Women Torque BACK

Today’s guest on Women Torque BACK learnt how to lead from her former boss and mentor - Richard Branson. This involved the frivolity of being inside - literally - the yellow submarine in Liverpool and in more serious situations that involved tragedy and death on the railways when her employer - Virgin Trains - owned the West Coast Mainline. 

Paul McCartney said of “Yellow Submarine’ - it’s a happy song that’s all”. The song was released as a double A-side with Eleanor Rigby - a Lennon and McCartney collaboration that deployed empathy to reach beyond their traditional rock audience of the time by commenting upon the neglected concerns and fates of the elderly. 

This contrast perhaps offers an insight into the leadership approach of Jane Cole -the Managing Director of Blackpool Transport - who asserts that kindness is not weakness. Yellow submarine characterised experimentation by the Beatles in the recording studio and Jane has been experimenting with new approaches to leadership by injecting empathy into neglected areas of business and people on the Fylde coast. 

If Jane is to be characterised by a Beatles song it must be ‘ ticket to ride ‘ because she started her career at British rail and worked her way up through the ranks. After a career break undertaking charity work in Rwanda ; Jane swapped public transport on rail tracks for buses but with a side order of trams on tracks just to be sure. 

John Lennon said that he and Paul McCartney collaborated by writing songs  ‘eyeball to eyeball’ and by close communication they had a common purpose. 

Jane and her colleague Karen Cooper have created a common purpose for Blackpool Transport and in a first for Women Torque BACK we have two guests being interviewed by two members of the Backhouse Jones team - Laura Hadzik and Jo Dawson-Gerrard. If you like this format be sure to GET BACK to us either by liking this podcast or subscribing. 

The Beatles started exploring new songs at Abbey Road. Here at Backhouse Jones our sound production takes place down under in Australia where Mandy Turner expertly makes it all ‘come together’. One day all podcasts will be made this way and it will be mandatory to have an Aussie introducing the broadcast but until then you can choose to contact Mandy at www.mandyturner.au.com

The soundtrack to the movie “About a Boy“ is titled  “Something to talk about”.  Our next guest could also use this soundtrack to describe her professional life but this time ‘torque’ spelt T O R Q U E and what’s more she bears no resemblance whatsoever to the spoilt and rich layabout portrayed by Hugh Grant in the movie. 

Rather, comparisons for this episode’s guest on Women Torque Back might be better directed at Emma Thompson - the independent thinker, acclaimed actor, producer and activist. Emma’s movies include “In the name of the father’, ‘saving mr banks’ ‘an education’ , ‘ love actually’  and ‘stranger than fiction’ . 

Each of these titles could be used to describe a number of occasions in the life of Candice Mason as she accepted her husband’s request to assist him, his brother and father in running the family coach business - conveniently named “Mason’s Coach Hire’. 

The deal agreed was that she would assist within the business for 12 months and then return to her first love - the career for which she was trained to degree level. 

 The deal agreed was that she would assist within the business for 12 months and then return to her first love - the career for which she was trained to degree level. 

Life’s what happens when you’re busy making other plans and this deal was agreed long before COVID-19 shook the world and the UK coach industry but Candice has not returned to her first vocation.And what was that career I hear you ask?

Well think of Emma Thompson’s 2005 period fantasy comedy - Nanny McPhee .

Candice started her career caring for children and navigated a path all the way up to managing a nursery and beyond. But Love Actually took hold and whilst Emma Thompson scripted the film “sense and sensibility’, Candice brought her common sense and more than a touch of sensibility [with fresh eyes] to look at the family business, to develop it and build upon the splendid successes achieved by her father and mother in law, her husband and brother-in-law -over a thirty year heritage. It’s a family affair! 

 In Victorian Britain, widowed Mr Brown was struggling to combine tragedy, work and family life and his finances needed review. Enter Nanny McPhee who restored order to the family brown and magically made it snow in august. 

Changing the weather in any business requires resilience and questioning assumptions even in times of calm. But in the chaos and tragedy of the 18-month COVID winter imposed on the uk coach industry with no industry specific support from government, it was a rodeo and Candice had to concentrate on the unexpected micro as well as the macro and quickly learn how to engage with government ministers whilst furloughing loyal, hard-working , traumatised staff. The emotion of this difficult task is palpable within this podcast. 

Nanny McPhee leaves her movie family with the phrase “ when you need me , but do not want me , then i must stay . When you want me but no longer need me then I must go “. 

