All Quotes

"Once you get into management, it’s challenges all the way up!"

"I would love to live in a world where everyone, including the women themselves, expects exactly the same drive and ability from both female and male employees."

"If you can’t see someone who looks like you doing the job, then you don’t think it’s for you."

"My biggest learning around mentorship is that all of the drive and determination needs to come from the mentee. If you go to a mentor or coach expecting them to wave a magic wand and fix your life for you, it’s not going to happen."

"It looks very glamorous from the outside, but you’re just in some big room in a hotel with lots of boards so it really just feels like a school hall"

"The women’s tournament was much smaller than the main competition and I got lucky to get through the draw"

"You see it in all sports and particularly in those like snooker for example, when you’re about to win and all those thoughts start going through your head you actually play worse"

"It’s just like anything, until you have someone to show you how to play it you won’t pick it up"

"But I think backgammon is even more beneficial because it revolves around managing probability, risk and reward"

"The blue of Titicaca is peculiar, not deep and dark as that of the tropical ocean, nor opaque like the blue of , nor like that warm purple of the Aegean which Homer compares to dark red wine, but a clear, cold, crystalline blue, even as is that of the cold skye vaulted over it. Even in the blazing sunlight it had that sort of chilly glitter one sees in the crevasses of a glacier; and the wavelets sparkled like diamonds."

"The lake itself functions almost as a closed system; its only outflow river under the present hydrological situation accounts for less than 5 % of the total water losses. The lake water is subject to strong evaporation, has a of the order of 63 years and has a total dissolved salt content of close to one gram per liter, which distinguishes it from the much fresher waters of the majority of the Andean mountain lakes. ... In addition to its unusual features, it is, according to , one of the birthplaces of mankind. The sun, the moon and the stars were born within its bounds according to the wishes of , creator of the world. Here, after the , mankind took its first steps. The lake was a sacred site for the , who saw it as the end of the earth and a point of fusion where the two concepts of time and space came to be expressed."

"Lake Titicaca is one of the world’s great sights. A vast inland sea improbably located in the sky. If it were in Europe, its surface would be above all the highest peaks in Switzerland and Austria, and its area would measure more than twice the size of all their lakes combined. ... ... If Titicaca was never a serious contender as the source of the Amazon (it’s in the mountains to the north), it is the cultural heart for Indigenous people."

"A little of this and a little of that and you mix it all together. But a whole lotta love has to go in it. If you don't have that, you have nothing at all."

"Keep busy. Put family first, but treat everybody like family. Save your money, but give the credit to a higher power."

"I’m very confident in myself as a person, and I know I work well in business, but you just never know with the tasks. The first couple of weeks were really hard."

"“Actually, if I put my head down and do the right things, I could bloody win this.” I felt I grew a lot more in confidence during the process and eventually won it. So yeah, I did something right."

"One of the key things for me going in was to just be myself. I tried to stay calm. I did not want the aggressive label. In business sometimes, that’s how people are and that’s what works for them, but that’s not how I would want to manage my own."

"Usually, you’d have to remind yourself what happened but this part was just selling myself and my business, and that’s my passion. That’s what I know everything about. So by that point, it was great to be able to just talk abut the business and to sell it."

"In business sometimes, that’s how people are and that’s what works for them, but that’s not how I would want to manage my own. So I tried to keep out of confrontation, focus on the prize and keep people on board. But by the end, I wanted to show myself a bit more. I think everything I did worked really well and, obviously I’ve won so... I can't even believe I’m saying that."

"You have to work hard for money and save for a rainy day."

"I ended up working pretty much every hour I possibly could and reined in my spending as well so that I could invest in my business."

"You’ve got to have that entrepreneurial flair where you will find the answer to the problem."

"As long as you’ve got a solid idea and a strategy to get to where you want to be - just give it a go."

"The rise of social media made it easier to make and sell my own clothes and get into the fashion world."

"“Am I going to feel passionate about my business every day for the rest of my life?”"

"You don’t need massive amounts of money behind you when you start, but finding the right products for your business can really help."

"Business owners shouldn’t be afraid to ask for help from the people who have the answers."

"I think you need a little bit of everything. I think you have to kind of play it safe to begin with a little bit, you have to listen to people and work as a team, but towards the end you kind of use your own initiative and be a bit more outspoken."

