Wolfe Power Club
The Wolfe Power Club Podcast is an exciting platform for exploring crucial topics in the energy sector! With a focus on investment trends, governmental policies, and the evolving landscape of energy consumption, it promises to provide valuable insights for both industry professionals and the general public.
Host Alex Wolfe's background as an Energy director and experience in opening the first HVO Truck Bunker in Britain undoubtedly brings a wealth of expertise to the discussions. By engaging with guests who possess diverse perspectives and opinions on energy-related issues, the podcast is likely to offer a well-rounded exploration of the sector's challenges and opportunities.
Every guest will answer the big 3 questions:
- Where are you investing in Energy Industry?
- What do you want from the Government?
- What do you want Energy Customers to do?
Wolfe Power Club
POWERful Women Annual Data Reaction: Why are energy companies failing women? | S1EP47
This week, Wolfe Power Club attended POWERful Women’s 2025 State of the Nation Annual Report, highlighting the importance of female representation in energy leadership roles. Despite an increase in middle management, overall results remain disappointing among the UK’s top 100 energy employers, underscoring the urgency of a cultural shift in the industry to reach the goal of 40% gender balance by 2030.
Our host Alex interviewed various speakers across the sector who share their insights on how women in leadership positions can contribute to the success of energy companies, promoting inclusive policies and supporting a better work environment for all. The report serves as a roadmap and advisory for a much-needed cultural shift for a sustainable energy transition.
Download the POWERful Women's Annual State of the Nation report
Special thanks to our featured guests for contributing to this episode:
- Monica Collings OBE (Chair of POWERful Women)
- Cordi O’Hara OBE (President of National Grid Electricity Distribution)
- Alison Flower (Senior Energy Advisor, International Energy Unit - Foreign and Commonwealth Office)
- Olga Muscat (Bain & Company Senior Partner)
- Fran Woodward (Good Energy Group PLC’s Chief Operating Officer)
- Elliott Rae MBE (Founder of Parenting Out Loud)
- Elizabeth Baxter (Non Executive Director at POWERful Women & Director of Finance at Vårgrønn)
Call to Action:
- A focus on investment trends, governmental policies, and the evolving landscape of energy consumption, it promises to provide valuable insights for both industry professionals and the general public.
Contact Information:
- If would like to be on a future episode or you would like to become a sponsorship partner, contact us: emilia@wolfepowerclub.com.
- Follow Us: Stay updated with the latest episodes and behind-the-scenes content by following us on Linkedin, Instagram, X, and TikTok.
Credits:
- Funk You, Abbynoise, Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/abbynoise/funk-you - License code: 5CEYMJHNJPK0L1G5
- Flomp Beat, All Good Folks, Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/all-good-folks/flomp-beat - License code: G9H2S0LXXPH5NCG2
Sponsorship:
Season One is sponsored by Aim Recruit – https://aimrecruit.com/
Aim Recruit is an expert recruiter for transport, logistics and energy positions.
Would you go as far as to say there should be a different tax rate for companies without men that have no women on the board, have gone for solely men? Do you think there should be a tax penalty?
Speaker 2:I do think we need more action from government. You know when you're accountable for data publicly, it shifts behaviours. So I do think that, yes, that we should. I don't know about whether tax is the right mechanism, but I think we need more and more public accountability and guidance, as we, as Olga described it, we're stuck in this messy middle of low-hanging fruit on diversity has, you know, been achieved in the first few years and now we're sort of stuck with stagnating progress. So, yes, we need policymakers and business leaders and employees all pushing.
Speaker 1:And just to end on a positive, we're in 67 countries. You're obviously in this room today because you've had a successful career in the energy sector. Just tell a few of our listeners about why you chose energy and why, actually, you didn't find any glass ceilings in terms of stopping your ultimate goals, to say, being on the board of Powerful Women.
Speaker 2:So I was drawn to the energy sector because I find purpose addressing climate change and I really enjoy contributing to the energy transition. And I would not say that I have not found glass ceilings. I feel that I have witnessed and experienced every chapter in Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In book and I completely understand why it is that we are seeing stats on lack of balance, and people's lived experiences are that we're not where we should to be, where we would like to be. In terms of culture, I feel very strongly that an inclusive culture is one in which every single employee can thrive, is one in which every single employee can thrive, and so that this is not about only targeting certain groups. This is about building environments in which every person feels that they're treated with respect and that their voice matters, and then we'll all be better off.
Speaker 1:You're obviously one of the most senior people in the energy industry. Forget gender and you said it was bittersweet. What did you mean by that?
