Organisations need a diversity of views to be relevant and effective, the former Director General of MI5 Eliza Manningham-Buller told West of England business leaders last night.
Speaking at the ICAEW regional annual business dinner, Baroness Manningham-Buller, pictured, drew on her experiences leading the service through significant change, expansion and scrutiny as it dealt with the growth of Al-Qaida terrorism after 9/11, and in response to the 7/7 attacks in London. 
She said when she joined MI5 in 1972 it was “entirely white and completely led by men who thought that people of my gender couldn’t do the job”.
She added: “If you were gay, you were considered a security risk. It was also exclusively based in London. Now it’s all over the country.”
When she left the service in 2007 it was far more reflective of wider society, she said.
Now, as chair of the Wellcome Trust, the UK’s biggest charity overseeing funding for scientific research, she was putting those ideas into practice in the science sector.
She also told the 340 guests at the event at Ashton Gate stadium that humour was vital in the workplace and that leaders should not take themselves too seriously.
“Looking after your colleagues is the best way of getting the best out of them,” she said.
“Do not try to be something you’re not. Take responsibility for your team and remember that praising people takes seconds and can make an enormous difference. And don’t forget that humour can be found even in the most awful situations.
“If leaders take themselves too seriously then no one else will take them seriously at all.”
She said at MI5 she would often go around the building in the evening telling employees to stop working and go back to their families as it was important people did not overtire themselves.
“If there was a crisis then they had to be at work at their desks for half the night,” she added.
While the methods used by the service had changed greatly since her early days, when ‘intercepting communications’ meant using a steaming kettle to open letters, the real heroes were still those outside the organisation who put themselves at enormous risk to supply vital information that saved lives – such as Soviet double agents, IRA informants and, more recently, young Muslims who gave information about Jihadi terrorist cells.
The dinner also marked the 120 years of the ICAEW in the region. Launched to cover just Bristol with about 40 members, it now has 5,600 working across North Somerset, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, with around 400 students training with the ICAEW in the region. 
Current president Ololade Adesanya, a director in accountancy group Deloitte’s risk advisory practice and financial services controls advisory lead, is just the fifth woman to be in the role and the first from an ethnic minority.
Ololade, pictured, centre, with Baroness Manningham-Buller and Deputy Mayor of Bristol Asher Craig, is committed to using her tenure as president to champion future talent in the accountancy profession, in particular from under-represented groups.
The event was again sponsored by insurance brokers the Howden Group, with accountants Albert Goodman sponsoring the drinks reception.
The charity partner was FareShare South West, which collects enough waste food to supply 4,120 meals a week.
