Henrietta Brealey
Henrietta Brealey is CEO of the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, a not-for-profit that’s here to unleash the potential of the region’s businesses.
She is passionate about all things Greater Birmingham business and the power of mentoring and collaborating for success.
- Tell us a little bit about your business…
We’re here to unleash the potential of Greater Birmingham’s businesses. We help our members build their profile & networks, learn about the latest trends & best practice, manage costs with discounts on key services, have a voice and be part of something bigger. We love local, and we go global too building connections and sharing insights between local businesses and our partners across the globe.
We’re a not-for-profit that’s in business, for business, employing around 80 members of staff. We’ve been around a while – we celebrated our 210th anniversary last year – but much like the business community we serve, we are constantly evolving.
- How did you get into the industry?
By accident – I wanted to be an actress when I was younger (or “maybe a lawyer” if pushed for a “more sensible” job). By the time I got to university I’d realised it was a hobby not a career for me and was…a bit lost. As luck would have it, I saw an email from my department at the University of Birmingham about something new coming to Brum; The UpRising Leadership Programme. It brought together diverse cohorts of potential young leaders to teach them how to understand and access power – for the good of communities. It was all about social action and how as an individual you can drive positive change.
I applied, got in and loved it. It sparked an interest in this thing I’d never heard of as a career: policy and campaigning. I was matched with a mentor to help develop my knowledge of the industry – the marvellous Marc Reeves (who until recently was one of the longest-serving editorial leaders in Reach plc). He in turn introduced me to me to a former Director of Policy at the Chamber of Commerce, Katie Teasdale. A meeting with her turned into a part-time summer internship and the rest, as they say, is history – 12 years later I’m now the CEO. This experience is a big part of the reason why I’m now so passionate about the power of mentoring. Each of us have a whole lot of knowledge and insight that can be transformative to someone at an earlier stage of their career.
- What are the biggest opportunities and challenges in your industry?
Our job is to continually adapt to and meet the needs of the local business community. We work with businesses of all sectors and sizes from start-ups and young professionals to multinationals. And it’s a fast-moving picture. The challenge of course, is prioritising and making sure we have the capacity to deliver everything we want and need to with impact, while also navigating these trends ourselves as an independent organisation. As I always say: “We can do almost anything, but we can’t do everything at once”.
However, this is also a huge opportunity. In a world moving at pace more than ever we need to bring businesses together to learn from each other on the latest developments – whether that’s AI and digitisation, net zero, attracting and retaining talent or core business leadership and management capabilities. It’s also a very noisy world and cutting through that to build awareness of your organisation and build your network with the right people can be challenging. That’s where we come in.
- How would you describe your leadership style?
Always a tricky one to answer for yourself! I’m a big believer in collaboration, communication and the way in which you do things being as important as getting those things done.
I enjoy working on organisational strategy and bringing in a range of voices and views into its development. My colleagues across the business all have unique perspectives and are parts of the puzzle that get us to the best possible solution.
I don’t like to sit still (and in this day and age, what organisation can afford to?) and believe in instilling that focus on continual progress across the business.
We recently reviewed out values as an organisation: We Care, We Are Curious, We Make A Difference and We Are A Partner and I (quite rightly!) strive to embody that in my own approach.
- How do you get the most out of the people who work for you?
Clarity, communication and trust. I believe that we’re at our best when everyone in the team has clarity on what’s important and why, from organisation wide purpose and strategy to individual objectives.
Effective communication is at the heart of an effective team dynamic – particularly in a hybrid working world. It’s a business essential but regularly getting the team together, whether it’s at exec, manager, cross-team projects or whole organisation level, to review progress against business plan, share insights, challenges and opportunities is a key part of that. And trust – giving people flexibility and the room to be themselves, trial solutions, “fail fast” and learn.
People managers are absolutely critical in this respect. They are our organisation’s culture.
- What are the most crucial elements to your business running smoothly and being successful?
Our business plan is structured around 5 themes and ambitions: Customer, Culture, Community, Commercial & Core (that’s systems, processes and facilities for the latter). Get these, and the level of insight to support data driven decision making, right and we’re firing on all cylinders.
- How has the past 12 months been for you?
Interesting to say the least. It’s been a complex external environment to be supporting our members through – whether that’s on the national economic picture, global trade or local issues such as the impact of Birmingham City Council’s recent budget announcements on key sectors like arts & culture.
