Grasp the opportunity – even if the timing feels scary

Warwick Business School (WBS) Heropreneurs Executive MBA Award winner Lindsay Compton is founder and CEO of communications consultancy Canny Comms. A devoted military spouse and mother of two children, Lindsay talks here about the importance of grasping opportunities in order to create more.

I honestly didn’t expect the WBS Heropreneurs Award to be won by someone like me.

Just like many other military spouses, I have had to adapt my career aspirations around the Army’s demands on my husband. The usual approach of adapting family life to the person who earns the most or has the greatest prospects goes out of the window when you marry a serving person. Choices about where you live and for how long you live there, or even how you share family and home commitments, are largely decided for you.

At one time, this would have meant a limit to my success in the world of business. Statistics prove that having young children and being a woman are already barriers when being considered for more senior positions, and that’s without the issue of having to move and change jobs every 18 months. However, mentoring via the charity Heropreneurs in the setup of my consultancy business and now, the WBS Executive MBA are allowing me to break through these barriers.

WBS has been instrumental in helping me to do this. As well as providing a very generous award with Heropreneurs, the WBS team have been immensely supportive in the face of the realities of my situation. A few months before my planned MBA start date, I was faced with the prospect of beginning the programme whilst my husband was away, with an ever-growing pile of client deadlines all due in the same month, and whilst my breastfed daughter was still just six months old. Combined, it was too much pressure to then add an MBA to the pile.

Fearing I would have to give up on my long-standing aspiration, and never one to admit defeat quickly, I found it hard to share my worries with the team at WBS. Here was one of the greatest opportunities of my career and I was going to have to admit I didn’t have the capacity to do it. However, the WBS team were so kind and supportive, giving me lots of options and allaying my fears. The opportunity was not gone; it just needed to be taken six months later.

Now, one module in, it was the best decision I could have taken. I am now in the right frame of mind to soak up every morsel of learning – using it to shape plans for my own business and those of my clients.

People often look at my circumstances and tell me I’m crazy! Maybe I am, but I know this course will equip me to take advantage of the opportunities that lie ahead.

For those in a similar position to me and considering an MBA, perhaps now is as good a time as any?

WBS is delighted to be sponsoring the Heropreneurs 2023 Awards. The winner of the WBS Award will receive a 100% bursary to study one of our MBA or Executive Diploma programmes, while the runner-up will be awarded a substantial 75% bursary, and the third-place contender will receive a generous 50% bursary.

Applications to apply for the 2023 WBS Heropreneurs Bursary Awards is Sunday 30th July. For more information, please visit the Heropreneurs website.