Future Leaders Innovation Programme: Yearbook Hilary Term 2023 by Careers Service, University of Oxford

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FUTURE LEADERS INNOVATION PROGRAMME Hilary term 2023

Yearbook

About us

TIO Oxford University Careers Service

Established in 1892, the Oxford University Careers Service is probably the oldest such service in the UK. The Careers Service is part of the University Administration and Services and supports all Oxford students, researchers, and alumni. The aim of the Careers Service is to attract employers and educate and resource students to enable them to navigate the complex jobs market and make informed career decisions. Working towards this shared goal is are our full time and part time staff, all based at the Careers Service building at 56 Banbury Road in Oxford.

EnSpire Oxford

EnSpire Oxford is the University of Oxford’s entrepreneurship hub, connecting all of the entrepreneurship initiatives and resources found within the University in one place.

Through EnSpire Oxford, staff, students, alumni and the local community will be able to explore the wealth of entrepreneurship programmes and support found within the University, while accessing exciting new extra-curricular activities, including experiential learning and networking opportunities.

S ATIO About the Future Leaders Innovation Programme www.careers.ox.ac.uk/flip

The Future Leaders Innovation Programme (FLIP) is a skills development programme from the Oxford University Careers Service and EnSpire Oxford, developed for students who want to gain skills, knowledge, and positive behaviours to innovate and drive change in the future.

Hilary term 2023

The programme ran for the first time in Hilary term and the spring vacation 2023, with a cohort of 25 undergraduate and postgraduate students at the University of Oxford.

The programme aimed to provide students with an insight into innovation and leadership with development opportunities across other key employment skills: team working, communication, initiative, creativity, planning, self-management, and business awareness.

On the programme, participants heard from guest speakers, were offered opportunities to grow their network and got real-world client consulting experience. At the end of the programme, the students were recognised for their learning with a formal qualification: ILM Level 3 Award in Leadership and Management.

S ATIO Student profiles

Read testimonials from the students who

participated in the Hilary term 2023 Future Leaders Innovation Programme.

Tarka Abraham...........................5 Hana Bashir................................ 6 Sebastien Behaghel...................7 Dorian Chang.............................8 Daniele Cotton...........................9 Orlagh Duggan..........................10 Uchenna Gwacham-Anisiobi...11 David Hamer..............................12 Felix Johnson.............................13 Austin Kozak..............................14 Jhanna Kryukova.......................15

Nicole Liu.............................16 Nidhi Madhani.....................17 Hanson Ng...........................18 Edward Shellard ..................19 Jakub Trybull.......................20 Serena Vales........................21 Gwendolyn Whidden.........22 Mabel Williams...................23 Meah Worsencroft............24 Amber Zijlma......................25

Tarka Abraham Innovation I’ve learnt a crucial thing: innovation isn’t spontaneous. It comes from curiosity, collaboration and listening. This finding is exciting to me because now I have a roadmap to endless possibilities.

Entrepreneurship Through FLIP, I’ve identified a key entrepreneurial quality: pro activity. No one sets your deadlines for you; there is no outline to the scope of the work you will do; no what, or how, or who with. Proactivity encompasses time management and organisation. Another dimension of pro-activity is courage to act when you feel underprepared. I was struck by the way our entrepreneur believed in himself enough to grab opportunities under-resourced, reach out for help from people outside his network, and convince partners to come on board with his tenuous ideas.

Leadership I’ve learnt how much there is to learn about good leadership. Although FLIP has made leadership feel more accessible, my experience has also opened my eyes to its intricacies. There is a huge expanse of learning opportunity around leadership from cultivating respect to steering a team through change. Studying leadership models has allowed me to start working on the components of my own leadership, like building trusting relationships and persuading people to embrace change. A key take away from my mentoring sessions has been the insight that my life, even now, provides constant opportunities to practice leading that I wouldn’t have previously noticed. Again, having my eyes opened to these opportunities has been very motivating.

Lasting impressions I had super fun working with a great team. I enjoyed and learnt loads from every aspect of the programme, and I know that my team mates did too. FLIP has provided me many opportunitiesbeyond just an add to my CV- because it has abolished the imposter syndrome that was giving me the impression that I couldn’t be an asset to the professional world.

TARKA’S ADVICE

Do the FLIP programme! It will give you skills applicable to every route you may end up taking and you will enjoy it!

When you do the programme I recommend meeting up with your team in person as much as possible because there is so much to be gained. 5

Hana Bashir Innovation The programme offered an authentic real-world illustration of the detailed measures and action plans that are essential for innovative ideas to be transformed to tangible action. I worked on a project with YuTU, social media app enterprise that planned to build a presence across UK universities. Through creating a Go-To-Market strategy for the launch of the app, I found that I gained an understanding of the meticulous research, organisation and analysis that is required to translate innovative concepts into fruition.

Entrepreneurship The consulting project taught me a lot about entrepreneurship, particularly through understanding the work and mindset of the CEO. His proactive disposition towards soliciting feedback from early adopters highlighted the dynamic and adaptable approach necessary for entrepreneurship. For me, this experience highlighted how an entrepreneurial mindset is truly characterised by unwavering commitment to the transformative idea.

Leadership FLIP allowed me to dissect my personality traits and figure out the type of leadership style that I naturally take on. For me, this is the transformational leadership style which involves an ethos of working with others to transform an idea or inspiring vision into tangible action. Through a written essay, I explored examples of myself engaging in three different leadership styles. I found that I had many experiences which related back to the role of a transformational leader. I also assessed areas of self-development as a transformational leader. Having finished the leadership course, I am excited to put my developed skills into practice as I take on more leadership roles in the coming terms at Oxford.

