscript to Ann’s story.

She adds: “The good of it is that another very senior leader observed that incident. That senior leader later became CEO of the organisation. And when they did, they knew they had to change the culture.

“I’d like to think that in a small way I helped that CEO.”

One of Ann’s first roles was as a brand manager at Proctor and Gamble, leading the launch of the Always product that became the company’s first truly global brand.

Since then, she has enjoyed a stellar career, including executive posts at Mars, Yell, Boots and BSI.

Ann is also the author of The Financial Times Guide to Management and a former winner of The Louis Armstrong Award for outstanding leadership of a UK professional body.

She has been CEO at the CMI since 2012 and in 2020 she was awarded an OBE for services to workplace equality.

Ann uses her success as a platform to highlight how women are still consistently undervalued in the workplace.

“Despite all the talk, there's been very little action,” she says.

“There's been very little progress in 2021. It is still the case that only six per cent of FTSE CEOs are female in the UK and only eight per cent of the S&P 500 in the United States are female.

“Yet 51 per cent of the population is female. Sixty per cent of university graduates are female. It’s actually pretty appalling. And it’s been stuck there for the last five or ten years.”

Ann believes the answer may lie in legislation to force change.

She adds: “We need transparency in the form of gender pay gap reporting… transparency with teeth. Companies need to be held to account, to have action plans.

“If they don't make progress there needs to be consequences… financial fines. Business likes to achieve things voluntarily, but there needs to be transparency with teeth and consequences for those that don't meet targets.”

And Ann’s advice to young women who are just starting out on their career?

“Always be true to your values,” she says.

“Because that's how you'll keep that fundamental self-confidence and self-awareness.

“Find an environment that corresponds to your values, and that makes you feel valued. And if you get into a situation where you are very unsupported and feeling very devalued, don't blame yourself. Change the situation. [Switch employer!]”