A Good Time to be a Girl

`Morrissey makes a compelling case ... for women who want to smash down the boardroom door, this is a terrific read' Gaby Hinsliff, Observer

`I absolutely love her, I think she's such a force for good' Pandora Sykes

`Forthright and instructive... warm, self-deprecating and good-humoured... Morrissey sets out her stall for gender equality. The arguments are strongly made. What supplies extra authority is where Morrissey is coming from - someone who has reached the summit and who did so while being mother to nine children. All credit to her. Onwards and upwards.' Evening Standard

`She's a passionate cheerleader for the progress we've made and the opportunity we now have to change a sexist culture for everyone's benefit. I love her positivity and push for collective female focus' Helen Brown, Daily Mail

`Morrissey, an investment management executive in Britain, founder of the 30% Club campaign to get more women on boards, and mother of nine - yes, nine - offers another response to Sheryl Sandberg's 2013 book Lean In. Morrissey's book, which pulls from her own experiences as a working mother and activist on gender parity in the boardroom, has been described as a manifesto for new ways women and companies can work and manage rather than trying to get ahead in a patriarchal system that is out of date. Morrissey told London's Evening Standard newspaper that it will be a handbook for young women, those mid-career and also companies, because it matters what you lean in to.' Jena McGregor, Washington Post

Helena Morrissey is one of the best-known women in the City. She started her career in New York with Schroder Capital Management. After returning to London she joined Newton in 1994 as a junior fund manager and was appointed CEO in 2001. During her fifteen years leading the firm, assets under management grew from GBP20 billion to over GBP50 billion. Helena is now Chair of the Investment Association, the UK's industry trade body whose members manage more than GBP5 trillion and Head of Personal Investing at Legal and General Management, a new role aimed at engaging the nation to save and invest more.

In 2010, Helena founded the 30% Club, a cross-business initiative to achieve better gender-balanced UK company boards. The 30% Club now leads efforts which span the whole career journey from schoolroom to boardroom and the proportion of female directors on UK listed company boards has more than doubled. The 30% Club approach has been adopted internationally, including in the US, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, South Africa, Australia, Canada, Malaysia and the Gulf Co-Operation Countries. Helena also chairs Business in the Community's gender equality campaign, part of the Prince of Wales' Responsible Business network.
Helena has been named one of Fortune Magazine's World's 50 Greatest Leaders. She has twice been voted one of the 50 Most Influential People in Finance globally by Bloomberg Markets. Helena is a regular media commentator on topics as wide-ranging as climate change, executive pay and Brexit. Her well-received guest edit of the `Today' programme in December 2016 developed the theme of `power to the people' and featured contributions from Michael Gove, John Macfarlane and Michael Lewis. Helena is a Fellow of London Business School and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Cambridge University in 2016. She was appointed CBE in the 2012 New Year's Honours list for her contribution to the role of women in business. In 2017, she was made a dame.

A Cambridge philosophy graduate, Helena is married to a Buddhist meditation teacher and they have nine children, six girls and three boys whose ages range from 8 to 26.