Lasting impressions The participation in the Future Leaders Innovation Programme proved to be a highly enriching and illuminating experience, from which I derived substantial personal and professional growth. The opportunity to network with like-minded peers who shared a common drive and passion for innovation was both inspiring and rewarding. Engaging in one-to-one conversations with Maurice McCartney was also particularly introspective, as it allowed for a thorough exploration of my own qualities and attributes, yielding a deeper understanding of my leadership potential. Overall, the Future Leaders Innovation Programme served as an enjoyable and insightful platform for self-discovery and skill development, leaving a lasting positive impact on my leadership journey and understanding of management.

HANA’S ADVICE

If you are interested in exploring consulting then I would advise applying for FLIP as it provides a perfect blend of engaging in a consulting project whilst also providing a leadership and management course along with one-to-one mentoring sessions for personal and professional growth. I would highly recommend applying for FLIP.

In terms of developing employability skills, I would advise other students to remember to let their personality shine through when taking on roles as leaders or applying to particular positions. Whilst working on my consultancy project, and even during the application process for FLIP, I found that having strong interpersonal skills was critical and incredibly useful.

Sebastien Behaghel I followed this program in a critical period of my life, my final year of education was coming to an end and I was seriously considering a variety of professional plans. Having sped through my Bachelor and Masters, I did not have substantial professional experience and felt out of touch with the industry. I had entrepreneurial ideas and a wish to make a change, yet I didn’t know what the baseline was. This program propelled me into industry level understanding of innovation, entrepreneurship and leadership. The program begins with a group mini consulting project. We were connected with a serial entrepreneur who was currently working on a new idea to promote transparency on environmental and social governance of corporate firms. He needed our help on shifting his product towards a younger audience. This seemed daunting at first, as not only were we new to the product, we were new with innovation. But we were well advised and humbly started by noting the good and bad points of competitive products. From there, my understanding of innovation grew. The mini consulting project also gave us a precious opportunity to interact extensively with an entrepreneur and his team. I relished the opportunity to look at what the first stages of a startup looked like, and what was going through their minds at those key moments. The mentality was one that I like to call pragmatic optimism. They imagined big yet were conscious that this would take time and effort. To be completely honest, in their shoes I would probably have given up multiple times seeing the large competition for the product. Yet they continue to find a new original twist to the idea, and it gives me hope for my own future entrepreneurial projects. I will strive to be a pragmatic optimist. My strongest take-away here was the reflection tasks on myself and my capabilities. Through one on one discussions, Maurice helped me distinguish two types of actions: those we are comfortable with, and those which we don’t believe to be good at. To realise and make the distinction between both is powerful as it enabled me on one hand me to be even more confident in the things I enjoyed, and on the other hand to purposefully train those that I didn’t. Through this program, I have trained on new leadership styles, new communication strategies and have improved my understanding of others around me. I now place personal growth as a priority in everyday life, and I have enjoyed every instance of it.

number one advice for students in this program is to SEBASTIEN’S My communicate with their entrepreneur contact. I came to realise ADVICE that they have been in our shoes and are remarkably good at explaining their work in our terms, once you ask. They are full of experience and knowledge in the entrepreneurial field and will happily answer any questions a young passionate Oxfordian would have. Aside from the work you bring them, they are gaining exposure through this program and are glad to give back.

Dorian Chang Innovation Innovation, creativity, and logic go hand-in-hand. Innovation is about building upon the solving of critical issues facing society. Logic allows us to break up seemingly insurmountable problems that societies face perennially. Creativity allows us to use out-of-the-box solutions to solve these bite-sized (or at least manageable) problems. Innovation requires us to amalgamate these into solutions that can change the world.

Entrepreneurship Having the courage to take the plunge and committing one to an endeavour is often the biggest initial barrier any successful entrepreneur faces. Having a network of support within the industry – and of course, one’s personal relationships, are crucial for one to commit themselves fully to any endeavour. We should also never be afraid to admit when we are wrong. Entrepreneurs try and try again. It may be hard to let go of an idea that one has committed significant time to; but if one has a better opportunity, take it. Entrepreneurship forms the core of many economies. We learn so much by actually executing our vision and trying to make the world a better place through the founding of said start-ups.

Leadership Leadership goes beyond the classical leadership models of a leader guiding followers. I believe the role of a leader is multifaceted. It can start and end by building an effective team that works well together, ensuring everyone is heard, and every divergent voice considered. But Leadership takes many forms. And one of the most important leadership traits is that of leadership by empathy and effective communication. Being able to get people on your side, and convincing even the most difficult stakeholders, clients, or peers, of a common end goal and vision takes leadership. If everyone on the team are leaders in their own way and employs such characteristics in their endeavours, a team would be infinitely more effective. Leadership is enabling this to happen.

Lasting impressions Working with my team to deliver a solution to our partner start-up/company has been very impactful. Being able to structure a seemingly unstructured ask and working with the founders hand-in-hand to solve for issues plaguing the company at every turn is an experience like no other. Our team consisted of individuals of all degrees, of all academic seniority; divergent cultural and thought backgrounds. This innate diversity brought to the table a perspective like no other. I truly appreciate the opportunity to have had this experience and can’t wait to see what the future holds for the company we worked with – and for my peers on the team!potential. Overall, the Future Leaders Innovation Programme served as an enjoyable and insightful platform for self-discovery and skill development, leaving a lasting positive impact on my leadership journey and understanding of management.

DORIAN’S ADVICE 8

Try your best to be of as much assistance to the client as possible - beyond the initial scope asked for. It is the ad hoc issues and day-to-day challenges that we learn the most from. All the best!