It’s a constant balance between addressing challenges, without talking the region or economy down. Through it all, businesses have remained optimistic – our latest QBR, or temperature check of regional business sentiment, shows 62% of firms expect their turnover to increase over the next 12 months and 51% expect profitability to improve. And there’s lots of reasons to be excited about the city-region – from the transformation of Digbeth and introduction of the Knowledge Quarter Investment Zone to our ever growing BPFS and tech sectors.
Inside the business, we’ve also been working through year 2 of our three-year business plan and strategy which included some major transformation work on our digital systems and moving offices for the first time in 60 years. So we’ve certainly been keeping busy.
- What will the next 12 months look like for your business?
We’ve got a whole lot in the pipeline over the next year. Our Business Commission West Midlands will be released a roadmap for business growth later last month, just in time for a pivotal year on regional and national elections. Under the steer by a panel of brilliant private sector leaders and academic advisors, we’ve taken a deep dive into what local businesses see as the strengths of the region and pain points holding back business growth. The interim report is out now, the final report will address areas for change for local, regional and national stakeholders. We’ll also be using this insight to take a good look at what else we as a Chamber can do to help our members navigate key areas raised.
We also have plenty in the pipeline to support business success across our campaigns, peer forums and events. As a few personal highlights, the Growth Through People Conference (best practice on all things people) which happened on the 21st March. The Global Business Conference on the 4th June will showcase the region’s international business successes and offer insight for those thinking about going global. Our Greater Birmingham Young Professional of the Year Awards will be back on the 17th October – recognising outstanding emerging leaders across all sectors. Keep an eye out, applications will open in May. And then it won’t be long until the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce Awards return on the 27th February 2025. It’s the region’s biggest celebration of business success with over 1,200 people attending.
Internally, we’re working through year 3 of our business plan and strategy with plenty more to come to continue to adapt, evolve and elevate our work for the good of the local business community.
- What are the highlights of your career so far?
I started at the Chamber as an intern back in 2012 so to be appointed as the youngest CEO in the Chambers’ 210 year history in 2021 was a big moment for me. I’m proud and passionate about the work we do, the positive impact we have and the incredible expertise and dedication of my colleagues. To be trusted with this next stage in the organisation’s journey is a responsibility I take very seriously, but the people I work with, both colleagues and members, make it a whole lot of fun too.
During my career with the Chamber I’ve been involved in big projects for our organisation and region and met a whole lot of incredible leaders from across business and politics. However, the high points for me are always the “wins” with individual businesses. Whether that was helping businesses in real difficulty who’d be turned down for grants during COVID successfully appeal, seeing connections made turn into new business partnerships or support for local charities, or individuals who have found their passion and changed their career trajectory through their work with us.
- What’s the biggest business mistake that you’ve learnt from?
Where to begin! I’ve certainly learned to ask for help when I need it and be a lot kinder to myself. Earlier in my career I’d take too much “on me” and feel like asking for help was inconveniencing others. Now I try to surround myself with plenty of people I can ask for their insight and perspectives to help get “unstuck” and find the best solution. Our board of non-executive directors are particularly brilliant in this respect. They bring a really healthy balance of challenge that pushes my and my colleagues’ thinking and support that shows it comes from a place of trust and respect.
I’m a bit of a perfectionist and, while I try not to show it, I used to (and probably still do sometimes) take any small misstep I make to heart. One of the great things about my job is meeting lots of other business leaders, including getting to interview some of the region’s leading and up and coming CEOs on my podcast CEO Stories. It’s great to see the human side of these people who’ve built incredible organisations. And the big lesson learned is we’re just that – all human – all imperfect and all learning. I try to own it when I cock up but treat myself more like I’d treat others around me and ask “have I learned from this? Yes – well then let’s remember that lesson but move on and stop beating yourself about it.”
- What’s the best piece of business advice you’ve been given?
It’s a nice and simple one: “focus on what matters”. A job like this can be incredibly ‘busy’ – it’s a constant balance between my external representation and engagement role and internal leadership of an independent mid-sized not-for-profit. It’s important to ensure I’m carving out time to avoid the classic trap of just working “in the business, not on the business” and focus attention on the areas where I can genuinely make the most impact, not just on what’s most “urgent”.
And “never stop learning”. I’m lucky that I’m constantly exposed to new ideas, perspectives and good practice ranging from academic experts to disruptive start-ups and established industry leaders. I enjoy taking that learning and seeing how we can apply it in the Chamber as we continue to focus on driving business excellence.