Somehow we think it unlikely that Candice will GO BACK (we have to get one use of the word BACK into an intro) to managing a nursery as her family and the wider coaching industry will WANT AND NEED her soundtrack of excellence for some time to come.

Talking of soundtracks and sound thanks as ever to our very own Aussie - Mandy Turner - who not only skilfully edits - down under - our podcasts to make us sound as we think we speak rather than how we actually mumble and pause ; she voices this introduction. Mandy can be contacted at www.mandyturner.com.au 

 
In this very special episode of Women Torque BACK, Laura Hadzik is joined by Backhouse Jones’ very own Women from the BACK - Julia Davies, Jo Dawson-Gerrard and the new ‘Queen of the Small Screen’, Chloe West. 
 
This quartet are a formidable force and, throughout the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, they have used their arsenal of personalities, knowledge and skills to create, drive, develop and deliver invaluable support to Backhouse Jones’ clients and friends across the road transport sector.  Now, as Freedom Day approaches, they reflect on their individual and shared experiences of the last 16 months, discuss what it’s like to finally be BACK together in person and look forward to what the future holds for them and Backhouse Jones…and it’s not all about transport!
 
In a Women Torque BACK first, the ladies also welcome a very special male(!) guest to join them.
 
This is an episode definitely not to be missed!

https://we.tl/t-fhwnqdO5BH

BACK in 2012 the Olympics took place in London Town. It was the Romans -not the Greeks -that initially laid out the road system BACK in the days of Londinium. Somebody had to oversee the logistics of moving hundreds of toned athletes and thousands of less muscular fans around the labyrinth of London. Step forward  Traffic Commissioner Sarah Bell who rose to the challenge and in this podcast BACK’s the bus up here to provide a delightful insight into the BACKground of the logistics of the Olympics and other tales from the top. Sarah also tells our Laura Hadzik how she caught Laura admiring her shoes during a presentation and that she is not former TC Beverley Bell’s sister.

Laura and Sarah would like to dedicate this episode of Women Torque BACK to Tim Nesbitt QC whose untimely passing since the recording of their conversation has left them and all who had the pleasure of knowing him shocked and deeply saddened.  Sarah first instructed Tim over 20 years ago and both Sarah and Laura were honoured to celebrate with Tim, his family, friends and colleagues when he took silk in 2018.  They are sure Tim would have loved - and laughed - listening to their conversation and they will both miss him dearly.

Continuing our discussion with inspiring businesswomen, today's guest  Charlotte Bovill, explains to Jo Dawson -Gerrard how she loves the mantra “It always seems impossible until it's done.” When not at work you might find her diving with great white sharks, but in her day job she is Business Unit Director at JLL, a global commercial real estate services company with offices in 80 countries. As well as a deep dive into Charlotte's aspirations and inspirations, we discuss the shift in consumer behaviour, the implications for our high streets and distribution hubs and the impact this is having on the transport sector.

Men in Black is a 1997 American science fiction action comedy film starring Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith as two agents of a secret organization called the Men in Black, who supervise extraterrestrial lifeforms who live on Earth and hide their existence from ordinary humans. 
 
 If the movie was updated for 2021 and titled “Women in Black”  who might the casting director approach? Surely Sigourney weaver would be top of the list
 
 Sigourney is a pioneer of action heroines in science fiction films. She is best known for her role as Ellen Ripley in the Alien franchise, which earned her an Academy Award nomination in 1986 and  is often regarded as one of the most significant female protagonists in cinema history. Of course this is merely the fantasy  of the silver screen whereas today we are introducing “women in back “ and the script writes itself. 
 
This is the inaugural “Women torque BACK” podcast. That’s talk spelt t-o-r-q-u-e and is released quite appropriately today - 8th March  - international women’s day. 
 
 This podcast brings forward from the BACK and introduces Laura Hadzik the award winning regulatory lawyer at Backhouse jones. She might not be the first ever female transport lawyer in the Uk but she is certainly one of the first three. 
 
Laura will be introducing women who torque back from within  the transport industry and she starts at the top with the Meryl Streep of transport - Lesley O’Brien OBE . 
 
How did a girl from yorkshire who was advised by her school careers tutor to look at secretarial jobs take up international positions in the transport industry before coming BACK to the white rose county  to start her own successful haulage Company with her husband -known affectionately as The Commodore -and will she ever be Big In Japan?