Daniele Cotton Innovation I believe that an important sign of a good team is that its output is greater than the sum of what each member could contribute individually. In a good team, members add value to each other. The consultancy group project was a great lesson in what can be achieved by such a team. It was fantastic seeing that we could bounce off each other in meetings to rapidly mature our ideas for innovation and transform them into actionable plans.

Entrepreneurship Perseverance, resilience, and good decision-making are critical to seeing your entrepreneurial ideas come to fruition. There are bound to be setbacks and unexpected events along your journeys. To an extent, we can expect the unexpected and plan for it. But even when we can’t, we can be decisive in our response and continue to move forward. Using a theoretical model such as the project journey model can make your plans even more robust, as it encourages you to consider extensively the risks associated with every step in the action plan towards creating your goal and weave mitigation strategies into your work.

Leadership Through theoretical models, case studies, and extensive reflection exercises exploring my own experiences, leadership has been completely reframed in my mind. I’ve also had the opportunity to crystalise precisely what made the great leaders I’ve met stand out. It’s a combination of making people feel valued and respected, being conscientious and trustworthy, acting with integrity, and finally (and most importantly) being kind and thoughtful.

Lasting impressions My most lasting impressions will be those from the people I met during this programme, who have defined my experience. Firstly, my consultancy group project team. It was stimulating to work with a group of such passionate and motivated individuals. It was also a great opportunity to work with people from a diversity of academic disciplines, and this was evident in our different approaches to solving problems. We became good friends over the course of the project, which made the work even more enjoyable. So, thank you to Amber, Nicole, Sebastien, and Tarka. Another highlight of the group project was getting to know our partner entrepreneur, Oli, an inspiring person with an admirable vision for his start-up that I valued and resonated with. His honesty and guidance have made a big impact on my outlook on entrepreneurship. Finally, I’d like to thank Maurice. He guided me to several eureka moments in each discussion, which helped me to understand various facets of leadership and innovation on a deeper level.

In the FLIP programme, the more you put in, the more you will get out. Maurice gave such thoughtful and insightful advice during our mentorship sessions, and I made the most of this by carefully considering the personal case studies to use in the reflection exercises and assessed essays that form the online learning component. I’d strongly recommend doing the same to get the most impactful advice for your personal and professional development journey.

DANIELE’S ADVICE

Orlagh Duggan Innovation I used to think that innovation was something incredibly dramatic and daunting, like crafting a rocketship out of a pile of dusty gravel. My perception of this has changed hugely. Innovation can be very small- it is just about being receptive to your environment and implementing little changes where you can. Most importantly it requires flexibility. At first, I found this hard. But over the weeks I learnt a flexible mind is just like a flexible body! You may be rigid at first but everyone can learn to do the splits.

Entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship is another one of those words that seemed mysterious to me. Entrepreneurs were people who dropped out of school at 16 into the vast unknown and created an empire out of nothing. I have always liked structure, so this felt like a word for people that weren’t like me at all. However, much like innovation, entrepreneurship quickly reformed as a more manageable concept. It does require a bit of bravery, and there certainly will be some uncertainty involved. But you can be entrepreneurial from within an organisation- you don’t have to be out on your own the way I’d always imagined. There are lots of tools to reduce uncertainty too; goals to be set, frameworks to analyse decisions and progress charts to make. This was hammered home by the client project which had loads of self-imposed structure to it, which helped to reduce the feeling of uncertainty.

Leadership I think this was my favourite aspect of the whole course. The different models of leadership were fascinating- when should you delegate responsibility to build trust with those around you? When is it better to rule with a bit of an iron fist? What’s the best way to motivate people in this situation? The best insight I had on this topic came in a mentoring session when we arrived at the idea that not saying or doing anything is also a choice a leader can make. Sometimes the best thing to do may be to shut up! This whole area helped me to reframe how I think about leadership, showing me you can lead in really quite unconventional ways.

Lasting impressions My lasting impression from this course is an incredibly positive one. The people surrounding me, from the course conveners to the speakers to my peers, were incredibly upbeat and warm. It would be impossible to overstate what a difference that makes when you are undergoing the (sometimes a little uncomfortable) process of self-reflection and learning in a new environment. To distil it into a single thought, and without sounding really cheesy, with space for a little bit of humility and a positive attitude, absolutely everyone can be an entrepreneur, a leader and an innovator.

ORLAGH’S ADVICE 10

i My advice would be to get stuck in as much as you can. You’ll learn more about yourself the more you put in.

Uchenna Gwacham-Anisiobi Innovation My participation in the FLIP has broadened my perspective on innovation. Through the coursework and my experience working with our assigned tech start-up, I gained a firsthand understanding that innovation involves more than just generating new ideas. It also requires creating more value and utilizing resources efficiently.

Entrepreneurship Participating in the program intensified my interest in entrepreneurship and helped me discover my adaptability and problem-solving skills. Despite my consultancy project being unrelated to the medical field, I was able to gain invaluable knowledge on innovating and taking risks from working with my team and the start-up staff assigned to us. The program’s holistic approach honed my business acumen and reshaped my future career outlook, as I am determined to explore entrepreneurial endeavours with confidence and seize opportunities.

Leadership I gained valuable insights about myself and developed my leadership skills significantly. The blend of individual online learning, one-on-one mentorship sessions, collaborative projects, and insightful guest speakers unveiled several dimensions of leadership which was explored over the programme. I strengthened my capacity to adapt, lead, and collaborate within a team setting, through the consultancy project. I found the idea of “Leader soup” to be a useful tool for developing empathy and self-reflection. It has helped me understand why colleagues or leaders may respond differently than I would in similar situations. As I proudly hold my ILM Level 3 Award in Leadership and Management, I carry with me not just a qualification but a newfound confidence to shape my future plans and lead with purpose.

