Why TV and shopping can be good for female talent

I have just finished catching up on my TV viewing of the latest Mary Portas offering "Queen of Frocks", where she "defiantly redefin[es] middle age as the most desirable age bracket to be in".  She shows shop owners how to sell to this lucrative market, while providing an excellent female role model both for shoppers and organisations.

I love Mary Portas on a number of levels.  She makes great TV, she has taste, but most importantly because she gets how important people are, and the importance of their development. In her recent three part series, she is shown looking for people's strengths, she pushes, challenges and stretches people. She is a natural spotter of talent. What a great example of a leader (and dare I say in these pc times, a women too). Mary proved on her recent show that if you invest in your people (along with other key elements, such as knowing your customers) you will excel in meeting your business objectives.  In the world of fashion, where reportedly bitchiness often wins the day and at a time when the 30% Club are championing for more women leaders in the work place. Women (and organisations) would do well to take a good hard look at the great female role model that Mary Portas is shown to be.

Female leaders, what is your style?  Do you nurture and grow the talent that works with you, or do you seek to grind it into the ground? 

Organisation, what are you doing to ensure there are opportunities for your diverse talent to shine?  In our forthcoming book 'Innovative Talent Management' we have a great case study of how one organisation through their new approach to development, driven by business need, realised they had also created a genuine opportunity for female talent to release more of their potential.