Episode 27 - Fiona Dewar: Developing Great Leaders

Fiona Dewar, Founder and Trainer of Pragmatic Leadership is our guest for this episode. Fiona began her career as a management trainee at Marks and Spencer, initially focusing on human resources. She has worked for SMEs in a variety of industries as a strategic advisor and non-executive director. Fiona is now launching a new training company, putting what she's learned throughout her 30-year career into courses that will assist managers and leaders in their development.

[3:01] Sticking to the Knitting

Fiona read a book about looking at successful firms and identifying the key elements that set them apart.

[4:13] Pragmatic Leadership

The right balance of management and leadership capabilities is what pragmatic leadership is all about. It's all about interacting with consumers and treating employees with respect. Fiona believes that businesses should diversify while maintaining their core competencies and capabilities.

[6:02] Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs, according to Fiona, are those who set out to change things in their industry or profession. Her business's fundamental strength was going direct to consumers, but she needed to use several social media channels to expand sales. They enlisted the help of other social networking professionals.

[10:25] Experiences of Marketing

Fiona worked on behalf of existing practices all around the United Kingdom. She believes that in order to sell strategically and successfully, companies must first understand their product and how other industries advertise theirs.

Advice

[13:40]

Fiona's business suffered a setback, and one of the things she wishes she could do differently makes the tough decision sooner. She had the impression that the difficult choices they had to make throughout that difficult time were being made for them.

[15:16] Fiona had always known that they were skilled at handling situations outside of their care and offering specialized care.

[16:41] The issue of "why" is always at the heart of marketing. To maintain your motivation, you must clearly understand why you are doing what you are doing.

Resources Mentioned:

- LinkedIn Mini Course: https://www.impactforleads.com/

Find out more:

- Jason’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonaosborn/

- Fiona’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fiona-dewar-43615714/

- Fiona’s Website: https://www.pragmatic-leadership.co.uk/

Don’t Forget:

If you’re enjoying the podcast please leave a review.

If you know someone who’d enjoy or benefit from today’s topic, hit the share button and pass it on.

Thank you so much and until next time keep… appreciate your atomic moments of impact.

Cheers,

Jason