351: Educate Develop Innovate and Inspire with Caroline Bedford

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Caroline Bedford, the founder and creator of Digital Minds, an award-winning innovation programme. Her forte is embedding design thinking, future-focused skills and a creative mindset within traditional roles in the insurance and corporate tech worlds.

Using her 30+ years of technology and specialty insurance experience, she brings to life discovery, ideation, innovation and cultural change within insurance organisations. She focuses her passion on developing career longevity and digital confidence across all ages and levels. And capability and curiosity in business practitioners of all roles.

She has a deep-seated belief that to future-proof your career, an ever-agile Generalist approach to support industry and customer needs is the key to happy staff, happy leaders and happy clients

Caroline talks to Phil about the value we can find in being as prepared as possible. She also discusses why it’s wise to accept opportunities when they arise and think about how to action them later.

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

 

TOP CAREER TIP:

We often find ourselves in situations that with a little thought, we may have been able to predict. The key to success is to be as prepared as possible for as many eventualities as possible.

 

WORST CAREER MOMENT

While working for a company, Caroline realized that she did not believe in the company itself or their product. This grated against her values, and proved that being congruent with your company’s mission is vital.

 

CAREER HIGHLIGHT

The day that EDII was incorporated was one of the biggest moments in Caroline’s career. Starting out on her own was life-changing.

 

THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T

Diversity and inclusion in IT is becoming far more widespread, allowing for a greater wealth of talent and skill sets to enter the sector.

 

THE REVEAL

What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – It was a challenge

What’s the best career advice you received? – Don’t wait until you need a network to build one.

What’s the worst career advice you received? – You’ve started so you have to finish

What would you do if you started your career now? – Caroline would delve deep into psychological behavior combined with human a