If you’d asked me 10 years ago what my career trajectory was, I would have said to you Chief People Officer of a medium to large growth business. During what I thought was a transition from one organisation to a new one, I completed a coaching course, and it was that course that led me to discover an unknown aspiration to run my own business.
The last 8 years have been full of rewarding challenge. I’ve learnt more about leadership, running a business and myself in that time, than probably the entire rest of my life. I went from being able to rely on my technical expertise and commercial understanding of a business supporting my leadership to one where my technical expertise was what I was selling, but it required a whole host of other skills, knowledge and experience that I didn’t have.
Faced with many challenges, which made me feel I was out of my depth, and yet forging forward anyway, ‘holding my nerve’ became my mantra. This is the inspiration behind my new podcast, launching in May.
The Brave Next Step will explore my learnings around leadership that is personal to every single one of us. It will feature interviews with leaders across industries, exploring what it takes to lead with courage. You won’t find any thought leaders, or best-selling leadership authors here. We’ll be sharing the gritty and real stories, and we’ll surface uncomfortable truths and untapped insights behind effective leadership today.
So, what does taking the brave next step look like? For me, here are a few beliefs around bravery and leadership.
It’s about being brave at your core.
‘The loudest voice rarely carries the deepest truth,’ says the old adage. Bravado or reckless risk-taking is sometimes mistaken for bravery. But leading with integrity, clarity and compassion, even when it’s hard to do so, is its true definition.
For example, brave leadership might mean disagreeing with people but going on to develop a strong relationship with them.
Brave leadership almost certainly means resisting the urge to follow the crowd.
As a leader, your values must be more than just words on a wall. They’re your compass, especially when the path ahead is unclear. For me, being brave also means not acting from a place of fear but waiting for clarity.
Vulnerability is the cornerstone of brave leadership.
This isn’t about emotional oversharing, but simply owning your mistakes, asking questions, admitting you don’t always know the answer, asking for support, being real and authentic. Leaders that model vulnerability build psychological safety in their teams which then increases trust and unlocks innovation, openness and resilience.
Most importantly, real bravery isn’t standing alone, it’s building a culture where others feel safe to step up too.
What kind of leader are you?
This is the central question at the heart of The Brave Next Step. As a CEO, Director or Senior Leader, you’ll likely be navigating an array of people challenges from burnout and underperformance to conflict and team misalignment all while striving to build a culture that supports your people and enables them to be agile and engaged. In which case, this podcast is for you.
Leadership isn’t static. It’s a series of decisions – sometimes bold, often uncomfortable – that shape your culture, your results and your legacy.
Are you ready to take the brave next step? Subscribe to the podcast from Monday 19th May. We’ve got a flurry of initial episodes for you to consume, then we’ll be dropping weekly, every Monday.