Looking Back with Purpose with Alice Olins

A year ago, so many things were different in my working life. The most obvious being my role, my team and my office setup, not to mention, of course, my aspirations and likely my concerns too. More on both further down.

There have been obvious 2025 shifts. And then there are the many nuanced evolutions I generally can’t recall. But I don’t like to forget what’s been and just move on, that’s not my style – it seems like such a waste of useful data. Which is why, every December, I stop viewing the year like something to survive and treat it as my own case study.

I do my best Year-In-Review mulling when I’m walking to the station, doing the washing up, and often, while I fall asleep. If you are someone who prefers to think at their desk, we have just created a brilliant step-by-step reflection guide, definitely have a go.

For some reflection context, my commitment to these Year-In-Review lookbacks started at the close of 2020, when, fair enough, pretty much every conversation included the other person willing the year to be over. Of course, Covid and its myriad complexities, hadn’t exactly provided an enjoyable 12 months, but I wasn’t ready to move on so quickly.

Hadn’t this been an extraordinary one, I thought to myself? Not wonderful, extraordinary, that loss of life will never leave me. But extraordinary in a never-before-experienced kind of way. If a year reshapes us this much, don’t we owe it to ourselves to understand how? What we gained? What shifted? What we learned about the way we now worked, led, coped and grew?

Since 2020, I always make time for a reflection, where I note what went well, the moments I loved, my challenges and struggles. I look at how each played out in my career and life, examine them closely, pull out the whys, hows and what-I'd-do-betters, to build a strong foundation for the year to come.

To inspire you to do the same, I’ve decided to pull the lid back on my 2025 look back. Maybe some of my learnings will remind you of moments that you’ve also experienced this year. At the very least, I hope you’ll be entertained. It’s December after all, and I’m going to try and spread some joy.

Alice’s Year in Reflection

What: A stellar professional partnership

When: From January

My Learnings: Compatibility isn't about sameness, but a complementary vision and energy

I started 2025 as co-Head of Learning with Katie Trice. I did not really know Katie before suggesting we take on leading a team together. It might have felt like a moment of madness when I suggested it – we'd both just unexpectedly joined the same team and promptly lost our boss - but it turned out to be a genius stroke of clarity. From day one, with big targets against us, we clicked our two operating systems (organisational v creative) into an effortless partnership. Humour has helped a lot. And straight talking. Always straight talking.

What: Becoming a gym girl

When: From January

My Learnings: Repetition and bravery are transferable skills

Yes, I am a 40-something cliche. I decided at the end of 2024 that I needed to up my fitness and meet midlife with muscle. Fast-forward and I will have completed over 150 gym sessions at my full year anniversary. That’s an average of 2.9 times per week. Yes, I have built strength and tone that even my 25-year-old self would have been impressed by, more than that though, I’ve proved I can be consistent. Honestly, I know you’ll want to shoot me when I say this, but I’ve moved past the friction point of this habit, and it’s so deeply embedded, I just always make it happen now. Plus, big muscly guys at the barbells don’t scare me anymore. Now that’s progress.

What: Step Forward 2025

When: March

My Learnings: Alchemy is built not declared

We have many metrics to decide whether work endeavours are a success. The one I best like to measure (but which refuses to fit neatly into a spreadsheet) is the emotional charge known as: that feeling. Step Forward 2025 was my first big AllBright everywoman event, and wow, did it pack a punch. Yes, the speakers were awesome, the partner activations super cute and interactive, but mostly, I was floored by the collective vibe. This community of women, different ages, backgrounds, aspirations, and stories, became one cojoined entity of joy and appreciation that day. Our internal team were on fire, and it hadn’t been an easy few months for them. Step Forward proved to me that true community isn’t our brand promise, it’s our living experience. We’re going even bigger for Step Forward 2026.

