Charlotte Blant, founder and CEO of Tiro, shares how childhood adversity shaped her leadership approach. "The obstacle is the way," she explains, describing how early experiences taught her "respect over rescue" and gave her "empathy for people whose lives don't fit in neat boxes".

Charlotte discusses how Tiro evolved from Youth Force to a science-focused apprenticeship provider, guided by three core values: think win-win, have a growth mindset, be a pace setter. "We are fusing technical excellence and education with human growth," she says, describing their mission to create shared value.

She explores practical strategies for maintaining culture in hybrid work, including daily huddles and six-week goal cycles, whilst warning that "fear is creeping in" to British education and leadership. "You can't innovate with one foot on the brake," Charlotte argues, advocating for "courageous, values-led leadership that plans for success, not just avoiding failure".

Drawing on psychoanalytic leadership training, Charlotte explains her shift "from reaction to reflection", and why "trusting people to be brilliant" is the antidote to fear-based control.

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