Lasting impressions The programme greatly transformed my perspective, leaving an enduring imprint. It sparked a deepened appreciation for creativity, trailblazing, and seizing opportunities. Seeing accomplished entrepreneurs share their successes and failures along their journey instilled motivation and resilience in me. The collaborative environment we worked in on the program cultivated a rich array of diverse ideas, amplifying the effectiveness of teamwork. Our mini project was no longer a daunting experience, but rather an empowering one, as we learned to navigate the associated risks and failures by drawing on each other’s strengths. I will continue my entrepreneurial journey with confidence, aiming to create impactful innovations and lead with unwavering determination.understanding of my leadership potential. Overall, the Future Leaders Innovation Programme served as an enjoyable and insightful platform for self-discovery and skill development, leaving a lasting positive impact on my leadership journey and understanding of management.

UCHENNA’S ADVICE

The University offers several opportunities to explore entrepreneurship, leadership and employability skills through the Career Services. I gladly recommend the FLIP programme for anyone seeking to improve any of these skills. To succeed in this programme, time management is pivotal. However, if you prioritise tasks, follow your schedule, and engage actively in the collaborative project, you stand to reap the utmost from the programme.

David Hamer Innovation I think innovation is best shown through examples, rather than words, and this program gave us lots. Starting with an inspiring talk from the founder of Jack Fertility and punctuated by regular contact with our assigned start-up, it was refreshing to see new ideas and inspiring stories from those who chose untrodden paths.

Entrepreneurship There is no set path for an entrepreneur, and so attempts to describe entrepreneurship with some formula or textbook are often doomed to fail. As such, it is imperative that the breadth and possibilities of entrepreneurship should be showcased with as wide a range of examples as possible. To do this is necessarily limited – learners need depth as well as breadth – but the FLIP program navigated this well. We got stuck in with hands on experience and small groups such that no one got lost in the crowd. From here, we were able to engage with the wider FLIP participants, learning from their experiences and sharing our own. Through this, we got the best of both worlds – a small and focused environment conducive to learning, with the wider perspective of a community to showcase the wider theme of entrepreneurship.

Leadership Our project was led by Stephen Champion, an inspiring man with an array of experiences to draw upon and passion for what he did. Stephen was keen for us to learn beyond just our tasks with him, and had us read an influential and highly relevant book: The Cold Start Problem. Through alternating each week in reading a chapter and attempting to distil its lessons, we began to learn what could make a start up succeed or fail. We were given considerable agency as a group, and Stephen encouraged us to think like entrepreneurs ourselves in solving obstacles and making progress.

Lasting impressions The FLIP program brought together an eclectic bunch of individuals, all with interesting experiences and insights to share. It was a group unchained from colleges, year-groups or degrees and a great way to meet others with similar interests. I knew I’d always had some vague interest in business and entrepreneurship, but being able to sit down and actually get involved with a start-up was very valuable. I’m still unsure about what I’ll do in the future, but am one step further now.

i DAVID’S ADVICE 12

Try stuff, learn more, and say yes to things that could be interesting. This program was, and you’ll meet lots of cool people along the way. Take the opportunity to see different paths, and stay curious!

Felix Johnson The Future Leaders Innovation Programme was a great way to get both exposure to real world projects, to work with a range of interesting and driven peers, as well as to gain a material qualification too.

Entrepreneurship My team and I worked with a team of entrepreneurs developing various projects leveraging blockchain and machine learning technologies. As well as gaining insight into how entrepreneurship worked at the early stages of development we were also exposed to the reality of crises and short-term volatility, when a tragedy meant we had to change our project midway through the programme. While unfortunate, this also provided us with a unique insight experience relative to other teams - who on the other hand were able to follow through with a single project to completion. While we somewhat sacrificed breadth for depth, this was overall beneficial, since we were able to work on multiple projects at different levels of development, and thus gain a stronger understanding of the process of entrepreneurship as a whole.

Innovation It was also interesting to see the range of projects undertaken by various FLIP teams, demonstrating the various shapes innovation can take. Some, like ours, sought to leverage new technologies to create novel products and services. Others sought to apply existing technologies and practices to new problems - such as a team building a company focused on the upskilling of former academy footballers whose careers didn’t take off.

Leadership The course content surrounding the ILM qualification is also very interesting and well put together. What I found most useful was its taking of previously vague and immaterial concepts like leadership, management and communication, and explaining how many of us develop and utilise these skills in our daily lives. This is great for developing an understanding and perspective that can be applied in job interviews, as well as for personal assessment and development.

Lasting impressions My key takeaway is that the programme is great both for building employability skills but also developing a deeper understanding of how to develop and leverage them independently.

i FELIX’S ADVICE

My advice to students would be to make as much use of the opportunities to develop professional skills whilst as Oxford - both by engaging with student bodies and societies and by engaging with programmes offered by the Careers Service.

Austin Kozak Innovation The Future Leaders and Innovation Programme offered a valuable opportunity for my colleagues and me to delve into cutting-edge solutions for intricate business challenges. With the invaluable support of our clients, we successfully explored new avenues to protect the provenance of indigenous artists using blockchain technology on our first project.

Entrepreneurship By immersing ourselves in all aspects of our clients’ businesses, we embraced the genuine spirit of entrepreneurs. As a team, we harnessed our creativity to develop innovative and enhanced solutions that catered to the distinct requirements of our customers. Maintaining a keen focus on the financial viability of our business plans was paramount throughout our projects, ensuring long-term sustainability for our clients. Furthermore, through networking and collaborative efforts with our clients, we established close relationships with pioneering entrepreneurs leading the way in emerging trends and technologies. Additionally, this invaluable experience has instilled in us the confidence to pursue our own personal projects and embark on future business ventures.

