Harriet Minter

Harriet Minter is a journalist, speaker and partner at Leap Leadership who specialises in gender equality, inclusive leadership and organisational behaviour. She founded The Guardian's Women in Leadership section, has hosted the Badass Women's Hour podcast and delivered two TED talks, combining editorial expertise with practical leadership development to shape national conversations about workplace equity. Harriet equips leaders and teams with evidence-based insight and honest storytelling that moves organisations beyond performative gestures towards meaningful culture change, helping audiences understand the barriers preventing diverse talent from thriving and providing concrete actions to create workplaces where everyone can succeed.

When Harriet Minter founded The Guardian's Women in Leadership section, she created the only dedicated platform at a national newspaper exploring the intersection of women and work, a move that would shape how organisations across the UK think about workplace equality. Her work as a journalist gave her an unfiltered view of what truly drives inclusive cultures and what merely serves as window dressing for corporate reputation. That editorial rigour, combined with her role as partner at leadership development company Leap Leadership, positions her to help organisations move beyond well-intentioned statements towards the sustained, sometimes uncomfortable work that creates genuine change. Through her extensive writing on the gender pay gap, inclusive leadership and the future of work, she has challenged businesses to confront the gap between aspiration and reality, using evidence and storytelling to hold leaders accountable whilst offering a path forwards.

Harriet's career reflects a rare combination of public platform and practical application. Her journalism has influenced national conversations about organisational behaviour, shining a light on systemic barriers that prevent talented people from progressing. As a partner at Leap Leadership, she now works directly with leadership teams to translate that insight into action, designing development programmes that equip managers to navigate the complexities of modern workplaces. She has also hosted the Badass Women's Hour podcast and delivered two TED talks, one on making things happen and another on learning to fail, demonstrating her ability to engage diverse audiences on topics that matter deeply to organisational success. Her approach is refreshingly pragmatic, acknowledging that building equitable workplaces requires more than policy updates or diversity targets. It demands honest reflection on power, privilege and the often invisible systems that shape who gets opportunities and who does not.

Harriet helps leaders and teams understand that inclusion is not just a moral imperative but a strategic advantage that directly impacts performance, innovation and retention. Her sessions combine evidence-based insight with accessible storytelling that challenges assumptions without alienating audiences, creating space for the difficult conversations that drive real progress. Participants leave with a clearer understanding of the structural barriers holding talented people back and, crucially, the concrete actions they can take to dismantle them. Whether working with senior executives, emerging managers or organisations embarking on culture change, she provides tools and confidence that enable immediate impact. Her work inspires leaders to resist performative gestures and commit instead to the patient, deliberate effort required to build workplaces where everyone can genuinely succeed, transforming good intentions into measurable outcomes that benefit individuals, teams and entire organisations.