Speaker 3:So I think for leading companies who have been progressively focusing on diverse hiring practices, supportive environments and really focusing on intentional culture, they're doing well. Supportive environments and really focusing on intentional culture, they're doing well, but not all are operating at the same levels of commitment and focus and so, whilst we're seeing progression, we're not seeing it fast enough at a scale that means our sector is truly attractive to all employee bases and talents for our journey ahead.
Speaker 1:And just a quick one. National Grid came well out on the report. Obviously, you're across the UK and US. You have a substantial workforce. What's worked for National Grid in terms of achieving success in top level management, middle management, and those success and change in attracting females into various different roles?
Speaker 3:You know, the whole agenda is about creating the best talent pools to deliver critical work in the energy transition. We need diverse perspectives to get there and we need to represent the communities we serve. So it's integral to our strategy and we demonstrate that through how we live our values, which is doing the right thing, finding a better way and make it happen. So it's a systemic approach. It's a differentiator for how we deliver and we want to be a high performing organisation, which we are. All of those things are linked. They're not separate.
Speaker 1:Cordy, thank you for your time today. If the listener wants to hear more about national grid, abby talks in the previous episode about the 60 and a half billion they're spending on infrastructure now. Thank you for your time today thank you so what was interesting today, listeners, we didn't just have people directly involved in the energy sector. We've got this certain young gentleman who is on a cause of parenting out loud. Can you tell our listeners a bit who you are, and what the cause is.
Speaker 4:So my name is elliot ray. I'm the founder and curator of parenting out loud, which is a campaign and workplace culture change program. It's all about addressing the fact that one in three dads do not feel comfortable talking about their child care responsibilities at work, but we know how important equal parenting is to outcomes for our children, mental health and well-being of both parents and, of course, gender equality and female representation in the workplace as well.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, we work with companies to create more inclusive cultures, whether that's with leadership, staff networks and helps them to review policies and really look at how do they engage the men and dads in their in their companies now I think the message that came out the room today there's not been enough progress, that there's still possibility, but there's not been enough progress, such as horrendous stats like 15 of boards don't even have a woman on them. Now, one of the things I'm interested we talked about the motherhood blockers and as someone who owns children's nurseries, I'm interested in two areas. The first area I'm going to ask about is the classic your child is sick, and I see with nurseries I would say it's probably over 90% that it's the mother that comes and collects, even if both parents are working, which are traditional things. How do we stop that culture? It's always the mum that has to run out of work, because I think long term there probably is an impact then on getting board positions and so on from just a culture like that.
Speaker 4:I think it's a couple of things there. I think I mean the reality is that mothers do the majority of child care, even where dads want to. They are less likely to hand in flexible working requests and when they do, they're less likely to have those flexible working requests approved. So there is still stigma around male caring. There is still work to do, you know, with men and dads to empower them internally to want to prioritize child care as well. So that's that work to be done too. But I also think there is the, the bias in, you know, within all of us. We know that, know that.
Speaker 4:So many examples I've heard of men and women, mum and dads, when their child is ill, even though they have told the nursery to ring dad and dad's number is top of the form, the nursery will still ring the mother. And so I think it just speaks to entrenched ideas around caring responsibilities. And that is not gendered, that is not by profession or age. I think we have all grown up as products of our environment. For many years we have had kind of social norms where mothers have done the majority of childcare. Men have been the providers and protectors in the family. That's what we've seen for generations. We are still unlearning that. So I you know, a message for the nursery owners when the form says call the dad, call the dad, and if it doesn't say call the dad, call the dad anyway, because he might pick up then I'm going to get into another structure issue that I'm one of the few board directors of an energy company or senior leader that that took shared parental leave.
Speaker 1:I was part of a company that then actually made it possible financially for shared parental leave to really have minimal financial impact in terms of it was a great package outside of statutory. But one of the things we found sort of five years on is that essentially when shared parental leave comes up, you get two reactions One, the father thinks it could impact his career and secondly, because of the way it works in the UK where essentially if they've got a block of 52 weeks, potentially that might mean the mother giving up, say 10 to 25 weeks, depending on the policy, and they don't want to miss that time, is that as a result, shared parental leave hasn't been taken up by many people. How do we get that structural change? Because listening to the blockers today, it feels like if both genders took shared parental leave, it would then help that flow of people to the boards which powerful women's trying to focus on. So how do we change that? So the policy's been made but the action now to use it is not happening. On shared parental leave.
