EduSpots’ Post

🤔 I was once told, by someone in my team, that I “wasn’t the CEO type"; that I was more of the "ideas kind". For context, this was at a time when I was on the verge of quitting my UK job to apply in an open recruitment process for the role of EduSpots’ CEO, having led the organisation for 8 years voluntarily. Though challenging at the time, I’m now grateful for this comment, because it really really got me thinking deeply. 💬 I started asking all my friends and mentors: "What is the CEO type?", and “what skills do I lack that might mean I don't fit this mould”? I wondered: can I develop these things to become the 'type', or does my character somehow preclude me from the possibility of leading an organisation through growth? 💚 🌏 THEN, I came across David Heinemann who flipped the whole question around, and said: "Well, what if you’re exactly the kind of type of CEO the world needs right now?" And this really got me thinking about things in a different way... 💭 What if living with chronic fatigue gives me an ability to deeply understand other people’s struggles and centre well-being, building our collective resilience as a changemaker network? 💭 What if struggling with day-to-day admin and concentration - I've since been diagnosed with ADHD - means I have a radar for inclusive resource design and organisational systems? 💭 What if being a creative philosophy graduate and "ideas person" means I can envision things that some can’t join the dots towards, or believe are possible? 💭 What if being personable and sometimes highly emotional means that I can convince people that active citizenship education really matters - whether you are a funder or Catalyst - because it really does! 💭 What if being relatively young means I'm more adaptable to technological changes and understand the youth perspective? 💭 What if challenging conceptions of ‘CEO-ness’ leads to the creation of an anti-hierarchical organisation where I take the lead in acting with humility, walking and working alongside anyone, at any “level”. 🏋♀️ And I reflected, what if I can teach myself all the learning gaps such as finance, budgets, policies, HR, business models, law and MEL, but all the other things are somehow unteachable? 🧗♀️ And…. what if there's someone out there, who now believes they can, because I did? 📝 The message here is not that I can do it all, oh no 😃 - I spent yesterday with my Ops leader, Kennedy, going over my task management system, with full openness in the fact that I could, and must, do better. 🧨 But I've learnt that mindset is 95% of success. And I definitely have determination. 🌳This is coming from a kid who failed the 11+ exam aged 10, but went on to be shortlisted for a £1 million Global Teacher Prize. Basically.. ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️ 🔥🔥🔥 Define the labels, don't let the labels define you! #leadership #authenticity #oucollectivefuture 📷 Mid Ted Talk - with my best "we can change the world!" face! 😃