1 in 5 CAMPAIGN
Changing the face of leadership in Scottish sport.
Women are already contributing, influencing and leading across Scottish sport.
But too few are progressing into the most senior leadership roles.
1 in 5 is a Peak Minds campaign with a simple ambition:
To create stronger pathways for women to progress, lead and thrive at every level of Scottish sport.
Because changing who reaches the top starts long before someone gets there.
And when more women lead, they have the opportunity to change the landscape for the women coming behind them.
Why 1 in 5?
Today, only 1 in 5 CEO roles across Scottish sport are held by women.
And this isn't a new challenge.
Despite the talent, experience and ambition of women working across the sector, that number has remained largely unchanged for years.
So the question behind 1 in 5 is simple:
What will it take to change it?
Because leadership doesn't start when someone becomes a CEO.
It starts much earlier.
With opportunity.
With visibility.
With development.
With sponsorship.
With someone seeing your potential — and helping you see it too.
Talented women are already working across Scottish sport.
The challenge is creating the environments, opportunities, support and pathways that allow more of them to progress — and ensuring leadership is somewhere more women can see themselves.
1 in 5 exists to help create that change.
Why I created 1 in 5
I have always believed in the power of development.
I've experienced first-hand what can happen when we invest in ourselves, be it through coaching, learning, community, opportunity and intentionally developing our leadership. I've seen the impact in my own career and life, and in the women I have coached and mentored.
When I first started thinking about how I could contribute to women's sport, I imagined working with athletes and teams.
But the more involved I became in the sector, the clearer it became that my experience could make a different kind of contribution.
Through mentoring on the Young Women in Sport Leadership programme and attending the Scottish Women in Sport conference, my focus turned to the women working across sport every day.
Talented, capable women with the potential to help shape where the sector goes next.
At the same time, women's sport is growing and the sporting landscape is changing.
That creates huge opportunity, but it also asks important questions of the organisations behind it.
How do we develop and retain talent?
How do we create sustainable leadership pipelines?
How do we make the best use of limited resources while continuing to innovate and grow?
And if women have remained underrepresented at the very top of Scottish sport for years:
What needs to change?
I don't believe the answer is simply to tell more women to apply for senior roles.
We need to invest in women throughout their careers developing leadership, confidence, self-awareness and voice while also looking at the cultures, structures and opportunities around them.
Because developing women is only part of the answer.
We also need to create environments where their talent can thrive.
That's why I created 1 in 5.
Not because Peak Minds can change a sector alone.
But because we can play our part.
1 IN 5 IS THE STARTING POINT.
Not the destination.
1 IN 5 IS THE STARTING POINT.
Not the destination.
This isn't about reaching a number and declaring the work done.
It's about creating sustainable change throughout the leadership pipeline and a sector where talented women have the opportunity to thrive.
More women recognising their potential and seeing leadership as somewhere they belong.
More women having the confidence, support and opportunity to use their voice and shape what comes next.
More organisations actively developing, retaining and progressing female talent.
More women reaching senior leadership and helping shape the future of Scottish sport.
Because success isn't about creating one path and expecting every woman to follow it.
It's about creating the conditions for women to develop, lead and make intentional choices about what success looks like for them.
And creating a sector where those who want to progress have a genuine opportunity to do so.
Until women leading Scottish sport isn't remarkable.
It's simply normal.
Let's make 1 in 5 only the beginning.
How we create change
This has to be bigger than Peak Minds.
There is already important work happening across Scottish sport to support women, develop leaders and create more inclusive organisations.
1 in 5 exists to contribute to that progress, not to replace it.
Changing the face of leadership in Scottish sport will take continued investment, collaboration and a willingness to learn from what is already working.
Peak Minds brings another dedicated partner to that work: focused specifically on the leadership and development of women working in sport.
Because no one programme, organisation or campaign creates systemic change alone.
But together, we can accelerate it.
CREATE THE PATHWAYS
Talent needs somewhere to go.
Across the sector, women are already being developed, mentored, sponsored and given opportunities to grow.
The opportunity is to keep building on that work, creating connected pathways through which women can access development, experience, visibility, networks and opportunities throughout their careers.
Not only when someone is ready for the most senior role, but long before it.
Peak Minds contributes through coaching, Women Rising, leadership development and community, all complementing the programmes and development already happening across the sector.
CHANGE THE ENVIRONMENT
Developing women is only part of the answer.
Alongside investment in women, there is an opportunity to keep evolving the environments in which they work and lead.
That means continuing the conversations already happening around culture, flexibility, inclusion, wellbeing and what sustainable leadership looks like.
It also means being curious about who progresses, who stays, who steps forward and who doesn't.
By creating environments where different lives, experiences and leadership styles can thrive, we widen the possibilities for both women and the organisations they work within.
Peak Minds can work alongside organisations as a partner in that ongoing change.
BUILD THE MOVEMENT
There is knowledge, experience and good practice across Scottish sport already.
The opportunity is to connect more of it.
To learn from each other. Share what works. Create opportunities. Challenge assumptions. Celebrate progress. And keep women and leadership firmly on the agenda.
1 in 5 can provide a shared ambition around which those conversations continue to grow.
Peak Minds doesn't need to own that movement.
We want to help build it.
Peak Minds can be part of the solution. Together, we create the change.
Be part of the change
1 in 5 starts with a shared ambition: to see more women developing, progressing and leading across Scottish sport.
There are different ways to be part of that.
FOLLOW THE MOVEMENT
If you believe in the ambition behind 1 in 5, join the community.
Follow the campaign, hear from women across the sector, discover what's already working and be part of the conversations, events and opportunities that develop as 1 in 5 grows.
LET'S WORK TOGETHER
If your organisation is investing in women's leadership, developing female talent or looking at how to strengthen leadership pathways, Peak Minds can become part of that work.
That might mean coaching and leadership development, supporting women within your organisation, facilitating conversations, collaborating on an existing initiative or exploring something new together.
You don't need to arrive with a programme brief or a finished solution.
Let's start with a conversation.