"CEOs have always had to focus on running their company well, but, unquestionably, a CEO needs to increasingly focus on purpose, investing time and resources in making a wider contribution to the environment and to the communities where their company operates. They need to focus more on culture, as culture is the enabler of any upside, and it should guide you as a leader."

"Empathy is absolutely critical for CEOs. In a politically uncertain world—with increasing divergence between the “haves” and “have nots,” you have to think carefully about how you show up as a leader and ensure you’re in touch with your customers, employees, and wider stakeholders."

"I've learned through difficult periods as a CEO that resilience is everything. I believe the ability to quickly recover from setbacks, rally for longer, and remain positive is a key differentiator for many top CEOs."

"I've also learned to leverage tough times to build followership. In times of crisis, the role of the CEO isn't to be a spokesperson; it's to lean in and help with the critical tasks that need to be done. You can absolutely come out of this period stronger."

"I’m a football fan (Everton) and I say to my staff you are only as good as your last match. I’ve never looked back and said that I should have done something differently, but some days are harder than others."

"You have to decide whether you always want to be Thierry Henry or Arsene Wenger. When I was younger, I thought I was always going to be Henry but someone opened my eyes to realise that overseeing the whole team, thinking about the strategy and getting the best out of others was much more satisfying."

"I don’t really pay attention to my own publicity - that’s not why I do the job. What I need to concentrate on is doing the best possible job for my customers, my investors, and our communities. If I have any power, it’s to do the absolute best for everyone and maybe to try to inspire the next generation to be the best that they can."

"Being a purposeful company is all about corporate character, not corporate add-ons. A purposeful company will have a very clear sense of its long-term social mission and will be guided by that in its decision-making."

"Making everyone in the organisation you work in feels as though they can be the very best version of them at work as happy, engaged people are always more willing to go the extra mile, think the creative solution and engage more positively with customers."

"Learning by making mistakes is the most effective way to progress."

"Listening without judgement and from there building strong relationships allows new ideas to come to fruition."

"If we tackle the entire global logistics chain as a whole and shift as much freight as we can from land and air to water we immediately transition to the lowest cost and lowest emission transport mode."

"There needs to be more courage, more pioneering spirit. There is a lot of it about in the waterborne sector. It may seem safer to wait to be a fast-follower but if no one leads we have a much harder time managing the inevitable transition and there will be more losses and failures as a result. Work collaboratively, build coalitions, share first mover risks."

"I think they lack ambition. The option of not reducing emissions in line with science means everything else we worry about is academic – there are few large scale business options on a frozen/flooded/burning planet – now is not the time for pragmatism but ambition."

"There is a huge growth potential in pioneering new sustainable solutions and putting the UK and EU at the forefront of the inevitable sustainability shift. Just because current rhetoric and hostility to global trade is top of our minds right now, it won’t always be so. Jaap is able to look past the current ‘noise’ and see opportunities."

"They say timing is everything and the revolution in accessible technology helped massively with building the Stopcocks network. I simply couldn’t have accomplished what I’ve done without the revolution in technology making it happen. Each new thing I want to do has to wait till the tech catches up and allows us to do it."

"But being who I am, I set about finding out and taking action. That set me off on a road to build a national network of women plumbers and through that make an impact on water sustainability. If I’d realised the enormity of that vision, I may never have started out on the journey!"

"At the same time I continue to work towards this huge vision of a network of women plumbers changing the world. I’m making mistakes, getting things right and continuing to move towards the big goals"

"Being able to help other women make their dreams come true is simply amazing and the best inspiration. One of our loyal plumbers says she doesn’t know what would have happened to her if she hadn’t joined us. She says she could have been ‘in the gutter’ but instead she has a thriving business, healthy children and has just got married. She is happy and content for the first time in her life."

"Have patience, because it may take a long time. Have determination because you will encounter lots of obstacles. Have compassion for yourself when things go wrong and when they do, find the advantages of a change in direction."

"It’s an awkward balance to follow your gut instincts and also bring others in. If the vision is big you can’t do it alone, but if it’s a unique vision, other people try to push their own expectations and desires onto it. It’s good to have the right advisers and advocates."

"I became disillusioned with teaching and wanted to leave, I looked back at my dream subjects and combined them with my great respect, love and affinity with water (my star sign Scorpio is a water sign) so it had to be plumbing."