In conversation with
Dame Fiona Woolf
Consultant, CMS Cameron Mckenna, former Lord Mayor of London
Dame Fiona Woolf
Alice Gibson
Dame Fiona shares insights on her career that spans leading a legal practice in Bahrain in the 1980ies (the only woman heading a finance law practice in the region) to advising over 28 governments on energy market reform, to becoming Lord Mayor of London – among numerous other roles. She was awarded both the Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for her contributions.
“Get lucky and say yes” is the guiding philosophy that underpins Dame Fiona’s leadership approach. For her, luck is not passive—it comes from positioning yourself where opportunities emerge and being willing to step outside your comfort zone, and say ‘yes’, when they appear. This mindset shaped her work on complex international energy reforms across 43 countries, where leadership meant articulating a clear vision of what the future industry should look like and aligning diverse stakeholders around shared objectives.