Speaker 4:Well, shared parental leave is a failed policy. I'm sure some people on a micro level have had a good experience with it. I meet people all the time who have taken it and it's been good for them. But as a macro policy it hasn't worked. The take-up has been between 3% to 4% of eligible couples have taken shared parental leave.
Speaker 4:There are many blockers. You know it's admin heavy unless it's topped up by your organization. It's statutory and if a man if a man is the male the most, the main earner, he can afford to take that time off. But also it's shared and many new mothers need that time for themselves, to be at home, to maybe recover from a c-section, to just adjust to life as a mother. So shared parental leave was never and will never be the answer. The answer is to increase and enhance our statutory paternity pay. At the moment it's two weeks paid at 187 pounds per week. Around one in five dads do not take any paternity leave at all because they can't afford it.
Speaker 4:We are one of the worst parental leave systems in the whole of the developed world, especially in Europe, and there is so much work being done to campaign for this Labour government who have guaranteed they're going to do a really good review of parental leave to enhance that to at least six weeks paid at 90% of salary. So we know six weeks is the bare minimum. It still doesn't put us as really competitive against some of our European counterparts, but it is long enough for that dad to support their partner if their partner has had a traumatic birth or a C-section. It's longer for that dad to learn the rhythm of the household and to bond with their baby and it is more time to adjust to being a parent, to really take care of your mental health and well-being both that and your whole family.
Speaker 4:So there's lots of campaigns Actually there's a dad strike going on later today which I'll be talking at and Labour have committed to doing this to the review. We need to put pressure on the government to make sure they actually see it through. You know a lot of businesses have been taking the lead on this, which is really really good. There's about 161 businesses that have introduced equal parental leave and many more that have enhanced their parental leave to like two or three months paid, which is great. But there are so many SMEs, there are so many businesses that can't do that for financial reasons. So we need the government to make that statutory baseline a lot higher to make sure the average family has access to a good amount of paternal parental leave.
Speaker 1:Now, final thing for our listeners you have a special three letters after your name. Can you tell us about meeting the royal family, what the honour was for?
Speaker 4:Because we love talking about bling on this podcast so tell us about those three magic letters after your name, elliot so I'm due to meet a member of the royal family on the 16th of july. I haven't met them yet. So I got the new year's honor, which is very, very nice. Um accepted it really from my dad. To be honest, my mom and dad, they were very, very proud. So I you know it gave them the opportunity to say their son's got an MBE, which is great, but it was for my services to supporting new parents. So, alongside the Parenting Out Loud campaign, for many years I've done a lot of community work. I have a non-for-profit called Music Football Fatherhood and we do. We do free community events that just engage dads in conversations about well-being, gendered parenting roles, finances, equal parenting, support networks. We are lucky enough to do online group coaching. We do amazing events in football clubs. We work with Arsenal and Queen's Park Rangers and Leicester City. So, yeah, the MBE was to really kind of, I guess, recognise that work, which is lovely.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Thank you for today, Elliot. Thank you, Alison. You've obviously got to very senior levels in the energy industry. We heard the state of address for Monica just now and your fellow colleagues on Power for Women Some positives, but also a lot of challenges still. What's your initial reaction to this year's figures?
Speaker 5:Well, I think obviously there are some positives there and it's never great to see a status quo, but I think we need to think about the actions which powerful women are good at doing and I think we need to find those enabling environments where we can make sure that everyone's valued. But I think the fact that we've got the statistics, we've got a greater data set to go on, but actually what can we find that is of value and creating value for people to move forward?
Speaker 1:Now, obviously, when we last met, it was International Energy you were talking to tables of those people who are kind of in the middle of their careers, looking to really move on up, those people who are kind of in the middle of their careers, looking to really move on up. I was just wondering, having heard today and there was a lot of focus on how you go from middle management to the board for those people who, say, around the age of 30, mark, have had a successful grad career now in middle management, what steps do you think they should do in the energy industry, especially as a woman, to make sure that they end up as that 40% number in 2030? So what can they do in the next five years of their career to really put themselves in a good position to lead companies and add value to any board that would consider them?
Speaker 5:I think two things they need to think was one is think about not the job they're in now or the job they want to do next, but the job ahead of that and actually think of the experiences and the challenges that will give them that and actually really challenge themselves and probably think of getting a mentor that's actually going to support them to do that. Also, have confidence in their own value. I think confidence is the most important thing. That's going to get them through those middle-tier years actually, and actually I think we heard about retention and people not feeling valued. So actually making sure they feel valued and actually can put it in the forefront of their mind and actually that confidence thing that they feel valued in that organisation and if they're not feeling valued, to actually speak up now we heard about some excellent companies that will go really deep into detail on the podcast, at the top of the rankings, but sadly there's 15 companies with not a single female on their boards.