Leadership I acquired valuable insights into both my personal leadership style and that of my colleagues. The personality test we conducted at the project’s outset proved to be an invaluable tool for understanding our similarities and differences, enabling us to delegate tasks more effectively. For instance, some team members displayed a stronger interest in objective, quantitative data, while others were more inclined to explore qualitative trends among our customers. Above all, I learned how to optimise my leadership approach to foster efficient collaboration and communication among all team members throughout our consulting journey. Moreover, this enhanced understanding of my leadership style and the successful collaboration experience gained during the programme has boosted my confidence in taking on leadership opportunities in the future.

Lasting impressions The programme offered my colleagues and me an enriching environment to learn, explore, and master business management and leadership skills. Each project presented exciting new opportunities for growth. Despite the challenges we encountered, we embraced teamwork and emerged with projects we were proud of, understanding the significance of tackling real-life business issues. Above all, witnessing the tangible results of our collaborative efforts, which genuinely contributed to our client’s success, served as powerful motivation and reinforced the value of our work.

AUSTIN’S I highly recommend this programme due to its exceptional ability to provide a transformative experience in various aspects of business. ADVICE From exploring cutting-edge solutions to tackling real-life challenges, the programme offers invaluable opportunities for growth and learning. It not only fosters leadership skills but also encourages collaborative teamwork, enabling you to create impactful solutions for clients. This programme no doubt equips students with a diverse skill set, instils confidence, and leaves you feeling inspired to pursue your own entrepreneurial aspirations, making it a truly worthwhile and empowering journey. 14

Jhanna Kryukova Innovation FLIP has been a great introduction to the true essence of innovation. It pushed me to learn new ways of collaboration, creativity and critical thinking. Embracing failure and thinking outside the box are crucial elements of the innovation process. FLIP has instilled in me the confidence to tackle challenges and seek unconventional solutions.

Entrepreneurship FLIP has allowed me to drop in right into an active start-up project and experience the ups and downs of it alongside the founders for six weeks. It showed me that entrepreneurship is not just about starting a business, but also about continuous learning, resilience, and networking. My team also had to navigate a major disruption in the middle of our project, which reinforced the importance of being able to adapt to changes some of which could not possibly be anticipated.

Leadership A great part of FLIP was the independent learning we got to do guided my Maurice’s lectures. It helped me structure my approach to leadership and leadership thinking and introduced me to various models that I hope to use in the future. FLIP has prepared me to continue to take on leadership roles confidently, and learn to do better with each one.

Lasting impressions FLIP has provided a supportive environment to explore my strengths and weaknesses, fostering continuous learning. The connections I made with mentors and fellow students are invaluable assets, shaping my future plans with purpose and impact.

highly recommend the FLIP program to other students. It’s JHANNA’S Inot just about CV points or a certificate at the end; it’s an opportunity for ADVICE you to pause and really think about what makes you a good leader and what still needs work. As with many things, how much you get out of this program depends on how much you put in. I encourage you to build meaningful connections with mentors and peers, who may be key in supporting your future aspirations.

Nicole Liu Innovation For our consultancy project, we worked with Windo and its founder Oli. He gave us the task of designing wireframes for a revamped website for Windo, a task that none of us had experience with. In the innovation process, we drew ideas from already developed websites that we thought were efficient and function, choosing our favourite features and implementing them in our wireframes. What I learned about innovation was that it does not always have to be a new idea that has never been thought of before; innovation for us was a process of accumulating ideas and designs that we thought were valuable and effective and combining them into one final product for Windo.

Entrepreneurship Oli, the client we worked with, was an entrepreneur. He explained how he built his start-ups from ground up, securing funding, web developers, volunteers, and employees. He was successful as an entrepreneur because people believed in him and his cause; they were willing to volunteer for Windo or invest large amounts of money in his ideas because they would gain something in return, be it training, more opportunities, or money. We learned that entrepreneurship is a two-way street. Oli is successful because he cares about the people working for and supporting them. In our project, he made sure to acknowledge our work rather than take it for granted and to thank us, he gave us career and life advice and patiently answered all our questions.

Leadership Leadership comes in many forms – everyone is a different type of leader, whether that be transformative, situational, servant leadership. I learned what kind of leader I am and how to lead in a manner that complemented my personality type. My strength as a campaigner (ENFP) is that I have a positive energy that draws in and inspires other people but I struggle with drive and resilience. I can lead well in situations that require someone with a presence and vision but I need someone else to step up when I lack consistency and begin losing steam on projects.

Lasting impressions My lasting impressions of the program are that it was an excellent opportunity for understanding what a consultant does through a real-world experience as a short term consultant but it also helped me better understand for understanding myself as a team player and a leader and working to maximize my personal and leadership strengths and improving on my weaknesses. In the future, I have a better idea of when to step up and when to let someone else take the reins and further confirms my interest in pursuing consultancy as a career.

NICOLE’S I would recommend the FLIP programme to those who are interested in improving their teamwork and leadership skills and gain experience ADVICE managing a client relationship and a project deadline. My advice is to take full advantage of the opportunities you are offered such as trying to get to know both the people in the program and your client as well as taking the leadership course and reflections seriously. My experience was valuable because I made friends from it; we all made effort to meet in person for our FLIP small group and meet up a few times outside as well just to hang out.

Nidhi Madhani Innovation Innovation is exciting, fruitful and necessary. It lies at the heart of successful business planning and involves challenging conventional thinking to drive future potential.

