Leadership Conversations: Baroness Rennie Fritchie talks about what to do when you don't know where to start...
Over the next few months, we will be highlighting the stories of individual inspirational leaders who live and work in Gloucestershire, through a series of blogs, vlogs and live leadership conversations. Examining what it is to be a change agent or leader, personal insights into dealing with work/life balance, and individual leadership journeys in and across different sectors and contexts.
We’re delighted to begin the series with Baroness Rennie Fritchie.
Baroness Rennie Fritchie kicks off our exploration into leadership - with a story which is far from conventional.
Born in Fife, she grew up in Gloucester and attended Ribston Hall Grammar School for Girls but a road accident cut short her academic career and she left school with no qualifications at 15. She married at 18, had two children and lived in Turkey and America. She became a single parent at 28 and so began her mosaic career journey.
In this film, Rennie talks about how she had to “knit her own career” with a determination brought about by the necessity of being the sole parent to a young family.
Mosaic career
She has forged a long career specialising in training and development, as a consultant on board development, strategy and leadership working out of Mainstream Development. Her work in and for the NHS spans more than 25 years.
Current roles
She is currently an Independent Crossbench Peer and a member of the House of Lords Audit Committee. She is Chair of Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales, Chancellor of the University of Gloucestershire, and serves as a member of the Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the 2gether NHS Foundation Trust, of which she was also the chair before stepping down recently. She became a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1996 and was made a life peer in 2005, sitting as a crossbencher in the House of Lords.
Watch the conversation
Watch the film to listen to Rennie’s story and her tips on how to cope with the uncertain - and what you do when you don't know where to start or what to do next.
Baroness Rennie Fritchie talks to Louise Emerson in August 2020. This one hour video was part of an informal conversation with a small invited group of leaders and change makers interested in the catalyst programme.
An ambassador for women’s rights
Baroness Rennie Fritchie has worked tirelessly to create an egalitarian society based on merit, especially in terms of helping women to progress through the ranks. During the 1970s she was one of the first full time women’s training advisers with the Equal Opportunities Commission, and was later made President of the Pennell Initiative for Women’s Health in Later Life and an alumna of Windsor Leadership’s Strategic Leaders Programme (2017).