Nine years ago, Tower Bridge set me the One-Thousand Cats Challenge. And in 2023 (yes, it’s taken a while) I’ve not only reached that target, I’ve smashed it in the most spectacular way, so I thought I’d share some of the lessons I’ve learnt about resilience and leadership on the journey.
Archive for the ‘Leadership’ Category
One Thousand Cats and a Story of Resilience
Posted by Tee Dobinson
Is it Imposter Syndrome or a Protective Friend?
Posted by Lucy Timmons
When I was asked to make my research public I felt I was standing on the shoulders of, and walking with, giants so I looked within to find out if I was dealing with imposter syndrome or a protective friend. I reminded myself of the importance of being ok with what I’m good at.
It is December 2021. I am in my son’s nursery praying to the gods of sleep to be merciful and I receive an email from the Head of the MA in Children’s Literature at Goldsmith’s University. The email was asking if I would be happy for my research to be included in a publication of innovative research studies. My work would be one of nineteen MA alumni contributions of ‘outstanding research studies’.
Well
I thought…
I’m imagining there has been some sort of mistake here
Yes.
There it was in all its glory.
The gnarled claw of my old friend/foe: Lord Imposter of the Syndrome family. Their grip tightening on my heart, my gut and my voice.
Why on earth would they want my research in that book? Have they seen the other contributors… they’re incredible!? Would I feel like a complete fraud standing amongst those guys? Er yeah! I would only have to redraft it now anyway because there is no way it is good enough for publication.
Such lovely, helpful thoughts.
Creating collaboration and trust – not silos!
Posted by Ian Guyah-Low
Part of a leader’s job is to focus on creating collaboration and trust – not silos – in teams and organisations. High performance is likely to occur when organisations are able to work easily across functions.
However, when the pressure is on or something goes wrong, what we often see is people pulling outwards, going into a self-preservation mindset and disappearing into their silos.
What is the reason?
It can be a two-fold problem boiling down to a lack of ‘psychological safety’ established throughout the organisational culture and outdated hierarchal structures that are rigid and inflexible. Read more