From fear to fearless: Charlotte Blant on values-led leadership

Fear is creeping into British education, warns Charlotte Blant, founder and CEO of Tiro in discussion with Nick MacKenzie on the #EdInfluence podcast. 

She's worried about leaders holding back because they're afraid of failure, undermining trust, or not being bold enough in case it's unpopular. For Charlotte, who's spent two decades building science and technology apprenticeships that fuse technical excellence with human growth, the antidote is clear: courageous, values-led leadership that plans for success, not just avoiding failure.

The obstacle is the way

Charlotte's childhood taught her "respect over rescue". After her mother's breakdown and her father's unravelling, she was largely on her own by 13. An eccentric children's author called Wendy became her lifeline, never pitying her but challenging her instead. 

"The obstacle is the way", Charlotte explains, describing how early adversity gave her "empathy for people whose lives don't fit in neat boxes".

That philosophy now shapes Tiro's approach to apprenticeships in universities, higher education and beyond. Founded as Youth Force in 2005, the business pivoted into apprenticeships after the credit crunch and rebranded to Tiro in 2021. "We are fusing technical excellence and education with human growth", Charlotte says, describing their mission to create shared value.

Values aren't soft, they're an operating system

Listening to Anita Roddick speak years ago, Charlotte realised "values aren't soft, they're an operating system, and you could bring profit and purpose together". Tiro's three values:

1. Think win-win. 
2. Have a growth mindset. 
3. Be a pace setter.

– are memorable by design and used daily to make choices.

"I can't bear the sort of platitudes that people have", Charlotte admits. The team went through a process in 2019, boiling down lists until these three felt right and were memorable, "If people can't remember what they are, then you've really had it, haven't you?"

You can't innovate with one foot on the brake

Charlotte worries that British education is still built on control and compliance. "I don't think you can innovate with one foot on the brake", she argues. When leaders operate from fear, "the wrong ideas get heard and the void gets filled".

Her solution? Trust people to be brilliant.

At Tiro, that means daily huddles for priorities, six-week goal cycles instead of annual reviews, and regular town halls and retros. "We have cross-teaming projects, we have some quirky stuff going on, but there is always a pulse", she says, describing how these rituals keep culture alive in hybrid work.

From reaction to reflection

Charlotte's early patterns were to "fix all the time, rush into things, rescue, very, very busy, working too hard". A psychoanalytic leadership programme in her mid-40s led her to therapy, which has been "life-changing". "I've learned to move from reaction to reflection", she explains.

She describes shifting gears: "I'd been in third gear revving the engine like crazy", but therapy enabled her to "get into fifth, and it feels amazing". Now she values space and "white noise" – time in the Italian mountains she and her husband have been renovating, where "nothing can get to me".

Master gaze: Look where the ball is going

Charlotte loves a metaphor, sometimes "slightly borderline risqué". One she borrowed from her hairdresser's tennis-coaching son is "master gaze" – don't look where the ball's come from, but where it's going. 

She used this throughout Ofsted: 

What brings joy?

"Watching potential become reality", Charlotte says without hesitation. She visits employers and learners as often as possible "because you see that confidence clicking". She's on a mission to prove "you can have profit and performance and purpose" – that scale and statistics are "proof that purpose works".

For aspiring leaders in education, Charlotte's message is clear: fear-based leadership silences innovation. Courageous, values-led leadership that trusts people to be brilliant is what transforms potential into reality.

Listen now and subscribe via your preferred podcast channel to hear Charlotte's full conversation on the #EdInfluence podcast.