On this week’s ‘You’re On Mute’, Lord Michael Hastings is in conversation with Tom Ilube CBE, Chair of England’s Rugby Football Union, CEO of Crossword Cybersecurity PLC, Non-Executive Director for advertising giant WPP and more.

By age ten, Tom's irrepressible nature had seen him overcome the early challenges of being a care leaver due to his bi-racial heritage, surviving a near death experience after being confronted by the barrel of a gun, in Idi Amin’s Uganda, as well as setting up a new home on another continent.

Embracing the dogged determination that represents the best of Nigerian culture and attitude, despite initially having a degree from a relatively unknown university in Benin, Tom has gone on to work for some of the most enviable corporations, companies and institutions, including British Airways, PWC, the British Stock Exchange and Goldman Sachs as a way of learning, gaining invaluable experience and validating his skill set.

Matching his drive, tenacity and business acumen, Tom has successfully pursued his passion by becoming a serial tech entrepreneur, with his specialism being start-ups. Remarkably, Tom has a significant appetite for the associated risk of new ventures and speaks openly, about the relationship between failure and success and how often, the difference is about calibrating approach, necessary to create winning pathways.

Renowned for his philanthropic pursuits, Tom’s African Gifted Foundation has efficaciously created generational change for numerous Black girls and women in science across Africa, in turn, boosting their prospects globally. As a role model, Tom shares his wisdom regarding overcoming stereotypes, navigating racism, the importance of laughter and the role of drama as a component of engaging storytelling.

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On this weeks Episode of BBI’s ‘You’re On Mute’, we hear from Baroness Tina Stowell, former Chair of the Charity Commission, now Chair of the Communications and Digital Select Committee in the House of Lords.

Baroness Tina Stowell MBE’s growth and achievement is exemplary and demonstrates, self-belief, integrity and passion are paramount for achieving excellence! We learn how a girl from the UK’s East Midlands realised with each success, her potential for advance was greater than she imagined.

By reaching beyond her grasp and completing each job role with enviable levels of distinction, Baroness Stowell imbued her employers and other influential people with the confidence to provide her with more challenging and sophisticated opportunities, thus allowing the Baroness to rise through the ranks, despite her profile not necessarily meeting conventional norms.

Hear directly how Baroness Stowell was almost recruited for MI6, working in Washington DC through a period of huge transition and the view of an insider, during John Major’s Prime Ministership and more. Especially insightful is how Baroness Stowell skilfully steered the same sex bill through The House of Lords to achieve a landmark change in statute, as well as her opinion about the role of charities as a former Chair of The Charity Commission.

This episode, contains many important lessons not least of all, talent can originate from all levels of society regardless of academic training and how, recruiters should think laterally in order to benefit from the UK’s deep reservoirs of untapped talent.

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On this week’s You’re On Mute, we hear from Julian Douglas, Chairman of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) and CEO & Vice Chairman of VCCP, one of the UK’s top three advertising agencies.

Julian shares details of his Jamaican father's transformational and inspiring journey, growing up in Manchester and how a ground-breaking advert, caused Julian to pursue a career in advertising instead of becoming a City of London derivatives trader. We learn first-hand about his response when directly confronted by racism and how his love of singing took him on an entrepreneurial excursion involving co-founder of LastMinute.com, Baroness Martha Lane-Fox CBE. Julian also discusses, overcoming failure and the transformative impact of a phone call from Nicola Mendelsohn CBE, now Vice President of Global Business Group at Meta, which ultimately led Julian to become one of the leading voices for the advertising sector and BRiM (Black Representation in Marketing).

Julian’s rise to the top is simply phenomenal but perhaps even more impressive, is his unwavering commitment to using his status, influence and network to promote social justice.

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