Inspiring Working Mums: Kate Hughes

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As part of our “Inspiring Working Mums” series, Kate Hughes shares her advice to help other working Mums.

Kate Hughes, Chief Risk Officer and Senior Executive.

My best advice for your career is …

Start as you mean to go. By that I mean pace yourself and don’t feel like you need to over stretch (particularly in a new role) to make an impression. Working 14 hour days isn’t sustainable over your career so pace yourself and perform as you mean to – for the long term. If you are always that person that puts your job ahead of your family, your health and having fun, not only will you burn out quickly but you are also giving the impression that you are not a very balanced person. Your leadership shadow can be big so think about the leader you want to be and how your actions might be either supporting or undermining that.

My most satisfying thing about being a Mum is …

That my children give me the best reasons to leave the meetings and corporate jargon behind and go home each night. Being a mum gives you that extra perspective and my children remind me to look at life in different ways. They make me laugh the hardest and also cry the deepest and I love the honesty of that emotion.

My best advice for managing the juggle of work and family is …

That sometimes it’s more about blending than juggling. For me, that means getting home for dinner each night, being present for a meal together and remembering to listen rather than ruminate on that tough work conversation I might have had earlier in the day. It probably means I will log on again after dinner to finish work but I got to be mum at the time when it really mattered and when they were still wanting to talk to me rather than play Xbox. I have learned that you can be super organised and plan things with military precision and still find that there are just too many balls in the air and you will drop one…..so be kind to yourself. The odd dropped ball won’t matter in the long term.

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