Set your sights high, students are urged by new Chancellor

A high-flying retail executive, who has been installed as Chancellor of Bradford University, is hoping to inspire the next generation of business leaders.
Kate Swann: As a woman its really important to believe in your capability and to be determined. Its a great characteristic to be determined.Picture: Mark DolbyKate Swann: As a woman its really important to believe in your capability and to be determined. Its a great characteristic to be determined.Picture: Mark Dolby
Kate Swann: As a woman its really important to believe in your capability and to be determined. Its a great characteristic to be determined.Picture: Mark Dolby

Kate Swann graduated from Bradford University with a BSc in Business Management in 1986.

Since then she has held several high profile roles in the retail sector including chief executive of WHSmith and managing director of Argos. Ms Swann’s message to the students of Bradford University is if she can do it then they can do it.

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Speaking to The Yorkshire Post, Ms Swann said: “The role of Chancellor is an interesting one. There’s no real power to the role. It’s sort of a figurehead role but you do have a lot of influence.

“For me probably the one important thing that I hope to do is to give the students the sense that if I can go from sitting in the hall doing my degree 30 years ago to becoming Chancellor today then so can they.

“It’s really important for the students at Bradford to set their sights high.”

Ms Swann, who is currently chief executive of SSP Group, said her university education helped her later on in her retail career.

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“The education here at Bradford and the experience that you get is a great launching platform,” she said.

One of the things that really sets the university apart is its links to industry, says the retail executive, who was linked with the top job at Morrisons last year.

Ms Swann said that Bradford University not only makes knowledged work but also focuses on using that knowledge to make a difference.

“That’s one of the things that was really helpful for me,” she added. “I didn’t just come out of Bradford with technical learning I came out with the capability to apply that learning in the world of work. I think that capability is as valuable as the learning itself.”

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As a high-profile female business leader, Ms Swann’s advice to women looking to replicate her success is that “there’s no alternative but to work hard”.

She added: “As a woman it’s really important to believe in your capability and to be determined. It’s a great characteristic to be determined.

“They shouldn’t be frightened of being determined and focused – it’s a good quality to have.”

Ms Swann says that “we’re making good progress” when it comes to encouraging more women into higher echelons of business. Although she concedes that it is still a small proportion, Ms Swann points to the number of women doing science, maths and businesses courses at universities.

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“In some of those courses there are more women graduating than men,” she added.

When recruiting for boards, capability and not gender comes first, says Ms Swann.

“I’d rather have a capable man than a less capable woman and vice versa.”

In her role as Chancellor she will be hoping to apply some of her retail traits like being bold and trialling new things. She said: “Retail is a very immediate business. You can make decisions today that change things tomorrow and you can see the results.

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“Retail is very good at trialling and learning. Very often it’s better to do something, see if it works, if it doesn’t work you can change it.

“One of the things that I’m not scared to do is try new things. If you try new things in a sensible way and they don’t work well you’ve learnt something.

“If you’re capable, and the team at Bradford is very capable, you very often find that more things work than you think.”

Speaking about the greatest changes the industry has seen, Ms Swann said: “The advent of the internet probably is the biggest change I’ve seen in my career. That’s revolutionised the way that people shop across most retail sectors.”

It all began at Tesco...

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After leaving university Kate Swann’s career began at leading supermarket Tesco, which is currently going through a sticky patch as the sector struggles with the rise of discount retailers like Aldi and Lidl.

She said Tesco is a “very strong business” and she has a “high degree of confidence” in the group’s chief financial officer, Alan Stewart – who was her CFO at WHSmith.

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