This week, a special crossover episode: Jimmy's Jobs of the Future meets What We Don't Know.
Hayaatun Sillem spent eight years as CEO of the Royal Academy of Engineering - the first woman, and the first person in over two decades, to hold the role. Before that: 8 years of biochemistry, a walkout from the lab that ended her PhD overnight, and a stint advising Parliament on everything from forensic science to carbon capture.
She also co-chaired Lewis Hamilton's commission on the representation of Black people in UK motorsport, and is now a founding trustee of his charity, Mission 44.
In this conversation, Jimmy and Hayaatun cover the moment people mistook her for anyone but the CEO, the leadership skill she thinks is most underrated, the decision to leave a job she loved while she was still doing her best work, and why she thinks "more jazz than classical" is the only way to lead through uncertainty now.
🔗 Watch more from Jimmy's Jobs of the Future: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxoL7OXNn-JuGzZj7LQrtIA/
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What We Don't Know is a podcast about better leadership in a crazy, uncertain world, co-hosted by Hayaatun Sillem CBE and Matt Brittin CBE, produced in partnership with Boxlight Creative Studio.
If you have any questions or want to come on the show, email us at:
whatwedontknow@boxlight.io
⚡️ Powered by Boxlight.io
https://www.boxlight.io/
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TIMESTAMPS
Timestamps
00:00 — Intro
01:00 — First job: Boots the Chemist, £2.32 an hour
01:09 — Becoming head girl
01:12 — The lab walkout that ended her PhD
01:15 — Parliament and the Science & Technology Select Committee
01:22 — What the Royal Academy of Engineering actually does
01:26 — Working with Lewis Hamilton
01:32 — Becoming CEO — "So what is it you do here?"
01:35 — The most underrated leadership skill
01:39 — Splitting the leadership team
01:41 — Deciding when to leave
01:43 — "More jazz than classical" — how leadership has changed
01:44 — What's next: starting a new venture, "back yourself"
01:50 — Quick fire round
01:53 — Most embarrassing moment as a leader
01:55 — What she failed at
01:59 — Is AI overhyped?
02:01 — What separates great from exceptional
02:04 — Outro
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Credits:
Producer: Sunny Winter
Producer: Thuy Dong
Producer: Jimmy McLoughlin OBE
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