Our 10QUESTIONS feature asks members of the Freshfield community ten questions about their working life. Featuring client partners, colleagues and FF friends, our guests share some personal stories, views and fresh words of wisdom.

Our latest guest is Michelle Mullany, head of deal origination in the corporate finance team at accountancy and advisory firm MHA. Michelle works with business owners to advise them on funding, acquiring and exiting their business.

How do you like to start your working day?

I will often scroll through LinkedIn travelling to work, double check my diary and check there are no urgent emails. I definitely try to “eat the frog” early and do the bigger, harder tasks first as I’m more of a morning person.

Where and how do you come up with your best ideas?

I love meeting new people and the energy you can get from someone fantastic you’ve just met who sparks your ideas and thoughts, or you learn something new. I’m lucky as in my job I get to meet new people regularly and I also cherry pick events to go to where I think there will be great people in the room.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

“We all have a bellybutton”. Essentially, it doesn’t matter if you’re talking to the cleaner or the CEO, I was always taught to treat people all the same and to ask questions and truly listen.

What does leadership mean to you?

At times it can be making hard decisions, empowering people to try and do things differently and not to worry if it doesn’t work first time. You have to lead by example and always show kindness to everyone. In today’s polarised political world, it’s also about time to show courage and to speak up and support our colleagues and friends.

What’s your top tip for achieving a work-life balance?

I’m not sure if work-life balance truly exists but it’s about picking what plates you need to spin at that time. I’ve been guilty of not prioritising myself while balancing working full time and managing two kids, but I’ve also been in a very fortunate position to have a supportive husband where we work together, but I appreciate not everyone has that. I love Apple’s shared calendar and would be lost without it.

Which current or historical business figure do you most admire and why?

I love the story of Dame Stephanie Shirley who arrived in Britain in 1939 as a refugee, escaping Nazi persecution at age five. She founded Freelance Programmers in the 1960s, employing women in tech when it was unheard of and advocated for gender equality and flexible working decades before it became mainstream. She went on to grow a global IT services company valued at nearly £3bn by 2000 and made 70 staff millionaires.

What is your most trusted source of news?

I really like North West business news from Insider, TheBusinessDesk.com and Business Cloud and I have to admit I’ve cut down on how much I watch general news on the TV as I find it so hard to switch off, but then I’ll typically tune in to Channel 4 News.

What is your favourite brand and why?

I’ve loved the recent Boddingtons campaign with ‘By ‘eck’ in yellow and black plastered all over Manchester and then the genius of the Japanese Ambassador downing a pint and saying “By ‘eck it’s gorgeous”.  The brewery was closed 20 years ago but it’s part of the fabric of the city with 200 years of history and so it’s great news that it’s recently started being made in Manchester again.

What’s the most recent new skill you have learnt?

My 12-year-old recently got a part as a nun in the school production of The Sound of Music.  I’ve really enjoyed sitting with her and practising hitting the high notes through YouTube video tutorials.  Don’t get me on a karaoke night after a couple of wines or I do start to think I’m Whitney!

We all use them…what management jargon phrase do you use the most?

In M&A there’s a lot of use of acronyms – PE (private equity), DD (due diligence), ARR (annual recurring revenue) etc – so we always need to be mindful when meeting people and consider our audience might not understand them.