Alison Maitland is a writer, speaker, adviser and coach, specialising in leadership, inclusion and work. She is a former Financial Times journalist and co-author of the books 'Future Work' and 'Why Women Mean Business'. She is on the Board of International Women’s Forum UK and is a Senior Visiting Fellow at London’s Cass Business School, serving on the Executive Board of the Cass Global Women’s Leadership Programme.
When I decided to leave the Financial Times after 20 years, an older friend asked: ‘So you’re retiring then?’ I was in my early 50s and the question shocked me. Retirement? Not likely. I was raring to go.