Entrepreneurship I have learnt that entrepreneurship is meaningless without the essence of innovation. The role of an entrepreneur is to take risks, create new ventures and fill in the missing gaps of what society absences to generate a long-term impact on the lives of others. ‘Risk-taking’ is a term that we often hear in the business world, and it is indeed important because it is only when we are brave enough to innovate something new that we will increase the likelihood of producing goods and services that will create positive societal impacts. The test of a true entrepreneur, then, is to find a way to reconcile their passion for business with creating positive social change. Whether an idea works out or not should not be the concern, but rather that of being afraid to execute in the first place. One can have all the ideas in the world, but ultimately, entrepreneurship is nothing without taking action.

Leadership The identity of a true leader should be marked by their ability to bring out the best potential in others, and to champion the idea of service above all. It is when self-leadership is mastered that we can become positive role models to others, so we must strive to be the best version of ourselves and go out of our comfort zones to demonstrate the traits we would like other employees in the organisation to exhibit.

Lasting impressions FLIP has been a truly insightful experience and has taught me skills that will help me greatly in the workplace and beyond. Working with my team, learning from mentors and having the chance to work on a meaningful project has been truly empowering.

NIDHI’S ADVICE

Following my FLIP experience, I would recommend students to go out of their comfort zones and truly find the time to immerse themselves into projects or society committees at Oxford that fascinate them. Not only will these experiences help them connect alongside passionate and likeminded students but will crucially enable them to take a step further towards unlocking their innovative and leadership potential. Also, I would encourage students to explore how they can apply ‘leadership’ and ‘innovation’ to their professional lives, and to discover what these terms mean to them first.

Hanson Ng Innovation I had to opportunity work with and learn from people of varying backgrounds in the innovation consultancy project. I particularly enjoyed this as my study often involves self-guided work. During the project, I spoke with the founders of a tech start-up about their journey of innovations and entrepreneurship. My team and I worked directly with the founders to address their goals. It was rewarding to see first-hand how our work and the data we collected aided the development and the launch of the product.

Entrepreneurship It was a privilege to be able to network with guest speakers and clients from the innovation consultancy project. It was insightful to learn about their experience in starting their own businesses. From our conversations, I learned the importance of risktaking, resilience, maintaining focus, and have a supportive network in creating and growing a business. But most importantly, to enjoy and love the work that you do. I was particularly fascinated by the conversation with Lily Elsner (at Jack Fertility) due to the similarity in our backgrounds, and her journey from biological science to law and banking, and subsequently to business and cofounding a biotech start-up. I hope to utilise the things I learned in my future endeavours, and I am inspired to hopefully be in their positions one day.

Leadership I have gained a deeper understanding on which skills and qualities are crucial for leadership, and the different approaches leaders implement in a workplace. It was refreshing to see that a successful leadership not only depends on the action of an individual (the leader), but also a cooperative team that share the same vision and an appropriate approach for a given task. I now recognise that adaptability, flexibility, and open communication are key for a successful leadership. I also understand how different leadership styles and behaviours can lead to positive and negative depending on the situation and preferences of individuals. The feedback from my friends and colleagues, the personality and personal branding exercises were particularly useful to understand how I present to others, and how my actions and leadership styles correlate to my personality.

Lasting impressions I enjoyed connecting with students of various academic backgrounds. They became friends and provided a supportive and stimulating environment to learn and succeed. The in-depth discussions and exercises during the one-to-one tutorials with Maurice (course director) were extremely insightful. These activities gave me opportunities to reflect and learn from my previous experience, to better understand my strengths and identify areas of improvements. More importantly, it allowed me to formulate a plan for development. I am already practising the skills and qualities I learned on the programme in my current projects and study. I hope to utilise these in a corporate setting upon the completion of my degree.

HANSON’S I have thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of FLIP and would encourage students to apply for this programme, particularly those who ADVICE are interested in personal development and would like to gain first-hand experience in innovation and business like myself. I have become a more rounded and confident individual since being on this programme. 18

Edward Shellard Innovation Through the programme, especially the work with our client, I learnt how important it is for innovation to be guided and motivated by an underpinning vision. Our clients particular mission statement was brought up at every meeting we had with them, that was how important it was for them. What is also key is to understand the customer. Our consultancy task was focussed on identifying early adopters – a small group of pioneering individuals who are particularly motivated by the vision of the product – and then developing a go-to-market strategy to reach out to them. Consultation with these early adopters would be crucial for the development of the product, helping to guide it to best meet the needs of the customer.

Entrepreneurship Our client work was in the very early stages of the product launch and was on targeting potential early adopters. As with innovation, it was key to portray exactly what the product was offering and so attract those who would benefit most from it as it currently stood in its minimum viable product stage. Understanding these needs allowed us to successfully identify certain groups of individuals who we could then target with tailored product launch events and initiatives, showcasing the benefits of the new product. We were just a small part of the overall introduction of the product into the market, but it was exciting to hear of all the potential that it had and all the features and functionality that could be added. But they made it clear that these features would be added gradually, involving consultation with consumers, so that the product could reach its full potential whilst not being overwhelming and potentially putting off new customers.

Leadership Both the specific leadership course and the client work were beneficial for my development as a leader. One point I particularly reflected on was that being an effective leader is, in addition to successfully achieving the task at hand, also about developing the individuals within the team. In the group client work, where we were all equally contributing, it was important to understand when I was called to be decisive on behalf of the group and when it was appropriate for others to take the lead, acknowledging their particular strengths and their roles within the team. And coming back to a key reflection from the innovation side of the programme, having a purpose-led idea that all members of the team are connected to and motivated by is crucial.

