Do Women Need to Play Golf in Order to Lead Major Programmes? With Corail Bourrelier Fabiani | Saïd Business School, University of Oxford | S1 EP 9
08/28/23 • 38 min
Do women still need to get on the course to progress their careers in major programmes? Does The Boys Club still exist in 2023? Inclusivity and ambition—how are they connected? Navigating Major Programmes podcast co-host, Corail Bourrelier Fabiani, shares her Oxford Saïd Business School dissertation’s insightful findings in this week’s episode. Riccardo and Corail take a deep dive into equality, diversity and inclusion in the infrastructure industry uncovering the taboo topics that have been avoided for decades.
“In the research, you can see that women's interests are not really accommodated in major urban transport infrastructure programs,” says Corail. “And there is a big gender data gap, which is kind of reinforcing inequalities in this space. In my opinion, all this is reinforced by the fact that we don't have enough women at the top. So I thought, how are we changing this?”
Corail, the accomplished programme manager behind projects such as the Paddington Square Public Art Programme and the Shard Quarter Public Art Programme in London, concludes the discussion with four steps to solve this complex, systemic issue.
Key Takeaways:
- The seven gender-related challenges in major programmes and how to solve them.
- How language labels leaders as men and how applications can encourage the women talent pool to apply.
- How to alter networking and affinity bias in order to better support women in infrastructure and why women-designed networks with male allies are so vital.
- The scarcity mindset and what happens to women at the top.
The conversation doesn’t stop here—connect and converse with our community:
Transcript:
Riccardo Cosentino 00:05
You're listening to Navigating Major Programmes, the podcast that aims to elevate the conversations happening in the infrastructure industry and inspire you to have a more efficient approach within it. I'm your host, Riccardo Cosentino brings over 20 years of major product management experience. Most recently, I graduated from Oxford University's day business school, which shook my belief when it comes to navigating major problems. Now it's time to shake yours. Join me in each episode, as I press the industry experts about the complexity of major program management, emerging digital trends and the critical leadership required to approach these multibillion dollar projects. Let's see where the conversation takes us. Hi, welcome back to another episode of navigating major programs. Today I'm here with a recurring guest and co-host of this podcast.
Corail 01:03
I am with Corail
Riccardo Cosentino 01:04
l, how're you doing?
Corail 01:06
I am doing great. Thank you, Riccardo,
Riccardo Cosentino 01:08
Thank you for joining us again. Really glad that you're here today. Today, we're gonna talk about your dissertation from your master's degree at Oxford. If I remember correctly, you did a dissertation titled, "do women need to play golf in order to lead measure programs?" really catchy title? But maybe you can tell us a bit more why you picked that dissertation? And what dissertation was all about?
Corail 01:39
Yeah, sure. Yeah. So yeah, this title was kind of a humorous reference to an HBR article, which said that basically, many women in male dominated industries feel compelled to play golf to access to the top leadership network. And my research was about women's network, and how can those women network help change the culture of major program, which are notoriously male dominated environments? And I thought it was funny that some women would think like, Okay, I'm gonna play golf, so make the most important contact, and I was like, okay, is this still happening? Do we still need to go on, on the course to get this important contact. So I did this research as part of our MSc in major program management at the Said business school. And it was really like, out of had the like, how out of an impulse after an event that happened during a master's degree. And I don't know if you remember that. But basically, each year, the program gets the opportunity to do a debate at the famous Oxford Union. And during our cohort, we have Ella a brilliant change manager, men's leader, who proposed the motion for that debate, which was around the importance of gender diversity in major p...
Do women still need to get on the course to progress their careers in major programmes? Does The Boys Club still exist in 2023? Inclusivity and ambition—how are they connected? Navigating Major Programmes podcast co-host, Corail Bourrelier Fabiani, shares her Oxford Saïd Business School dissertation’s insightful findings in this week’s episode. Riccardo and Corail take a deep dive into equality, diversity and inclusion in the infrastructure industry uncovering the taboo topics that have been avoided for decades.
“In the research, you can see that women's interests are not really accommodated in major urban transport infrastructure programs,” says Corail. “And there is a big gender data gap, which is kind of reinforcing inequalities in this space. In my opinion, all this is reinforced by the fact that we don't have enough women at the top. So I thought, how are we changing this?”
Corail, the accomplished programme manager behind projects such as the Paddington Square Public Art Programme and the Shard Quarter Public Art Programme in London, concludes the discussion with four steps to solve this complex, systemic issue.
Key Takeaways:
- The seven gender-related challenges in major programmes and how to solve them.
- How language labels leaders as men and how applications can encourage the women talent pool to apply.
