Teaching women in investment the art of showing off

​Bigging yourself up on paper can be awkward. Especially for women, who - research shows - tend to downplay their achievements (consciously or not).​

As was the case with HSBC. Plenty of women got nominated each year for the Women in Investment Awards, but they rarely made the shortlist. So they asked us to help them become their own biggest fans with a writing workshop.​

Part writing masterclass, part self-confidence bootcamp​

We started by getting every attendee to share their secret superpower. Between delivering friends' babies and martial arts mastery, it was an impressive group. We looked at techniques like showing (not telling) to help their entries stand out from the crowd. And we followed the training up with one-on-one coaching, to help them put the techniques into practice on their submissions.​

Can one workshop even make a difference? ​

Eight women from HSBC Asset Management made the shortlist – compared to just one the year before. And one went on to scoop the Role Model of the Year award. ​

Thoughts from one of the workshop attendees​

"The support and guidance provided by The Writer was invaluable. Blowing one’s own trumpet doesn’t come easily... having the guidance on how to approach writing a submission about yourself was really helpful.

​My main takeaway was to remain authentic and write what comes naturally about who you are and your experiences and not what you think makes a good submission!" ​​- Minali Majithia, Senior Marketing and Communications Manager, HSBC Asset Management

Can't get enough of our work with HSBC? Keep reading here.