XL16: MARGARET MANNING OBE - Entrepreneurial Success is a Story You Can Write Yourself

XL Podcast

I’m really pleased to host my next guest on the XL Podcast - someone who I’ve known about and wanted to interview for some time. She’s the kind of person you’ll meet at a networking event who rarely talks about her achievements or accolades. Understated. Yet, on paper they speak volumes. As you’ll hear in the podcast, Margaret has achieved and been awarded a lot in her career - from receiving an OBE from the Queen to growing her business from zero to in excess of $10m in sales.

For Margaret, it has never been about the accolades, but the challenge and the camaraderie of like minded changemakers who band together on this merry adventure. That could be the 100+ team she built at her digital agency or the communities she actively nurtures both online and offline in business and games (she’s a passionate online gamer). That last part you won’t know about until you dig deeper in to her story, like so many avenues and riffs of her life - studied Artificial Intelligence in the 1980s, served as Chair for the UK Asean business council, triathlete, runner, swimmer… the list goes on.

If there are lessons we can learn from Margaret’s story it’s that success really is a story you can write yourself. To be a “successful woman entrepreneur” you don’t need to be building the next billion dollar Unicorn. You just have to make sure that it’s you who’s holding the pen to that story. And for all of us, her story is one of never giving up, never yielding to the expectations of others and enjoying the adventure that defines both entrepreneurship and life.