Plusnet director: There's a craving for individuality at work

Joanna Carman’s leadership role at BT Group is complex, with overlapping responsibilities. She leads the Plusnet broadband brand, while also acting as its chief marketing officer. She also looks after home & TV propositions for EE and BT Consumer. 

As a result, she manages and collaborates with many different teams. That could mean having lots of different leader personas. But her secret is that a leader’s true power lies in being authentic. 

“In the beginning, I thought I had to emulate the behaviours of other leaders,” she says.  The key to being an authentic leader, she believes, is turning up to work as an individual, not an emulation of what you think bosses should be like. This means a lack of pretence and much greater informality in simple things like clothing (she wears trainers and comfortable clothes) and interactions with people whatever their level in the business. 

“Gen Z and below, coming into organisations, are demanding we treat them as individuals,” says Carman. It’s about attracting and retaining talent, as well as being comfortable in your own skin. 

“It’s made me happier. There’s nothing more exhausting than coming to work and pretending to be something you’re not.” 

Watch the rest of the My Business Leader Secret series.