“Individuals need to remove the barriers they put up for themselves. Society and other people will put barriers up for you anyway so why put them up for yourself”

Suneeta Padda is an Independent Consultant who’s built a market leading reputation in the Compliance and Regulatory space. Since founding her Consulting brand, Padda consulting, back in 2012 Suneeta has developed a strong reputation in the market with both insurance firms and the City’s regulator as someone who can get things fixed. A reputation that enables her to select the clients she wants to work with and build a successful client portfolio, the goal for pretty much all independent consultants. 

Suneeta’s route in to Consulting was very different to that of most of my guests. Having entered the world of work at 35 her can do attitude and willingness to challenge assumptions and the ‘norms’ of the work place she quickly climbed the career ladder before going out on her own. Suneeta has achieved so much since founding Padda Consulting including becoming a Freeman of the City, one of the City’s highest honours, and becoming a mentor for other women from non-traditional City Backgrounds

We cover a whole range of topics in this episode including:

Suneeta’s amazing story of how she got in to Consulting

The challenges she faced entering the City and how she dealt with these

How Suneeta approaches Senior Executives and how she was able to get a 1 to 1 meeting with the MD of her firm when she was ‘just’ an assistant

Suneeta’s view on Diversity in the industry and the advice she gives to younger women

How Suneeta distinguishes her consulting offering to ensure clients see her as a premium brand

Suneeta’s advice on how to network and build your brand.

and much much more!

You can find out more about Suneeta on her Linked In page – https://www.linkedin.com/in/suneetapadda/ and at her website https://www.padda-consulting.co.uk/

Specific things we discuss in the show:

Worshipful Company of Insurers – https://www.wci.org.uk/

Freeman of the City – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_the_City

Surely – https://services.surelygroup.com/

The Brokerage City Link – https://www.thebrokerage.org.uk/

Who Moved My Cheese – https://amzn.eu/6rDWYIt

What we talk about and when:          

00:02:30 – Why Suneeta went in to Independent Consulting

00:08:45 – How Suneeta built up her portfolio of clients

00:14:50 – Suneeta’s advice for people looking to break in to Independent Consulting

00:20:51 – Suneeta’s advice on networking

00:25:10 – How Suneeta differentiates her service offering to clients

00:30:30 – Suneeta’s advice to her mentees and what you can learn from it

00:39:08 – How to identify your values

40:30.677 – Suneeta’s latest Start Up projects and how Independent Consulting lets her spend time on these

00:45:14 – Suneeta’s top book recommendations

00:46:51 – Suneeta’s closing advice for you whether you’re just starting out in Consulting, In the middle grades or approaching Partner level