Jane Asscher
Founding Partner – Strategy and Management at 23rd
Like a lot of people I didn’t always know exactly what I wanted out of my career, or which direction I would end up going in. And I’ve certainly re-evaluated my opinions, shifted my goals, and changed my mind several times along the way, as I’ve learnt more and understood myself better.
When I left university in 1985, ‘success’ was very much on the agenda. Being part of a generation of young women indoctrinated with the relatively new philosophy of ‘having it all’, this was something we were taught we owed ourselves – and our gender. The trouble was, this philosophy was dictated, rather than suggested, to us.
While I knew I too wanted to ‘have it all’ and attain success, in hindsight I wasn’t actually very sure how this ‘success’ should be defined, or what it would mean when I achieved it.
‘Success’ looks very different now to how it did in the 80s. In the era of power dressing and men in red braces, for women success meant joining the ‘war of the workplace’ and beating men at their own game, and on their own terms.
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