In celebration of Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day, Robert Half hosted a client webinar with inspiring speaker Kate Hardcastle MBE. She is known as ‘the customer whisperer’ for her work with leading brands such as Disney, M&S and Barclaycard, which helps shape insightful relationships with customers.
Kate’ clarity, candour and pragmatic approach when commenting on consumer issues is much sought after by broadcasters..
From marketing to business leader, Kate characterises her journey as being down to hard work, as well as overcoming self-doubt and imposter syndrome. She readily acknowledges being inspired by female business leaders such as The Body Shop founder Anita Roddick.
Taking a break from her busy schedule, Kate shared some of the lessons she has learned along the way that may help other aspirational women leaders to make their own progress.
1. Build bridges, not thrones
One of Anita’s mottoes sticks with Kate to this day, which is to always build bridges with people rather than rule from a throne. Another piece of advice was to choose a platform and then speak to your chosen topic - to make sure you have one purpose in life and one in business and that the message gets through.
“I also had a male CEO when I was in charge of marketing at a global brand,” Kate said. “He always spoke to me ‘human to human’ and gave me the opportunity to deliver my role to the best of my ability. That taught me the best way to move forward to directorships and board presence.”
The empathy shown by Kate's previous bosses inspired her to be human, prioritise end results, rely on data, and consistently reinforce core messages, whether in sales or team management.
“Sometimes, I might not use the most typical way in, but it’s all about the outcome,” she explained. “If I can prove to you that you’re going to have more a more profitable, effective and engaging business by having more diversity in your boardroom, then I’m going to bang that drum constantly.”
2. Make time to listen, and offer solutions
It’s incredibly human to want to be listened to, said Kate, but we can all be guilty of not truly listening in this fast-paced day and age.
“We shouldn’t be afraid to come to a conversation with a solution, not just a problem, and lean into the sort of work we want to deliver as well,” she explained “Organisations need to give time to listen in a comfortable and safe environment.”
Preparation is all important when hosting meetings, as well as attending them: “What are we trying to get from this session, and what would success look like?,” Kate added. “Use the rule of three to identify at least three purposeful objectives from any conversation or event. Then ask your questions with clarity, authenticity and emotional intelligence.”
Read more: Nigel Owens MBE: 4 ways to create and support inclusive workplace cultures
3. Put your customer at the heart of everything you do
Re-energising focus and prioritising strategic objectives are topics Kate is often asked to speak about to organisations or their teams.
“This is where I remind them that the quickest and easiest way to do that is to look at the experience that customers have with them,” she explained. “I take them through a journey of what terrible looks like, and what great could feel like.”
Kate highlighted the particular challenges associated with digital distress, where customers are constantly required to do their own admin, and which cause them to build a negative impression of brands.
“It’s still the case that the majority of consumer decisions are led predominately by women,” Kate remarked about the benefits of a balanced boardroom to get to the heart of customer issues. “You need women in the boardroom who can help support, reflect and concur with decisions that are being made.”
4. Encourage men to be advocates for change
Simply put, the best male managers can get the best out of their employees just as well as female managers. But to really shift the dial, everyone in the workplace needs to take responsibility for treating everyone fairly.
“As the parent of one son and two daughters I am constantly celebrating their success, but also, even at their young age, being careful about the words that are used,” she said. “Girls can be called bossy when they are actually being purposeful and intentional. Of course, we need to be straight talking, and you don’t want to make everything into a challenge, but in 2025 we shouldn’t be describing female teams as ‘the girls’.”
5. Get back into the elevator, don’t just send it down
Once you’ve made it to the top, it’s important not to just send the elevator down to where you’ve come from, but to get back in it and tell people what it’s like ‘up there’.
“Sometimes it’s daunting to think about your ability to reach the role you have your eye on,” Kate said. “If you have been through the experience, share how it felt with others on the same track. How can they maximise it? How do they make sure this big promotion is going to work for them?”
It’s all about working to support the next group of women leaders, mentoring others while setting an example by putting pressure on yourself, concluded Kate: “We are only the baton carriers for the next generation, and we need to be able to tell them that success happens when we collaborate and say, how did we achieve that? Because we used our different skillsets and we did it together.”
Read more: Cultural theorist explores CV discrimination in hiring
Robert Half’s website has a wealth of knowledge on the benefits of diverse hiring and inclusive teams. For expert insights on re-energising your team's focus and prioritising strategic objectives, don’t miss Kate's website to learn more.
