Skip to main content
G7 Image credit Future Leaders Network
News

Why Magdalene Mattered: The Path from College to the G7

If you’d asked me on the day I left Magdalene what I’d be doing in ten years’ time, I’m fairly confident I would have been quite assertive: “I’m going to work for the U.K. Government, bringing my passion for problem solving to the biggest public policy questions in society.”

21-year-old me was right – in some ways. Immediately after graduating with a degree in Natural Sciences in 2012, I joined the Civil Service Fast Stream, a graduate programme aimed at equipping new entrants with the core competencies and experiences needed to deliver excellent public services. I both enjoyed my job – tackling big issues like child poverty or long-term unemployment spoke to the part of me that also led to my election as the JCR Charities Officer – and was lucky enough to also be quite good at it, with the curiosity, tenacity and confidence derived from three gruelling years of back-to-back lectures, intense supervisions and tricky labs standing me in good stead in debates with senior decision makers and Ministers.

Miss Sophie Daud  - Image credit Future Leaders Network

But… I was nevertheless frequently quite angry. Why were all of my leaders – both political and official – so, well… useless? It felt like the whole of Government seemed to trip itself up, time and time again, with poor leadership, poor leadership, and oh yes, that again – poor leadership.

As a rising star in the organisation, I was genuinely quite worried that I was going to recapitulate the mistakes I could see happening, time and time again, in the ranks above me. So I started seeking opportunities to improve my leadership skills. In 2016 I was selected as Head of the U.K.’s Delegation to the Youth 7 (Y7) Summit – the official youth engagement group for the Group of 7 (G7) intergovernmental process. At the age of 24, I led a team of three men (all older than me) to Tokyo, Japan, where we negotiated with other young leaders to produce a series of recommendations (known as a communique) for world leaders.

This was a pivotal moment for me. I discovered that whilst my career to that point had combined my love of problem solving (from my NatSci days) with my passion for public service, I had been missing a special secret sauce – people. I love working with, nurturing, developing and inspiring people. I am a good leader, and I am good at helping others to lead. I’m sure Magdalene was in some way responsible for this. From participating in the Women’s 1st rowing team, to playing an active role in the JCR, to just enjoying the tight-knit community in College… all of these experiences helped hone my natural instincts of empathy, compassion and coaching, which I realised had to become fundamental tenets of my career ahead.

And so it was that, in the subsequent years, I volunteered with the organisation that originally selected me, the Future Leaders Network, working gradually from rung to rung, until in 2019 I was appointed its Chief Executive Officer. I volunteered part-time, alongside my full-time job in the Civil Service, until a series of personal tragedies, including bereavement, forced me to stop in my tracks. I recall waking up in the morning and saying “I know what I want to do. I want to discover and develop the next generation of social, political and economic leaders in this country, and help them to succeed – and I can’t do that part-time.”

 

Future Leaders Network - Image credit Future Leaders Network copy

So in September 2020, in the middle of a pandemic, I took the rather terrifying leap to leave my established career in the Civil Service and take up my non-profit role full time. All in perfect timing for the biggest challenge of my professional career – in 2021 the U.K. hosted the G7 Presidency, and as a result, my organisation the Future Leaders Network was appointed to organise all youth participation in the multilateral process. Not only, therefore, was I responsible for the U.K.’s delegation of young leaders – I was responsible for the 50 other global young leaders from each G7 state, and accountable to the hundreds of millions of young people that these individuals represented. My task was two fold: to create spaces for young people at G7 decision making tables, and to equip the young leaders I worked with with the skills, knowledge and confidence they needed to speak on behalf of their peers at these senior meetings.

I built a team of 20 young leaders to help me with this responsibility. Together, we arranged a four month training programme; a four week negotiation schedule; and a four day global virtual summit to develop evidence-based recommendations from G7 youth to world leaders. We successfully harnessed the voices of over 10,000 young people globally, and gave young people the chance to champion those voices in the highest echelons of power, with young people, for the first time in history, speaking directly to leaders at the G7 Digital and Technology Ministerial Meeting, the G7 Climate and Environment Ministerial meeting, a Roundtable with the Chancellor, an audience with the Prime Minister and several broadcast and radio appearances. Those voices did not go unnoticed, with young people for the first time achieving a direct impact on the G7’s actions, through the inclusion and recognition of mental health in the Carbis Bay Leaders’ Declaration.

Miss Sophie Daud  at G7 - Image credit Future Leaders Network

I built a team of 20 young leaders to help me with this responsibility. Together, we arranged a four month training programme; a four week negotiation schedule; and a four day global virtual summit to develop evidence-based recommendations from G7 youth to world leaders. We successfully harnessed the voices of over 10,000 young people globally, and gave young people the chance to champion those voices in the highest echelons of power, with young people, for the first time in history, speaking directly to leaders at the G7 Digital and Technology Ministerial Meeting, the G7 Climate and Environment Ministerial meeting, a Roundtable with the Chancellor, an audience with the Prime Minister and several broadcast and radio appearances. Those voices did not go unnoticed, with young people for the first time achieving a direct impact on the G7’s actions, through the inclusion and recognition of mental health in the Carbis Bay Leaders’ Declaration.

If I were to meet myself on graduation day again, I’d tell her:

  • Don’t get obsessed with ‘what’ you’re going to do next – but do get preoccupied with ‘why’. Find a problem that excites, inspires or fuels an angry fire in your belly (bad leadership, perhaps?!) and you’ll never struggle to find a million different exciting options ahead of you;
  • Great careers don’t grow on trees. They are created through hard work, inspiration and bravery, that all come from following your passion; and
  • Young people are incredible. Their vibrancy, dynamism and energy is infectious. Don’t be ashamed of being young – use it to your advantage!

By Miss Sophie Daud (2009)

This article was first published in Magdalene Matters Spring/Summer 2022 Issue 52.