12-MONTH PLAN
the four simple steps to make 2010 count
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FUN
TALENT
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BALANCE
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BREAK IT DOWN
4
Give yourself weekly and
daily targets and ensure your
plans aren’t too rigid. That way,
if you fail to hit a target, you
can adapt. “A plan is a work
in progress,” says Clarke. “If
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CAREER WHEEL
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RELATIONSHIPS
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RECOGNITION
something goes wrong ask
yourself three questions:
‘What feedback is this giving
me? What can I learn from?
How can I improve my plan?’”
inthehotseat.co.uk
“PLAN EACH AND EVERY STEP”
KARREN BRADY, 40, FORMER MD OF BIRMINGHAM
CITY AND ‘THE NEW MARGARET’ ON THE APPRENTICE
When it comes to impressive CVs, few can touch
Karren Brady’s. From her appointment as managing
director of Birmingham City FC aged just 23, to
breaking sexual stereotypes as a member of the
2018 World Cup-bid team, Brady is a force to be
reckoned with. But how did she get to the top?
“You need a game plan,” says Brady. “It’s like saying
you’re going to win the Premiere League, it doesn’t
just happen. You have to be specific about every
step that will get you there.”
Brady had no experience in the football world
when she persuaded her then boss to buy the
football club that had gone into receivership.
She found the key to making it work has been
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SECURITY
GROWTH
“Identify how satisfied you are
with each of the areas in your job
– the ideal should be 10”
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VALUE
“ENJOY YOUR SUCCESS”
surrounding herself with
people she can trust.
“I don’t get involved
unless I understand it.”
2009 brought a key milestone in terms of her
health; following major brain surgery three years
ago for an aneurysm, Brady was finally given the
all-clear in August. “I think it gives you confidence
to look beyond what’s happening now and think
about what you’d like to happen in the future.”
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Plan the next career move Having sold
Birmingham City in 2009 for £82m and landing her
POLLY GOWERS, 42,
FOUNDER AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE
OF EVERYCLICK.COM
Everyclick.com enables you to raise
money for charities – for free – as
you search online. A genius idea in
itself, it’s not surprising to discover
that founder and award-winning
businesswoman Polly Gowers is one
switched-on woman. When it comes
to achieving, she sets the bar high,
“impossibly high, telescoperequired-to-see-it
high. You must
define where you’re trying to get to,
in order to have a vision of what you
want to be. Visualisation has worked
well for me,” says Gowers.
For Gowers, 2009 was crammed
with success. Everyclick grew as
a business, reaching around
300,000 regular users and was
voted a MediaTech Top 100
company. “We also raised nearly
£1million for charity,” she says.
Despite a recession, Gowers
believes building a business comes
down to attitude, specifically
“positive thinking and just dogged
determination to get where you
want to be.” That, and being clever
about who they target. “Everyclick
enables people to support
something that’s close to their
heart,” she says. “It’s about getting
it into the hands of the people
that care so they can get more
people involved.”
However, 2009 was far from
stress free. In April, Gowers had one
of the most traumatic experiences
imaginable. “I’d given myself
stomach ulcers through too much
LIVE YOUR DREAM
stress and it
turned out I’d had an allergic reaction
to the drugs they were giving me to fix
them,” says Gowers, who spent 10 days
in intensive care. “I’ve realised there’s
no point being highly successful if you
kill yourself on the way!”
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Unleash the power of delegation
By the end of 2010, Gowers wants
Everyclick to have 1.5 million users but
she’s also determined to go big on
delegation. As a founder, she believes
you have to be a generalist, but it’s time
to find “exceptional people” to help take
the business forward. “My job is now to
make sure I put the right people in
place to get the things done rather
than thinking I’ve got to learn how to
do it myself.” Gowers has set herself a
July deadline to get new staff in place.
Get work-life balance licked This is
her key aim for the year. “If I’ve a lot to
do I’ll get up at 4am,” she admits,
although it’s not a daily occurrence.
“My idea of success is waking up at
4am and not jumping out of bed like
a demented rabbit.”
Double the school run Spending
more time with her two-year-old
daughter Claudia is another key goal.
“My aim is to be able to pick her up
from nursery at least twice week. This
week it was not at all, last week twice.
Mondays and Fridays she’s booked in
for nursery and I am picking her up.
I haven’t booked a nanny, so now it’s
a case to sticking to that.”
job on The Apprenctice, Brady is plotting her next
steps and is planning to pick a project she’ll enjoy.
“The most important thing is whether I feel
I can make a significant contribution to the success
of the business or in turning it around.”
Banish working mums’ guilt “I think ‘working
mother’ is a lovely term for me because it’s the two
things in life that are most important to me – my
work and my children. Sometimes I don’t get it right.
When I’m at sport’s day I’m wondering what the
hell’s going on at the board meeting and when I’m
at the board meeting I’m thinking ‘How could I miss
the sport’s day?’ But you can only do your best.”
Get 5-mile fit Currently Brady’s exercise routine
is limited but she has big plans to change that this
year. “I’ve decided to run the Knowle Fun Run in
my local village run in May. It’s five miles – that’s
something I’ve never done before. I’m doing it
for Teenage Cancer Trust.” Training will start
she says, with running one mile per day.
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