Jane Mustoe at the WomenTech Global Awards 2020

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Guest Speaker Jane Muston Shares Her Career Journey

In a recent networking event, we had the pleasure of hosting Jane Muston, a well-established name in the financial industry with a rich 19-year corporate career that includes positions such as MD at Berkeley and HR CIO at Tesco. With her background in change management and her roles spread across different business segments, Jane shared valuable insights about her career transitions and the opportunities that have come her way.

Key Career Transitions and Opportunities

Jane discussed her career evolution, highlighting some of the essential transitions and opportunities she faced. From having a successful run at Barclays, where she spent over 10 years, she decided to take on a new challenge and moved to Tesco a year ago. As someone who has held various roles and adapted to their changing demands, she emphasized the importance of seizing opportunities and the potential shifts they can bring.

At Barclays, Jane managed the chance to move into a transformational role for functions technology around compliance, procurement, finance, and HR. This required her to devise strategies to streamline the processes and tackle certain problem areas, broadening her professional horizon.

Challenges and Insights

Transitioning into new functional areas, especially those like HR where she previously only had an end-user experience, did stir some initial doubts in Jane’s mind. She considered whether she could successfully strike a balance in an unfamiliar domain and eventually succeed there. But having been a client of HR as a service, she decided to face the challenges and was open to the learnings the new role had to offer.

Drawn to a particularly troubled area within HR, Jane was tasked to gauge the effectiveness of a strategy implemented a couple of years prior and plausibly reshape the direction it was heading in. With a brief window to evaluate and map out a new course, Jane discussed the significance and pressure of making tough decisions.

Valuable Tips from Jane

  • Listen to actively understand: One lesson Jane held close was the importance of listening in bridging knowledge gaps. She stressed that you need to actively listen and understand what's being said and what's left unsaid to develop an effective strategy.
  • The jump of faith: Jane encourages professionals to be brave and take on risks regardless of self-doubt. Taking a leap of faith into unacquainted areas broadens your skill base and helps you grow both professionally and personally.
  • Risk within boundaries: While taking risks is integral to career growth, one must manage these risks within acceptable boundaries, Jane advises. It’s okay to fail, provided you understand it doesn’t signify the end of the world.

Ultimately, it boils down to having the confidence in your abilities and a strong willingness to learn and explore new paths. Jane’s journey, peppered with risky dockings and displayed resilience, indeed stands as an impressive example of career development and growth.

The lively Q&A session surfaced engaging queries from the audience on building confidence, taking risks, and dealing with failure. Jane’s candid responses offered a reassuring acknowledgment of the common fears that hold us back from taking flight.

Wrap up and Audience’s Takeaways

The attendees were highly appreciative of Jane’s insightful presentation, resonating with her examples and drawing motivation from her career journey. Reflecting on Jane’s advice, one participant pointed out that not taking risks is, in fact, a bigger risk.

Another significant takeaway from Jane's session was the concept of "positive self-talk.” Acknowledging that doubts can creep in even after years of experience, Jane emphasized the power of positive affirmation. She believed that consistently telling yourself that "you can" indeed has its merits.

Jane's inspiring talk serves as a reminder to professionals at all stages of their career that it’s essential to believe you're capable, take risks, and remain resilient.

The networking event concluded with great feedback and a hearty thanks to Jane Muston for her time, insights, and answering the questions from the attendees. We look forward to hosting more such enlightening sessions with industry stalwarts.


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