I spent two days at Ideasfest just outside of London a couple of weeks ago. For anyone unfamiliar, it’s a gathering of entrepreneurs, investors and business leaders and it was a welcome oasis of positivity.
Several things struck me. The number of female entrepreneurs, of all ages, pitching their businesses. The innovative ideas they were bringing to the table. How commercial necessity is driving huge investment in areas like green energy. The easy-going atmosphere and the openness of people there.
It was a community focused on the future: surfacing the big problems we face, bringing ideas about how we can fix them and seeing opportunity.
A few days later I saw something similar at our own Beyond the Fog event. We were addressing a very different subject, how organisations support working parents, but there was the same sense of pragmatism.
Those in the room were fully focused on the enduring problems we face in this space: how to retain experienced people, how to make existing policies work and how to help managers navigate the increasingly complex needs of their teams, including those early and later in their careers, with and without dependants.
What connected both was the sense that the people making a difference right now are not necessarily the ones fighting the big public battles. They are the ones doing the work out of the spotlight.
Gloria Steinem, in a short final essay written just before her passing, addressed the question of what we do when it feels as though progress is being reversed. Her answer was partly to remember how far we have come, but also to look closer to home. “The biggest leaps are those that we make within ourselves,” she wrote, urging people to bring equality into their own workplaces and homes. That's what I recognised at both events. Rather than waiting for the big public arguments to be resolved, people were working on what was in front of them and where they could make a difference. Champions in their own domain.
That kind of change is harder than it looks, even with issues that appear simple.
Take flexible working, which is once again in the headlines. For many parents or carers, it can be the difference between maintaining a career and giving up on one. But while one person may need flexibility around childcare, a graduate in the same team may want to learn alongside experienced colleagues and see time in the office as a benefit. Both needs are legitimate, but a five-day office mandate doesn't solve that tension. Neither does a blanket commitment to remote working.
As Lee Chambers, CEO of Male Allies, argued at our event, there is always a temptation to reach for tick-box solutions. But treating everyone the same is not always the same as treating them fairly. The organisations that make progress are those that give managers the confidence to understand difference, balance competing needs and make sensible decisions about what works for their teams.
That requires judgement, managers who feel trusted to use it, and an understanding that there is a middle ground where most of us win.
That need to exercise our own judgement applies more widely. We live in a world in which we are constantly being told what is happening, what people think and which way the wind is blowing. But it is important to see the world as it is, rather than simply as it is presented to us. And to do that, you have to get out and about.
What I found over the last couple of weeks was encouraging. There are plenty of pragmatic people out there getting on with the work, tackling the problems in front of them and making progress. You just have to get out and find them.
News
Labour to make bosses meet workers before rejecting flexible-working requests - The Independent
New policy aims at encourage fuller appraisal of flexible working needs while retaining room for practical judgement. Read article
Thousands more parents to cut incomes to swerve £100,000 ‘cliff edge’ - The Times
How policy shapes carer choices: parents reduce incomes to reduce earnings or hours to meet the threshold for more favourable tax and access to tax free childcare. Read article
Half of employers boosting in-house talent development, CIPD data shows - People Management
Nearly half of employers are increasing efforts to develop talent in-house to meet skills and retention pressures. Read article
Opinion
How managers can support women in the workplace - Financial Times
Examining the practical actions organisations can take to support maternity returners, from manager training, flexible working, childcare support and shared parental leave. Read article
Gloria Steinem’s Final Essay - The New Yorker
A short and powerful reflection on equality, progress and the actions individuals can take to bring equality into their own workplaces, homes and communities. Read article
Is working from home working? - The Times
A counterpoint to the simplistic pro- or anti-office positions which examines flexibility alongside collaboration, development and the experience of younger workers. Read article
Insight
The Global Gender Gap Report 2026 – World Economic Forum
The latest report finds significant gaps remain in economic participation and leadership. Women’s representation halves between entry level and the C-suite, while career breaks and the changing world of work continue to shape progression. Read report
Access to flexible working response – UK Government
The full evidence sitting behind the UK flexible-working debate, including the role of workplace culture and managers in whether employees can obtain flexibility. Read reports