We need a bottom-up approach, not a top-down one 

With a passion for promoting the skills agenda she believes Britain needs to thrive, Fiona Kendrick brings a unique set of experiences to the Be the Business Fellows programme. 

Dame Fiona Kendrick has been called many things in her life – a food and drinks industry powerhouse, an expert strategist and a champion of youth skills and employment to name a few. However, the one most likely to raise a smile harks back to her first job at Nestlé, when she was working in frozen foods. 

“They threw me into sales, so I went from what was considered a vaguely good profession – a teacher – into being a sales rep, which caused quite a lot of hilarity amongst family and friends,” she remembered. “At the time, I was selling frozen fish fingers, so I became ‘Fiona Fishfinger’ for a while. That was quite amusing.” 

This dramatic career change came after just a couple of years in teaching – enough time for Fiona to realise it wasn’t really for her. She received some career advice which basically amounted to: do something you will find interesting, that will bring out the best in you, and that will allow you to try on different hats. The commercial world seemed to tick all three boxes, and once she had shown her aptitude in sales, she moved into Nestlé’s marketing department. 

“I was very ambitious, and I worked really hard, but I worked smart as well,” she recalled. “I realised that actually, I had some very good communication skills, which probably came from my teaching experience.” It’s a reminder, she added, that few career experiences are ever a waste of time. 

Naturally curious and keen to take the initiative, she stood out from the crowd because she was – by her own admission – so ferociously determined. Fiona was a skilled networker too and, just five or six years into her career with Nestlé, she was being called on to present to the main board in Switzerland about a fancy bit of new tech called a microwave. 

“I didn’t sleep the night before, but I think there are opportunities to be grasped, and sometimes you just need to be courageous and go for it,” she said. 

The following decades saw Fiona rise to the very top of the Nestlé ladder – she went on to become chairman and CEO of Nestlé UK and Ireland, eventually leaving the company in 2018. Today, much of her passion lies in promoting the skills agenda: with the right skills, she believes, we acquire the experience we need to drive productivity. 

“I fundamentally believe that when small businesses in particular look at the skills they need for the future and are actually prepared to go outside and get some help, it can all start to drive our productivity,” she explained. 

Be the Business is in the perfect position to help. “I really believe in it,” said Fiona. “It’s all about how businesses themselves need to drive things – we call it a ‘bottom-up’ approach as opposed to a top–down one.” 

Thanks to an incredible 40–year career, Fiona has acquired a breadth of experience and knowledge that clearly put her in a strong place to be part of the solution. “And because my career spans globally,” she added, “I can see things through a different lens.” 

As well as her many senior roles at Nestlé, Fiona is a former UK commissioner for employment and skills and was the president of the Food and Drink Federation from 2015 to 2017. Today, she is chair of the PWC Public Interest Body and deputy chair of NMiTE, a new higher-learning institution for engineers. She is an advisor for Newton Europe and for Innovate UK, and sits on the Productivity Leadership Council for the government. 

Quick-fire questions 

What would be your rallying call for the UK business ecosystem? 

I think that people need to recognize that small steps today create big impact tomorrow. And never be afraid of taking those small steps, because it’s those small steps that actually will make a difference. 

Who is or was your business inspiration? 

Probably the just outgoing chairman of Nestlé. His name is Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, and he was the most innovative person I have ever met. And even running the largest food and drink company in the world, he never, ever sat on his laurels. 

What is your personal productivity tip? 

Be prepared to open the door and recognize that there is help and support out there – and be open to new ideas and challenge the status quo. 

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

Very early on in my career I was told – by one of my old bosses – to never stop being curious. And that’s been a big driver for me. Never stop being curious, never stop taking initiative, and always be prepared to challenge yourself, and the norm. I owe a big part of my career success to him, because he was the guy that took the risk on me – I was young and probably needed a bit of knocking into shape. 

If you’d gone down a completely different career path, what would you like to have been? 

A forensic scientist. I’m fascinated by both the analytical side and the scientific evidence and putting all the pieces together. But I never would have chosen a different path. I have had the most astonishing career, and I wouldn’t change a single thing about it.