EDWARD’S For other students reading this, I would really recommend making the most of the wide range of opportunities available to you (such as this ADVICE programme) through the careers service and entrepreneurship hub. There is so much on offer and they can provide valuable lessons on key employability skills. For those fortunate enough to be in future FLIP cohorts, I would recommend asking the innovators you work with in the client project about their story and what they see as key traits in successful innovation because they have so much to offer from their own personal experience.

Jakub Trybull Innovation I found the Future Leaders Innovation Programme to promote innovation and to be innovative itself not in the classic way of observing previous innovations and reflecting on how they might have impacted the world, but primarily in exposing participants to a variety of theories of motivation, leadership, and organisation. Through this you become innovative in the simple sense that you open yourself up to new ideas, weighing up the pros and cons, and selecting things that are applicable and that one thinks can create an effective change in organisations.

Entrepreneurship The entrepreneurial spirit supersedes all parts of the FLIP. From the start, you are treated and treat others not as students but as aspiring young professionals, looking to work together to accomplish a success greater than what one could feasibly attain on their own. It is the great liberty that the programme gives, especially in the group project, to plan, organise and coordinate on one’s own terms. It is no easy task, but it is this habit of overcoming challenges and facing the world on your one that shapes us into successful entrepreneurs.Upon reflection, I found that what we see as restrictions are not always as present or as big as we believe them to be.

Leadership Exploring the different conceptualisations of leadership was one of the highlights of the programme. We often think we know what a good leader is, especially when we think of historical and presentday examples, but what this vague ideal looks like and where it stems from was an intellectually stimulating task to try out. Moreover, moving past the duality of “good cop/bad cop” leaders I found that a delicate balance can often be struck and that different situations, and people, require different types of leadership. So there is a sense of being a receptive listener when it comes to leading. Having taken up previous positions of leadership in the past, I think it was enlightening to reflect precisely on my approaches and especially how they were received by others, rather than going along and “being a leader because I’ve been one before”.

Lasting impressions I think the main thing that struck me during the FLIP is that often I have found myself in leadership positions either through competency or through ambition, or both. I had usually had a “niche” for leadership when amongst others, but when in a specially selected programmes of very similar individuals, new dynamics arise that I had navigate and get to grips with. For some I realise that this can lead into competitiveness and issues with cooperation, but for me I found some calmness in having faith in others’ abilities and commitment to the project. Again, this reflects that leadership is not simply just one thing that you apply at different degrees but something that Is malleable and that takes different forms based on the situation.

JAKUB’S ADVICE

Oxford is an excellent place to get involved with a variety of opportunities and hobbies, that may turn into a leadership contribution or not. Right now is an interesting crossroad in our lives to have a wide network of other people, spare time, and opportunities you won’t get often later in life. Chase your passions, continue to learn, and dream.

Serena Vales Innovation This programme taught me a valuable lesson: innovation is achievable in our daily lives, no matter how seemingly small the idea. The key lies in planning, adaptability, and taking action. If you have an idea with the potential to make a meaningful impact, seize the opportunity and go for it!

Entrepreneurship The consultancy project offered immense insights into business awareness, encompassing researching, evaluating, creating, and developing new ideas and plans. Understanding the decision-making process behind systematically moving certain ideas forward was really enlightening and knowledge I will carry with me. I thoroughly enjoyed this project, and it has inspired me to pursue further opportunities in entrepreneurship and continue to hone my skills in this area.

Leadership During the programme, I gained valuable insights into the qualities that define great leadership, helping me identify and refine my own leadership style. Additionally, I gained essential knowledge in project management, focusing on effective planning, execution, and monitoring of ideas and the significance of a shared vision and unified goals within a team. The feedback from the consultancy presentation has given me a greater understanding of presence and influence, highlighting areas for improving my communication and leadership skills. Now, equipped with practical techniques, I am determined to apply them in my future endeavours, aspiring to make a positive difference and create a meaningful impact as a leader.

Lasting impressions The FLIP programme was an incredibly enriching experience encompassing online courses, 1:1 meetings, and a fascinating consultancy project. The flexible nature of the online courses was perfect, allowing me to complete the online learning around my busy DPhil schedule. The diverse learning methods, including videos, quizzes, and journal-like activities, prepared me well for the insightful 1:1 meetings with Maurice. Engaging in the consultancy project was truly rewarding. As a team, we delved into a new field and felt a genuine desire to achieve the best outcomes for the client. The FLIP programme was thoroughly enjoyable, reigniting my passion for learning and personal growth.

SERENA’S ADVICE

I cannot recommend the FLIP programme enough—a fantastic opportunity to connect with amazing individuals studying diverse subjects and consult for great clients. I encourage you to fully embrace the experience, especially for the 1:1 meetings with Maurice, where you will gain invaluable advice!

Gwendolyn Whidden Innovation If the Future Leaders Innovation Programme helped me understand how important innovation and change are to advancing organisations and society, it also helped me realize just how challenging it is to achieve. One of the most valuable things I took away from FLIP was a framework for planning and implementing change, which has better equipped me to be a change-maker in any future position, organisation or industry.

Entrepreneurship As a social science researcher with a background in public and non-profit sector work, I used to think entrepreneurship was only applicable to the business world. One of the most important concepts I learned about through the Future Leaders Innovation Programme was social entrepreneurship, and that what are traditionally considered “business skills” are, in fact, key to solving social, environmental, and community-based problems. Completing the programme helped me realize that gaining business skills and experience can help advance a public or non-profit sector career.

Leadership Participating in the Future Leadership Innovation Programme has provided me with a host of practical tools and strategies to grow and serve as an effective leader, both in my degree at Oxford and in a future professional role. I have a far more in-depth understanding of different leadership qualities, behaviours and styles, what type of leader I am and what my strengths and areas for improvement are, and how to effectively lead a team. I have no doubt I will continuously draw on the course materials and the self-knowledge I developed through the programme as I move into leadership roles in my career.

