This week, Polina and Jon S share their thoughts and key takeaways from RIBA's Future Leaders first session!

As first-time attendees, we were pleased with how interactive and informative the sessions were.

The conference started with Andy Bow from Foster and Partners and Sadie Morgan from dRMM giving us an insightful and honest presentation on thought leadership, pitching and challenging ourselves to honestly appraise our leadership skills and become the best version of ourselves. 

Communication is the first skill for a leader. We learned that tenacity and empathy should be the focus for any approach. To always make time for others and get to know the people you work with and offer support when they need it. 

We reflected on managers and leaders we’ve had, and how we always go back to those who took interest in us as individuals and listened to us and what we want to do next.

Sadie also discussed the key steps to making a pitch successful. Knowing your client, using inclusive language, and practicing were some of the key moves to delivering a successful pitch.

We then moved on to Jennifer Holloway’s talk that focused on our personal brand and identifying our unique selling points. She asked us questions as an exercise to help us consider how to set our own brand and make it unique.

The first session was very inspiring with outstanding speakers. We are looking forward to attending sessions 2 and 3, and sharing more of our experience and learnings with you.