Speaker 1:What would the message be? Because obviously you are a successful business leader, you've now got a successful role in in government. But I was just interested from that point of view. What do you think those 15 companies should be thinking about in the year ahead?
Speaker 5:that the the good reasons to have a successful woman on their boards well, I think maybe those 15 companies should actually go and look at the companies that have got a board um with with women on it and maybe do a bit of a peer learning and see what makes them successful and see how they can actually make that change and do a bit of a budding system or something and actually have a bit of a naval gazing to see how they can make that change and actually understand, you know, will it make a difference to them?
Speaker 1:Alison, thank you for your time today and we'll keep on WhatsAppping you until you do a full episode with us.
Speaker 5:I will do, I'll be there, don't you worry.
Speaker 1:We are at the Powerful Women's Nation statement launch about the results in 2025. We have some of the people that have been heavily involved from both a success story. So we've got Fran from Good Energy Good Energy was really one of the standout companies and we have Olga from Bain who, as a legal firm, they have given their bit to try and find the statistics. That helps people measure success. But first of all, Fran, I'd like to start with yourself. At Good Energy, you seem to get a glowing review today. What triggered that movement in terms of making sure that successful women are in leadership positions across your company?
Speaker 6:I think actually, it's been a fairly long-term project for us and we started at it by working on our culture. So I would say there's a lot of talk today about having a genuinely inclusive culture, and that is what we have really really focused on, as well as focusing on how we develop talent again which Olga raised as an issue and again that's probably been a five-year project. So we have obviously achieved over 40% of women on our main board, over 40% in our senior leadership team and we're at 52% in our middle management team. And that is you know, and that particularly is impressive in areas like energy, trading, technology, product and propositions, because these are traditionally male dominated areas and the only way we've managed to break that barrier is by developing our own female talent within and promoting them through. And then also, frankly, when you get to a certain critical mass, you become very attractive to other women. So we've had the the double whammy of lots of women attract more women, and I think that's a sweet space we hope to stay in.
Speaker 1:Certainly as dad of two daughters, I'd say get your CVs into good energy. They're a bit too young at the moment. Yes, please. Now, olga, I want to pick up a point you said in the discussion panel which really landed with me.
Speaker 1:You're like is one thing putting in policy and as a lawyer you know that well. I'm sure most of your clients sit down how can we put in every policy to be compliant and meet it? But there's a different thing in acting on it, and one of the questions I had that I'd like to have followed up on is shared parental leave. Most companies either have the statutory grounds in there because they have to have it, they also have enhanced shared parental leave, and as a director I took shared parental leave that basically was no cost or difference to me. But we found that two reasons stop men taking shared parental leave was that either the mother didn't want to give up part of the 52 weeks or essentially, men thought it'd affect their careers and therefore that landing of childcare responsibilities in the first year seemed to kind of always end up at females. How do we move from policy to actually an actual balance of people taking up policies like that?
Speaker 7:Hello, very good to be here. First of all, I would like to clarify that, olga Maskat, senior partner at Bain Company, we are a strategy consulting firm. We are not a law firm. Strategy consulting firm, we are not a law firm. We work very much in the energy sector. We help companies transform. Our mission is to work with change-oriented executives to help them achieve extraordinary results results for shareholders, results for society.
Speaker 7:So, coming to your question, I was speaking a lot today about our blueprint for action, which we included in the report we supported Power for Women on, and I was very passionate I continue passionate on the equitable talent journey.
Speaker 7:You can put all various flexibility policies in place. They will be not taken or used if your talent journey does not reflect those flexibility opportunities. If you make it more difficult to find opportunities for development because somebody is working flexibly, if you restrict access to opportunities because of working flexibly, people will restrict access to opportunities. Because of working flexibly, people will not take it off because they are going to worry about what impact that has on their career. In fact, this is a topic that we explored with Power for Women two years ago in the middle management report. We're going to more analysis there, so we would encourage companies to think holistically about the results they want to achieve the outcomes of better decision, better talent development and better diversity as an outcome of that and then look at all elements that they need to address, which is equitable talent development, inclusive culture, as well as set of policies which attracts all the talents to them.
Speaker 1:Next question I had for kind of both of you is that if you are, say, late 20s, early 30s, you've had a strong graduate scheme. You're now in middle management. You said something today about getting yourself onto boards learning about other companies. The value of that is unbelievably important. Any toolkit suggestions? Either of you would say that if you're in that position in the energy sector now and especially female because of what we discussed today is about the next steps you take to try and make sure you're in the right position to be selected for a board.