- How to alter networking and affinity bias in order to better support women in infrastructure and why women-designed networks with male allies are so vital.
- The scarcity mindset and what happens to women at the top.
The conversation doesn’t stop here—connect and converse with our community:
Transcript:
Riccardo Cosentino 00:05
You're listening to Navigating Major Programmes, the podcast that aims to elevate the conversations happening in the infrastructure industry and inspire you to have a more efficient approach within it. I'm your host, Riccardo Cosentino brings over 20 years of major product management experience. Most recently, I graduated from Oxford University's day business school, which shook my belief when it comes to navigating major problems. Now it's time to shake yours. Join me in each episode, as I press the industry experts about the complexity of major program management, emerging digital trends and the critical leadership required to approach these multibillion dollar projects. Let's see where the conversation takes us. Hi, welcome back to another episode of navigating major programs. Today I'm here with a recurring guest and co-host of this podcast.
Corail 01:03
I am with Corail
Riccardo Cosentino 01:04
l, how're you doing?
Corail 01:06
I am doing great. Thank you, Riccardo,
Riccardo Cosentino 01:08
Thank you for joining us again. Really glad that you're here today. Today, we're gonna talk about your dissertation from your master's degree at Oxford. If I remember correctly, you did a dissertation titled, "do women need to play golf in order to lead measure programs?" really catchy title? But maybe you can tell us a bit more why you picked that dissertation? And what dissertation was all about?
Corail 01:39
Yeah, sure. Yeah. So yeah, this title was kind of a humorous reference to an HBR article, which said that basically, many women in male dominated industries feel compelled to play golf to access to the top leadership network. And my research was about women's network, and how can those women network help change the culture of major program, which are notoriously male dominated environments? And I thought it was funny that some women would think like, Okay, I'm gonna play golf, so make the most important contact, and I was like, okay, is this still happening? Do we still need to go on, on the course to get this important contact. So I did this research as part of our MSc in major program management at the Said business school. And it was really like, out of had the like, how out of an impulse after an event that happened during a master's degree. And I don't know if you remember that. But basically, each year, the program gets the opportunity to do a debate at the famous Oxford Union. And during our cohort, we have Ella a brilliant change manager, men's leader, who proposed the motion for that debate, which was around the importance of gender diversity in major p...
Previous Episode
Intelligent Technology in Major Projects with Kimberley Héraux |Saïd Business School, University of Oxford | S1 EP 8
In this episode of Navigating Major Programmes, Oxford Saïd Business School alumnus Riccardo sits down with fellow alumna, Kimberley Heraux, to discuss her dissertation on the use of intelligent technology in major projects. The pair discuss everything from the role contractual agreements play in the success of intelligent technologies, to treating the implementation of AI as a complex programme itself.
Héraux is an experienced program manager with a demonstrated history of delivering complex projects and programs in the higher education sector and in private industry. Her experience includes but isn’t limited to: Enterprise Software Deployments, Data Center, IT Infrastructure, Cybersecurity, Integration and ITIL.
“If you treat the implementation of intelligent technology into a major programme as a complex program itself,” says Héraux “We can shift the mindset to have two Galbraith's Star Models.”
Key Takeaways:
- Why we should look at major programmes as an information processing system, plus why information flow will directly increase productivity.
- The obsession with time and progress and why this mindset blatantly disregards proven program management processes.
- The two classes of AI technologies that are altering the iron triangle.
- The “SWAT team” mentality, benefits of agile processes; welcoming change in major programmes.
- Collaborative contracting to improve the flow of data and reduce risk in major programmes.
The conversation doesn’t stop here—connect and converse with our community:
- Riccardo Cosentino on LinkedIn
- Kimberley Heraux on LinkedIn
Transcript:
Riccardo Cosentino 00:05
You're listening to navigate major problems, the podcast that aims to elevate the conversations happening in the infrastructure industry and inspire you to have a more efficient approach within it. I'm your host, Riccardo Cosentino brings over 20 years of major product management experience. Most recently, I graduated from Oxford University's day business school, which shook my belief when it comes to navigating major problems. Now it's time to shake yours. Join me in each episode, as I press the industry experts about the complexity of major program management, emerging digital trends and the critical leadership required to approach these multibillion dollar projects. Let's see where the conversation takes us. Kimberly echo is best known for a drive to deliver organizational transformation through major technology initiatives. She is currently serving as a program leader on an industry defining technology major program by the US fortune 50 company. Kimberly is passionate about technology, elevating team culture and firmly believes in the indomitability of the collaborative AI performance project team. Kimberly holds a Master's of Science major program management from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, and a Bachelor of Science in international business from the California State University, Northridge. When she isn't busy running major technology initiatives, you can find Kimberly running on Southern California's beaches and wine tasting. Hello, welcome back to another episode of navigate the bigger programs. Today we're here with Kimberly servo. And today we're going to discuss intelligent technology in construction mega projects. Hi, Kimberly, how you doing today?
