By Samantha Smith, Chief Executive of finnCap and a member of EO UK – London
Seven years ago, I bought out my business from the co-owner and became the first and only female CEO of a broker firm in London. At the time, most other brokerages were run in a very typical manner; they shared a broadly similar culture—fairly aggressive, with quite a ruthless hire-and-fire mentality, little emphasis on career progression or training and listening to staff and not much interest in employing a diverse range of employees.