Why Magdalene Mattered:
THE PATH FROM COLLEGE TO THE G7 by Miss Sophie Daud (2009)
© FUTURE LEADERS NETWORK
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f you’d asked me on the day I left Magdalene what I’d be doing in ten years’ time, I’m fairly confident I would have been quite assertive: “I’m going to work for the U.K. Government, bringing my passion for problem solving to the biggest public policy questions in society.” 21-year-old me was right – in some ways. Immediately after graduating with a degree in Natural Sciences in 2012, I joined the Civil Service Fast Stream, a graduate programme aimed at equipping new entrants with the core competencies and experiences needed to deliver excellent public services. I both enjoyed my job – tackling big issues like child poverty or long-term unemployment spoke to the part of me that also led to my election as the JCR Charities Officer – and was lucky enough to also be quite good at it, with the curiosity,
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tenacity and confidence derived from three gruelling years of back-to-back lectures, intense supervisions and tricky labs standing me in good stead in debates with senior decision makers and Ministers. But… I was nevertheless frequently quite angry. Why were all of my leaders – both political and official – so, well… useless? It felt like the whole of Government seemed to trip itself up, time and time again, with poor leadership, poor leadership, and oh yes, that again – poor leadership. As a rising star in the organisation, I was genuinely quite worried that I was going to recapitulate the mistakes I could see happening, time and time again, in the ranks above me. So I started seeking opportunities to improve my leadership
