Wed 13 November 2019
Trafalgar Entertainment’s co-founder and Joint CEO, Dame Rosemary Squire, has been named as one of the UK’s kindest leaders, highlighting the true power and effectiveness of kindness in business and leadership.
Rosemary appears on the Kindness & Leadership 50 Leading Lights list which showcases 50 leaders building a new status quo, impacting others through kindness. The Top 50 is revealed today in the Financial Times to mark World Kindness Day (13 November).
The campaign which is devised by the Women of the Future programme and supported by Unilever explores the characteristics associated with kind leaders, those who are deeply thoughtful of others and show: humanity, generosity and compassion, and are dedicated to supporting the well-being of others and fostering a spirit of collaboration.
Rosemary Squire said: “My whole career has been in an environment that requires genuine trust and teamwork, frequently during unsocial hours and in the dark! I believe that establishing a collaborative and supportive company culture is vital to success, every individual is valuable and must feel valued to make a business truly prosper and this is best achieved through being an available, open, encouraging and caring leader. I am very proud to have been recognised for these qualities.”
Rosemary will now attend a special ceremony at St James’s Palace where she will meet HRH The Countess of Wessex, the Women of the Future Global Ambassador, and celebrate her inclusion in this year’s list.
Hall for Cornwall’s CEO and Creative Director, Julien Boast, who worked for Rosemary at Ambassador Theatre Group for eight years, said: “I met Rosemary at the turn of the Millennium. At that time, little did I know that she would be the individual who would form who I am today and who, through her extraordinary kindness, would shape my career. Meeting her changed my life. I joined her company ATG when it had nine theatres and left when they had thirty-nine. Today, Rosemary is one of my Co-chairs for the charitable trust which runs Hall For Cornwall. Kindness means the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate. Those that she works with or who get to know Rosemary soon understand that she has these qualities in abundance.”
Kindness and Leadership Programme Leader, Pinky Lilani CBE, said: “Through the programme I have seen the true power of kindness in business and leadership. It is not a secret weapon, rather it is the DNA that can transform relationships, impact outcomes and uplift our colleagues and communities. By empowering others to succeed, kind leaders create an environment for organisations as a whole to thrive. This is why we wanted to change the leadership conversation and celebrate 50 kind leaders with our 50 Leading Lights campaign.”
Rosemary is one of the most prominent women in British theatre of the modern era. The business that she co-founded in 1992 – Ambassador Theatre Group – went on to become the world’s number one live-theatre company.
She is currently co-founder, Joint CEO and Executive Chair of Trafalgar Entertainment, a global live entertainment business and home to Trafalgar Studios, Trafalgar Theatre Productions, Stagecoach Performing Arts, Trafalgar Releasing, Luke Shires Marketing, London Theatre Direct and Jonathan Church Theatre Productions.
In 2014, she made history as the first woman to be named EY UK Entrepreneur of the Year. She was a National Member of the Arts Council England Board, Joint Chair of The Hall for Cornwall and Chair of two major appeals for Great Ormond Street Hospital.
Respected advocates for cultural industries in the UK and internationally, Rosemary and her husband/business partner, Sir Howard Panter, topped The Stage 100 for seven consecutive record-breaking years. In 2007 Rosemary was awarded an OBE for Services to Theatre and in 2018 received a Damehood for Services to Theatre and Philanthropy. In 2019, Woking Borough Council bestowed Honorary Freedom of the Borough upon Rosemary and Howard, both long-serving members of the community.