Thanks for being here Katrina. You are the Deputy Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the European Union. Could you briefly outline your main responsibilities and the key challenges that come along with them?

I am the ambassador who represents the UK with the EU on all the main economic, social and environmental work, whether in formal or informal negotiations.

What that means is that I need to be very good at understanding and making alliances with other people. I need to have a very deep understanding of UK policy on these issues so that I know where my room for maneuver is in negotiations. I act as a classic ambassador in the sense that I am presenting the UK, its thoughts, ambitions, values and what we stand for, which of course is a particularly interesting thing to be doing just now. I am also the deputy in this mission, hence I have a big leadership role for about 180 people who work here.

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Whenever I'm faced with a problem I need to consider the following questions: What is the problem we are trying to solve? What is the issue we need to address and do we need to address it at the moment?

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As a leader, you must take a lot of important decisions. Share with us the thought process you go through before taking such a decision.

I suppose the first thing to ask myself is whether I understand what the decision is and what decision is needed at the moment. Whenever I'm faced with a problem I need to consider the following questions: What is the problem we are trying to solve? What is the issue we need to address and do we need to address it at the moment? And you'd be surprised how often, when you unpack that question, the answer is different from the one that people thought you were trying to solve. And then I think about whether I got all the information that I need to take the decision. So, in sum, I think it's those three things: 1) what is the problem, 2) have I got the authority and 3) have I got the right information. And then it is a question of usually talking through with people and getting a range of different views on what the answer might be to the particular problem.

With so many responsibilities you must feel a lot of pressure on your shoulders. How do you deal with it?

I've always found it very useful to mentally ask myself two questions. The first is "How much of this is something that is within my control?". Because that helps you to focus on tackling the things that you know you have control of. And then my second question is "In a year, will anyone remember this?". Because if you say to yourself in a year will people remember this, it is a really good way of focusing yourself on the things that are really important now.

What gives you the energy that you need for your job when you wake up in the morning?

What motivates me when I get up is the notion that what I am doing is really important to people's lives.

My career has always been based on wanting to do things that actually have a real impact on people's lives. So, in the past, I've had roles that have been all about the trade-offs between ensuring people have food that has been environmentally produced on the one hand and sufficient and cheap food is readily available on the other hand. In this job, I have needed to make sure that the UK voice is heard on issues that directly affect us all, like tackling climate change.

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You really need to know yourself because that tells you about your weaknesses as well as your strengths. But it also enables you to pick the things that you're comfortable with doing from the role models that you see above you.

You're a very experienced woman with an impressive career in the civil service. I wonder what advice you would give your younger self.

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I think the advice I would give myself is to be less afraid to be yourself. The things I've learned over my career is that lots of people try to conform to a model of what they think the people above them in the organization are. And they try to push themselves into exactly following a particular role model. The thing that I have learned is that you really need to know yourself because that tells you about your weaknesses as well as your strengths. But it also enables you to pick the things that you're comfortable with doing from the role models that you see above you.

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Learning that it is really about being yourself rather than trying to mimic somebody else is the most important thing.

For example, when I'm thinking about staff management, I model myself on the boss I had 10 years ago who was the most brilliant staff man and people manager in terms of developing people and helping them to think about their careers. When I'm chairing a difficult meeting, I think about another person that I saw who was the best chair of meetings I have ever seen. And you take bits of it and you adapt them to yourself. So, recognize what your strengths and weaknesses are, make sure that you are surrounded by people who will help you with that. Learning that it is really about is being yourself rather than trying to mimic somebody else I think is the most important thing.

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We need to think more about the language in which we describe people. For instance, in the English language, 'stroppy' is a word that is only ever applied to women.

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Tell us about your experience as a woman in the civil service.

I think the environment has changed enormously. Since the start of my career, the numbers of women in senior roles have increased enormously and that's great because when I joined the British Civil Service a very long time ago, when I looked up, I couldn't see people that I wanted to look like or be like.

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One thing that I always say to my colleagues is actually to not let the fact of being a woman put you off. Because if you walk into a room where you are the only woman, chances are people will remember you.