About Hilary Briggs

Hilary’s background

From engineer to business consultant and Triathlon champion, Hilary has over 35 years of diverse business experience, both in the UK and internationally.

Hilary cut her teeth at the sharp end of the automotive industry in production management. For the last 20 years, she applied her experience of overcoming practical issues under pressure to scale businesses in a range of sectors, including renewable energy, coffee and niche technology.

With extensive hands-on experience in operations and general management, she knows what it takes to transform an SME from potential acquisition material to a successful component of an international group.

Specialty Areas:

Profitable business growth
Strategic reviews and implementation
Operational improvement

Connect with Hilary on LinkedIn here.

Hilary’s Team GB Age Group Triathlon Story

Loving the high-achieving culture at Manchester High School for Girls, Hilary particularly enjoyed music, sport and the Duke of Edinburgh Award, all of which she feels made her a more rounded person. At that time, Hilary lived in Warrington and travelled in on the train every day, experiencing many disruptions of the time – the three-day week, strikes and more.

Those experiences helped Hilary develop her resilience and resourcefulness!

Leaving MHSG with ‘A’ Levels in Physics, Maths and Chemistry, Hilary went on to study Engineering at the University of Cambridge where she was surprised that less than 10% of the intake were female. According to STEM Women, even in 2018-19 the figures are still low at around 16%.

Always liking to be fit, for years Hilary enjoyed long distance walking and cycling holidays with friends. One holiday, Hilary planned to complete the Pennine Way – all 268 miles of it – in 10 days. Followed by a 200 mile walk in Wales over eight days in aid of the Air Ambulance.

Hilary loved planning and developing the training regimes for these long-distance walks.

At that time, Hilary started swimming and taught herself to do the front crawl. One day, while swimming in training for the Wales walk, she noticed someone going faster than her with far less effort. Enlisting in some lessons, she discovered she was doing it all wrong!

That prompted the realisation that there’s always scope for improvement.

Hilary discovered triathlons in 2016 when she was working in Cambridge and cycling a daily commute of 35 km. Sounding like an amazing challenge, she just needed to start running again, put on hold years before because of a minor knee twinge.

So, after a couple of sprint events, Hilary was set to do some Standard Distance events in 2017 when a cycling accident ruptured her Achilles. A serious injury, it had to be replaced with another tendon. After the op, the consultant told her that he’d never seen an Achilles in such bad shape “in a living person.”

Determined to get back to triathlons, it took 15 months to run & cycle again.

September 2018 saw Hilary’s first standard distance triathlon. Her goals were to ensure she didn’t damage her leg, to finish, and not to be last!

In 2019, Hilary came first in her age group in two regional events, despite her other leg feeling on the verge of injury throughout the season from having to work harder. Finding her first ever personal trainer, he summed Hilary up by saying:

“Engine like a Ferrari but chassis more suited to a go-kart!” Yet more scope for improvement…

Starting a new strength and conditioning regime, Hilary hit the gym. Then Covid hit! Never being one to be thwarted, she created a rudimentary home gym with water bottles for weights, cycled circuits around Heathrow airport, and ran to Piccadilly Circus to avoid the crowded parks. Eventually, Hilary trained with a bike coach and a specialised running coach.

By May 2021, Hilary had improved her time by around 13% compared to 2019, winning Bronze medal in the British Championships and qualifying for the Team GB Age Group team. In 2022, she won Silver medal at the European Championships and Gold in the British Championships.

Hilary is currently training for the Triathlon Age Group World Championships in Abu Dhabi.

Key points:

2016 – First sprint triathlon (finished 6th in Age Group)
2017 – Achilles injury; out for 15 months
2018 – First standard distance triathlon (finished 11th in Age Group)
2019 – London triathlon (finished 1st in Age Group)
2021 – British Championship winning Bronze medal and qualifying for Team GB Age Group
2022 – European Championships winning Silver medal
2022 – British Championship winning Gold medal

Key life learning points

Learning how to manage challenges
When you focus on something, you will get better
Seek out experts when you need help
Listen to feedback with an open mind
Be disciplined to stick to the challenge
Finding ways to measure and drive improvement
Never underestimate the importance of random connections

Hilary’s early career learnings:

“In my early career in production management and logistics within the automotive industry, I was under a lot of pressure. I had to deal with issues such as feeling overwhelmed, angry bosses shouting abuse (not just at me), major quality issues, and even a factory burning down.

“Throughout that period, I developed healthy coping skills including exercise, T’ai Chi, playing the cello, using humour, having a positive outlook, and most importantly, keeping a sense of perspective.

“I learned to listen to my body; for instance, developing back ache in my late 20s, I realised my body was telling me I was pushing too hard. From then on, I used any back twinge signs as a reminder to rebalance and find better ways of working. And I improved my work skills by training in NLP, coaching and facilitation.

“In parallel, I sought out challenges in non-work settings, such as my triathlon journey. I’ve learnt the power of transferring experience from different areas of my life. For instance, early on in a high-profile role as Logistics Director at Rover Large Cars I felt lost, struggling to work out the plan for the function. Feeling lost reminded me of being lost on an orienteering event; that memory and insight gave me the direction for the next three years, all in 30 minutes!

To read the original Manchester High School for Girls article that this is abridged from, click here.