What: The rise of women’s sport

When: Building into June’s Euros and beyond

My Learnings: Notice when you’re living inside a tipping point

Many revolutions are only visible in hindsight. This year has felt different: yes, I’m talking about the new dominance of women’s sport. It didn’t just grow - I saw it tip. I was sitting with my family and friends, all huddled together, when Chloe Kelly struck that winning euros penalty. That moment wasn’t just seminal, it was history – and the future – forming. Finally, being able to see women’s sport dominate pitches, podiums, sponsorship deals and TV channels, has been a unique type of personal glory, as well as an overdue recalibration. Finally, the parameters are widening on what girls, my girls included, can imagine for themselves. I adore being able to watch this play out in real time.

What: AI going mainstream

When: From about April onwards

My Learnings: Tools don’t level the playing field, literacy does

ChatGPT is my university graduate. That’s how I think of it. As someone to train, someone to support my work, someone to take my thoughts, challenge them, so that I can look at things anew. I’ve loved the rise of AI in my working world. What I don’t adore is the gender-gap it is creating, both in its internal biases and around adoption. I am even more of a believer now in capability growing from getting involved. And I’ll keep banging that drum until all women I know are sharpening their AI skills too.

What: Hard leadership lessons

When: May and October

My Learnings: Optimism is required, but it needs guardrails

If there’s one trait that serves me brilliantly most rolls of the dice, but can occasionally betray me, it’s optimism. This year there were a couple of potential partnerships – one, with a global star, sob – that I believed would grow into big important moments for the business. The problem was, we may have over egged the omelette. Neither went quite the way we hoped. It was painful at the time, but I know not everything goes your way in business. After each loss, I eyeballed my optimism: I know it is a gift, but I’m also aware it serves me best within clear frameworks and grounded expectations. Next year, that’s exactly how I plan to roll.

What: A Greek beach sunset, soaked in to the last moments

When: August

My Learnings: You can only feel magic when you slow down enough to witness it

This one doesn’t really need explaining. We stayed, with friends and our collective offspring, on the beach until way past sundown. The sand was empty but for us. We leapt in the waves. And noticed the day turn into evening. It was such a precious moment that will always teach me to slow down. And get outside.

What: Tallulah started secondary school

When: September

My Learnings: ‘Ready’ is a subjective status

My middle daughter Tallulah might just rule the world one day. I don’t say that to boast, she is just one of those types who punches above her weight, who challenges the status quo. It’s amazing to witness her chutzpah (though not always ideal being on the receiving end of her strong negotiation skills). Tallulah’s last year of primary school was full of fun, but she was frustrated. I don't think she could even articulate it to herself, but she was bored, her wings were clipped. Seeing her fly at secondary has reminded me that readiness is subjective, but feeling stuck always needs to be examined.

What: Unexpectedly returning to journalism

When: From October

My Learnings: Careers are constellations of everything that’s been - and all that is still to come

I spent more than a decade as a working journalist, first at a daily broadsheet newspaper (very tight deadlines, excellent perks), and later as a Features Director at a handful of delightful glossy magazines. The blend of research, creative expression, pace, teamwork and soul-reveal required to connect to readers, always kept me inspired. My pivot to learning and development added a new layer to my skills, passion and purpose. Unexpectedly, with the upcoming launch of our new AllBright editorial website (coming Feb 2026), and me as its pseudo editor-in-chief, my career worlds have unexpectedly collided, or rather, woven together. And I am reminded, that those journalistic skills did not disappear. They just lay dormant for a while. And that no professional door is ever really closed. And that is a joy to behold.

As I close out another year of learning, growing, stumbling, recalibrating and trying again, I’m reminded that reflection is only half the story. The other half is what we choose to do with it.

If you’re thinking about your own next steps - what you want to build, shift or strengthen in 2026 - our Spring Learning Cohorts, Accelerate and Elevate, are designed to help you move from insight to action, alongside a brilliant community of women doing the same.

Register your interest for Accelerate or Elevate and we’ll be in touch.

Alice Olins