True Vision: Liz Jackson MBE challenges how we define leadership and success!
- Athene Parker
- 3 hours ago
- 2 min read
The emPOWER Breakfast welcomed Liz Jackson MBE for its 4th of March event, and it was AMAZING!
emPOWER is committed to delivering conversations that expand perspectives and challenge long held assumptions about leadership, success and independence and this session was no exception. Liz is from the corporate world, as emPOWER aims to open up the perspectives around different industries, and it was eye opening the shift in approach when it came to leadership style and the language used around the support of her people.
Hosted at Framestore and Company 3, the morning brought together professionals from across the advertising, media and communications industry, united by a curiosity for insight rooted in a very different lived experience. Liz spoke with huge humour and an understated confidence that comes with a high level of emotional inteligence, tracing a journey shaped not by her circumstance but by her drive, judgement and entrepreneurial instinct.
At 25, Liz launched her first telesales and marketing company at the same time as becoming fully blind having suffered with a degenerative eye condition since early childhood. What followed was the founding and growth of a multi-million-pound business that she led for 17 years, built with precision, humour and an acute understanding of people and opportunity. Throughout her conversation, Liz spoke openly about her blindness as one very small element of a much broader identity, to Liz it was neither an obstacle nor defining feature.
She reflected on the importance of agency, explaining how the infrastructure she built around herself enabled freedom, movement and leadership on her own terms. Her experience of being invited to be on the programme Secret Millionaire offered a pivotal moment of reflection, exposing the disconnect between how society often frames disability and how she has chosen to live and lead.
A central theme emerged clearly: inclusion is not about adjusting people to fit existing systems. It is about leadership teams in business designing systems that allow everyone to participate fully, and the responsibility that comes with really doubling down on discovering what it is that people are really good at, and developing those skills to benefit the company and the individual.
Liz also spoke passionately about the workplace as a force for good. When leaders really listen, recognise potential, offer praise and create space for vulnerability for their teams so that the ripple effect extends far beyond the office into homes, families and communities. She spoke about something we rarely acknowledge in business: Love. Loving the people you work with. Leading with kindness. Extending grace…even to adversaries. It is a radical way of approaching business and people, rooted fully in respect and compassion… and we are here for it!
The room felt really energised by Liz. Her perspective offered a reminder that leadership is not only about what we build, but how courageously we define ourselves along the way.
Thank you to Liz Jackson MBE for the honesty and insight she brought to the room, to our 2026 emPOWER partners and sponsors for continuing to support these conversations, and to all who joined us and helped shape such a thoughtful and engaging morning.
