Disrupt by Distology Distology

About Episode

Welcome back to this episode of Disrupt! Today we are joined by the fabulous Alexandra Morris. From starting her career behind the bars in hospitality, to the CEO of property solutions company Let’s Move UK. Looking at her LinkedIn profile, it appears as if her career has been nothing but linear and seamless, but that’s far from the truth! From being consistently underestimated due to her gender and non-linear career path, to sexual harassment at events. It’s safe to say Alex has been through the ringer and built thick skin overtime.

Listen to the full episode of Disrupt to learn more.



Discussion Points

1. What was your journey into tech? 


Growing up in hospitality and learning to run a business.
From hospitality to conveyancing
Interest in law
Joining Make Your Move and her first tech role

2. Why Alexandra decided to do a law degree on top of her career. 


The challenges around being underestimated
Not being taken seriously in her working career
A law degree would have been her natural path if she didn’t have her career
Exploring the “what if”
Law is ready for technical innovation

3. Being taken more seriously and tackling those who are judgemental. 


Proving that you are capable even if you have children at a young age
Falling into an industry and proving that you’re still credible
Tech is a career that you can fall into
Not knowing what you want to do at a young age
College into university doesn’t work for everyone

4. Technology and the future: will it dehumanise the world? 


Developing tech and asking what problem it will solve
The effect social media has on mental health
The problem gender has on data

5. Gender and equality: struggling with the attitude of the opposite gender. 


Not being heard in a room full of too many ideas
Sexual advances being made by board members
Female and male co-founders must be in a relationship
Sexual discrimination at a private members club
Raising a sexual harassment issue and being ignored because someone is a big customer

6. Key drivers for the future of Let’s Move UK. 


Launching different products to help the way people live in houses
Promoting women getting tech, data and property
Tackling the late school introduction into tech



Social Handles

LinkedIn

Alexandra Morris: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandra-morris

Hayley Roberts: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hayley-roberts



About Disrupt

Disrupt is a podcast where host Hayley Roberts, CEO of cybersecurity distrubutor, Distology, is joined by guests to challenge the stereotypes in the IT industry and highlight the innovative ways business are working and overcoming these issues. And generally just having a good time being disruptive!

Welcome to this month’s episode of Disrupt! In this episode, Hayley sits down with Sally Nursten, to discuss her journey into tech, transferable skills and perceptions and stereotypes in the IT industry.

Sally began her career as a ballet dancer, training relentlessly at The Royal School of Ballet and Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance. After a career-ending injury, Sally swiftly moved into production where she worked as a runner and soon became the assistant producer. Finding love for media, she has worked in a variety of media roles, such as writing for Big Brother, PR and marketing consultancy. Sally is now the chief marketing officer at ITHQ an award-winning tech solutions company.

Discussion Points

Intro [00:00 - 00:30]
Sally’s path into tech [00:31 - 02:30]
Transferable skills: ballet dancer to working in the media [02:31 - 04:44]
First job: fake it till you make it [04:45 - 05:46]
What drove Sally to learn media? [05:57 - 08:00]
Which of Sally’s past skills have helped her in business today? [08:00 - 10:09]
Ballet, tech or media? [10:10 - 13:02]
What does a CMO do on a day-to-day basis [13:03 - 14:19]
Perceptions of women in the tech world [14:20 - 25:42]
Calling out behaviours in business [25:25 - 27:59]
Tips on staying authentic and being truly authentic [28:00 - 31:43]
Who inspires Sally the most [31:44 - 33:30]
What advice would Sally give to her younger self? [33:31 - 34:55]
Favourite pub snack? [34:56 - end]

Technology and the future: Will it dehumanise the world?
Introduction
There’s no escaping from it, technology is well and truly embedded in the modern world. From the phones that organise our lives, to the scanners we use in the supermarkets, technology is continuously innovating and it’s here to stay.

With so much fantastic machinery at our fingertips, how do we ensure we don’t lose the human touch? Have we become desperate for everything at a fast pace? We want deliveries now, dates now and everything yesterday. Is the future potential of this massively harmful to us as humans?

Join our CEO Hayley Roberts to find out why she “doesn’t like technology” and what her fabulous panel of guests at our first live Disrupt have to say.

