"Few Leaders, Many Bosses": Executive Director, British-Argentine Chamber of Commerce Susana Ecclestone Talks the Importance of Paving Your Own Path
“Few leaders, many bosses. This has been my experience.” Today’s woman dreamer, Susana Ecclestone is the Executive Director of the British-Argentine Chamber of Commerce. A leader in the policy, nonprofit, and the strategy space, Susana shares what every woman must know about leadership, from paving your path to building your vision, as well as her next big dream to enter the world of U.K. politics. She writes, “My biggest passions always revolve around people and talent. Enjoy her inspiring story below!
1) You have worked with amazing organizations all over the world, such as Future Ed, Business 20, and more. Tell us your story. What are your biggest passions?
I believe that you learn to pave your own path. It is not a conscientious choice many times but as you get older you realize there is a pattern of personal choices, circumstances, and mistakes, errors and “accidents” that create a vision and the opportunities that will allow you to lead and sometimes, mostly also follow, which I also enjoy tremendously.
In my personal case, leaving my country and moving abroad was a great disrupter and forced me to rethink what I wanted to do, how I wanted to develop as a professional but also raise my children and stay tuned to their needs.
I think the variety of sectors I worked in and many roles may seem random but I believe in cross pollination not only of skills but also of opportunities and talent development. As years go by you become more aware of how the pieces of your life, experience and professional experiences come together to help you mold the future parts.
My biggest passions always revolve around people and talent. I have been very lucky to have met extremely talented individuals from all sectors who have enriched my life. I have also met lots of people who have not added anything and have been really damaging but I think I always managed to turn those sour experiences into positive learnings. I do not think this is an easy thing to do but I work hard at getting better at it, particularly since I have become more aware of this.
Having a vision always helps. Not massive goals but smaller achievable goals that can help you get there. This has worked for me, to be realistic and more cautious paving my own way. There is an element of self determination but this is heavily influenced by our reality and I think this is what happened to me. I have tread along being very conscious of who I am and where my talents and my weaknesses are. Constant training and professional development are necessary to stay on track but people skills are, in my opinion, even more important sometimes.
2) You are the Executive Director of the British-Argentine Chamber of Commerce. What a cool job. Tell us more about that. What is your favorite part of the job?
My current job is about creating connections and opportunities for the members of the Chamber, who are businesses of all sectors, types and sizes. It is an extremely rewarding job with great companies and colleagues that add to the value of what we offer our members. Interestingly, it flourishes with the contribution of all the parts. It is extremely cooperative and networking is a key element of what we do.
I am fortunate because it allows me to meet fascinating people from all over the world, in a variety of settings and with very different interests, needs and expertise. I find it personally very enriching and I sometimes feel I have an advantage over others to be able to learn from these amazing individuals.
3) What is your advice to young professionals who are interested in the nonprofit and government related work?
I would say stay clear on your vision. The many objectives of the charity or the government may be confusing at times and you may feel pulled in multiple directions with no clear course. I stay firm in my goals and my beliefs and these sometimes have not been the same with the organizations I have worked with. Alignment is key and communication is extremely important. I do not refer to massive communication strategies but to the everyday comms where we stay connected, pass information and readjust policies, practices and more. This is what sets the course. Stay aware of the path, recalculate and start over if you need to. It is imperative to maintain focus and direction
4) How do you define leadership? What was the biggest lesson you learned over the years?
Few leaders, many bosses. This has been my experience. The few leaders have been extremely influential, the many bosses have had an impact and have allowed me to understand what is not leadership and how businesses fail to understand this is a critical part of their business strategy. Going back to alignment. Are all your ‘leaders’ aligned? Do your ‘bosses’ understand the strategy and follow it? How does your ‘talent’ respond to this?
5) As the platform for women dreamers, what is your next big dream?
I am entering politics. I was involved in politics in the USA during my lobbying days in Congress and I loved it. I am now throwing my hat in UK local politics. I am very excited to hopefully be able to influence policy at another level and look at issues from a different and more influential perspective.
I still need to win though!
Thank You Susana for Sharing Your Expertise with Us! We are excited to have you in our global women’s network!
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Bio: Susana is Executive Director of the British Argentine Chamber of Commerce-BACC, an organization that has been promoting bilateral trade and relations between the UK and Argentina since 1995. She is also part of the Executive board at FuturED, an educational platform that works towards promoting and creating valuable content for English and Spanish speakers. She is Director of Hallgarten & Company, an Independent Mining and Energy Research firm founded in 2001.
Susana has been part of the working groups on corruption and inclusion and international trade at the B20 Arabia in 2020 and is part of the executive board at the Coalition of Green Chambers of Commerce. Susana is the founder of ShopHuntingDivas, a free platform that promotes emerging fashion designers from all over the world. Susana has many years of experience in the private Healthcare sector both in the UK and the USA with varied roles in operations, management, advocacy, political action and international development of skilled and unskilled care services to look after vulnerable children and adults in the comfort of their own homes.
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