“ Sometimes our mindsets can hold us back. It’s easy to ask, ‘what if it doesn’t work?’ Why not ask, ‘what if it does work?”
ALEX SCOTT, FORMER INTERNATIONAL PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALLER
P
opportunities are the life
ivoting to new careers, bringing people with you, staying humble, speaking up and taking lessons
Alex Scott, the former international professional footballer, shared at her opening keynote at the future- focused HR Technologies UK conference. Progressing from playing in a
concrete football cage in Poplar, east London, to broadcasting pitch side from some of the world’s most iconic football stadiums, Alex is well-placed to talk of the skills and attributes needed to thrive in the future international workplace.
Above: Alex Scott speaking at the HR Technologies UK conference in April
20
BLAZING A TRAIL Alex Scott began playing football just down the road from the ExCel venue. It was from here, back in the early 1990s, that youth worker Edwin Lewis encouraged her to try for the Arsenal Women’s youth team. Scott recalled how at this point she knew nothing about women’s or girls’ football teams because there were no female role models to follow. Yet aged eight, she was signed by Arsenal, a shy girl with a speech impediment and dyslexia who found school daunting, but who loved playing football. Since then, Scott has gone on to become a role model for girls around the world. “From the outside, it might all
look smooth sailing,” said Scott, after talking about her career highs, including 140 England caps, 19 team trophies and inauguration into the National Football Museum’s Football Hall of Fame. “The reality is I worked in the Arsenal laundry scrubbing [her now-colleague at the BBC] Ian Wright’s shorts. This was part of my growth. I got to be around people like Arsène Wenger. It’s been about switching a negative to a positive.” Gender inequalities are perhaps
most stark in the culture and structures of professional football. Scott recounted that despite her and her team’s significant successes, she was unable to use Arsenal’s Highbury stadium to speak officially as captain. The gender pay gap is also huge in women’s football. Many women players are still paid very little, if at all, across much of the sport, despite more professional contracts being offered among top- tier teams. It’s on issues like these Scott has
to discern when to speak up and use her voice and when to keep quiet. “It depends on the environment,” she explained. “If I’m learning, I’m listening because I need to understand before I can give advice. “In terms of speaking out, then
it’s about my values and what I stand for. I could be here pretending that Arsenal and the WSL [FA Women’s Super League] were all great. But
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