Lasting impressions One of the most important takeaways for me from the Future Leadership Innovation Programme was just how different the pace of work in a non-academic career can be compared to academia. In academia, you often work on a multi-year project with a long-term deadline that allows you to explore all aspects of a question or topic in depth, whereas the world of business and entrepreneurship operates on tight deadlines that require you to become an expert quickly and make recommendations based on limited information. Gaining exposure to this challenging but exciting pace of work helped me realize that I wanted to make a career shift after completing my degree.

Two pieces of advice I would give to students seeking GWENDOLYN’S to develop leadership and employability skills whilst studying at Oxford would be to start early, so you can continuously ADVICE build on previous experiences (although it’s never too late—I participated in FLIP as a DPhil student!), and to view teamwork skills as equally important to leadership skills. A successful team needs strong leadership, but a team is only as successful as the cooperation and support team members provide to their leaders.

Mabel Williams Innovation Innovation can often happen by accident and in unexpected ways as a response to challenges cropping up – it is so important to be flexible and open-minded when taking on a new project or creating a new process.

Entrepreneurship Being an entrepreneur is a bit chaotic at times, and definitely challenging, but the rate at which you can make progress with an idea is incredible – starting from nothing means that any step forward can have a really significant impact on a project or business and be the difference between success and failure.

Leadership Leadership is a lot more than meets the eye, and has a lot more practical knowledge behind it than the guesswork that it sometimes turns out to be. As it turns out, we can consider the theory, be critical without rejecting it, and use the knowledge it gives to apply to a context. The main thing impacting appropriate leadership is the context in which leadership is required. Going forward, I can reflect more on both my own leadership style and the leadership style of others by practically experiencing both in a workplace environment, and tailor my actions to the given situation whilst setting reasonable expectations for what I can achieve through acts of leadership. It’s also interesting to observe a group dynamic when there is no allocated leader, to see how the situation plays out – in some cases, the typical role of leader can naturally split up and be enacted by different people to bring a team together in a unique way.

Lasting impressions This programme has been an interesting mix of practical and theory, bringing them together in a way that I haven’t been able to experience before. The two aspects of the programme were very different, but both helped me to gain perspective and practical experience, whilst also helping me to build the resilience that is so key for the world of work. Even a brief consulting project can be a great learning experience, and in this case we had a lot of time to reflect on our processes and teamwork under the pressure of imminent deadlines in a way that is really helpful for entering the world of work.

MABEL’S ADVICE

Don’t beat yourself up if the project doesn’t go exactly to plan: the purpose is to do your best with challenging circumstances and to learn from the process, rather than to come up with a perfect solution.

I’d recommend the FLIP programme, mainly for the people you get to work with, as it is rare to be able to work with a whole team of people just as motivated as you are! It makes for an interesting and unique dynamic which is a great learning opportunity.

Meah Worsencroft Working within a team of five on a consulting project for a client identifying early adopters of an innovative app. Developing my entrepreneurial thinking under the ILM Level 3 award.

MEAH’S ADVICE

Amber Zijlma Innovation I have always found innovation and change exciting, but also challenging prospects. This programme has emphasised the importance of embracing change and equipped me with the tools to deal with and facilitate innovation effectively. During the consultancy project, I was challenged to think about change creatively as well – this practical experience, as well as the reflection exercises, have helped me to more confidently approach innovation and change, both personally and professionally.

Entrepreneurship Working closely together with an entrepreneur during the consultancy project was one of the most enriching experiences of this programme. It not only provided an insight into the world of start-ups and entrepreneurs, it also helped clear away some of the preconceptions I had about the entrepreneurial environment. Instead of being a closed-off area to ‘us’, the nature of our client Oli presented the opposite: his humility, clarity, and passion showed that the main ingredients for success are an idea and a true belief in this idea. Working with Oli unlocked an ambition within myself to go after what I truly believed in – this has translated itself into finding jobs that overlap with my values, so I can put as much passion into my career as Oli has done.

Leadership The thing about leadership that has really stuck with me from the programme is that it is an everyday phenomenon. It is not merely synonymous with authority: it is a multifaceted skill that can be presented in many different forms. I have never seen myself necessarily as a person with ‘authority’, yet through the reflection exercises and discussions with Maurice during the programme, I have found a leadershipstyle that fits my personality and needs. Furthermore, the programme has helped me realise that I am showing leadership qualities in my daily behaviour already – every time I walk into a room or make a decision, I develop my skills for leadership. This has been an invaluable realisation and is certainly something I will continue implementing and working on in a professional setting.

Lasting impressions This programme has been nothing but a positive experience for me – it has shown me once again that undertaking something outside your comfort zone yields great experiences I otherwise would have missed out on. The consultancy project was a helpful way to experience entrepreneurship practically, while the 1-on-1 sessions provided a supportive and encouraging environment to reflect on myself. By talking through situations I found challenging and experiences I found enriching, both my ambitions and past developments became more clear to myself. On top of that, the whole FLIP group has been an inspiration to me, and I feel like I have learnt a lot from our sessions together.

AMBER’S Use the Careers Service! The Careers Centre at Oxford is amazing at presenting opportunities to students to explore and discover what path they ADVICE want to take. I certainly learnt a lot from joining the FLIP programme, but also by undertaking a Micro-Internship in a sector that seemed interesting to me – through these two experiences, I was encouraged to try new things and reflect on myself while doing so.

TION University of Oxford Careers Service

56 Banbury Road OX2 6PA Opening hours: 09:00-17:00 Monday-Friday