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There is a contradiction at the heart of the modern workplace. Organisations are investing in menopause awareness, introducing policies, training managers and encouraging women to speak more openly about their experiences. Yet some of the very women these policies are designed to support are still struggling to obtain timely medical advice, appropriate treatment and reasonable adjustments that would allow them to continue working effectively.

Experience navigating different cultural environments may provide valuable strategic insight, yet recognition, sponsorship and access remain unequal. Artificial intelligence will not automatically correct these inequalities, because if existing hierarchies continue to determine whose recommendations are trusted, whose expertise is recognised and whose judgement carries weight, technology risks reinforcing established patterns of exclusion.

World Menopause Day, led globally by the International Menopause Society, has played an important role in bringing menopause out of the shadows and into public discourse. What if one of the biggest risks facing productivity, leadership succession and economic growth isn't AI, skills shortages or hybrid working, but a biological transition affecting millions of employees that many organisations still treat as a wellbeing issue? Yet for founders, board members, business lea

October is here and this year’s Black History Month theme is Honouring Our Communities. It asks us to look beyond the famous names to the people and everyday networks that have shaped and sustained British life. Think of the nurse on the night shift, the elder who keeps the church hall open, the entrepreneur who creates jobs on the high street or the promoter who gives young talent a stage. They are history too and they are making it right now.

AI could have written that board paper, but it could not have noticed the silence after the presentation because that gap, between producing an intelligent-looking answer and knowing what actually matters, is where narrative authority lives. It is the ability to turn what you have seen, survived and learned into judgement that other people can understand, trust and act on. As AI makes polish easy, it may be one of the most valuable things a leader has.