Speaker 7:So there is a whole range of board opportunities and, in fact, powerful Women and Bain Company we collaborate with an organization called Women on Boards and company we collaborate with an organisation called Women on Boards. I would really encourage all the listeners to go on the website and explore that organisation. The FTSE boards, the private equity on boards, even middle management boards, require a certain level of experience and career experience in order to be selected, so you have had to have an executive position. But there are many volunteer boards. There are school governance type of opportunities, local organizations that are looking for volunteers to help on pro bono basis, and those are great development opportunities that people earlier in their career can take on and, in fact, having that experience makes the CV more interesting for when people progress further on their career and are looking at more professional board positions.
Speaker 1:And, Fran, do you have a feeling on that? Because obviously you've grown within the energy sector yourself? What was the kind of moment, the eureka moment for you that was like this is going to accelerate my career.
Speaker 6:I think I work for an organisation that's quite broad minded and one of the things my organisation did for me is they put me on the board as a chief operating officer.
Speaker 6:Now it was alluded to earlier. On a practical level, lots of boards will only entertain having two roles on the board from the executive team, which is the chief exec and the chief finance officer, so that massively narrows the pipeline of brilliant people in marketing, communications, hr operations to actually ever get on a board. So I think consideration to some broadening of which roles go on boards is good. The other thing I'd say to women because, olga's right, you can't really start doing non-executive work until you've actually got yourself internally at quite a senior level. But suggest through your network groups, you know, can you shadow your own board, can you go and sit in and observe sometimes board meetings, can you ask for more interaction with the actual board in your company, because actually just observing a board work is also a really useful and help from a development perspective are really useful and help from a development perspective and I think we don't use the opportunity enough in businesses to just trust people, allow them in the room and allow them to watch and observe.
Speaker 1:Great shout-out. I'm fortunate enough to be on about 10 boards and it's all that. As you say, that experience. I had a much younger level. I was an Excel-carrying briefcase carrier for a very senior energy company, but that gave me so much insight 20 years ago that I can now use now and then. Uh, finally, rand, I just wanted to understand. You know our listeners love the word profit, sustainability, company success, hitting kpis, hitting bonuses. Why do you think women in a leadership team leads to more successful companies? Because ultimately, that's why people get appointed to positions. So what do you think the sort of having a gender balance on your board actually gives good energy and other companies you've seen?
Speaker 6:I just think it's all about diversity of experience, diversity of thought. Most companies are there to serve people. They're there to serve a customer base, and that customer base is made up of a huge diversity of people. So this is not only about women, clearly. This is about boards having broader representation of the very people that they are there to serve. Yes, they are there to generate profit in their shareholder base, but many of them ultimately won't do that unless they're meeting some kind of societal needs. So I think, at a fundamental level, that's why you see a correlation between good business performance and broader diversity in boards.
Speaker 7:I would go back to the point I was making earlier on talent development and diversity often being an outcome rather than an input. And companies that are developing their talent, attracting, developing, retaining their talent, are going to make better decisions, are going to be more efficient, are going to be more effective, are going to be more successful and, as a you will see, those companies are also more diverse and more inclusive.
Speaker 1:So just to finish off because I know you guys have got lots of people to see, it's been an amazing venue. I've got to say Bain's view is one of the best views in London, so I'm very excited about that. Can you guys just say what your companies are looking forward to for the rest of 2025 in the energy sector, in the areas that you do? So we'd like to go first round about what good energy is looking forward to yeah, we're.
Speaker 6:We're really excited about our growth ambitions, so we're moving much more rapidly into the installation of solar and heat pumps and really helping our customers in their homes and businesses essentially get to net zero and be mini power stations in their own right. And so, yeah, we're fired up by growth.
Speaker 7:It is a more difficult sector now where it was in the past the interest rates up, supply chain cost up, many renewable projects cancelled. The sector has grown very fast. There was a lot of inefficient growth. It is time for transformations. It is time for increased productivity in the sector, including talent development. It is time for companies to restructure. Look how they do things better and quicker so we can meet 2030 and a future net zero ambition.
Speaker 1:Olga, thank you for your time. I think today I've been lifted in this room as someone who's part of a company that's 50% female-owned, 50% female workforce as well. You just feel that the people in this room and the powerful women part of the Energy Institute is going to lead to massive results in our industry. Thank you for your dedication and work to that journey.