About Today's Guests
For this very special live Disrupt panel we are joined by some incredible guests! Donavan Hutchinson, Managing Director at SHI, has worked with some of the world's largest NASDAQ-listed technology reseller organisations. He is passionate about diversity and inclusion for all, which has been instrumental in the growth of several of the organisations he has led. Hayley Mooney, General Manager at Crayon UK, has worked with some of the industry's leading providers in the Channel and for the last ten years has been immersed in the public cloud. Last but not least, Penny Williams, Vice President at CDW UK, has a keen focus on mentoring high-performing teams, building strong partnerships and has been a CRN judge since 2016. That's a cracking line-up!

Welcome to this episode of Disrupt!

Welcome to this month’s episode of Disrupt! In this episode, Hayley sits down with Managing Director at SHI Corporation, Donavan Hutchinson, to discuss his journey into tech and how business leaders can be doing more to encourage diversity and inclusion in the workplace, without it being a tick-box exercise.

Like many people who work in tech today, Donavan started on a completely different career path. After leaving school, Donavan joined the army at a very young age, but during his recovery time after having an accident he found a job working in sales for a value-added reseller (VAR), Insight, and eventually the top sales rep there. He is now the managing director of the award-winning IT company SHI Corporation and is passionate about making change within the IT channel - especially when it comes to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Listen to the full episode to learn more about creating diverse groups in the workplace and the steps business leaders can be taking towards encouraging open-mindedness.



Discussion Points

How did you get into the industry? From the army to tech

The transition from army to sales, what did you learn and why did you stay?

Pinkwashing, rainbow capitalism and copycat syndrome

What have you changed at SHI to make it more inclusive?

Have you seen productivity increase due to the groups you’ve created? 

What drives you? What hurdles have you jumped through to get to where you are today? Coming out during IT career. Challenging organisations and others. Becoming authentic self.

What advice would you give to other organisations/leaders to encourage open-mindedness?

What can we hire taking D&I into consideration, without tick-boxing? 

What do you see the next 5 years looking like for you and your organisation? Actions vs likes on social media

How can organisations do better to help with mental health?

Who inspires you the most?

Advice you’d give your younger self? 

Favourite pub snack: crisps, nuts or olives?



Follow Donavan - https://www.linkedin.com/in/donavan-hutchinson-b767a811/

Follow Hayley - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hayley-roberts-69b5562/

Follow Distology - @Distology https://www.linkedin.com/company/9222136/



About Disrupt

Disrupt is a podcast where host Hayley Roberts, CEO of cybersecurity distributor, Distology, is joined by guests to challenge the stereotypes in the IT industry and highlight the innovative ways businesses are working and overcoming these issues. And generally just having a good time being disruptive!

Welcome to this month’s episode of Disrupt! Hayley sat down with CEO of ANS Group - Paul Shannon, and discussed his journey into tech and how business leaders can be doing more to recruit talent into the industry.

Despite not succeeding in academia, Paul found a love for technology at an early age. He quickly realised studying business and economics at university was not for him, and landed his first IT job working as internal support. Working for VM-Aware was the turning point in Paul’s career, where he truly realised what he wanted to do with his career. In 2009 he began working for the tech firm, ANS Group, where he said yes to all the opportunities that came his way, and eventually became CEO.



Discussion Points


How did you get into this industry? What’s your career journey? [01:10 - 03:33]
Saying yes to the opportunities in life [03:30 - 04:51]
Regrets about not finishing university [04:52 - 05:44]
What drives you? [05:45 - 07:22]
From game tester to CEO at ANS Group [07:23 - 09:03]
Recruiting and retaining staff in 2022 [09:04 - 10:12]
UK Fast and ANS Group merger challenges [10:13 - 13:02
What are you passionate about in the IT industry? How can you get more people involved? [13:03 - 14:43]
Diversity and Inclusion in the IT industry [14:44 - 17:31]
Rapid advancements in technology and the future of ANS [17:32 - 19:09]
The great resignation and staff retention [19:10 - 22:09]
Recruiting and training employees with no tech experience [22:10 - 24:37]
Who has inspired you the most? [24:38 - 25:47]
What advice would you give to your younger self? [25:48 - 26:40]
Favourite pub snack? Crisps, nuts or olives? [26:41 - 27:25]

We're excited to be joined by CEO of In4Group, Mo Isap for our first episode of Season 2 for Disrupt, hosted by our CEO, Hayley Roberts!

Join both Hayley and Mo as they discuss how businesses are becoming "lazy hirers" as well as the invisible and visible barriers for candidates vs the barriers of employers.