Words to Lead By – Tamara Box

Head of structured finance at global law firm ReedSmith, Tamara Box shares the best piece of advice she has ever received:

A woman, now working on exciting infrastructure projects in Africa, gave advice on a panel that Tamara was watching: “Never have lunch alone”

Tamara Box interpreted this as advice to never miss an opportunity to connect with people, even if it is just spending your lunch time with colleagues, new clients, networks.

Tamara Box sees networks as power, but crucially not in a selfish way. She has taken the advice on lunching alone and developed it into ‘Say yes to everything’ – by which she means say yes to people who want to talk to you, people who want to introduce you to others, to young people who want to ask questions. Not just meet them, but see how you can help that person, introduce them to your network or others. Tamara sees this as mutually beneficial: “paying it forward really does always come back”

Look out for our interview with Tamara Box, coming soon.