Went to Barclays in Canary Wharf

One of the things that contributes to Cranfield's overall awesomeness is their involvement with the Female FTSE Index, through the International Centre for Women Leaders.

We were invited to the launch of this year's report, at Barclays HQ in Canary Wharf. Because the meeting started at 8am, one of my learning team and I decided to make an Adventure of it and stay over the night before. Canary Wharf in the dark reminded me of downtown Manhattan, and had a real city-within-a-city feel.

I've wanted to try Wahaca for years, but never managed to quite get around to it. I am now confident that Mexican food has arrived in the UK. It's something that New Yorkers take for granted, and now we can, too! Thomasina Miers, please feel free to open a branch in Bury St Edmunds.

Here we go, bright and early!

The speeches were extremely thoughtful and interesting, and my overall impression was:

• Companies with diverse boards perform better financially than those without. Causality hasn't really been proven yet (whether smarter companies have women on their boards OR women make boards better)
• It's not just about women helping each other - we need enlightened men on our side, too
• Women can be each others' harshest critics
• Excellent, measurable progress has been made, but there's still a mountain to climb

Watch out, world, here we come!