Best-Laid Plans Rise from Diversity of Thought

Tuesday 3 February 2026

By Roseann Kelly, Chief Executive of The WiB Group | As featured in The Irish News.

Leadership and legacy, two words that rang loud at The WiB Group Chair’s Lunch late last month.

Legacy has many connotations, especially here in Northern Ireland. But the legacy discussed among our crowd of 350-strong was the one firmly rooted in the here and now. What action or initiatives can we, as business leaders, undertake today that will be remembered tomorrow. What pioneering policy will echo through time to benefit the peers and colleagues who will come after you.

That is the potential in bringing about long-lasting change. To think bigger than the day-to-day agenda and instead consider the impact of how your business will be remembered in five, 10, or 20 years’ time. Our choices today determine the kinds of legacies we leave behind us.

The WiB Group proudly champions inclusion as an instrument for innovation. It guides us in our mission to address the acute need for bespoke support for businesswomen and ultimately raise the bar for workplace equality.

Dialogue is best when it is dynamic. When every person is given a voice and with it, the ability to pitch in and contribute. Viewpoints are expanded. Knowledge is shared. Economies are enriched. The best-laid plans become those that arise from a diversity of thought.

If we are to future-proof the legacy of today, we must work diligently to make ‘inclusion’ truly inclusive. Not just a word that falls flat on a piece of policy paper. Truly inclusive companies continue to thrive because they’ve created a workplace shaped by – and for – people. Because what is business without people?

Progress begins with change. And change won’t wait. If anything, it becomes very apparent when we, as a society, don’t change. What really puts things into perspective is how some of the fundamentals in our society carry the unwanted label of being the ‘worst’ around.

Whether that’s the worst childcare provision in the region, or the rates of gender-based violence being among the worst on the continent.

The word ‘intolerable’ does not begin to cut it. While it is encouraging to see our political leaders push forward with a strategy to end violence against women and girls, a whole-of-society approach is essential if we are to change the status quo. Once and for all.

We all have a role to play. At every level. Frankly, women cannot – and should not – have to do it alone.

We need men to be vocal and visible. Men who don’t think twice about challenging any mumblings of misogyny. The more often bad behaviours are called out for what they are, the closer we come to a workplace that is both fair and future-fit. Because when the problems involve everyone, then so too must the solutions.

In the end, real leadership is measured in what is left behind. The standards you set. Not by what you accomplished, but how you accomplished it, and how those around you felt in your journey towards a shared goal. The empathy. The integrity. The leadership.

It is a responsibility to be relished. After all, the chance to create tomorrow’s legacy begins today.

Tuesday 3 February 2026