Kimberley Heraux 01:56
Very well. Ricardo, thank you so much for having me on. This is very exciting. I've also been very curious about you know about some of the research that's been done in this space. So very happy to join the conversation.
Riccardo Cosentino 02:10
Oh, I'm glad. I'm glad you're on today. It's it's a very interesting topic. I know you wrote a dissertation about this topic for your master Oxford. How did you decide to write a dissertation about intelligent technologies in megaprojects?
Kimberley Heraux 02:27
Well, so my background, I built a career managing complex, IT projects, information technology projects. And if you think about artificial intelligence, it is technology. You know, you're we're increasing, we're seeing an increase in the use of AI in all types of technology. So naturally, when it came to selecting a dissertation topic, for for my Oxford, MMPM, I naturally gravitated to, well, gee, what will start to happen when we see mega projects, adopt syste...
Next Episode
Can PPPs incorporate collaborative contracting? | With Riccardo Cosentino and Jim Bernard | S1 EP 10
In this week’s episode, Riccardo switches chairs and guest host, Jim Barnard, asks all the questions. Riccardo shares insights from his Oxford Saïd Business School dissertation on the use of collaborative contracting into major programmes, specifically PPP structures. Riccardo and Jim delve into the complications and complexities of risk management, adversarial situations, stakeholders and shareholders and private financing.
“When you have collaborative contracting, you almost waive your legal rights or your rights to pursue legal remedies. And so, all of the parties are around the table. There are many advantages of collaborative contracting, but the simplest one is, instead of hiring lawyers to sort out disputes, you’re redeploying those resources to actually solving project problems.”
Key Takeaways:
- The price of winning contracts in the PPP market and how the public sector entity comes into play
- Why collaborative contracting provides better odds for finishing on time and on budget, but equity has to take more risk
- PPP and politics, how do we navigate it?
The conversation doesn’t stop here—connect and converse with our community:
- Riccardo Cosentino on LinkedIn
- Jim Bernard on LinkedIn
Transcript:
Riccardo Cosentino 00:05
You're listening to navigate the major problems, the podcast that aims to elevate the conversations
happening in the infrastructure industry and inspire you to have a more efficient approach within it. I'm
your host, Riccardo Cosentino brings over 20 years of major product management experience. Most
recently, I graduated from Oxford University Said business school, which shook my belief when it
comes to navigating major problems. Now, it's time to shake yours. Join me in each episode, as I press
the industry experts about the complexity of major program management, emerging digital trends and
the critical leadership required to approach these multibillion-dollar projects. Let's see what the
conversation takes us. Hello, and welcome to a new episode of navigating major programs. Today
we're going to be doing things a little bit differently. My friend, and one point guest of the show as
agreed kindly to be hosting this podcast. And we'll do a role reversal where I'm going to be doing the
presenting and Jim Barnard is going to co-host the show. And today we're going to talk about a topic
that is very close to my heart, which is the use of collaborative contracting into major programs,
especially into PPP structures. I've done a full dissertation at Oxford as part of my master, major
program management, and I decided that it'd be good to walk you through my findings and my
conclusion. Anyway, let me introduce the host for today. Jim Bernard. How you doing? Jim?
Jim 02:00
I'm great. Riccardo, thanks for having me. Big fan of the podcast, obviously had the chance to be on a
previously so very much appreciate the opportunity to be host this time.
Riccardo Cosentino 02:11
So today, as I said, I'll be a be doing the talking. And you'll be doing the asking. Maybe I can start? I'll
jump right into it unless you have a specific question for me. And maybe I can give a bit of a bit of an
overview of my research thesis and some of my findings and some of my conclusions.
Jim 02:34
2
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Yes, summary will be great, a perfect place to start. But some of our folks listening may not be
completely familiar with even the concept of collaboration. And I know having read your dissertation
that you get into some fairly technical and detailed topics relative to finance and how structures are set
up and that type of thing. So for those of us either less familiar or kind of new to the topic, if you don't
mind, let's start as basic as possible.
Riccardo Cosentino 03:03
Okay, well, let's start with, let's start with what prompted me to research this specific topic, the probably
a good place to start here. I you know, I'm a professional the work in public private partnership over the
last 20 years. So again, a lot of knowledge about the topic, I have structured and finance many
transactions that use non recourse financing. And a couple of years ago, my company decided to exit
the what we call the lump sum turn...
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